Welcome to Zecca Benvenuti a Zecca
Welcome to Zecca
Ciao! Noi siamo Ben, Michaela e Daniel. Piacere!
Hi! We're Ben, Michaela and Daniel. Pleasure!
Like so many Australians, we are the offspring of immigrant genitori (parents) & nonni (grandparents) who made sacrifices to move to the other side of the world (piu lontana!) in search of a better life.
We are husband and wife – Ben and Michaela – and best friend – Daniel – and we are all fiercely proud of our Italian heritage, which covers top to bottom: Veneto, Lazio, Abruzzo and Sicilia.
The idea of “Zecca” was conceived after returning from an extensive food holiday to the motherland, and the dream of opening an Italian eatery focused on the true regional food of Italy which is so unfamiliar here in our hometown of Griffith was born (no tourist Italian fare here at Zecca).
The thought of not sharing this genuine gastronomy and culture seemed to be an opportunity lost if we didn’t do this, and what would be more fun than divulging our very own family traditions (annual salami and sauce day, seasonal preserving, card nights to name but a few) with a mutual love of food, coffee, culture and lingo!
The opportunity to move back home to Griffith after living in the big smoke and foodie capital of Australia, Melbourne, for 10 years, to launch Zecca seemed like fate!
Zecca is a laidback, casual eatery housed in the iconic art deco Rural Bank building (built in the late 30’s) and what better way could we pay homage to this building’s past than with our name, “Zecca”, which means “mint/money press” in Italian.
Zecca di Venezia is a sixteenth-century building in Venice which once housed the mint of the Republic of Venice!
So, as the old saying goes, se non è rotto (if it ain’t broke)…
The true food of Italy is what we serve you here at Zecca, and we are bringing the old, sometimes lost, recipes back to life. Rare, unknown and obscure pasta shapes are our thing (and Ben’s passion). We look to the past for our menu inspiration and we don’t reinvent the wheel. Cucina povera, cucina regionale, cibo di strada: this is our style of food, punto!
We’re about bringing real Italian food to the food bowl of the Riverina.
We are lucky to live in Griffith, surrounded by an abundance of local produce! Seasonal and local – this is something we are quite pedantic about. We let the local produce shine and create delicious unpretentious dishes fresh every day. We love our local farmers who put their heart and soul into growing this amazing produce for us, grazie mille from the bottom of our hearts.
We are also super proud to be the Riverina’s only producer of a dried artisan pasta.
We are passionate about producing the highest quality pasta possible using the best traditional Italian techniques – small batch, bronze extruded, slow dried.
These principles combined with Riverina/Australian grown, export quality durum wheat semolina, hard work and dedication has brought us to this product that we are proud to call our own. It is hand packed and labelled here by us at Zecca; you will often see us packing pasta during the day! Take us home with you and continue the Zecca experience!
In true Italian style, we could keep talking (with our hands too of course)! Please come and say ciao, take your espresso at the bar, and enjoy our warm hospitality as we are dedicated to providing an authentic, fun and memorable experience each time you eat in our cucina, our home, our heart.
Ci vediamo presto amici! See you soon friends!
Ben, Michaela & Daniel
Getting back to the true roots
of regional Italian food.
Trading Hours
Day Giorno
Tuesday, Wednesday, Thursday & Friday
9:30am – 3:00pm
Saturday
11am – 3pm
Lunch from 12 noon each day
Night Notte
Friday & Saturday
6:00pm – 11:00pm
Sunday & Monday
Closed
