Mondo Nougat might be celebrating 25 years in the Swan Valley next year, but the simplicity of great ingredients, an old traditional recipe and family remain at the heart of this local company.
By Ara Jansen
As a young boy, Andrea Romeo always knew Christmas was around the corner when the nougat appeared. Coming from an Italian family, it was traditionally what his family made as the festive season neared.
“My dad Alfonso and his brothers had a patisserie, and everyone would be wrapping the pieces by hand,” remembers Andrea. “We would stand around this big table and it was all hands on deck.”
After migrating to Perth from Italy when he was seven, Andrea’s parents opened a patisserie in Midland in the 1990s. The store was next door to Mondo Meats, owned by Andrea’s uncle Vince Garreffa, so they became Mondo Patisserie. In 1999 they moved to Morley, but eventually ran out of room, which is how Mondo Nougat (choosing the English world over the Italian, torrone) finally settled in the Swan Valley.
Next year, in 2025, Mondo celebrates 25 years at that location.
By the late 1990s, Mondo’s customers started asking for nougat after Christmas, which led to the traditional honey-based sweet being made year-round – and the start of a sweet empire.
“We’ve been able to share an experience with people that’s true to our roots and family traditions,” says Andrea proudly.
The eldest of this generation of Romeo brothers, Andrea is Mondo’s general manager and his two brothers are also directors as well as helming the café – Marco is a barista and Simone a pastry chef.
The two-hectare Swan Valey property gives Mondo space to manufacture as well as a way to welcome visitors to watch nougat being made, for tastings and to enjoy the café, which serves cakes and pastries also using traditional family recipes.
Andrea is adamant that the group uses as many local ingredients as it can – honey is sourced five minutes down the road, macadamias come from a grower in Baldivis and hopefully within three years, WA-grown almonds will be available to them.
“That’s something we are committed to – we start sourcing locally and then go nationally. We’re a local business and we want to support other local businesses.”
All three Romeo brother grew up in the business and Andrea says he never considered doing anything else. When it came time to start looking at careers, he looked around the business for skills it needed and chose marketing and commercial law.
Two of his favourite jobs are designing Mondo’s packaging and product development. That means experimenting and discovering what interesting tastes he can bring to a basic nougat. Whether it’s using bush food, finding pandan or something interesting in an Indian grocery store, Andrea is always thinking of how he can combine ingredients to make a delicious new nougat.
The latest flavour has been granola bites, in partnership with Meredin’s Merre Granola.
“I love being able to collaborate with other local companies. The great thing about it is we can experiment with small batches. We can make 80kg and see what happens. I get so much joy out of this.”
A basic nougat is made from egg, honey and sugar. Mondo has 17 regular different flavours. While his favourites tend to change fairly often, Andrea is rather dedicated to roast hazelnut nougat and a classically traditional lemon.
Andrea estimates over the years they have tried about 100 different nougat combinations and flavours. Some only stay for a little while but others have endured and remain favourites. Around Christmas these include soft nougat flavours almond and honey, cranberry and almond, salted caramel and coffee. Other favourites include pistachio nuts, cherries and chocolate covered hard nougat.
“I’d love to think we have played a part in bringing nougat to Australia and to the world, as people have taken our product home. If more people can experience nougat for the first time and it’s a good experience, then that’s good for nougat. It’s one of the oldest confections in the world and we want to continue to grow its popularity.”