The farm cafe where chefs are beating burnout by growing food
Their hotcakes attracted queues out the door at Top Paddock and now the same group have started a new farm cafe, serving up delicious dishes with a side of mental health help for hospo workers.
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Anthony Bourdain, Jeremy Strode, Darren Simpson — all names whose untimely deaths have rocked the restaurant world in recent years.
One in four people in hospitality suffer mental health issues such as depression and anxiety, and Nathan Toleman is committed to reducing those stats.
He’s also passionate about the environment, and these two issues close to his heart collide at Common Ground Project, a 1.6ha farm, cafe and social enterprise in Freshwater Creek near Geelong.
The concept involves restaurants paying a $230 weekly membership to send their chefs to the biodynamic farm at least a day a week to help improve wellbeing by putting them in touch with the land. There’s morning meditation, a day of harvesting and a group lunch, with each member getting a share of all produce grown.
A year in and the program will soon extend to corporates keen to get some dirt under their fingernails for a change of pace from office life.
Toleman’s Mulberry Group is behind it all, providing the hospo empire its own Surf Coast escape when they’re not running their CBD venues Hazel, Dessous and Liminal or The Beach House in Geelong.
As well as promoting more sustainable farming and hospitality practices, the group is also serving up its usual great cafe fare at Common Ground, having honed its brunch skills at past venues such as Richmond’s Top Paddock, Higher Ground in the city and Kettle Black off St Kilda Rd.
The difference here is that dishes have the advantage of using produce plucked from the ground or snipped from a garden bed often mere minutes before landing on diners’ plates.
And what can’t be grown onsite is sourced from local growers using biodynamic practices.
Chef Sandy Melglavis (ex-Top Paddock, Ladro and Bistro Guillaume) has devised a cracking menu.
The Green Beans & Rye ($20) is simple as hell, but so well done. A jumble of just-warmed green beans bound in creamy stracciatella cheese lands on house-made rye bread; a dark and malty house-brick of a slice laced with pepitas, sunflowers and linseed.
Another savoury standout is the beef presse ($28), various cuts of meat braised in a lush master stock heady with cinnamon and other spices for 14 hours, pressed and served with the stock reduced to a sticky glaze — all countered with a soba noodle salad with a sharp vinaigrette.
Coffee is from the group’s Square One roastery, and there’s also tea, smoothies, milkshakes ($5/$9) and refreshing house-made sodas ($5).
It’s licensed, so settle in with local beer, cider and wines as well as three fab cocktails, such as the Common Bloody Mary ($14) spiked with worcestershire and house-made hot sauce.
You’ll dine in a room bursting with rustic charm with a wood fire in the middle, served by a calm and capable crew of staffers.
Little ones are well catered for, not only with a big playground, scarecrows guarding towering sunflowers, and an array of farm animals, but with a great kid’s menu taking in an omelette with farm greens ($10), a proper chicken schnitzel roll ($15) and picnic platter for four to six ($22).
You can book, and the space — previously The Farmer’s Place — is also available for events. Many of us secretly dream of giving farm life a go — and you can here, even if it’s just for an afternoon, with all the creature comforts and knowing that you’re helping your fellow man.
COMMON GROUND PROJECT
675 Anglesea Rd, Freshwater Creek
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