We were asked to write the book by a student of ours (who was also a publisher for Murdoch Books). We had always dreamed of writing a book and being asked by Murdoch was wonderful as we knew they would get the very best out of us and help share our recipes for life around the world. At the same time of writing the book, we were also expanding our business to a second site and it was just before Covid began to take hold so it has been a very busy period, to say the least.

Many of the recipes are from our café’s general menu over the years but also quite a few are from home that never made it onto the menu for one reason or another. The recipe that comes to mind though is the ‘A kind-of paleo bread’ recipe simply because it’s quite unique and you can’t buy it anywhere.

Simple good ingredients plus a little cooking knowledge and creativity emerges. We love to play between traditional dishes done the right way and new age versions of a classic.

There’s a few but I want to say the Winter breakfast bowl (think – pumpkin puree, kale, roast roots, poached eggs, turmeric aioli, sauer-kraut) that emerged in the first few years of running that cafe. By Spring time that year, the dish had a following and we couldn’t take it off!! So, even though it didn’t quite fit for the new year cycle we changed it to the Spring breakfast bowl…then the Seasonal breakfast bowl. As I write this, it’s still on the menu!

Butter, olive oil, good salt, simple grains and legumes, unrefined flours, maple syrup, honey, dried fruits + stock in the fridge and freezer!

Good knives, peeler, grater, whisk (bottle opener definitely required for wine) a nice chopping board & a good selection of pots and pans. You don’t need a huge amount else.

With some or all of the following, you can create greatness from simple things: mustard, mayonnaise, chutney, pesto, lacto-ferments & pickles

In the modern age, our food has become corrupted and so we have been led to believe that something as great as a beef burger could be bad for us just because fast-food chains have taken over the space and dumbed down our understanding of how the original dish was meant to be. You can look for many examples but if you replace all the current mainstream standard ingredients that go into a burger with the best possible versions of themselves then it becomes a healthy meal that is deeply satisfying and nourishing. You can check out my TedX talk for a full rundown on each of the ingredients but if you think about swapping out the standard beef patty for one that comes from a pasture-raised (sustainably farmed) animal, then the nutritional profile and flavour is incredibly different. If you exchange those squares of processed cheese for an unpasteurized cheddar, we are talking worlds of difference. Bring it together with homemade sauces, pickles and a traditionally proven and baked bread bun then you basically are talking about a completely different dish. When you eat the real deal it will taste amazing and your body will respond in kind by potentially not requiring much more sustenance for a while afterwards! When you eat real nutrient-dense food you end up eating less…but getting more!