It wasn’t a great morning. It started as all ungreat mornings do with a  6am wake up call and a loud groan coming from me.  The internet went down as it seems wont to do lately and I cursed irritatedly. I was running late so I contemplated driving into the city for a breakfast event but parking would be a bother. My stomach, awoken unexpectedly started to protest and growl in hunger as if to say “What have you done to me?”.

And then I stopped myself. I was definitely having first world problems and the irony was that I was on my way to the media launch of a pop up restaurant that was designed to address a community issue and help a sector of society: refugees. The idea of setting up a restaurant that helped train former refugees interested in entering the hospitality industry was that of 22 year old Elle Formica she was mentored by actress Mirando Otto and her entry was chosen by the public to be brought to fruition. The original idea called Room For Thought was from American Express and is part of their Realise Your Potential campaign.

The restaurant is open for a mere three days and is located in the centre of the Sydney CBD. The idea behind the location and idea was to humanise and make the refugee situation more real for the public and doing it through food which is a common interest. Apart from a community project there is a fashion project with fashion category winner Kate Applegarth and mentor Peter Alexander and music category winner Dee Dimmick paired with musician Paul Mac and each of the three winners will get the venue for a three day period. Each category mentor selected the three finalists and it was up to the public to choose the ultimate winner in each category via facebook votes.

Community mentor Miranda Otto

Fashion mentor: Peter Alexander

Music mentor: Paul Mac

The restaurant on the ground floor is a Sudanese restaurant that seats 30 people and on the top floor is a Burmese themed restaurant which seats about 20 people with the centre level being the kitchen. The two cuisines were chosen as the two countries are in the top 10 of refugees coming into Australia. Elle tells us that she researched the cuisines and visited restaurants in Sydney that specialised in these cuisines as well as soliciting input from the refugees themselves. She tells us that she liked the idea of doing this in the CBD as it would expose people to these cuisines which may be unknown to them or not available in the CBD area. They also have professional waitstaff so that diners can stop and talk to the former refugees if they want.

The Burmese themed restaurant upstairs

All of the food has a suggested donation amount so that you can pay what you feel is appropriate but even the suggested donations are a very reasonable price with a three course dinner having a suggested donation of $20 or a lunch dish for $10. The suggested donations go back to training for the refugees on location and extra RSA certifications and all gratuities are donated to the UNHCR Famine Relief. A surprising challenge according to Miranda Otto was sourcing camel meat-they wanted local but unfortunately camels are a little scarce in NSW and they had to scratch that idea. The menu is a feature too-it is printed on seeded paper, you can soak it in water until soft and then plant it in a pot or in the ground and it should germinate in 7-12 days and should grow to become a Swan River daisy. Also the placemats have a background story and photo of the staff.

Roasted peanut biscuit (Sudan); Spiced orange syrup and pistachio cakes (Sudan) and Fenugreek and currant cookies (Burma)

I had to be honest, I thought that the food would be more a secondary consideration and the experience and idea behind it was the real attraction but I was very pleasantly surprised by the food. We get to try a good range of food from the menu. We start off with some items from the breakfast and afternoon tea menu which is available from 7:30am-11:30am and 4pm-6pm. There are biscuits and sweet morsels just begging for a cup of tea and I think they’re more of morning tea items than breakfast items. The roasted peanut biscotti has a lovely flavour which I prefer to almond biscotti and would be great dipped in a cup of tea or coffee. The spiced orange syrup and pistachio cakes are moist and sweet and very moreish and the fenugreek and currant cookies from Burma look just like those currant cookies you would get in a box of assorted biscuits yet the fenugreek lends a lovely, unexpected flavour to them.

Lunch & dinner main course: Spicy goat stew with black eye beans, spinach and white rice (Sudan)

The lunch meals are served between 12pm-3pm and we start with the goat stew was slow cooked until the goat was soft and it was served with black eye beans, cashews, tomato, spinach and had a rich, robust flavour to it. It is paired with some brown rice which is sticky and wetter than I’ve had but I don’t actually mind it with the stew.

Lunch & dinner main course: Steamed fish fillets with coconut, tamarind and peanuts (Burma)

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I’m a firm believer in magic. Truly honestly I am and it’s the kind of thinking that makes my very scientific and logical husband just despair and roll his eyes with a tight, tolerant smile (think the same smile one gives to a potentially violent mental patient). So when I see an item on the cafe menu that says “Magic $3.50″ I point at the item in question and say to him “Look! I told you there was magic!”

We’re sitting at Joe Black which is a place near where Mr NQN works.  When I want Mr NQN to do something I go about it the wrong way. I do a version of a child tugging at their parent’s pants or skirt and repeat requests a lot. When Mr NQN wants to insist that we do something he simply mentions that “We really should go there” and he says it with such a serious tone that I know he means business. And several times he talked about the coffee at Joe Black and said “You really should go there” with that serious look replacing his usual impish countenance.

I have walked into Joe Black and have staked a place at the communal table while Mr NQN is parking the car. It’s a small cafe but with cosy service and they ask me if I would like a coffee while I am waiting. I’m uncertain and the barista holds up his palms and says “No pressure” while the girl behind the counter laughs and jokingly says “I’m just going to stare at you until you order” and pretends to stare avidly for a moment. I look around-there are walls full of memorabilia and just near the kitchen are four cookie jars suspended above the counter with cookies for $3  ranging from “chunky funky monkeys” to “giant rainbow cookies” and a rather amusing one called “Fresh Air” for $20-this of course being an empty cookie jar.

When Mr NQN arrives we take a seat at a table in a little further as its an unseasonably chilly Spring day. We face a wall of what look to be family school photos, along with a photo of what looks like someone’s first teenage car. Bags of moustache stamped coffee sit on the counter and a coffee siphon machine sits to one side. Mr NQN usually orders a long black but today he has the time to try a siphon coffee which takes time both to make and to drink as you usually let it sit for about 5 minutes. Both luxuries he can’t really afford on a busy work day.

They set down some enamel cups and brown beer bottles filled with water while we peruse the small, neat selection of menu items. There are five breakfast items available all day and four lunch items available after noon with a note that there is a “full menu coming soon (please be patient).” Items are described cheekily with items such as “granola with diced apple and berry compote (very fancy)” and “pikelet stack with stuff” and there’s a selection of sandwiches by John Daly randomly named after the notoriously unhealthy golfer.  We ask the waitress for her recommendations and whether we should get the steak sandwich or one of the sandwiches and she says “The steak sandwich, I can’t lie, it’s awesome.”

Flat white $3.50

The coffee as to be expected is very good and very drinkable with very little bitterness to it.

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