[Romanos] Romano Au-Go-Go

Nineteen sixties supper menu for Romano Au-Go_go at Romanos, Sydney, with The In People. The In People comprise of the singer Janice Slater and Little Sammy 

Azzalin Orlando Romano (1894-1972), the Italian restaurateur migrated with his family to England in 1910, after a brief education Azzalin began work as a page in the Vienna Hotel, Bristol, and attended night school. In 1912-14 he wandered from job to job at hotels and restaurants in Nice, Monte Carlo, Paris, Berlin and Madrid, before returning to England in November 1914. Taking a job as a hotel waiter in London he rose through from receptionist to cook and from waiter to wine butler; he learned to speak French, German, Spanish and English, in addition to his native Italian, and claimed to have served every king in Europe.

In his early twenties, while officiating as head waiter at London’s Ritz Hotel, he adopted Romano as his surname, reflecting his regard for one of the city’s most renowned restaurants. When managing the Hyde Park Hotel he met Percy Stewart Dawson who persuaded him to come to Australia in 1923 to run the plush Ambassadors restaurant in Pitt Street, Sydney; he arrived in September and was followed by his wife. Four years later Romano’s Restaurant opened in York Street.

In 1938 he moved premises to the basement of the new Prudential Insurance Building in Martin Place, next door to the Prince Edward Theatre in Castlereagh Street. His business flourished with the patronage of American officers and the unlicensed sale of liquor during World War II and in the immediate years that followed.

Having disposed of his restaurant in 1964, Romano saw it converted into a discotheque where go-go girls twisted the night away.