Stefano's is the restaurant that put Mildura on the Australian food map. Chef Stefano de Pieri has been cooking here since the early 1990s, serving northern Italian food built around the region's own produce — Murray cod, local olive oil, the fruit and vegetables grown on the irrigation farms outside town. The setting is the vaulted cellars of the Mildura Grand Hotel, which adds atmosphere to go with the food.
It is not cheap, and you should book well ahead. But for a special dinner in a regional Australian city, it is a rare thing: a restaurant with genuine local identity, run by someone who has been cooking the same honest food for decades without chasing fashion. The pasta is made in house and the wine list draws heavily from Sunraysia producers.