New restaurant brings Italian flavour
Daniel Monopoli is trying to establish a new go-to venue in the Nelson food scene.
The restaurateur recently opened Bar Rosa, replacing his former Hardy St offering Parts & Service, which he closed in January last year to renovate.
As the food scene was always progressing, he decided to freshen up the restaurant, giving it an Italian feel.
The Nelson man works seven days a week, managing three restaurants in town, but still finds some time to develop new recipes in the kitchen.
After working in Australia, the UK and New Zealand restaurants, such as award-winning Amisfield, Monopoli returned to his hometown in 2009, where he met his current partner, writer Erin Palmisano.
As well as Bar Rosa, he owns Boat Shed Cafe, which he renovated in 2018 after it was damaged by storm Fehi, as well as Urban Oyster Bar & Eatery.
While he was the chef, Palmisano did most of the cooking at home, Monopoli said.
“But I cook when we use charcoal or the wood fire oven at home ‒ often with a decent-sized gin.”
His knowledge of food and recipes has at times become a source of inspiration for Erin, during her researches for her books, Monopoli said.
“That can lead me to rediscovering recipes, concepts or food experiences.”
He said travelling, family and food were connected fields, but often a full immersion within those environments was required to understand those connections.
For Bar Rosa, he was inspired by his Italian ancestry.
“[It] will have an Italian feel ‒ but not exclusively.”
The restaurant opened to the public this month.
“There are so many facets to opening the doors to a new restaurant: the systems, staff, look and feel.
“Initially these things need to be tweaked daily as required to get the overall offering right.
“It is a process of meeting the customers’ needs as well as staff… and you can only do that with some services under your belt.”
Head chef Jay Clement said it felt good to be back at the restaurant, as he was part of the team that developed Parts & Service more than a decade ago.
The 33-year-old said Bar Rosa was more focused on using Italian-inspired flavours.
“It’s using Italian techniques with New Zealand ingredients, or using Italian ingredients with maybe some more New Zealand techniques.”
Some of the items on the menu included home made porchetta, a pork belly marinated overnight and then cooked in the oven for more than two hours, and Sicilian crudo, slices of raw yellowfin tuna served with chopped capers, anchovies, parsley and shallots.
“We’re pretty spoiled in Nelson with the great produce and great wines,” Clement said.
“We’re only 50km away from the farm where we get most of our produce.”
By Warren Gamble, Nelson Mail
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