Cafe profile: My Grandma Ben
Originally written for Clique Mag
“We’re trying to be really inspired by the produce that you see growing around the place,” says Jessie Spiby of her debut bricks-and-mortar establishment, My Grandma Ben.
The new venture sees a move downstairs from Plant 4’s communal kitchen (the home of Jessie’s catering company) to a modest pocket of the market floor.
Fittingly, the eatery’s namesake is Jessie’s own grandmother who she says is, “one of my biggest influences, she was an incredible cook and host, and a real woman of her time”.
“Cooking in those days was about celebrating the seasons and not wasting anything, being really mindful of how lucky you are to enjoy an avocado because there were times when food was a lot tougher to get your hands on”.
Applying this logic to the modern day, My Grandma Ben looks to the seasons for inspiration. On the menu, it transpires in a veggie patch-to-table, produce-driven approach with sustainability at its core.
“The menu here is all about sustainability,” says Jessie. “At the end of the day it’s about fresh, quality food that’s very vegetable focused”.
“The proteins that we are using are things like carp, which is a pest here, and kangaroo, which is quite ethical as well,” she explains.
Materialising in a well-versed breakfast offering during the day, tapas style share-plates are set to dominate night-time trade once the venue’s liquor license comes into effect in late-August.
Spanning both offerings, the Coorong Mullet Escabeche is a must-try. It’s served with crisp potato rosti, diakon and carrot remoulade, and carrot top and goats curd salsa verde by day, and orange, charred pickled onions, Australian golden sultanas and charred cos by night.
Fermenting, pickling and preserving take centre stage throughout.
“We’re preserving everything,” says Jessie. “We really want to encourage people who have a tree of apricots to bring in a bucket and swap it with us for some preserves that we’ve made in the wintertime”.
While beetroots and chillies from Jessie’s sister lie in wait on the shelves, the housemade marmalade has quickly become a fan-favourite, especially when served with cultured butter atop house-made crumpets or fruit bread.
“For the fruit bread, we use spent grains from Pirate Life beer and marmalade scraps to help flavour the bread, so everything kind of works within itself,” explains Jessie. “I really want to utilise by-products that people generate when they’re making other things”.
On the coffee front, My Grandma Ben has ditched the takeaway cup all together. With beans sourced from Monday’s, it’s not surprising that most patrons are happy to sit in to enjoy their brew.
The café has also opted for a filter-only approach to ditch excess milk waste and associated packaging.
“That’s been a little bit of challenge to try and encourage people to try a different kind of coffee from what they’re used to,” Jessie concedes.
Naturally, sustainability extends from menu to fit out. “I’ve tried to be as thoughtful and mindful of waste as possible,” says Jessie.
Combining her background in design and extensive hospitality experience, Jessie has curated a space that perfects the balance of form and function. Lamp shades have been salvaged from antique stores, tabletops from reclaimed floorboards and demolished houses, and second-hand chairs from Elementary.
“We’ve managed to make quite an intimate little space within quite a big communal area, which I feel was something that I really wanted to achieve,” she says.
For Jessie, at the end of the day it’s all about being mindful. “It’s not perfect, every time we have a choice to make it better we just have to continue to make the right choices, it’s just about being mindful in your decisions”.