The team behind Folonomo and Gratia in Surry Hills have brought their eat-good-feel-good project north, opening a new not-for-profit café serving wholesome meals with a conscience to the locals and office workers of North Sydney. All profits are donated, while a token-in-jar voting system gives customers a say in which cause they’d like the dollars from their flat white to support.
The food is just as wholesome as the ethos, with a health and wellness-focussed menu designed by Chui Lee Luk (Fujisaki, 169 Darlinghurst, Claude’s). Café staples are given Luk’s fine dining touch in items like avo toast topped with tahini, goat cheese feta, sesame dressing and shiso – even the humble bacon and egg roll here features baby spinach, organic brioche and pesto mayo.
There’s also customisable poke bowls and ‘superbowls’ built with ingredients like green tea soba, red rice, sauerkraut, sprouted lentils, swiss chard, confit salmon, tempeh and onsen eggs. For a quick lunch that can be eaten while walking back to the office, they do sandwiches too – there’s grilled haloumi, pumpkin, kale and peanut hummus for the vegetarians, and a slow-cooked pork, lardon, cheese, sauerkraut and mustard number for the meat-eaters.
