Discover Gustami: The Local Italian Spot in Birmingham That Went Viral
Gustami truly represents what eating out in your neighbourhood should be: eating good food at an affordable price by people who live in the same communities they're serving.
Disclaimer: These opinions and words are my own. I am not being paid to write this article. The meal in my viral video was purchased with my own money. In full transparency, I have since surprisingly and generously been comped my most recent meal at Gustami’s (Thank you guys, my lovely partner didn’t even tell me until we left the restaurant!) If you’re a business and would like to feed me, please get in touch via my website beccasaud.com).
If you’re reading this article, you’ve most likely dined with me at one of my favourite local Italian restaurants in Birmingham: Gustami.
When I posted that video I had around 300 followers and Gustami had many tables empty. That video changed everything for both of us. I now have around 1.4K followers (and growing) and Gustami now has nights where every table is filled.
I felt almost kismet that after trying to go viral, build a community and gain traction for so long, it was this local restaurant spot that I’ve passed countless times and made a little video about that kickstarted online growth for me. I’m not going to lie, I really needed some sort of sign that this was going in the right direction, and it seemed like Gustami was in a similar place.
The weekend after my viral video was posted, Gustami had an unforeseen Saturday rush. Even two weeks after, I still get new people everyday coming across that video which has now amassed over 20K likes (and Gustami is still feeling the impact in the weeks later reflected in their increased bookings).
Gustami is by no way my discovery, there are many loyal Gustami customers in the comments agreeing that it had been their secret local spot for so long. Comments like “Tiramisu there is slapping” to “One of the best authentic Italian restaurants!” reflect the local love.
So when one of the owners, Silvio, commented on the now viral video, I knew I had to learn more about who was behind Gustami, not just for myself but for the thousands who discovered Gustami alongside me.
Gustami is currently co-owned by three Italians turned Birmingham locals hailing from three distinct and different regions of Italy: Raffaele Boni (Age 44) coming from Northern Italy between Bologna and Modena, Silvio Spina (Age 43) coming from the Southern Island of Sardinia and finally Giovanni Vona (Age 44) coming from right in the middle region of Italy, Rome.
Giovanni started going to Gustami many years ago. He originally moved to Birmingham in 2007 after visiting a friend on their Erasmus year who was studying at the one the city’s Universities. He enjoyed his visit so much he decided to move here himself.
Giovanni spends his days now teaching Maths and Physics to Years 11-13. He would go to Gustami every day after picking up his kids from school and taking them to play cards with a little afternoon snack while he sipped on a cappuccino before they got dropped off to swim practice. During this time the restaurant was quiet and it offered a third space between work, school and home for both Giovanni and his kids. The physical location of Gustami was ideal for Giovanni, being located in that in-between area.
I would describe the surrounding neighbourhood as where the Jewellery Quarter ends and Ladywood begins. Gustami still stands in the same location on the tiny King Edward's Road, just off the roundabout of Big Tesco. At a glance, this location may be viewed as a sort of island, separate from the High Street or any real walkable area as it borders the four lane A4540, but this is exactly what made Gustami convenient to not just Giovanni, but also myself and many other people who populate this residential pocket of Birmingham.
The horizontal building hosts a collection of local shopfronts, bordering a Costcutter to left and a Caribbean Grocery and Pharmacy to the right. It’s reminiscent of American strip malls, the building belonging to another decade, trapped to time. It feels like it was here before the motorway that now, in retrospect, seems like it was unceremoniously dropped next to Gustami and its adjacent businesses. You've probably driven by a similar restaurant in a similar neighbourhood and thought 'that place either has to be really good or really shite.’ Well for Gustami, it's really, really good.
The story of Gustami starts much before 2016, when the restaurant first opened in Birmingham. It might surprise some readers to know that the original owner of Gustami wasn’t Italian at all, but Egyptian. Shawky Elsayed, from Egypt, decided after he finished University at 22 years old to move to Italy. Shawky spent the next 30 years living in Italy before coming to Birmingham and starting Gustami, serving both Birmingham locals and Italian immigrants authentic Italian cuisine.
When Shawky, now a friend of Giovanni’s, was looking to sell Gustami to join his wife in retirement, Giovanni only had one thought: he didn’t want to lose his favourite local spot (a feeling many of us can relate to). Everyone has a tale of the ‘best place ever down the street, that unfortunately closed down, but man was it great and you had to be there’ and Giovanni didn’t want Gustami's tale to end there.
Giovanni could have purchased Gustami on his own, but he didn’t have any restaurant experience-luckily he had two friends that did.
Raffaele and Silvio were already familiar with Gustami. Raffaele originally moved to Birmingham in 2002 and when Giovanni approached him about purchasing Gustami he was managing another successful Birmingham restaurant (The Plough). While interested in the idea of owning his own place, he didn’t want to commit to a new venture completely by himself, with a family to keep in mind. Silvio was working seasonally in different restaurants for years between the UK and Italy before moving over permanently in 2010. At one point, Silvio actually worked in the original Gustami as a waiter and expressed interest in buying the restaurant himself but didn’t have the cashflow at the time. In combination with Giovanni, Raffaele and Silvio shared the risk of purchasing Gustami and also their appreciation for the intimacy and quality of the food, both as fellow Italian immigrants and as frequent customers. This three way ownership is built on trust, for each person to do the best at what they do. Giovanni reflected, “Raffaele is really, really meticulous [and] pedantic in all these things.”
Raffele and Silvio shadowed Shawky for several months before ownership was passed to them and Giovanni in 2022. It’s rare to see such a genuine interest in preservation when ownership changes and it’s probably one of the reasons Gustami’s customers stayed loyal (and well-fed) throughout the transition of leadership. While some things stayed the same, like the name of the restaurant (Shawky suggested they keep it for the locals) some things also changed. Maybe not an entire facelift level of change, but more like a tasteful ageing botox amount of change, with updated chairs, tables, and a fresh coat of paint giving more of a traditional sit down Italian trattoria (which is less formal than a ristorante and more formal than an osteria).
I find when I dine out in the UK, I’m usually getting the British version of Italian food, you know cream in your carbonara type of restaurant. The Italian inspired chains like Bella Italia and Prezzo don’t get close to tempting me when I cook far better at home without spending money (everyone knows if it’s already in your fridge = free).
It is honestly rare for me to stop for Italian food when I go out to eat. The reason is because I grew up in the suburban town of Eastchester outside of New York City. It’s a predominantly Italian neighbourhood that permeated my non-Italian family in tradition nonetheless. I grew up eating my mom’s amazing dishes like eggplant rollatini and her homemade meatballs alongside my dad’s speciality lasagna (one of the three meals he rotates between cooking). This is a place where everyone I know has their own individual rankings of their favourite Italian delis, Italian restaurants, Italian bakeries and New York style pizza shops.
So it’s no surprise that when I eat out I’m not usually expecting authentic Italian food. Yet, Gustami caught my eye.
Inside you'll find solid wooden tables and chairs, a warm yellow paint that brings me back to both trattorias in Rome while also reminding me of generationally-run Italian restaurants in my very Italian-American hometown.
It was part of the reason for me originally choosing it (as well as their 4.8 Google Rating). On my first visit to Gustami it was quiet, with only two other tables occupied. One table was filled with some local Italians watching the Euros casually over a few Peronis and a British family's birthday celebration in the corner. Then there was my partner and I: duffle bags over our shoulders, my hair still damp from the gym shower, so hungry we couldn't dare make it to Tesco across the roundabout to continue back home to cook. I suggested we finally try Gustami.
It seems many people from the viral video had a similar experience with finding Gustami: a place you curiously and casually just try.
If you’re eating here, there’s a good chance Silvio is the one cooking your delicious meal. While he’s a natural Sardinian with a seafood preference, he also makes his own Italian sausage by hand, famously known in his circles. After being unable to find authentic Italian sausage in Birmingham, he decided to make his own sausage mix full of herbs like fennel and sold it in small batches to friends and family (and of course, serving it at Gustami).
On this first visit, my partner got the Bistecca and I got the carbonara as mains. One bite into my carbonara and I knew: this place was legit.
I have strong opinions on the simple dish of carbonara. First, it shouldn't deviate from the spaghetti shape (please tell me how I was once served carbonara with bow-tie pasta). Second, of course, it has to adhere strictly to the ingredients of: guanciale (pork cheek), pecorino romano, and egg (that's right, no cream). Third, well it has to be served warm (an obvious note, but needed one).
Silvio laments about how difficult it was to find authentic guanciale in the UK (actually pretty impossible, Giovanni echoes). Traditionally used in carbonara, you would have substituted this at home for the more readily found pancetta (pork belly) in the supermarkets. Silvio ended up working with British pork suppliers to get British pork cheek which he uses in the carbonara at Gustami’s, an immersion of techniques from both countries and completely unique to Gustami. While some dishes stayed strictly traditional, Raffaele and Silvio introduced many more regional dishes from both the North and South of Italy.
The price was also right in a time where shrinkflation and price gouging seem commonplace at every chain and shop. My carbonara was £9.50 and my fiancé's Bistecca di Manzo was £13. On the second visit when I made the now viral video we dined on a starter of Calamari (£7.50) that was so fresh and light I swear I was eating it on the Italian coast and not off the A4540. I also tried the weekly special of Cotoletta alla bolognese (£11), which is a breaded chicken dish, topped with parma ham and served with a creamy sauce, and of course you know I had to get a side of the infamous carbonara for the table.
The pricing is no mistake. Giovanni wanted to keep affordable prices, just like it was for himself when he would pop into Gustami, and if you go in as a single person you can get a decent meal for under £15.
Gustami truly represents what eating out in your neighbourhood should be: eating good food at an affordable price by people who live in the same communities they're serving.
Raffele and Silvio take on the day-to-day of Gustami, taking home both a salary and share. Giovanni takes a share, and no salary. When I asked Giovanni if he would ever leave teaching full-time to go into the restaurant bizz, he smiled and responded “They tried me in every position and the only position I did where I didn’t make mistakes was washing dishes”, so while you may get a peep of him rolling up his sleeves during busy times (like someone walking in and creating a viral video about them), he’s more than happy to leave Gustami in the hands of professionals.
They’ve also found their partners of various backgrounds here in Birmingham, Giovanni marrying a British-Jamaican woman, Silvio marrying an Eritrean woman and Raffaele marrying a Hungarian woman. They employ second generation Italians, who come from a similar mixed heritage like Sara Tamagna, who comes via Carrara in Italy and Christiana Obeng who comes via Bassano del Grappa in Italy with their ethnicities being Eritrean and Ghanaian, respectively. The clientele of Gustami’s reflects the multicultural Italian people of the restaurant with diverse Italians coming in with Indian, African and Bangladeshi backgrounds, many of whom came over from Italy to the UK as children around the time of the financial crisis in 2008 as their parents looked for better opportunities.
I decided to get another Gustami experience after that video and before this article came out. I needed some portraits of Giovanni, Raffaele and Silvio so at the last minute I decided to bring my partner so we could stay for dinner. We saw people flow in for dinner from 6:30pm onwards. Overheard at one table was a woman saying how everytime she comes here she brings someone new. Another couple came in and recognised us (comically sat at the exact same table we originally dined at in that viral video), excited to share that they chose this spot because they live locally and saw my video. A local diner greeted Giovanni, Silvio and Rafaele, it was Silvio’s day off so Rafaele was in the kitchen. The local diner chatted with Giovanni and Silvio while sipping on his Strawberry Spritz before being joined by a friend.
On this visit we finally tried Silvio’s famous Italian sausage. Gio recommended the shell-on Tiger prawns whose meat was so sweet and delicate and the small batch Tiramisu (naturally paired with an espresso), all prepared by Rafaele, who was in the kitchen. We left full and satisfied, inside the warm restaurant as last vestiges of summer faded and wind of Autumn rolled in outside.
Gustami’s story is also one of discovery, fusion and integration of cultures that permeates the heritage of the city. Giovanni, Raffaele and Silvio all left their different regions of Italy to find a slice of home created by an Egyptian immigrant from Italy in Birmingham. They impressed a Guyanese-American girl from an Italian neighbourhood in New York so much she posted it online to her British followers.
In this story lies the true wealth of Birmingham: it’s not only a diverse place, but a welcoming one of overlapping cultures and appreciation of old and new. Italians, just like the people of Birmingham, come in various shapes, colours and stories, and Gustami’s story stands as a representation of all things good about Birmingham.