There’s a new Italian restaurant on the Central Coast and we visited to see if it was worth your time…
Cast your mind back to the last Italian escapade where you dined al fresco and drank Sicilian wine till dawn. Black coffee was a necessity and cannoli was served for breakfast.
A very similar sensation can be found in the heart of Umina Beach. Steering away from West Street and taking a turn down Trafalgar Avenue, you’ll find yourself at the Italian Sandwich Company; a new addition to the Coast that offers fresh, authentic Italian cuisine six days a week, only closing on Mondays.
Headed by Australian-born Italian Fabien Marin, his vision is clear: He wants the trattoria-style eatery to be as much about food as it is about creating a strong community. To him, people aren’t “just a table number… they’re somebody.”
“It’s a trattoria because it’s more of a local, little place where, whoever you are, you can come in and feel comfortable,” Fabien explains to Coasties. “You can have a laugh and have a chat. It’s like a melting pot of something simple you can just come and enjoy.”
Simplicity extends to the menu. Fabien’s focus is on fresh, organic and, in his words, “real” dishes. He bakes schiacciata and panino bread each morning and serves traditional Italian pasta each evening.
His drive to serve the region fresh Italian fare comes from his days working as a supplier for a large international food chain, seeing the rising demand of fast food and a heavy reliance on frozen produce for customers.
Fabien puts it plainly: “A lot of the processed stuff is what’s hurting people’s stomachs”.
So, what’s exactly on the menu? Let’s start at breakfast. After all, the Italian Sandwich Company opens at 8am each day. There’s croissants and plenty of them. Freshly baked and filled with sweet or savoury. An Italian take on a croque monsieur, with ham, cheese and a fried egg baked inside is delightfully indulgent.
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New Italian Restaurant on the Central Coast
Then there’s of course the chunky sandwiches that heave with the likes of 24-month-aged imported prosciutto from Parma, alongside delicatessen specialities from cities around the country. Plainly, his sandwiches go beyond a simple collection of ingredients pressed between two slices of bread.
And as the sun sets and dinner arrives, there’s also six types of pasta to choose from that you then pair with a choice of seven sauces. The Verdura speaks to us, a rich tomato sauce with grilled mushrooms and zucchini. And while The Italian Sandwich Company isn’t licensed (yet), you can still bring your own wine to enjoy as you dine in the outdoor courtyard.
But let’s not forget the star of the show: The coffee. Fabien says that choosing a coffee blend for the Italian Sandwich Company was the most challenging aspect of opening the eatery back in December. “Us Italians are very particular about our coffee,” he laughs.
And in turn, he is now the only spot on the Central Coast to offer Veneziano, created on Bourke Street in Sydney and found in some of the city’s finest restaurants. It is, in short, simply divine. You can also buy by the bag, including a decaf blend that Fabien claims is the only decaf he would drink (if forced). There’s also single-origin Colombian bean coffee.
For Fabien, the key to the Italian Sandwich Company’s sweet success in such a short time, only opening back in December, comes from merely using “simple ingredients that work well together”.
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It’s perhaps no surprise that as an Italian, food is only part of the equation. For Fabien, he aspires to bring people of the Central Coast together in the same way his family has since he was a child.
He adds, “I want people to know that I’m here as the owner: one for them, and two because I want people to see what I do and what I believe in.
“I want people to come here and I want them to feel like they’re part of the family, regardless of their background or their differences.”
The Details
Name: Italian Sandwich Company
Address: 311 Trafalgar Ave, Umina Beach NSW 2257
Website: https://italiansandwichco.com.au/
Congratulation!