Il Santo brings handmade pasta and Italian wine to Claremont

Il Santo quietly opened in May in Claremont with a simple pitch: this is meant to be the kind of room people return to every week, not only when they are celebrating. The new Perth venue comes from the team behind Il Lido and Canteen Pizza, and it is built around handmade pasta, Italian wine and the easy rhythm of a neighborhood osteria.

Wine is the clearest signal of what Il Santo is trying to be. Wine director Michael Mori is overseeing a list of more than 100 labels, mostly Italian, with more than 30 available by the glass on any given day. Monday BYO adds to that looseness, making the place feel less like a formal dining room and more like somewhere you can settle into without overthinking the bill or the occasion.

Executive chef Nicola Lunardi has shaped the food around the same idea. The menu mixes shareable snacks with more substantial plates, but the pasta is the centerpiece because it is made fresh every day. Among the dishes drawing attention is mafaldine e fagioli, a plate Lunardi links to memories of New Year’s Eve in Italy. The kitchen also leans into broader Italian-accented dishes, including mortadella skewers, Rottnest swordfish belly, Shark Bay prawn sandwich and Italian desserts.

The room itself backs up the brief. Studio Gram redesigned the space with travertine, timber and muted lighting, all aimed at creating something warm and lived-in rather than shiny or ceremonial. That matters in Claremont, where polished dining rooms are easy enough to find, but places that can hold a regular habit are rarer.

Il Santo is betting that handmade pasta and a wine list built for repeat visits can carry that habit. If the formula works, it will not be because the room screams special occasion. It will be because a bottle, a bowl of fresh pasta and a Monday night seat feel easy enough to make part of the week.