Fogolar Furlan, Felixstow | SA Weekend restaurant review

The next generation has taken on a much-loved Italian eatery in Adelaide’s eastern suburbs, with high hopes they’ll be able to keep the doors open.

The dining space at Fogolar Furlan has been dressed up as much as possible, with yellow-and-white checked cloths and arrangements of wheat and red poppies on well-spaced tables.

It’s Friday night and the ladies have gathered for their weekly game of cards. At the next table, a huge plate of grilled ribs, sausages and other meats is being attacked by the old fellas at an extended family gathering.

On the surrounding walls, memorabilia and old pictures celebrate the remarkable history of this venue, the people who built it and the place they have come from.

If you stumbled across a community club like this during an Italian holiday, you would be over the moon. But for this experience of Friulian food and culture, you will only need to venture up Payneham Rd to Felixstow.

Baccala mantecato at Fogolar Furlan.

There, on the banks of the River Torrens, is a large, iron-gated compound with an imposing two-storey modernist masterpiece of concrete, steel and glass. It feels like visiting a foreign embassy, which in a sense you are.

This is the local home of Fogolar Furlan, constructed in stages and run by migrants from the Friuli-Venezia Giulia region, in the northeastern corner of Italy, since the late 1950s.

How a band of volunteers raised the money and built all this from scratch is quite a story. Now, however, the sequel is being written as a grandson of one of those founding members and his friends fight to save it from closure.

When Giovanni Freschi came to live in Adelaide nearly four years ago, he started to visit the club that was so important to his family. He discovered it was struggling for support from a new generation of members and suggested a solution.

Barramundi with capers and olives.

Travelling back to his home in the Friulian city of Udine, he enlisted the help of a handful of local hospitality workers looking for a new opportunity. Together, they have turned what was a large, underused function room into an osteria that opened a year ago to the public.

The open space has been dressed up as much as possible, with yellow-and-white checked cloths and arrangements of wheat and red poppies on well-spaced tables.

The “fogolar”, a brick fireplace kitted out with hanging iron cauldrons and other paraphernalia, is opposite the bar. That’s just for display, of course, and the cooking is done in a fully-equipped function kitchen run by chef Lorzenzo Andriola, one of the Udine recruits. Another is managing the floor, and her lovely accent and sense of fun adds to the occasion.

She brings a wine list with a strong selection of local and imported labels, and a double-sided menu with a regional component among more familiar cucina. Don’t come expecting anything too fancypants. This is osteria food – straightforward, family-friendly and good value.

You’ll probably work that out the moment a big basket of bread – light, white and free of charge – is dropped on the table. The same slices are toasted to use as a base for baccala, salted cod that is poached in milk and then shredded to create a gently fishy dip. Lightly grilled bricks of polenta are also included for those wanting a more traditional combination.

Supple tubes of fresh penne, sourced from local hero Salvatore Pepe, look like worms squirming about in a “compost” of coarsely minced lamb ragu with a nice touch of aromatic spices and finely chopped rosemary.

Ravioli at Fogolar Furlan.

Pepe also makes the two types of ravioli on offer, tossed with butter and sage leaves, then blanketed in shaved parmesan. The vego filling of truffled potato proves to be a unanimous favourite over the osso buco.

The linguine “allo scoglio” is made with a run-of-the-mill marinara mix of squid, mussels and plenty of salmon, along with a few cherry tomatoes. Extra garlic, chilli and good oil would boost the flavour.

The tiramisu uses plenty of espresso.

Slowly roasted barramundi fillet smeared with a punchy salsa of olives and capers is a better seafood option. Like most of the mains, it is less than $30, and comes on a plate loaded with grilled zucchini, eggplant and pumpkin.

Desserts reflect the cultural blend at play. One is a thoroughly Italian tiramisu, using plenty of espresso rather than any liquor. The other is a terrific apple strudel, a reminder that Austria is just across the mountains.

Fogolar Furlan is a hard one to score. On the face of it, the setting is ordinary, the food fairly basic. No, the attraction here is more about the history, the people and the honest soul of this place. Just like many of the best travel experiences.