A sad day...

Shock at death of young restaurateur

November 20 2006 at 10:58AM

By Nobantu Kumalo

Spiga d'Oro, the restaurant favoured by some of Durban's top businessmen - including jailed fraudster Schabir Shaik - has been temporarily closed after the death of its charismatic co-owner, Luca Santoniccolo.

Floral tributes, children's drawings and messages of condolence continue to be left outside the restaurant for Santoniccolo, who was killed in a car accident on Northway Drive, Durban North, early on Saturday morning.

Twenty-four-year-old Santoniccolo was in the car with friend Chris Mugnai, who was hospitalised with serious injuries. The driver of the other vehicle also died on scene, while Mugnai was moved from Addington Hospital's ICU unit and remains in a serious yet stable condition.

Speaking on behalf of the family, distraught brother Marco Santoniccolo said the restaurant would be closed until the day after the funeral, which is expected to be announced later this week.

Marco, who is also a co-owner of the family's restaurant, refused to comment except to describe his younger brother as a friend and business partner.

Netcare 911 spokesperson Chris Botha said Santoniccolo and the female driver of the other vehicle involved in the accident died instantly.

"Due to severity of the injuries sustained, both drivers died on the scene," said Botha.

Since the announcement of Santoniccolo's death, the restaurant has been flooded with flowers from well wishers.

By Sunday afternoon, the number of bouquets had grown substantially and covered most of the pavement outside the restaurant.

Some patrons were unaware of Santoniccolo's death and were shocked to find the restaurant's doors closed.

"He was a very likable character. It's a shame when someone dies so young," said Simi Kandezi, a regular at Spiga d'Oro.

source: http://www.iol.co.za/

Shaik has spicy dish named after him

October 10 2004 at 04:07PM

If there is one place where embattled businessman Schabir Shaik has appeared more often than in the media, it's at Spiga D'Oro, a popular Italian restaurant in Durban's Florida Road.

In fact, Shaik is such a fixture that a dish, the Linguine ala Shaik, has been named after him. With a sauce of plum tomatoes, chilli and garlic, the dish suggests that Shaik, who will be sweating it out in court over the next few months, isn't averse to fiery encounters at the dinner table.

"He was always telling us to add a bit of chilli here, a bit of ginger there. Eventually we made a dish especially for him and he loved it and ordered it over and over again," said proprietor Luca Santoniccolo.

Shaik confesses to eating at Spiga D'Oro three to four times a week, and returns because "it's very relaxed".

"As you can see it's largely ordinary people who come here, no bourgeoisie come here," said Shaik at a table last Wednesday.

Source:

KLIKTRAK
http://kliktrak.partychief.com