KOFI BEANS AND HARIRA SOUP AT CROYDON

Yesterday, was Dentist Day and I was in Croydon. It is becoming something of habit to pop into Kofi Beans after my appointment to recover from all that drilling and poking before setting off full of (well not really - much diminished) anaesthetic to drive home.

Kofi's signage is not well seen from a distance.  If you come down Mount Dandenong Road and turn left into Main Street and look for the better signed Red Cargo, you will find  Kofi's next door on the northern side.

You will see Kofi's footpath dining area.

The weather has not been conducive to outdoor dining lately

and, while yesterday was sunny, it was still quite cold.

However, I haven't been in Kofi's during the lunching hours

when the indoors has not been packed. 

On the right as you walk in, there are comfy couches for curling up with friends and coffee.  Well, it wouldn't be Moroccan would it if there were not space and comfort for curling, reclining, slouching?  And then there are the homewares - stacks and stacks of Moroccan homewares.  Everything you can think of - almost - is there for the browsing and buying.

While coffee is the specialty of the house, I have to admit that I haven't got that far.  I get stuck on the hot chocolate.  Yesterday, I ordered orange and cinnamon.  It was a delight to warm the cockles of my heart and pour comfort into a body which had suffered the vicissitudes of the dentist, lovely though Andrew is.  The chocolate was so thick I am sure if I had put the teaspoon into it, it would have remained vertical.

 

Above is the menu board for the day, 

but the menu at Kofi's is quite extensive 

and has thoughtful menu markings 

for dairy, vegetarian, and gluten free.  

I ordered Harira Soup.  Find out more about this traditional Moroccan dish here.  There is a link to a recipe which includes meat - but Kofi's soup did not include meat and I think a really good rich vegetable stock would suffice well to provide a strong base for the chick peas, lentils, tomatoes, celery, and coriander.  The Harira was served with Phillippa's Bread which will always be my favourite.

The cake cabinet is a veritable assortment of culinary jewels.  But I have never ordered from there.  You see, atop the cake cabinet are trays of cholates - all sorts: champagne, caramel, lavender, tia maria and on and on.  I select three to take on my way.  And I leave well satisfied.

BTW, on Friday nights Kofi's opens their courtyard - covered and heated - for dinner.

GIRLS' DAY OUT AT MORNINGTON : BAY HOTEL

Herself and I had a girls day out to-day. We drove to Mornington. First of all, we stopped for lunch at the Bay Hotel.  You can see the bistro section - which was beautifully warm and toasty - on the right of the collage above. We checked out the menu:

We had certainly picked our day because we were able to avail ourselves of the Monday/Tuesday Special which meant that if we picked a "starred" item we got it for $15 with a complimentary glass of wine.  I know I don't dine out often these days, Trad Padders, but I hadn't come across a cleverly marked menu such as this.  Along with the stars, the menu sported tiny 'v's for vegetarian and 'gf's for gluten free.  I am vegetarian and I appreciated this thoughtful touch and I am sure the gluten free brigade would too. I ordered Mediterranean Pappardelle which, ordinarily according to the menu, has chicken.  I asked for the dish without the chicken and they were happy to oblige.  So my pappardelle came with roasted vegetables, pan seared with olive oil, tossed through the pappardelle and sprinkled with feta and toasted pine nuts.  Herself - who is a carnivore - ordered the Hopkins River Beef Burger.  I didn't have the wine.  Herself had mine and I had a coke.  She seemed well pleased with her vino.  I noted that The Bay promotes local Mornington Peninsula wines with other Australian wines bringing up the rear.  So, as you can see, we had good provender.

If you want to get the rest of the story about what we did in Mornington, please go here.

A step up to a start-up: social enterprise catering

Clockwise from top left:

1 & 2: AfriTas Restaurant, Hobart; 3 La Cocina, San Francisco; 4 Smart Cuisine, Clayton; 5 & 6 Sorghum Sisters, Carlton

Reading about La Cocina in San Francisco has stimulated this post. How many women and men who are interested in food and who are good cooks have not dreamed about a restaurant or a coffee shop? Somewhere between few and none is Miss Eagle's guess. For immigrant women for whom English is not their first language, who have limited or no resources, and risk social isolation, one of their exits could be the communal commercial kitchen.

Refugee organisations have assisted in this regard in Australia. African immigrants and refugees put their energies into AfriTas in Hobart in a very systematic operation which has had great success.

In Melbourne, there are two fine examples in SMART Cuisine and The Sorghum Sisters.

But Miss Eagle would like to know more. Where are there other social enterprises such as these operating in communal commercial kitchens? Are there business incubator enterprises such as La Cocina operating in Australia for women who are not immigrants or refugees who may want to consider starting up a food enterprise? How easy and how cheap is it to rent a commercial kitchen - say in Melbourne or Sydney - for a short period (say one day per week)?

In a world that appears dominated by celebrity chefs, can we explore together, dear Reader, the world of the start-up?