Most of us have experienced the taste of cheap wine from a goon bag in our youth but new Mt Lawley osteria Testun is serving it up to help change people’s perception of the iconic grog.
Diners can purchase goon by the glass for $10 or by carafe for $50 at the new neo-italo osteria located on Beaufort Street.
Venue manager Katia Taschetti said the goal was to make the space approachable and affordable for everyone who walked in.
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READ NOW“We looked around and saw the option of natural wine in a box,” she said.
“We thought it might be a good way of offering something that is quite affordable in a nice way and reinventing the perception of the goon that it’s just horrible wine, but instead it can be something nice to drink.”
Goon is not the only nostalgic element at Testun with the space decked out to make any Italian-Australian feel like they’ve walked into their grandparents house in the 90s.
The mismatched serving plates and crocheted white drapes hanging above the bar greet you as you walk in leaving you with that warm, cozy feeling that you get when stepping foot into nonna’s for something homemade with love.
“The way we cook is very similar to the way we deck the space out,” co-owner Christopher Caravella said.
“When you walk in, it doesn’t just feel like a restaurant, you step in a place where everyone is invested not just financially but emotionally in the venue and what we do and we truly believe in it, and I think that is something unique about what we do.
“We draw on this sense of nostalgia growing up in Italian households in the 90s — a little bit of stuff we grew up with mixed with a little bit of stuff that we like.”
The space is much different than its former incarnation — previously TRIO cafe and wine bar — which is what the four owners envisioned.
“The cafe side of it we didn’t enjoy it and there’s so much competition around so we just thought to turn it into something we like,” Ms Taschetti said.
“(We wanted) to bring some freshness to the scene of Italian dining, to bring something a bit newer, a bit fresher, a bit more fun and a bit more youthful energy to it.”
Mr Caravella said the four owners — one being the man who runs nearby trattoria Threecoins — have drawn on their Italian heritage and fused it with things they grew up eating.
“There are no real rules, as long as we have some sort of connection we can draw back to Italian cuisine no matter how esoteric it is, then it’s fair game for us,” he said.
“There are so many Italian restaurants around but there are not many with young people, young owners, young people working the floor and young people invested in driving Italian and Italo- Australian heritage flavours.”
Testun is open from Wednesday to Saturday from 4pm to late and Sunday from 12pm to 9pm.
Read Simon Collins’ review of Testun in The West Australian.