shifting sands of silica

THE STORY OF KIAMA’S BEACHSIDE GEM

Words & images Stefan Posthuma 72 Manning St, Kiama, www.silicakiama.com.au

After years slaving over the hot stoves of the Wollongong hospitality circuit, best mates Luke Basic and John Cappellin decided it was time to go out on their own. A decision fuelled by a passion for good food and a desire to be the narrators of their own story – what began as a joke, quickly became a reality, and after viewing venues across the Illawarra, a stand-alone building overlooking the blue waters of Kiama’s Surf Beach was where Silica Restaurant was born. Through floods, fires and endless lockdowns, the story of Silica didn’t quite go as planned, but a focus on simplicity, taking care of people and the support of a community has helped shift the narrative into one of what’s possible when you care about your product, your staff, and the people you feed. Have you always been a part of the Illawarra hospo scene? Luke: I did my chef’s apprenticeship in the Blue Mountains, where I grew up. I worked at places like Aria and Bentley in Sydney. Eventually an opportunity came up at Harbourfront in Wollongong, so my partner (and business partner) Kate and I decided to make the sea change. John: I’m a local boy – I grew up here, my whole chef career has been in Wollongong. I did get out of hospitality for a while, but the industry gets a grasp on you. You love it, you hate it – I just couldn’t let it go. Luke and I worked at Harbourfront together and quickly became mates. It wasn’t long until we had a running joke about starting a business together.

How did that joke become a reality? Luke: After I left Harbourfront I took a bit of time off, which gave me an opportunity to get serious about starting a business. I think deep down Johnny and I knew we’d do something eventually.

As a chef you can work really hard for other people, you don’t have much control and it can consume you. As much as anything else, opening Silica was an effort to have more flexibility and balance in our lives. John: We’d worked in hospo long enough to understand what was ahead, and what’s involved in running a business. For me, opening a restaurant was also about life experience. I’d always thought it would be cool and interesting to own a place – I didn’t just want to be a chef working for someone else my whole life. Sometimes you’ve just gotta have a go.

Why did you decide to open in Kiama? Luke: We were looking for venues everywhere. We looked in Wollongong and were interested in a few places up there, then we came to Kiama to check out some spots and we saw this building. We instantly saw the potential in it. We’re right on the beach, the town has a great vibe, it's busy during the holidays – so much potential.

L to R: Jarrod Venegas, Luke Basic and John Cappellin

Being in Kiama, we knew that naturally we would use the great seafood this area has to offer

It’s a pretty unique location, did the venue itself help dictate what you were going to do with the food? Luke: I always wanted to keep the food quite simple, and let good produce be the focus. Being in Kiama, we knew that naturally we would use the great seafood this area has to offer.We get amazing fish, oysters, prawns, and we also have a couple of plots at Dapto Community Farm, which Kate takes care of, and we use the produce in the restaurant.The menu changes a lot; there’s no real rules – I’ll just change a dish or two at a time, maybe add a new garnish depending on what’s growing, or try something different if a supplier brings us something awesome. When you focus on getting good produce you really don’t have to do much to it. Before you opened, there weren’t many places in Kiama doing the level of food you are here. Tell us about the decision to be slightly more upmarket? Luke: We were a bit worried about that at the start. It seemed obvious to us that a finer, more thoughtful menu would work here. But it hadn’t been done in Kiama previously so there was some uncertainty. It’s what we wanted to do so we had to go for it. The service was also so important, we want our guests to feel like they can come here for a special occasion and really be taken care of. John: Yeah, I think people here in Kiama really appreciated that. Having a place to come for a good meal, and to be waited on well. There’s lots of casual places and great cafes in Kiama. We’re a restaurant, from the food to the service – we really want to look after our customers.

How has the Kiama scene developed since you opened in 2018? Luke: Regional hospitality has shifted up a level in general, and it’s pretty apparent here in Kiama. There’s a tonne of great

venues now. Places like Otis, Miss Arda and Little Betty’s have opened in the past few years. They’ve all contributed to the food culture in the town. Once a few good places are established, it becomes more of a foodie destination. You get more customers and everyone benefits. John: I think since the pandemic, more young people and professionals are moving to regions and are looking for good bars and restaurants to go to, so they’re helping keep the food culture strong. It's great – the more foodies the better.

Do you feel part of the Kiama community? John: Absolutely. We’ve had so much support from the locals. Especially through the pandemic when no-one was travelling and people weren’t going out. The locals really got behind the takeaway. That really helped us get to know the local community, and it’s great to be a part of it now. Luke: We also still get a lot of support from the Wollongong crew, too. People we’ve known in the industry for years. They’ll come down to check us out and have a meal. It’s cool to be connected to both places. A big part of Silica is the takeaway shop downstairs – what’s it like running a restaurant and a takeaway at the same time? Luke: The takeaway is its own beast – we work in the kitchen together, but we really just run it like two businesses. It’s funny, when we decided to open a place, I had no idea we were going to end up having a fish and chip shop. But we’re chefs, we love food, we love fish and chips as much as anyone – and we wanted to put the same level of quality into that as the food in the restaurant. I put a line on the website that says,“Fresh fish, battered to order.” If you do that and you have a clean deep fryer, you can’t go wrong… and people are blown away about the quality. Just don’t use frozen stuff… it’s really not that hard. John: When the pandemic hit, we also had no idea how much having the takeaway would help us out. People couldn’t go out at all, they couldn’t come into the restaurant, so the takeaway was a lifesaver. It allowed us to keep the lights on and we managed to keep all our staff, so we squeaked through the worst of Covid better than some.

What are the best bits of owning your own restaurant? John: We’re so lucky to have such great staff who’ve been with us the whole time. When I come to work, I get to hang out with my best mates. I honestly would prefer to be doing that than sitting at the pub or watching TV all day. Being with close friends in a good environment is awesome. Luke: Getting to know Kiama and the people down here has been really rewarding. The locals, our regulars, they’ve got us through the pandemic, and the bushfires before that – there’s been something every year. Being in a regional town, and being welcomed into the tight-knit community has been amazing.

Have you found the work/life balance you set out to achieve? Luke: It’s funny at the moment – we’ve had to work so hard to get through the fires and the pandemic so… not really. If we were given the opportunity to have some normal trade for a year or two, things should be running like we envisaged, and we will be able to achieve that balance and look at what’s ahead. John: That’s hospo for you, really. You know your signing up for hard work, and you don’t know what it's gonna throw at you. But you do it because you love it. We’ve hopefully made it through the worst of it… so it’s only upward from here.