“Our grandmother ran the alimentari in her village before emigrating to Australia,” Anna-Lisa Barone tells Broadsheet, when we check in a few weeks ahead of the venue’s opening. “It was a grocer where you could buy all the things you’d need to make into a sandwich – cheese, smallgoods and bread,” she says. “[At Tonino], we’re kind of doing that in reverse.”
You won’t find many sanga shops serving giardiniera (a relish of pickled vegetables) and agliata (a pungent garlic-and-breadcrumb sauce), but the Barone siblings Nick and Anna-Lisa say they’re common inside many Italian homes. It’s their way of sharing personal, family traditions – most of which centre on food. The Barones grew up bottling homemade sauce and gathering to make salami and capocollo.
Continuing family traditions at Tonino – which is named for their grandfather – means making as much as possible by hand. Everything from bread and pastries to smallgoods, sauces, gelati and even flavoured straciatella is done in-house. The tiramisu, made from their grandmother’s recipe, is sure to be a knockout.
Of course, certain ingredients always need to be ordered in. For Italians, Nick explains, “it’s not good enough to just have prosciutto or salami, it has to be the best prosciutto or salami”.
A couple of select specialties – like a cheese that holds a unique place in Barone family lore – are proving tricky to source. “We don’t even know the name of it, we just call it ‘nonno Tonino cheese’ because he always had it around,” Anna-Lisa says.
But it’s more than just traditional flavours being replicated at Tonino. The pair hopes to capture a little of the Italian eating culture too – right from the morning coffee. “Every morning in an Italian household starts with espresso made on the stovetop,” Anna-Lisa says. Moka pots – as well as espresso coffee – will be available to kickstart the day both in individual servings and larger brews to share. But don’t expect a ham and cheese croissant along with it – that just wouldn’t be authentic. Instead, Anna-Lisa recommends, “maritozzi, which [is a] soft bun that we’ll be making and filling with soft whipped cream on the spot.”
On the drinks front there are spritzes, wine and beer. “Our beer Birra Kbirr is from a microbrewery… and it’s not found anywhere outside of Naples, except here,” Nick says.
Anna-Lisa points out another unique offering; a prickly-pear-flavoured soft drink, made using 20 per cent fruit juice. “It’s a very popular fruit in the south of Italy,” she says.
Like any good alimentari, Tonino will also offer a range of take-home goods and pantry items. Load up with sliced-to-order meats, biscotti, cooking oils and more.
Tonino (3/114 King William Road, Goodwood) is set to open in the first week of March.
