Like many northern suburbs’ residents, Yon Miller and Emma Huber sometimes get frustrated by their neighbourhood’s lack of diversity when it comes to food.
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So – after years of being stuck for a place to eat with their two young kids that’s close to home – the foodie couple behind Wollongong’s Sandygoodwich cafe are about to open their ideal venue in Bulli.
“We live down the road from here, and we’re very often sort of stuck for where to go,” Ms Huber said.
“We’ve noticed that the demographic is changing very quickly up north, but that maybe the food isn’t changing as quickly as it could to meet that new market.”
“We’ve been looking for a while for a space to open a restaurant – and we were intending to do some renovations of our house – but not anymore, because we decided to open this place.”
“This place” is Eat at Sandys, which will take over the Princes Highway pizza restaurant which once housed Bon Aroma, Vespa and The Foreigner.
And, while the couple was pleased to inherit the restaurant’s huge wood fire oven, they are adamant there will be no pizza on the menu.
“We decided not to take it out, but thought, let’s find a way to use it that’s a bit different,” Ms Huber said.
“I’ve never really understood what a difference a wood fire oven made, but we came in and had a little practice dinner and the flavour was incredible.”
As the chef, Mr Miller is planning a menu focused on roasted meats, whole baked vegetables and some woodfired breads, which touches on the home-made, Middle Eastern and Mediterranean-style food Sandygoodwich is known for.
“We really want to move away from the idea that this is a venue for pizza – if people want pizza they can go up the road,” he said.
“For us, a wood fire takes it back to the bare essentials, before electric and gas ovens, the idea of cooking around the hearth, just food and fire,” he said.
“We have children, so we know the importance of getting together for family meals.
“And while we do love club food, we feel that clubs are in the market of serving cheap meals in as little time as possible, and our view is more about treating your food well and eating good produce together.”
With this in mind, “family-style” shared dinners of meats or vegetarian mains served with various sides will start at 5pm – the time when younger kids get hungry – while a full menu of plated dishes will cater for later diners.
“The idea is that it will definitely be a space that you can have a more adult meal after kids have left – so we’re hoping it will naturally fall into those two lifestyles,” Ms Huber said.