Like all good neighbourhood bars, Good Gilbert brings people together. In this case, owners Wilson and Isabelle Shawyer have linked up with customers-turned-business-partners Scott Fox, Mel Holmes and Stephen Tzanakis. Now, the quartet are about to open their first restaurant together – Asha – in a former hairdresser two doors down from the Goodwood wine bar.
“My biggest gripe with this area has always been that we’re by ourselves,” says Wilson. “We’ve always wanted to create a precinct, we’ve always wanted more people to open up in the area.”
When the compact site at 135 Goodwood Road came up, Tzanakis and Wilson went to Sydney to get a feel for some of their favourite small and intimate venues there, and were inspired by places like freewheeling Middle Eastern restaurant Ezra in Potts Point.
“We became comfortable with the idea of beautiful neighbourhood restaurants that can just be that – it doesn’t need to be top-end and wanky, just be fun and vibrant,” says Wilson. “But it also couldn’t take away from what we’re doing at GG’s, it had to be a completely complementary business model.”
When Fox and Holmes – who together ran idyllic beachside restaurant Pearls on the Beach on New South Wales’s Central Coast for 20 years before moving to Adelaide – came on board, it solidified the concept.
“My default [cooking] is North African, Middle Eastern, Eastern Mediterranean style,” says Fox, who’s steering the Asha kitchen alongside sous-chef Awhe Pahau, his former chef de partie at Pearls, who also happens to have moved to Adelaide, recently clocking time at Anchovy Bandit as head chef.
“We used to close [our restaurant] for a month in winter because it was seaside and a very touristy sort of place, so we’d be quiet in the winter and we’d go overseas on food and wine [trips] and bring back those experiences and inspirations we found,” says Fox.
The punchy menu at Asha sits at the intersection of Middle Eastern, Mediterranean and North African flavours. “You can see where the Ottoman [Empire] was and what mark it left and that’s the inspiration I get excited about.”
You might start with lachuch, a spongy, pancake-like flatbread eaten regularly in Yemen, served with smoky eggplant and sour mushroom salsa, before moving onto herbaceous falafel with black sesame cream or a mini duck pastilla (a Maghrebi pie made with warqa dough, similar to filo) dusted in sweet almond powder. Larger plates might include a half roast chicken spiced with ras el hanout and saffron, or lamb rump served with pearl and black barley.
Fox emphasises it’s not traditional Middle Eastern and Maghrebi fare, but modern Australian food that draws on his experiences and the flavours he loves. “It’s my version, from a white Aussie boy, who’s got as much experience in Japanese food as I do Italian or French.”
But there’s notably no pork on the menu. “Even though we’re not a traditional Middle Eastern restaurant, I’m conscious of the cultural implications food has within those areas and it would be super disrespectful to say we’re a Middle Eastern restaurant then do a pork tagine.”
There is alcohol (the wine list is concise, but Good Gilbert’s list is available if you desire) but there’s also a range of tea-based non-alcoholic cocktails, like Rooibos and Pomegranate, and Earl Grey and Blueberry. “The tea’s got the tannin that wine would have, so it works well with a meat dish,” says Holmes. “We’re not going to have an Aperol Spritz, for instance. We might do a rhubarb or hibiscus or rose or orange blossom … without it being theme-y.”
If you want something harder, there's a Lavender Sour, Spicy Watermelon Marg and a Pineapple Vermouth, which you might pair with a dessert of olive oil cake with blood orange salad, pistachio halva and ashta (a Middle Eastern clotted cream), or bitter chocolate ganache with carob molasses, dates and pinenut.
Holmes and Fox will both be on-ground at Asha (Holmes on the floor and Fox in the kitchen), while Shawyer oversees his trifecta (and counting) of venues, which also includes Good Burger with Tzanakis.
The space keeps it simple with intimate seating, neutral tones and a partition and split-level breaking up the long and narrow room for extra cosy vibes. Keep an eye out for the bathroom wallpaper, which goes the other route, with a vibrant, colourful pattern inspired by the art and architecture of Morocco.
Asha opens tonight at 135 Goodwood Road, Goodwood.
