Meet Our Locals
Every week we’re sitting down to chat with some of our favourite restaurant owners to find out how business has been going. Please join us!
Tony, Bonditony’s
“The stars aligned on this place.
Five years ago, someone let me know that it was for sale.
It was meant to be a bar at first, with burgers easy to serve up on the side.
With a vision for a chill place for mates to come and hang out, I put burgers all over the advertising, so it wouldn’t be so obvious it was a bar! (Laughs).
The first week, it did three times what I budgeted for in burgers. So then I had to start running around and looking for cooks!
I’ve always been part of the community.
We have a really successful business model around that.
I’m friendly with all the restaurant owners around here. We help each other out, someone’s out of meat or cheese and we help them out - and vice versa. It’s the true definition of community spirit. Things can change pretty quickly, so you can’t be out to hurt others.
What was it like when COVID hit?
We had to think on our feet, switch it to all takeaway.
I had to strip back, and then learn how to run a leaner model, I jumped in as needed.
We didn’t know it was going to work, but it did work.
I’ve got enough experience and knowledge to actually know what I was doing would work, in hindsight. I feel the business is definitely stronger from that.
Whenever there’s an issue, something positive always comes from it.
The community got behind us tenfold.On Deliveroo they started leaving comments - “we hope you’re doing well” “we’ll keep supporting you” etc. Everyone was super nice, super patient, super understanding.
I wanted to show my gratitude because I love giving stuff back to the community, as they did for me.
But it actually became bigger than what I thought it would be.
I said, what can we give back to the community, but not hurt the brand?
So let’s do $5 beers with Young Henry’s. And let’s add $5 wings & nuggets, they don’t take much time. And then the $10 margaritas.
Suddenly everyone was wandering around Bondi with margaritas in hand!
Without fail, this has been a big positive from COVID.
We’re all about the customer. Their experience is everything.
It’s taken me 5 years to realise that. You do so many different things along the way but it all comes back to community support.
I encourage my staff to sit down with the customers, get them a round of shots - and have a shot with them!
And when we fuck up, we own it. You’ve got to own it. We had a couple in, and we missed their order. I apologised, and said ‘everything’s on me’. So they left a huge tip.
I hand out these cards for a free beer and burger as well. They’re like my random acts of kindness cards. I always have four on me, just in case!
Now that Bonditony’s is 5 years old, it’s a really solid business. I always knew it had legs, but now I think it’s got really strong legs. It feels like we’re part of the area now.”
Favourite burger?
“When people come in, and say what should I eat? I say get the Bordy. Add deep-fried jalapeno, bacon, on the gluten free bun (trust me) and the sweet potato fries. Sometimes I’ll surprise them and give them the upgrades for free.
All our burgers are named after bands. But my friend Bordy, he’s like my guru, the guy I can talk to for advice. So I said I’ll name a special burger after you.”
A note from The Sauce: we tried the Bordy with extras - the best! Tony is one of a kind, truly has his customers and the community at heart. It was a privilege to spend time (and drink margs) with him.
Nat, Bang Tang
“I took the risk and opened my own restaurant because being a chef, the dream is to have your own place and deliver your vision without compromise.
Business wise I had zero experience!
But you would never start if you had a pedestal of perfection so you JUST DO IT, listen to yourself and your customer, solve problems day by day, and stay strong in your passion.
Surprisingly, some of the best times have been during COVID. When we hit challenges, the regulars really showed support. As soon as we reopened they were straight back in. It gave me confidence that my hard work had been recognised and it was incredibly humbling. It was a huge moment for me.
We worked twice as hard to deliver the quality during the lockdown. I would say to my team every day, “Surprise them. Even if we are quiet let’s serve and surprise them.”
But equally, some of the worst times have been COVID. How could we keep the quality and survive financially?
I’ve learnt some lessons along the way. COVID helped me become stronger in myself and my mindset, and then build my team stronger too.
We keep on innovating, that’s our culture. We treat everyone with the same consistency and service. And we’re always respectful of customer feedback. This is how we grow.”
𝗪𝗵𝗮𝘁'𝘀 𝘆𝗼𝘂𝗿 𝗳𝗮𝘃𝗼𝘂𝗿𝗶𝘁𝗲 𝗱𝗶𝘀𝗵?
"They are all like my kids!!! Ahhh if I had to choose one, I do really love curry.... and the juicy belly soup. That’s a hard one!"
𝗛𝗼𝘄 𝗱𝗶𝗱 𝘆𝗼𝘂 𝗻𝗮𝗺𝗲 𝘁𝗵𝗲 𝗿𝗲𝘀𝘁𝗮𝘂𝗿𝗮𝗻𝘁?
"I wanted it to be easy to remember, like a punch. I grew up in Bangkok which is very cosmopolitan for food, street food and fine dining - it’s a colourful city. BANG TANG for me means colourful and flavoursome like a punch in the palate."
Yoash, Simply Hummus Bar
“I relocated from Israel to New York and from New York to Sydney with my wife’s job. I’ve always been an entrepreneur but also had a day job as a lawyer and then in tech, but I’m a passionate man and I was looking for something new. There are great hummus bars all over the world but not any in the Eastern Suburbs so I decided to open one.
I did my homework. I wanted the best hummus possible so I tried every hummus in the area. We sold at a few markets, then launched the restaurant.
I had no way of knowing how challenging it would be. All I knew was that I was throwing myself in with no experience. It was certainly more than I expected!
It was challenging to get started because we have such a precise menu offering, and we wont compromise on quality. Everything we offer is kosher and vegan, it’s all the highest quality food from the best supplies. Everything is sustainable right down to our coffee cups. I wont compromise on quality.
COVID was really tough. We had to rework the menu completely. Before it was share plates, we turned it into single serves, takeaway food like pita wraps. It was just me and another guy and we worked day and night together, right around the clock.
The second spike has been even tougher. We’ve seen 40% loss of income. But I’ll keep going. I love seeing the look on customers’ faces when they eat our food, they appreciate the quality.”
𝗪𝗵𝗮𝘁’𝘀 𝘆𝗼𝘂𝗿 𝗳𝗮𝘃𝗼𝘂𝗿𝗶𝘁𝗲 𝗱𝗶𝘀𝗵 𝗼𝗻 𝘁𝗵𝗲 𝗺𝗲𝗻𝘂?
“The Mashaba. It’s our signature dish. Hummus bowl with tahini, cooked chickpeas, lemon juice and olive oil. But I also highly recommend that you try our shawarma cauliflower dish, a vegan take on a traditional Israeli dish.”
𝗛𝗼𝘄 𝗱𝗶𝗱 𝘆𝗼𝘂 𝗰𝗼𝗺𝗲 𝘂𝗽 𝘄𝗶𝘁𝗵 𝘁𝗵𝗲 𝗻𝗮𝗺𝗲?
“Everyone was coming up with all sorts of fancy names. And I said, ‘I simply want to make hummus”.
“I started Star Anise in a garage in my home in 2010. I never set out to start a business. I turned to cooking and eating nutrient rich wholefoods when I had recurring health issues I couldn’t shake.
I resisted it for so long, but then I started incorporating animal products into my diet. 10 years ago there was no one selling kombucha, bone broth, anything like that.
One day, I had that moment of ‘oh this is exactly where I’m meant to be’. I didn’t want to go back to my previous career as a corporate lawyer.
Friends insisted on buying my products, and it just kept expanding - soon one mother's helper turned into 16! And health wise I went from barely surviving to thriving, just by changing my diet. That's when it hit me, the power of food as medicine.
What we provide is really unique, all organic traditional wholefoods made on our premises according to traditional preparation techniques, honouring ancestral wisdom. The food your great great grandmother would have eaten.
Retail is such a challenge.
You feel like giving up a million times.
Challenges will always present themselves. But when you have a burning passion, and the community support behind you, you just keep going.
We’ve had so many hurdles where I’ve thought ‘this is insurmountable’ - but the universe is always there to help you find the way.
(Pause for Soula’s beautiful Greek neighbour bringing her an enormous bunch of parsley).
COOVID knocked us for six. It just took us by surprise.
We had unprecedented demand for our products. People were placing a value on their health. They wanted to make their bodies resilient.
My staff and I stepped up to support the community as best we could and worked around the clock to meet the demand. We wanted to give back and keep spirits high.
And equally the community was so supportive. ‘Thank god you’re still open, thank you for doing what you’re doing!”
When fear and panic set in, how do we come back to our centre? Stress and fear create toxins. When we increase nourishment, we decrease toxicity. We are able to tap more into our intuition, stepping into higher levels of consciousness and vibrational frequency.
The poster in our store says “stay strong”. It was our take on the government’s message to ‘stay safe’.
If you look after yourself and take care of your health, you’ll be able to deal with whatever comes your way.”
Mark & Charlotte, 1933 Boozehouse
Mark: “I’ve been in this industry my whole life. My family owned bars, so it was inevitable for me. Every person in my family is in hospitality.
The hard part for me is the admin. That’s where Charlotte steps in. We do bump heads, but we’ve got the perfect kind of mix between us.
When COVID hit, Charlotte was made redundant from her job, so we were both unemployed for two months. Luckily we had an understanding landlady who looked after us and helped us out. And of course, everything paused. No incomings, no outgoings.
Now, it’s more challenging because our outlay is back to normal but there’s not as much coming in. I’m hiring more staff for a shift, and I have half the customers!
There have been some mixed messages that have made it harder for all of us in this position. A different media frenzy each day, everybody making it up as they go along, we had to learn to be agile and hope for a horizon of better times.
Our one saving grace has been our locals. They’ve been fantastic.
We love giving back to our community. When lockdown hit we were cooking tacos for the homeless. We look after each other.
The best feeling for us was when people started coming back out again after lock down.
But the worst was the week after the clusters started popping up. And then watching Victoria explode… that was bad.
Before lockdown, when we could have 60 people in here, it was so much fun.
Right before everything started shutting down, we had a birthday party. We had a singer in here, and this guy asked if he could sing James Blunt, Goodbye My Lover. And every single person was singing. That’s what it should be like. That’s what we hope to never lose, the community culture of letting yourself go and belting it out to your hearts content, in a bar. Freedom!
I hope we can get back there.
We’ve got so many plans.
We’re really going to get back to events, bands, murder mysteries, you name it. Because Aussies love to let their hair down. That’s what we’re here to deliver - a good time!
Hamilton, Honkas Bar + Eats
“I’ve been in the restaurant business for 15 years. I worked in finance but decided I wanted to break into hospitality.
I had no idea how challenging it would be (laughs). Until you own a business you just have no idea. The good, and the bad that comes with it, it’s such a rollercoaster.
My best moment over the last few months? Challenging myself to adapt to COVID. Gaining success with Love Local, a hyperlocal delivery service I launched at the height of lockdown. By far that was the biggest moment.
Initially, lockdown was daunting. We were still able to keep working with deliveries and takeaways. But we got through it.
This second time around, with COVID popping up in Potts Point, it’s been so much worse. It’s just mentally draining, we feel deflated. I can’t even imagine how Melbourne are feeling, they are so deep into it.
Customer support has been phenomenal. Honestly the community vibe around here is so strong. I’ve been building my brand over the last 6 months, through Honkas and through Love Local, and it’s really helped me, customers keep coming in to show their support.
I’m ready to move forward now. I want to keep building Love Local. Creating localised deliveries right through Sydney.”
𝗪𝗵𝗮𝘁’𝘀 𝘆𝗼𝘂𝗿 𝗳𝗮𝘃𝗼𝘂𝗿𝗶𝘁𝗲 𝗱𝗶𝘀𝗵 𝗼𝗻 𝘁𝗵𝗲 𝗺𝗲𝗻𝘂?
“I’m a sucker for fried chicken. When I was coming up with the concept for Honkas, fried chicken had to be there. Our menu is Pan - Asian - so our fried chicken is karaage style from Japan. So good with a wasabi dipping sauce. And the chicken baos, that’s what people keep coming back for.”
𝗛𝗼𝘄 𝗱𝗶𝗱 𝘆𝗼𝘂 𝗰𝗼𝗺𝗲 𝘂𝗽 𝘄𝗶𝘁𝗵 𝘁𝗵𝗲 𝗻𝗮𝗺𝗲?
“I love Hong Kong, it’s the melting pot of Asia, the heart and soul. Our name came from here. A little bit of this and that from all over Asia.”
Rose, Dumplings & Beer
Rose is the owner and chef and works day and night in the kitchen crafting her famous dumplings.
“My favourite thing to do? I’m always working! Oh yes I do love the Saturday farmers market, I did miss that when we couldn’t go, and glad to see it back again.
I have actually been fortunate that the restaurant has been able to make it through COVID-19 and all that came with it.
We are lucky to have a good landlord.
My philosophy has been to live this day by day, leave my faith in the hands of god, he has been good to me. It’s pointless worrying and best to have faith.”
Rose’s favourite dish?
“Oh you must try the prawn and chive gow gee!”