Cafe Stepping Stone staff recently enjoyed afternoon tea at The Lodge. Photo: Cafe Stepping Stone/Instagram.
Canberra social enterprise Cafe Stepping Stone has put together a series of special monthly dinner events across their two locations. Kicking off on Valentine’s Day with a set menu dinner at Strathnairn, the next dinner will be held on Sunday, 23 March, at their Dickson location. This Feast for Freedom is a fundraiser for the Asylum Seeker Resource Centre (ASRC).
Stepping Stone co-founder and CEO Vanessa Brettell told Region that this dinner will feature Straithnairn chef Nandar Win – affectionately known as Nan – who will take diners back to her roots in Myanmar and Thailand for a three-course meal.
“Nan contributes a lot of recipes and specials at Strathnairn, but this is the first time she’s designed the whole menu herself,” Vanessa said.
“It shows a bit of extra growth. She’s so excited and has a real sense of ownership of the dinner.”
With the support of Cafe Stepping Stone, Nan recently completed a Certificate III in Hospitality – her first formal education certificate.
Nandar Win (centre) completed her cert III in hospitality while working with Vanessa Brettell (L) at Cafe Stepping Stone. Photo: Cafe Stepping Stone/Instagram.
The menu will include dishes like Tom Yum Soup, a mung bean noodle dish and bamboo shoot stir fry. Banana blossom, papaya and coconut milk will be wrapped in banana leaves and steamed, served with jasmine rice.
As with all Stepping Stone dishes, the entire menu is vegetarian, so dishes like larb (usually made with minced meat) will instead be made with tofu.
“All the dishes have traditional flavours, but often those recipes involve meat. So these dishes are unique adaptations that Nan has created herself to use those traditional techniques but with vegetarian ingredients.”
For dessert, the team will be serving a special dish from Myanmar called yae-khae thote, which translates as ice salad. Shaved ice is topped with coconut milk, black jelly, peanuts and fresh coconut for a refreshing and texturally diverse, sweet finish to the meal.
Keep an eye out for more dinners as the team hopes to create monthly opportunities for their staff. The next event will likely coincide with Mother’s Day, and staff will each be recreating dishes that remind them of food their mums used to cook for them.
Nan’s steamed banana blossom is on the menu for dinner. Photo: Cafe Stepping Stone/website.
Vanessa said that in addition to creating more opportunities for staff to develop their skills, these dinners also act as a way to raise much-needed funds. Some dinners will raise funds for Stepping Stone, and others will use their profits to fund allied organisations with refugee support programs, like the Asylum Seeker Resource Centre.
“ASRC does heaps of wonderful advocacy work, and they offer so much support to thousands of people seeking asylum with no government funding, so it’s really important to support them,” she said.
Asylum Seeker Resource Centre provides food, shelter and health services for over 7000 people seeking asylum in Australia every year. The Feast for Freedom fundraising initiative encourages people to host dinners – usually in their own homes – and cook recipes from refugees while raising funds for ASRC initiatives. Founded in 2001, the centre is Australia’s largest human rights organisation that provides support to people seeking asylum.
The Cafe Stepping Stone Feast For Freedom will be held on Sunday, 23 March, at 5.30 pm, Hawdon Pl, Dickson. Find out more and book on their website, and follow them on Facebook or Instagram to keep up to date on future events.
Find out more about the Asylum Seeker Resource Centre, including how you can host your own Feast For Freedom.
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