Brisbane Spaghetti House restaurant owner expands into suburbs

The owner of one of South Bank’s most popular eateries will open a new pizzeria as a tribute to her late father – one of Brisbane’s most successful real estate agents.

When the father of ­renowned Brisbane restaurateur Claire Parviz died at the beginning of last year, it left her family shattered. But now the clan is regrouping, opening a new restaurant in his honour.

Parviz, behind South Bank’s popular Spaghetti House, has teamed up with daughter and West End Pasta Club owner Leila Amirparviz to launch Ronnie’s Clubhouse in Middle Park, in Brisbane’s southwest.

The Italian restaurant will pay homage to the late Ronald “Ronnie” Lowthian, moving into the same shopping centre along Horizon Drive where he ran a successful real estate agency for more than 30 years.

Claire Parviz and mother Glenys Lowthian outside their new restaurant Ronnie’s Clubhouse in Middle Park. Picture: Josh Woning

“The whole time my dad was alive he said, ‘You have to open an Italian restaurant out here, it’s so good, it’s such an amazing centre’,” Parviz said.

But it wasn’t until after her ­father’s passing when Parviz spoke to centre management about installing a bench in his honour at the recently renovated complex, that she considered finally fulfilling his dream.

“There’s a Thai restaurant, a Lebanese restaurant, a fish and chip shop, but the new owners of the centre, they really wanted an Italian,” she said.

With Parviz still paying off debts from Spaghetti House after the restaurant ran into financial trouble in 2020, she turned to her daughter to help make the family tribute happen. The restaurant will be an intimate 30-seat modern trattoria, with just 12 seats inside, and the rest in a covered outdoor area.

Pizza will be the focus, cooked in a stone-based oven, with red and white based options such as fior di latte with burnt honey, salumi, pancetta and chilli oil, or mushrooms with thyme, confit garlic, truffle paste and smoked ricotta.

There will also be a solid selection of pastas, plus traditional Italian mains and desserts, which have been designed in collaboration with local cafe owner of Bare Bones Society in Jindalee and former Urbane fine dining chef Kym Machin.

Amripaviz’s partner and Pasta Club co-owner Darcy Adam will be in charge of the drinks list, which will feature 10 classic cocktails named after Ronnie and his nine great-grandchildren, as well as the ­patriach’s eponymous house wines, with a portion of their sale price going to local non-profit group Men’s Shed, which helped build the planter boxes and some of the eatery’s furniture.

Ensuring the venue is a true family affair will be Parviz’s barista sister Sarah Lowthian, who will be on site brewing Vittoria coffees, while Ronnie’s wife ­Glenys will take on the role of “hostess with the mostest”, Parviz said, looking after guests.

Ronnie’s Clubhouse is due to open at the end of the month.