The little Aussie blue note mightn't stretch as far as it once did at Darlinghurst's Ten Buck Alley, but you'd be surprised what it might buy at a new restaurant and café opening next month on the corner of Bourke and Albion Streets in Surry Hills.
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"The $10 price of our organic yoghurt flatbread with feta, pine nuts and pomegranate dressing can support a child living with HIV in Uganda at school for a month," says financier Matthew Byrne.
A social enterprise cafe and restaurant [called Gratia and Folonomo respectively] will open in a fortnight alongside an art gallery, 100 per cent of profits headed back to not-for-profit organisations.
A posse of specialists including lighting designers Malaya Blonde, have helped nurse the project. Restaurateur David Poirier, pictured with Byrne and chef Rachel Grisewood, is part of the start-up team.
"Our menu will focus on a celebration of Australia's rich multicultural diversity – focus on the tastes and flavours that we share a love for rather than the myopic issues that divide us," says Byrne, a financial adviser who is underwriting the project.
"I saw a lot of people in my world with a lot of money that weren't happy," he says of the motivation behind the start-up.
He explains 50 per cent of profits will go toward the restaurant's own foundation, supporting the homeless among others, while diners will also be able to nominate a charity of their own choice for the other half of profits.
