First Look: Valley Favourite Eterna Has Been Transformed Into a Bright and Lively Italian Restaurant in Bulimba

Stefano De Blasi has never encountered locals quite like those in Bulimba.

“It’s funny,” De Blasi says. “When we’ve opened a restaurant in Gasworks or Fortitude Valley or South Bank, or even Surfers Paradise, no one has ever come to us like people here and said, ‘This is our suburb, this is what we do, this is what we need. We need good Italian, we need house-made pasta, we need woodfired pizza. But we don’t want to pay too much. We don’t want live music. We can’t have the bins emptied after 9pm.’

“We say, ‘Okay! No problem.’ It’s their venue and we’re just running it, basically,” De Blasi says, laughing.

It captures the sense of excitement surrounding this week’s opening of Mina Restaurant & Bar – even if the folks who live in this eastern suburbs enclave would like it somewhat on their terms.

Occupying the 37 Oxford Street tenancy, next door to Darvella, Melrose and Bellissimo, Mina was originally intended to be a new location for De Blasi and Edoardo Perlo’s enormously popular late-night Roman restaurant, Eterna, which closed on Ann Street in December last year. But what they, along with new business partners Ross Ledingham and Mario Castro, have come up with is something much sunnier – hence the new name.

Mina is decked out in bright yellows and whites, with VJ-wall features and a pink terrazzo bar. A low-set pass keeps the kitchen open to the restaurant and many of its 80 seats are outside under festoon lighting, lending the whole restaurant a bright, breezy, summery feel.

The food, by chef Joel Walker (previously of The Calile), also ranges more widely than Eterna’s Roman-based menu. You might have porchetta with fennel apple crisps and a sauce vierge inspired by Rome; Florence-style plates of rigatoni and Tasmanian lamb ragu with tomato sugo and ricotta salata, and polenta a tavola with buffalo mozzarella, marrow, sugo and vegetables; or local split-grill prawns with yellow-tomato bruschetta that captures the spirit of the Mediterranean coast.

There’s also a Valoriani woodfired oven punching out Napoli-style margherita, diavola and prosciutto pizzas, as well as a calzone classico (tomato, ham, mushrooms, fior di latte) and more singular creations such as an alpina pizza (mozzarella, gorgonzola, Grana Padano, pancetta and walnuts).

De Blasi says the intention was to combine the most popular dishes from Eterna and Salt Meats Cheese, the family-friendly Italian chain he and Perlo first debuted in Sydney 10 years ago, to reflect Bulimba’s changing demographic.

“You have people who have been here for 30 years,” he says. “But there are also young families from interstate that just brought a property, or they’ve moved here with young kids. They’re looking to come in for modern Italian, but we’re also doing those more traditional gnocchis and spaghettis.”

The 90-bottle wine list has been largely imported from Eterna and retains its focus on Italy’s peninsula and island regions, with your typical pinot grigios and soaves flanked by Venetian vermentino, Sicilian nero d’Avola and Umbrian trebbiano Spoletino. Mina, though, has also added a slug of funky local drops, including an Alpha Box & Dice gruner veltliner and Unico Zelo’s cult Esoterico amber blend.

Looking ahead, Mina will expand its footprint by utilising the Giorgina Venzin-owned Darvella’s al fresco dining area during the evening, with Venzin in turn using the Mina seats during the day. It taps into the neighbourly atmosphere down this end of Oxford Street, which has given the Bulimba dining scene an almighty injection of new blood.

“Having Bellissimo and Darvella as neighbours is amazing, because everyone goes there and everyone sees us,” De Blasi says. “I can’t even unload the car out front because people stop me and say, ‘Hey, we’re gonna book tonight,’ or, ‘Can I see the menu?’ or, ‘What kind of food do you do?’ Today, I probably talked to 30 people in half an hour as I was dropping off glassware and all that last-minute stuff. It’s been fantastic.”

Mina Restaurant & Bar
37 Oxford Street, Bulimba
(07) 3899 0683

Hours:
Mon to Fri 5pm–9pm
Sat & Sun 12pm–9pm

minaitalian.com.au