9 minute read
italian love affair
PIZZA IS WHAT PROMPTED KEVIN AND FRED DUARTE’S FIRST FORAY INTO THE RESTAURANT BIZ, CULMINATING IN BELOVED RUSTIC PIZZERIA KNEADING RUBY. IT’S NOW LED TO TWO NEW OPENINGS IN WOLLONGONG, RESTAURANT SANTINO AND SONNY’S WINE SHOP
Images Tom Opie @t_opie
Kneading Ruby 5 Crown Lane, Wollongong
Santino 2/17 Globe Lane, Wollongong
Sonny's Wine Shop 17 Globe Lane, Wollongong
It’s the 1930s and Mayor William Louis Howarth has built a number of impressive establishments in central Wollongong. At the time, the father-of-three was a prominent businessman who helped shape the structure of this growing coastal city, these iconic buildings a reminder of the town’s history.
Fast forward to 2016, and one these structures has been thoughtfully converted by brothers Fred and Kevin Duarte into a buzzing Italian pizza bar, now known and loved as Kneading Ruby. Taking inspiration from the building’s history, the locally famed restaurant was named after William’s youngest daughter, Ruby Howarth. Nestled in Crown Lane, Kneading Ruby would be easy to miss if you didn’t know where to look – but this only adds to the restaurant’s charisma. The Duarte brothers fitted out the venue to create an intimate space, which still pays homage to its historic roots, with hanging lights, luscious greenery and a woodfire oven on show.
Home to some of the best Italian cuisine on the coast, with an array of mouth-watering rustic dishes with modern flair, like the humble garlic bread that you pour the butter over at the table, or a sopressata and olive pizza with chilli honey, it’s easy to see why Kneading Ruby has become a fan favourite among locals and visitors alike.
Although the journey to establishing the space was years in the making, its rising success has now allowed for new opportunities to flourish. With the brothers recently opening Restaurant Santino and Sonny’s Wine Shop in Globe Lane, there’s no sign of the pair slowing down. We chatted to Kevin about all things pizza and progress…
When did the idea behind Kneading Ruby first take shape? The original love affair for me has always been pizza, pizza, pizza! The plan was to open up a restaurant, but when I finally decided to go for it, I was 26 years old with not much experience in a kitchen or a restaurant at all! The smart move was to learn the ropes in a low-risk environment, so I started learning in pizza franchise Crust. This then led to me owning one of the franchises, which taught me a tremendous amount about the business side of things. After six years on this journey, I felt it important to go overseas and learn how to make pizza the true Italian way. After four months travelling Europe and learning all things dough, I came back to Australia to see if I could make things happen.As always, money stress and fear of going it alone was prevalent, so I nagged my brother Fred to join me on this new venture. He eventually succumbed and brought 10 years of marketing experience in booze with him.
The restaurant is such a welcoming, vibrant space in a great location – what was the inspiration for the fit-out? We were very lucky in finding the space for KR – the bones of the building really shaped the vision. Being quite interested in architecture and industrial design at the time, I could instantly see the potential it had. It brought about a back-lane, converted-warehouse feel, which we really vibed. Hidden bars/restaurants, which are popular in cities like Melbourne, London and New York were inspiring to me. I love the notion of finding something ‘off the beaten track’, secretly tucked around a corner you wouldn’t think to look around, or behind a door you wouldn’t think to open. This idea really inspired the feel for Kneading Ruby.
What was the hope when first opening Kneading Ruby? A first it feels like you’re just happy to open the doors, get some bums on seats and hopefully break even! However, the response we received was quite unexpected and we found ourselves having to add more tables and seats earlier than expected. It’s a great feeling to have your ideas enjoyed by the public after all the hard work you put in to get to that point. But it also adds pressure as we were still in training mode, so it was very intense.
How do you guys create the menu? We try to stay true to Ruby’s roots – modern Italian cuisine. Apart from that, we try to expose ourselves to as many different venues that we really look up to and have days/nights out with our chefs researching.We’re very lucky to have some super talented chefs on board. Our main man head chef Matt Manning runs the creativity of the team in the kitchen and Eugenio Russomanno runs all things pizza. And we source many of our ingredients from Wollongong, using companies like Passion in Fruit, and Harley & Johns Seafood.
What’s the most popular dish on the menu? Without a doubt our potato gnocchi with peas, pancetta and goat’s cheese. It’s been a favourite from day one. And to this day, it’s still our biggest seller.
Tell us about your alcohol offering? In both restaurants, we offer a wide range of beer, wine, spirits and cocktails. Classic cocktails are on offer as well as some house-made, uniquely designed cocktails by our brilliant bartenders. Sonny’s Wine Shop offers lots of different boutique spirits from all over the world, locally made beer and some take-home, ready-made, in-house mixed cocktails that have been really popular during the pandemic… can’t imagine why? Ha! There is a red wine cellar at the back, which offers an extensive collection of wine curated by our brilliant sommelier David Bosanquet.As well as filling up Sonny’s Wine Shop, sourcing fantastic wine from all over the world, he’s also created the wine menu for both restaurants. He’s a great asset!
Are there any obstacles when working so closely with your family? I would have to say, Fred and I do very well in that sense. Luckily, our strengths lie in different areas of the business. We understand and respect where each other’s strengths and weaknesses come into play and bounce off each other. Having said that, we are family, which gives us the ability to tell each other to get f##ked and be okay with it after five minutes [laughs]. It’s a rarity but it happens.
What do you hope for the future of Kneading Ruby? We hope to continue having people come through our doors, regulars and new folk, be able to provide a level of service we’ve been known for and ensuring everyone leaves having had a wonderful time. Having to live through Covid and adopt a pick-up/delivery service for the past year on and off has really opened our eyes to how much we miss our customers and doing what we love.
You opened Restaurant Santino and Sonny’s Wine Shop this year too… Restaurant Santino is a tribute to the yesteryear era of art deco, Sinatra and martinis, if you will, with an Italian bistro feel.There’s some classics on the menu and there's some not-so-classics. Sonny’s on the other hand was born from a love of wine and wanting to combine the two businesses as one.What do you mean by that? I hear you ask… well, Santino and Sonny’s have an adjoining door. If you so wish, once you have taken your seats in the restaurant you can walk into Sonny’s wine cellar, pick your wine and head back into the restaurant. Or vice versa – if you enjoyed your wine so much over dinner you can pop through the cellar and buy some to take home on your way out! It’s a bit of theatre and fun but it also allows us to be more interactive with our customers.
Obviously, this year has been tumultuous – what was it like opening two new spaces? It’s been a funny old ride, full of mixed emotions and tiring days. Myself, Fred and my dad personally built the fit-outs for both Santino and Sonny's with help from my girlfriend too, so physically it was exhausting! However, the support we received from family, friends and our staff was truly humbling. It was so tough to close Santino for the lockdown – we had only been trading for three weeks and were just getting the momentum going that we all strive for in a restaurant.The majestic flow of service that usually takes a month or two to perfect was forming, and before we knew it, we had to shut the doors. It wasn’t what anyone wanted, but what can you do… The positive that came out of it, was that we could concentrate on finishing and opening Sonny’s Wine Shop as it wasn't quite ready when we opened Santino. Now we have both venues raring to go!
Have you received a lot of community support during this tough period? When you get thrown into these situations, you have a mixed bag of emotions – there’s the fear of how to pay the bills and retain your staff, the excitement of new possibilities and how to engage in a different market and the exhaustion that comes with it all.The great thing about Wollongong is the community support and the love that comes from a wide range of people and industries. Everyone here has each other’s backs, which is a special trait for a city.We’re lucky! We are so excited to have now welcomed guests back in and be doing what we love.
Do you believe the Wollongong food scene is growing? Definitely, I moved here over 11 years ago, and the food scene has exploded.You can see all the new venues opening and some of the more experienced venues setting the bar. Babyface is coming on the back of a hatted score, you have the very talented Matt and Cassandra Bugeja taking the reins at The Throsby with Ain’t Nonna’s, plus Dan Sherley doing his thing at Débutant and Rookie. And we can't forget our friends up north, Papi’s “having the second best burgers”… we love that! Also, newcomers to the region Bar Franco in Thirroul really shaking things up. Plus, all the other amazing operators out there putting their stamp and flavour on the region.What I’d like to see more of is later licencing for venues. I would really love to finish service and be able to head out for a bite somewhere apart from Maccas! Or just more of the smaller bars being able to open past 12pm.
What’s next for the family business? For now, it’s to chill, breathe, keep doing what we love and get past Christmas [laughs].
