We did that...Punto Italian Kitchen, a family restaurant in Newcastle refurbished
The corner building on Heaton Road had been in the Rea family since 1981. It opened as Out of Town, became Arlecchino Café Bistro in the late nineties, and ran that way until Damiano and Zeno's parents retired in 2005. After that it passed through other hands as La Vita and then Rustico.
When the pandemic forced the leaseholders to close, the family took the building back and decided to run a restaurant in it themselves for the first time in sixteen years. Damiano Rea and Zeno Meynell-Rea, who had worked in their parents' restaurant as boys, were going back in.
The problem was the building.
The layout and fit-out dated from the mid-nineties and had been designed for a different kind of restaurant entirely, a dark, enclosed, old-fashioned trattoria. What the brothers wanted was the exact opposite of that.
We did that...
This was a commercial refurbishment on a tight programme for a family putting their own name back over the door.
Stripping out a mid-nineties fit-out in a building that had been trading continuously since 1981 was never going to be straightforward.
What went in was a light, open interior in Mediterranean blues and greys, a kitchen built around a wood-fired oven, and a front of house designed to be seen into from the street rather than shut off from it.
What happened?
Punto Italian Kitchen opened at the end of October 2021. The space refurb did what it was meant to do, with the Chronicle describing the new interior as "light and airy", and the restaurant built its reputation on hand-stretched sourdough proved for 72 hours in the wood-fired oven and a carbonara made the traditional way.
By 2024 it had collected a TripAdvisor Travellers' Choice award, a Good Food Award 2024-25 Blue Ribbon, and Best Modern Authentic Italian Restaurant at the Lux Life Hospitality Awards.
However, Punto served its last covers on Sunday 29 September 2024. The brothers closed on a high with a decision that turned their attention to redeveloping the site somewhat very differently claiming the area of Heaton now wanted something different, maybe the area culture had changed since Covid. In their words:
"It has been our immense pleasure to be a continuing part of this wonderful community, particularly as Heaton Road becomes a destination for excellent business."
We were proud to build it their way and be part of the family history.
