three spoons

It's been 3 months!

2008-08-12T12:12:00.011+10:00

3 months have flown by pretty swiftly and within those months, three spoons have managed to experience and survived the effects of

* WYD
* First school holidays
* The Beijing Olympics &
* The Numerous footy matches at Olympic Park

We're looking forward to some warmer weather and our very first Spring!

three spoons has welcomed some new additions to our T2 tea range, which now includes rooibos, gunpowder green, just peppermint, lemongrass & ginger, oolong, chai, earl grey and good old english breakfast.

July's artwork included paintings by Betty Manro. Below are just some detailed photos of the multiple layers throughout the canvas.

(detailed)

(detailed)

(detailed)

About a month ago we put up a poster advertising studio spaces for artist at Olympic Park, since then we've slowly filled the wall with local business cards, articles, polaroids and have now deemed it the "Wall of Fame!"

The "Wall of Fame" above

See you soon!

Private Function - 12/07/08

2008-07-19T19:00:00.012+10:00

(click for larger image)

three spoons' had our first private function last week for one of the regulars who just resigned and is jetting off to Europe for a few months with his lovely wife. We organised a set menu and being a bit of a wine connoisseur, they had matching wines for each course. The evening was casual, relaxed and fun. We had a great time working and tasting the leftover food is always a plus!

So the cafe is casual and not at all a formal type of place, but there was definately no compromise when it came to the food!

The chef slaving away in the kitchen

Green vegetable soup.

Chicken liver parfait with french baggette, turkish and lebanese bread.

Fresh salmon ready to be cooked.

The end result - pan roasted salmon on a bed of parmesan mash potato with asparagus and salsa verde.

YUM!

The pork belly crackling away.

Crackling pork belly served with sweet potato mash and cumberland sauce

Hopefully that has made you hungry enough to come visit us!

Making Biscotti

2008-07-19T18:50:00.006+10:00

three spoons' Almond Biscotti - $2.50 each

The View - Inside and Out

2008-06-17T22:17:00.008+10:00

It rained most of last week but in between the few showers we managed to take a few snaps of the place. Our bright orange umbrellas was donated to us by the local Concord West Pub (on the corner of Victoria Ave and Queen St) and it has definately helped in attracting a few customers.

"Pink Formations"
oil on canvas
(tripditch above)

We're trying to make an effort to change the artwork in the cafe each month, so for June, new paintings by Louis Ricaud was hung recently to liven up the place.
(all are available for sale if interested)

"Clear Light"
oil on canvas
(painting above)

See you soon!

Bits and Pieces - Setting Up

2008-06-09T15:10:00.005+10:00

Setting up three spoons took about a week of cleaning, organising, debating about what goes where and running on little to no sleep for 7 days straight.

Front Counter

Entrance

Middle Room

Kitchen

Kitchen

Bits and Pieces - Desserts

2008-06-09T14:44:00.013+10:00

three spoons' dessert selection changes weekly and making them has become a difficult task as we have to stop ourselves from eating them all...

Making the base

Lemon Tart

Chocolate Tart - Before Baking

Chocolate Tart - Baking in the oven

Tiramisu

Yum!

Bits and Pieces - Edible

2008-06-09T14:23:00.004+10:00

Prior to opening we had several trial runs of cooking the items on the menu, many delicious trial runs as well I should add.

Banana Muffins

Making croutons

Slow roasted garlic tomatoes

Biscotti

Pan roasted Chicken with sauteed spinach, mushrooms and salsa verde

three spoons have officially opened!

2008-05-30T16:26:00.014+10:00

It has been exactly 3 weeks since three spoons opened the doors and despite the lack of sleep, anxiety, stress, bickering and various unexpected problems we were faced with, it has been a great experience and so much more than we had hoped and anticipated for. The support from the local businesses and our regular customers (yay! we have a few already!) have been wonderful and our friends have been coming in every week filling up the place!

There were several problems that started the week before we opened and they just piled right up till the night before we opened! The list of problems we had include our:

* coffee machine
* coffee grinder
* fridges
* lighting
* electricity
* gas
* garbage
* stove
* grill
* toilet

So what we've learnt is that there really is no such thing as being OVERPREPARED and the only thing we can really do is expect the unexpected! Tiredness is overtaking us at this hour, so just come visit us and check out the place for yourself!

Sign, Sealed, Delivered!

2008-05-01T22:02:00.006+10:00

three spoons is...

OPENING very,

very, SOON!

Cup Cakes - 1st Trial Batch

2008-04-25T18:02:00.014+10:00

Cup cakes seem to be the trend these days, there are shops, websites as well as blogs dedicated to these cute, little, edible delights. We decided to join the hype and bake up a batch to see how ours would match up to the others out there. So with plates piled high in the sink waiting to be washed, we attemped to make use of the little bench space we had amongst all the preparation for dinner.

The recipe isn't anything complicated, just the standard butter cake type with a few extra large eggs to ensure it doesn't come out too dense. The batter ended up being a bit on the lumpy side as the butter wasn't as soft as it should have been, impatience got the better of us and the patty tins were quickly filled with lumpy goodness and baked in the oven at 180 degrees.

After 20 mins baking in the oven and 10 mins cooling, a quick cream cheese and butter frosting was whipped up and spread generously on top of each cup cake, next came the customary decorations and we opt for the good old rainbow coloured sprinkes!

The finished product:

The verdict? The cup cakes looked cute, it was moist and pretty tasty, the only downside was the slight issue we had with the lumpy butter, it melted of coursed in the oven and made the cup cake a bit too buttery. Not bad though for the first trial batch! =) Come to think of it, we probably should have baked ANZAC cookies to commemorate ANZAC DAY...

Deterrents?

2008-04-24T00:13:00.014+10:00

We all know that the statistics say:

"8 out of 10 new business fail within the first three years"

Walk down the aisle of any book store and there are rows and rows of books on how to run your own business, how to succeed, how to manage your funds, how to manage your staff etc etc... there is also the trusty "Small Business for Dummies" which was googled and found here Will we read this? We highly doubt it. Do we think it will provide some much needed advice and shed some light on those business-y type questions? hrm maybe. Will we lose sleep over not purchasing this or similar books. I don't think so. Retailing at $39.95 you can obtain the same useful information if not better for free from the World Wide Web, some great examples include:

www.business.gov.au
www.ato.gov.au
www.abs.gov.au
www.smallbiz.nsw.gov.au

So in trying to remain positive and optimistic about starting out, we can't help but also be realistic about how our first day/week/month/year will be even if that is bordering on being negative!

A recent feature article in SMH's Good Living titled "Hard Slog Cafe" will better explain our concerns/experiences to date. Some quotable quotes from the article on starting up a cafe/restaurant include:

"Our first couple of weekends, we didn't have a single customer come in on a Sunday. Silent Sundays, we'd call them,"

"Then you get a long weekend and everyone leaves town and you have an empty restaurant. It's no wonder 25 per cent fail if the success of the venue relies on so many factors being aligned."

"They don't even consider the legals, accounting, staffing, even bothering to research the right locations. They think it's going to be easy but it's often 16 hours a day, seven days a week. It's damn hard work."

"Just because you cook a good barbecue at home is no sign you can run a restaurant,"

"People told me, 'Don't expect to make any money in the first 12 months.'

So after all that has been said, is it enough to deter us away? Naahh.

First Sightings

2008-04-18T16:42:00.005+10:00

After compiling a very snazzy little business plan in about 4 days, our first business prospect didn't follow through like we'd hope...however it turned out to be a good thing as we spotted this little gem in Concord West in Feb 08. Great location and a quaint little place with POTENTIAL written all over it!