I'm a big fan of La Madonna in the Next Hotel on Little Collins Street. I love the glorious golden chandelier hanging in the spiral stairwell. I love the dining room that manages to feel cosy and enveloping despite its size and I love the story behind the name. When Danny Natoli first walked into the space while it was being built, he was so impressed by the scale of the room and the possibilities of it that he let out a "La Madonna!" and the name stuck. I spoke to Danny and Adrian for Broadsheet when the restaurant opened, and I had already had a chef chat to Adrian a few years ago when he was still at Saigon Sally and Tokyo Tina. I have always loved running into him and catching up. Danny and Adrian are friends as well as colleagues. They put up incredible food together, bouncing ideas off each other and working together to create dishes as well as the kind of hospitality they love; making people feel welcome and a part of things. I felt as though they were my friends when we did the Broadsheet chat and catching up with them again was an absolute treat. Plus, their banter is top notch. I thought I was just going in for a chat, but I got a whole performance art piece and a delicious drink as Danny made tangelo martinis and served them in the skins. We talked authenticity and seasonality in the European sense and their Sunday La Famiglia lunches of three courses of beautiful Italian inspired food with bottomless carafes of wine.