“ I’m from South Africa and from the age of 21 I lived in America between Southern California and Arizona. I stayed for 22 years then after a divorce and a couple of years on my own there I really wanted to be closer to my family who were living in Australia. They moved here from South Africa 29 years ago, the same time I moved to America. I did love it there though, had a great time, travelled extensively so I really have a passion for Mexico and Mexican Food. I ate a lot of good food everywhere I went. I have a background in interior design which I did for almost 20 years but no background in food other than a bit of waitressing in college.
I met my partner Jamie who is the chef in our kitchen about 6 years ago when I immigrated to Australia. I first landed in Melbourne where my family were but I have always loved this area. Every time I ever visited Australia I would always take a family car and drive up here. This area has always felt like my second home. It has a similar climate to South Africa, tropical landscape, Jacarandas blooming and the warm ocean.
A little over 4 years ago I convinced Jamie we should move up here. He has been a chef for almost 40 years. He’s also a qualified Baker and he’s done so many things. He’s worked on yachts in Antarctica and in Michelin star places but he followed me and my passion to live here even though it wasn’t his first choice.
We had enough to purchase The Blue Kitchen which was a sauce company with a product range that has been going for 12 years. We moved in, repurposed the space, worked the kitchen, added a bunch of equipment and created the cafe. We have been open as a cafe for 3 and half years now. We are also still doing the whole product range with a few new lines including a recipe from Jamie’s grandma in Ballarat, her relish recipe which we use in the cafe. The Smokey Bourbon BBQ we added to the range which is GF and almost entirely sugar free as it’s made with maple syrup. We also do the Preserved Lemon dressing.
I love music! I love African and Jazz and have always had a passion for music, coming out of South Africa where there is music on every corner. Jamie has always loved music too. Music and food go together. In the Blue Kitchen we have guitars people can play, historical guitars, lots of fun music memorabilia that people can look at waiting for coffee. As an interior designer I find it a little overkill but people like it. People gift us things like this etching from Hollywood walk of fame. Another gentleman who has the Hot Rod Club gifted us on permanent display another guitar that lives on the wall. The burgers are themed for dead rock stars. We have ice cream spiders from Mars.
During spring and summer we have live music. The music happens 2 Saturdays a month. We like to get bands with more than 2 people on the stage. We want to support the bands so they have somewhere to play in the daytime. We set up hay bales and umbrellas. The space works on sunny or rainy days.
My passion is the community, creating a wonderful environment in South Lismore which a lot of people didn’t believe in. Having worked in Phoenix and LA, living in Laguna Beach, visiting Houston and New York, even Melbourne, there is really great food in Industrial areas.
We found this business on Gumtree. It’s small enough that it works and it’s growing. We now have a second chef who came on board a year ago. He has a passion for Asian food so we do beautiful curries through the winter. We try and have our specials with an International flavour. The food in the case is all made on site except the bread. We use organic Bun Coffee. Our sauces are all made from local produce, chillies, lemons, oranges, wild plums, limes, etc. Our tea is from a purveyor in Melbourne who Jamie has used for 25 years. We make our own turmeric blend on honey and almond milk. We do frappes, fresh juices and chai’s.
We have great staff, we love where we live and if I can say, the experience of going through the flood has been unbelievable, soul searching and eye opening. I’ve never been in a community like this that went through something like that. We survived. We didn’t have water in our shop. We had water over there and our shed got taken out. At first I felt really guilty that we could even open because the town was devastated but it turned out really good for people to come and see there was somewhere open. We did free bacon and egg rolls and coffees for all the SES workers, the Central Energy boys and volunteers for the 4 days. It was so rewarding to see how this community came together and how supportive everybody was of each other. Other people did amazing things. One lady came in and said ‘I have a bad back so I can’t really help but I’d really like to put a $100 tab in the cafe and if someone needs something to eat or drink, you be the judge, just give them whatever they want.’ It was unbelievable.
What I want to say is from that experience even though it was a negative in a lot of ways, it really cemented Jamie and my want and desire to be in this community. Why are we working these 14 hour days? This is why we are doing it. We really do want to own a business in this area, we really do want to put energy into this space and there are others coming through. We are good friends with Will at the Duck Pond. He’ll come over if he runs out of coffee. It’s healthy to be supportive of each other because more small businesses need more people to come over South Lismore. Share the love!”
I met my partner Jamie who is the chef in our kitchen about 6 years ago when I immigrated to Australia. I first landed in Melbourne where my family were but I have always loved this area. Every time I ever visited Australia I would always take a family car and drive up here. This area has always felt like my second home. It has a similar climate to South Africa, tropical landscape, Jacarandas blooming and the warm ocean.
A little over 4 years ago I convinced Jamie we should move up here. He has been a chef for almost 40 years. He’s also a qualified Baker and he’s done so many things. He’s worked on yachts in Antarctica and in Michelin star places but he followed me and my passion to live here even though it wasn’t his first choice.
We had enough to purchase The Blue Kitchen which was a sauce company with a product range that has been going for 12 years. We moved in, repurposed the space, worked the kitchen, added a bunch of equipment and created the cafe. We have been open as a cafe for 3 and half years now. We are also still doing the whole product range with a few new lines including a recipe from Jamie’s grandma in Ballarat, her relish recipe which we use in the cafe. The Smokey Bourbon BBQ we added to the range which is GF and almost entirely sugar free as it’s made with maple syrup. We also do the Preserved Lemon dressing.
I love music! I love African and Jazz and have always had a passion for music, coming out of South Africa where there is music on every corner. Jamie has always loved music too. Music and food go together. In the Blue Kitchen we have guitars people can play, historical guitars, lots of fun music memorabilia that people can look at waiting for coffee. As an interior designer I find it a little overkill but people like it. People gift us things like this etching from Hollywood walk of fame. Another gentleman who has the Hot Rod Club gifted us on permanent display another guitar that lives on the wall. The burgers are themed for dead rock stars. We have ice cream spiders from Mars.
During spring and summer we have live music. The music happens 2 Saturdays a month. We like to get bands with more than 2 people on the stage. We want to support the bands so they have somewhere to play in the daytime. We set up hay bales and umbrellas. The space works on sunny or rainy days.
My passion is the community, creating a wonderful environment in South Lismore which a lot of people didn’t believe in. Having worked in Phoenix and LA, living in Laguna Beach, visiting Houston and New York, even Melbourne, there is really great food in Industrial areas.
We found this business on Gumtree. It’s small enough that it works and it’s growing. We now have a second chef who came on board a year ago. He has a passion for Asian food so we do beautiful curries through the winter. We try and have our specials with an International flavour. The food in the case is all made on site except the bread. We use organic Bun Coffee. Our sauces are all made from local produce, chillies, lemons, oranges, wild plums, limes, etc. Our tea is from a purveyor in Melbourne who Jamie has used for 25 years. We make our own turmeric blend on honey and almond milk. We do frappes, fresh juices and chai’s.
We have great staff, we love where we live and if I can say, the experience of going through the flood has been unbelievable, soul searching and eye opening. I’ve never been in a community like this that went through something like that. We survived. We didn’t have water in our shop. We had water over there and our shed got taken out. At first I felt really guilty that we could even open because the town was devastated but it turned out really good for people to come and see there was somewhere open. We did free bacon and egg rolls and coffees for all the SES workers, the Central Energy boys and volunteers for the 4 days. It was so rewarding to see how this community came together and how supportive everybody was of each other. Other people did amazing things. One lady came in and said ‘I have a bad back so I can’t really help but I’d really like to put a $100 tab in the cafe and if someone needs something to eat or drink, you be the judge, just give them whatever they want.’ It was unbelievable.
What I want to say is from that experience even though it was a negative in a lot of ways, it really cemented Jamie and my want and desire to be in this community. Why are we working these 14 hour days? This is why we are doing it. We really do want to own a business in this area, we really do want to put energy into this space and there are others coming through. We are good friends with Will at the Duck Pond. He’ll come over if he runs out of coffee. It’s healthy to be supportive of each other because more small businesses need more people to come over South Lismore. Share the love!”