Bondi Trattoria, known to locals as ‘The Tratt’, has been sold to Joe Pavlovich and Alasdair France, backed by Tigger Investments Pty Ltd.
They will close the venue for two weeks in early May, before re-opening on Thursday 18 May with a menu that will stay loyal to the restaurant’s Italian roots but with a slightly broader Mediterranean influence. Pavlovich will keep the diverse menu structure, putting more emphasis on the provenance and quality of the produce.
“The previous owners have been terrific and want to do everything right by their customers. They told us that if we took the angel hair pasta with fresh tuna off the menu there would be serious trouble – so it will certainly stay,” said Pavlovich.
Breakfast will see a range of fresh juice combinations as well as a grilled truffle cheese sandwich, half a dozen egg dishes, organic buckwheat and ricotta pancakes, and ‘The Tratt’.
Lunch and dinner will be broken into antipasti, pizzas, salads and vegetable dishes, pasta, mains, larger plates to be shared and dessert. The offering includes roasted split prawn, garlic and chilli butter, herbs; lamb sausage, caramelised onion, olives, silver beet, provolone, harissa yoghurt pizza; roasted carrots, saganaki cheese, honey, oregano, toasted oats and nuts; angel hair, barely touched tuna, zucchini, rocket, chilli, lemon, capers; jewfish fillet poached in olive oil and lemon confit, artichoke, cucumber, shimeji mushrooms, garlic chives, truffle broth; and liquorice quince, sheep’s yoghurt, basil ice cream, air dried honeycomb
There will be a prix fixe menu priced at $35 for two courses and $55 for three between noon and 6.30pm Monday–Thursday, Happy Hour from 3–5pm daily and BYO wine Monday–Thursday.
Both France and Pavlovich were born in New Zealand and both began their hospitality careers there, but spent the majority of their working lives in Australia.
France has Post Graduate Diploma in Horticulture (Wine Science and Viticulture). At Dockside in Wellington, New Zealand, he was the inaugural winner of the Supreme Felix, an industry voted award for excellence in hospitality.
After moving to Australia he worked at Bistro LuLu, Otto, glass brasserie, was F&B operations manager of Hilton Sydney, then group operations manager of The Mangan Group.
Pavlovich started in fine dining in Auckland before coming to Australia where he worked with Serge Dansereau at Kables, est, then at Bistro Lulu before rising to the position of group executive chef for The Mangan Group.
Speaking about Bondi Trattoria, their first venture as proprietors, France said “We think it is important to have serious experience both front and back of house. And you don’t get much more experienced than the two of us – in a good way.”