A lot of Durbanites spend time lamenting the scarcity of fine dining restaurants, but silver service and a sommelier do not necessarily equate to quality dining. What the city does have, however, is culinary hot-spots where talented chefs produce honest food at addresses that aren’t always fashionable.  

One such chef is self-taught Chris Black at Lupa. Named for the she-wolf in the foundation myth of Rome, who rescued the twins Romulus and Remus, Lupa is a modern trattoria that would be equally at home in New York as it is in Durban’s inland suburb of Hillcrest.
 
The vibey restaurant opened in March and is already being smugly touted as the new local, which is hardly surprising considering the credentials of the dynamic team behind it. Chris’s first foray into restaurant ownership was the Kloof-based Andreotti’s, before he decided to concentrate on fine dining at Aubergine in Hillcrest. Guy Cluver, also a Hillcrest restaurateur, joined forces with Chris in 2010 when they opened Bellevue Café in Kloof, which was – and still is – a “runaway success”.

“We are very flattered to be as busy as we are,” says Chris modestly. “We have been full every night since Lupa opened. Hillcrest needed something different. This is the opposite of Aubergine – it is not expensive and is a lot less intimidating. People understand Italian food and they like it.”

The decor

Guy’s wife, Shelley, is also a business partner and has been responsible for the fashionable, functional décor. She wanted the restaurant to provide a series of discoveries: on entering, you immediately notice a bar before your foodie radar picks up the dough room with its baskets of dried pasta. Chris has imported a pasta machine for penne and tagliatelle and, while he’s still perfecting the dough, they’re making stuffed pastas. Within a few steps you’ll discover the antipasti room with a state-of-the-art fire-engine-red Burkel meat slicer and, finally, the two enormous pizza ovens, before you end up in the dining area, which is a heady mix of glass, wood and metal with pops of orange.

The food

Delve into starters with the likes of crispy risotto cakes stuffed with sausage, mozzarella and sage, or heart-warming meatballs made with both ground beef and pork and roasted in a tomato sauce in the pizza oven. There is also the sheer delicious simplicity of Caprese salad with fior di latte mozzarella. Chris is vaguely surprised at the popularity of the antipasti platters, which are laden with quality meats and cheeses.

When developing the menu, Guy wanted to recall menus and memories of iconic local Italian eateries – those who dined in Durban in the 80s will remember Aldo’s, Scalini and La Dolce Vita – which have seen the inclusion of retro comfort food like veal marsala, saltimbocca, and side orders of creamy parmesan linquine.

The two wood-fired ovens are well utilised for pizzas and baked main courses. One of them burns at a lower temperature to coerce the best flavours from linefish done with lemon, capers, white wine and butter or wood-fired chicken, and overnight it slowly nurses flavourful lamb shanks.

Pizzas are big business here, although Chris is still debating the ultimate version. “I’ve had pizza in Naples, which was soupy and soggy in the middle; I’ve had them in Rome, and also in New York, which changed the way I think about them. Our pizza dough has a 24-hour ferment, which is something my (chef) brother taught me,” he says by way of explaining his beautifully light bases.

Classic, simplistic pizza flavours are represented singularly with buffalo mozzarella, or try a bianco pizza sans tomato base with brussel sprouts, mozzarella, garlic, bacon and pecorino. When it’s on special, pounce on the calzone that’s filled with mushrooms, oozing gorgonzola and draped with an intensely flavourful Parma ham.

Pasta is mandatory. Simply choose from linguine, spaghetti, penne (or gnocchi), which are also available in gluten-free options, and then team them up with sauces ranging from puttanesca to Alfredo, amatriciana or salsicce done with Italian fennel sausage, bacon, chianti, cream and herby breadcrumbs. Chris is fast to cite his favourite dish as the agnolotti stuffed with goat’s cheese. He’s not shy to admit it’s a Neil Perry recipe and, being a convert to goat’s cheese, he loves the Sicilian treatment it gets, topped with pine nuts, raisins and burnt sage butter. He also waxes lyrical about the bittersweet chocolate budino with espresso caramel, honey-swirled mascarpone and flakes of Maldon salt.

Inspired by trips to New York, evocative food memories and Jamie Oliver’s progressive approach to Italian food, Chris and Guy have cleverly used global influences to create the ultimate contemporary neighbourhood eatery. “It’s absolutely nothing new,” says Chris, resolutely playing down the whole concept. But then, it’s not always about trying to reinvent the wheel.

By Tracy Gielink

Have you been to Lupa Osteria? Write us a review.