A Slice of Genoa on Toorak Road: Zita’s Focaccia, South Yarra

Under a canary-yellow-and-white striped awning on Toorak Road, the queue often forms before the first focaccia of the day has fully cooled. That is the quiet power of Zita’s Focaccia, the compact South Yarra focacceria that has turned a Ligurian family recipe into one of Melbourne’s most talked-about sandwiches.

Owners Sara Pestarino and Riccardo Guglietti opened the shop in 2023 after missing the street food of their hometowns. Sara, from Genoa, is the hand in the kitchen. Riccardo, from Rome, is the one who greets you with a “ciao bella” as if you have known him for years. They named the place after Sara’s Nonna Zita, still living in Genoa and still, by all accounts, a professional cook in retirement.

What they brought to South Yarra is not the thick, spongey slab many Australians expect. It is focaccia Genovese: thinner, lighter, with a crisp golden top and an airy, digestible crumb. The dough uses premium Italian flour, around 80 per cent hydration, and rests for a full 48 hours. Filled versions are fermented for 36–38 hours, semi-baked in the morning, then finished to order so the bread stays crisp under generous fillings rather than collapsing.

The result is bread that stands up to mortadella, ’nduja, stracciatella and Fremantle octopus without turning heavy.

What to order

The menu is short and decisive.

The Roman Empire ($18) remains the signature: mortadella, artichoke sauce, milky stracciatella and crushed pistachio. It is the sandwich people travel across town for.

Too Hot To Last ($18) pairs chewy Fremantle octopus with fiery ’nduja, stracciatella and fennel salad — the one reviewers keep calling “not your typical ham and cheese.”

Zita’s own namesake ($16) is vegetarian: eggplant parmigiana and basil pesto.

Other regulars include Luigi (Parma prosciutto, truffle cheese, mushroom cream, rocket), Caprese (heirloom tomatoes, buffalo mozzarella, sun-dried tomato pesto), Cheech (Italian sausage, broccoli sauce, chilli oil, taleggio), Porchetta, Chicken Cesar and a steak focaccia with chimichurri.

By the slice, La Genovese ($10) changes flavour daily — olives, squacquerone cheese, or simply sea salt and oil.

A $15 breakfast focaccia with prosciutto cotto and fontina is offered 10am–12pm. Most filled sandwiches can be made on the house gluten-friendly focaccia for an extra $3. That version is baked in-house from Italian ingredients and is notably soft rather than chewy, but the kitchen is small and airborne flour is present, so it is gluten-friendly, not certified coeliac-safe.

The shop is licensed. Spritzes — Aperol, limoncello, house strawberry-elderflower — sit well with the outdoor tables and the yellow chairs.

The room and the street

Zita’s is small: about 24 seats inside and out. Most people take away. Those who stay sit under the striped awning or in the sunny window. The façade is painted in warm orange and cream with arched windows; the sign simply reads ZITA’S. The atmosphere is unpretentious, Italian-street-food energy with a Melbourne twist — queues, takeaway paper, and the occasional footballer or DJ dropping in.

It was named a finalist for Best Sandwiches in The Age Good Food Essential Melbourne Cafés and Bakeries of 2025.

Arrive early. They bake daily and close when they sell out. No bookings. Phone orders only for ten or more focaccias.

Visit

Zita’s Focaccia
16 Toorak Road, South Yarra VIC 3141

Phone: (03) 9191 9092
Website: zitasfocaccia.com
Instagram: @zitas.focaccia

Hours (check Instagram on the day, as they can sell out):
Tuesday–Sunday 10am–4pm
Monday closed

No reservations. Takeaway and limited outdoor seating. Licensed.

A short walk from South Yarra station, it is the kind of place that makes a weekday lunch feel like a small Italian holiday — golden bread, good salt, and the sense that Nonna Zita would approve.