Caterina Borsato

Caterina Borsato – owner of Caterina’s Cucina e Bar

Caterina Borsato lives, breathes and loves all things Italian. The daughter of Venetian parents Caterina has spent the last 20 years carving a respected name in the Melbourne food and wine industry, where over the last 14 years she has established the well known Caterina’s Italian style restaurant.

Caterina grew up in Victoria on a dairy farm in West Gippsland.

“I always remember my Dad hunting game and buying the freshest seafood he could find. There was always some one coming up the driveway with a crate of crayfish or prawns from the Lakes. Her father and uncle were part of the Italian food brigade in the city during the 50s and understood good food, good service and a “joie de vivre”. Mushroom hunts in autumn provided good pocket money. Guinea fowl, pheasants and all breeds of chicken were her Mother’s passion. Roasted chestnuts were an obligatory part of the many traditional rituals that she experienced in her youth.

At 17 she came to Melbourne to attend Melbourne University where she studied language and continued the Italian connection under the watchful eye of her beloved grandmother.Whilst at university she gained a scholarship to study Italian in Perugia.

Her northern Italian family is from a hospitality background: her sister owns Masani and her uncle worked at Florentinos. Following her patriarchal footsteps, Caterina also worked part-time in the hospitality industry. Her dad worked at Melbourne’s famed The Society restaurant in the 1950s.

Caterina began waiting tables at the iconic Donnini’s, and then moved to the Carlton Football Club in a public relations role, hosting match days. She gained good catering knowledge through her time with Spotless Catering Services whilst working at head office and quickly accepted the commercial reality of cooking for the masses and the food served in a restaurant situation.

In 1989, at 30 years of age, Caterina opened her first restaurant Borsato, in North Fitzroy, Melbourne. This restaurant served Italian cuisine and also gained a coveted Chef’s Hat, whilst she worked there until 1992. In 1994 Caterina consulted and assisted in the opening of Caterina’s Cucina E Bar and later purchased the business.

Her job role apart from running Caterina’s Cucina E Bar also entails doing the odd guest appearance on radio and presenting various seminars with the Italian Cultural Institute. Her love for Gippsland has enabled her to M.C. various festivals during Melbourne’s Food and Wine week. Caterina was selected as a judge on the second series of My Restaurant Rules and quickly learnt the reality of commercial T.V. For the last five and half years Caterina has hosted a weekly cooking show, Regional Italian Cuisine on Melbourne’s Channel 31. (www.ricvt.com.au) Along with her partner, Caterina has embraced the stories of yesteryear and is absolutely delighted to capture some of the regional magic that is living right here in Melbourne – the stories you cannot find in textbooks. She hopes to entrust in her daughter, family and band of loyal viewers and patrons the quality of life she has experienced through the stories, recipes and cultural traditions. Her Italian heritage is all important but she acknowledges that living in Australia makes for a “wonderful life”.