Briscola owner Gianni Guglielmin with floor manager Ainslee Henman. Photo: Michelle Kroll.
In Canberra’s dynamic hospitality scene, restaurants come and go. It’s an achievement to see your restaurant make it past year three, but Briscola Italian restaurant in the city is celebrating an impressive 15 years of family-style Italian.
When owner Gianni Guglielmin bought the business, it had a Spanish name and a focus on pizza. He rebranded to Briscola – paying tribute to a popular Italian card game – and shifted the menu towards a broader mid-range Italian style of pasta, pizza and other dishes.
The rest, as they say, is history.
“The first five years were brutally hard! It was really challenging,” he told Region.
“Over the years I’ve gotten better as a restauranteur, which of course means doing everything: running the business, doing HR, cooking and recipe design.”
In the early days Gianni’s mum Enza made their popular ravioli from scratch, but she took a well earned retirement a few years ago. A few dishes have remained on the menus for many years, like their popular three meat ragu with pappardelle – Gianni’s version of bolognaise ragu – and he says there’s a few dishes that customers won’t let him take off the menu!
The three meat ragu at Briscola is a favourite dish on the menu. Photo: Michelle Kroll.
Gianni attributes much of his success to his staff. Proximity to the university means he often employs students, who often stay throughout their degree and even beyond: Gianni says he has a couple of staff who are now employed full-time elsewhere but keep coming back for one casual shift on the weekends. He often employs the friends and family members of staff: he currently employs two trios of siblings!
“When I find a good staff member I’ll ask: ‘Do you have any siblings or friends?’ So they enjoy coming into work and they love working with the other staff,” he said.
He’s also now employing his own kids, and his son recently celebrated his 18th birthday at the restaurant.
To celebrate the anniversary he’ll be running some blackboard specials of original menu items. Nonna Enza will even come out of retirement for one special batch of ravioli! He’s also reviving their special tavola dinners: long table banquets around a theme like Ventian or Roman food.
He’s also taking the plunge and opening a second venue later this year in Belconnen, something his regulars have been asking him to do for many years.
Briscola has stood the test of time as a trusted and dependable restaurant that people are happy to return to again and again.
“We’re not an ‘Instagrammable’ restaurant, but we’re reliable. You know what you’re going to get, you know the service is going to be good, and you know the food is going to be good.”
Briscola is located at 60 Alinga Street, Canberra. It is open for lunch from Tuesday to Sunday 12 to 2 pm, and for dinner seven days a week from 5:30 to 8:30 pm, 9 pm on Friday and Saturday.
For updates about birthday celebrations and events visit its website or follow Briscola on Facebook or Instagram.
