Harley Young chats with Giuseppe Spinuso and Krzysztof Golebiowski, owners of Liverpool’s very own slice of Sardinia
As its namesake would suggest, La Famiglia Bar & Restaurant is a family-run local business, serving fresh and authentic Sardinian cuisine made with the finest Italian ingredients.
Since opening its doors five years ago, the Stanley Street favourite has won a number of accolades including Best Restaurant in the North West at the 2024 Italian Awards.
I caught up with co-owner Giuseppe Spinuso to find out more about his beloved family-run business on Stanley Street.
Tell us a bit about yourself.
I came over to England in November 2005, so almost 20 years ago. I initially came from Sardinia for just three months to spend the winter season here as I wanted to improve my English, so I began working for Piccolino and ended up staying with them for almost 10 years.
The first city I visited in England was Manchester. I liked it, it was fun, I was young, and working for Piccolino gave me the chance to explore England as there was many times when they’d open a new site every couple of months.
Then, in 2010/11, I came to Liverpool and met my wife. She was working for Piccolino as well, so we decided to settle down here. We started to raise our family, bought a house and, when my oldest child was five years old, we had the opportunity to go back to Italy and open a restaurant.
I said to my wife “What are we doing? Do we try to open here or in Italy?” and we eventually decided to stay here.
Working in restaurants wasn’t just temporary, it's my passion, so I got to work and studied at a catering school before opening my own place.
What I wanted to do was open a small, independent, family-run restaurant - something you can’t find everywhere else.
There was no point in making spaghetti bolognese because I didn’t make any sense, you know? I wanted to do things I like and use Sardinian products with a bit of a twist, a bit of innovation.
So my wife, my brother-in-law and I opened La Famiglia five years ago. It wasn’t easy because we opened just before the pandemic but, luckily, we noticed customers were coming to experience Italy through us as they were unable to go away on holiday.
We received good feedback from our customers and lots of them still visit us to this day.
Why did you choose this spot on Stanley Street to open your restaurant?
I knew the person who owned this spot before. She was doing very well and needed a bigger restaurant. It seemed like the perfect spot with Piccolino just down the street, so the customers we knew had an idea who we were. The regulars knew us already, they knew me and my family and called me by my name. So staying close by seemed like a great fit.
What makes La Famiglia so special?
We do things in a different way to most other Italian restaurants. Like I said, we don’t do spaghetti bolognese - bolognese is from Bologna and spaghetti is from Rome, so it's two different parts, you know? We don’t want to do chicken carbonara with cream either.
We are special because we do lots of Sardinian dishes which you can only find here in the North West. There’s some dishes we do here that you’d have to drive two hours to find anywhere else.
What is one of those dishes?
We do fregola sarda, which is a very tiny couscous pasta with seafood, because where I’m from is a tiny little village by the sea, sort of like Conwy. Sometimes we do this as a special with sausage and broccoli instead depending on the time of year.
We also do some of our Sardinian dishes in the same way but with a twist, for example a black ravioli made with charcoal and baby octopus inside that is served in a roasted cherry tomato sauce. It’s cooked in the same traditional way but with a different colour and presentation.
How do you come up with the dishes with a twist?
I follow traditional recipes from my mum, dad and sister. My sister, she’s a very good cook - to me, she’s the best chef in the world. Every time I do something I have to tell her as she’ll let me know ‘It’s better to do this’.
There’s one dish I tried two years ago and I think we had seven video calls to get it right.
What’s your favourite dish on the menu here?
Our fettuccine pistachio is great. We’ve been doing this for five years, but now pistachio is very popular - it’s everywhere.
My brother-in-law, who's not Italian, asked ‘Why don’t you make a carbonara?’, so I explained to him that carbonara isn’t from Sardinia. I said ‘I will make something different but similar.’ So I created a creamy pistachio sauce - not made from double cream, though - with pancetta, fresh fettuccine and a bit of lemon zest on the top. It’s very creamy and refreshing.
Do you have any signature dishes that have stayed on the menu since opening?
The seafood pasta we have, which is made with paccheri, is one of our signature dishes.
In Italian restaurants in the UK, you get spaghetti with most seafood dishes, but in Italy it’s not like this. Depending on where you are there’s different types of pasta used.
The pasta we use is a very chunky tube-shaped pasta which we pair with mussels, clams, scallops, prawns and a bisque made from a more elaborate style of fish stock along with some Prosecco for added taste. That’s always been very popular.
Where would you like to see La Famiglia in another five years’ time?
Our goal was always to open another site and have at least two venues. We had the chance to recently, but I want to do things right and take my time - especially because I want to still be just as involved.
Regular customers come to the new site and you’re not there, when they often come just for you - they build that relationship. It’s better to take your time and get it right.
I don’t like the idea of just opening a deli or shop either - although our deli sells things that are unique and Sardinian produce that can only be found here, I like to be creative and cook. I’d get bored otherwise.
Head to Confidential Guides to find out more about La Famiglia Bar & Restaurant.
12 Stanley Street, Liverpool L1 6AF, UK
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