“Specializing in pasta and all things handmade, and forging alliances with like-minded businesses and local and ethical producers, we find our small, focused menu helps eliminate food waste.”

Tagliatelle della Delizia with pork, veal, and red wine ragu; pig’s blood tagliolini with king prawns, white vermouth, and fennel seed; and duck liver and sweet tobacco “cinture” with Wagin duck, smoked pancetta, and prune ragu.

From a purely “is it delicious?” perspective, this small cottage-industry pasta bar in the inner-west Perth suburb of Subiaco is essential eating when out west.

From duo-tone sheets spiked with sweet pipe tobacco, to tubes of garganelli made with smoked flour and ruby-red tagliatelle ’scuri made with pig’s blood, no one in Australia makes pasta like Joel Valvasori-Pereza. But flour, eggs, water, and north-eastern Italian food traditions aside, it’s the backstory that’s sweet.

Downsizing from a multifaceted CBD operation to a cosy negroni-fuelled fifty-seater with lace-fringed windows has given Valvasori-Pereza and wife and co-owner Ivana licence to open their dream restaurant.

Necessity dictates freshness (pasta is made daily); a tight menu edit keeps a lid on food waste, and work-life balance isn’t just a punchline (they pegged the number of lunch services so staff could get a decent amount of downtime). Lulu is proof that there’s life – as well as hard work – yet in the ambitious, owner-operated restaurant model.

"Australia's best pasta restaurant." –John Lethlean, The Australian