In early 2015, Monika Ruggerino was helping a friend organize her 30th birthday party at Verde, a restaurant in Darlinghurst, Sydney. During a tasting session weeks before the event, Monika met Antonio, the head chef and owner. His Calabrian charisma and captivating smile left her breathless.
On the day of the party, Monika arrived early to decorate the private dining room. While rearranging a lamp made from an old sambuca bottle, she accidentally broke it. A waitress quickly removed the evidence, but Antonio soon stormed upstairs in a rage. However, when he saw Monika, his anger melted into a flirtatious grin. "Well I can't be mad at you now can I?" he said.
The next day, Monika returned to collect her decorations. Antonio invited her for coffee, and they chatted about her job in the jewelry trade and a recent trip to Italy. Months later, after a breakup and quitting her sales job at Bvlgari, Monika bought an apartment and started her own jewelry brand. Antonio called her out of the blue, and they arranged a dinner date.
Walking into a Potts Point restaurant that spring evening, Monika saw Antonio waiting with his incredible smile. She felt an overwhelming sense of finally being home. "I knew then and there that I was in love," she says. They married four years later and now have two children. The restaurant became the venue for her hen's party, baby showers, and later her jewelry studio.
Breaking that lamp set off a chain of events that changed Monika's life. "It was a real Sliding Doors moment," she reflects.
