The girls next door are putting on a snack-filled show.
After the success of The Trading Circle, the refugee-run eatery, which opened in April of this year, Four Brave Women (FBW) have decided to bake their way into our hearts (and it's working). Their International Pop-up Bakery has officially opened its doors last week in Sydney's inner west, next door to their Summer Hill eatery.
“It’s all about changing the world by empowering one woman at a time, changing the world one coffee at a time, changing the world one meal at a time,” says Bindi Lea, The Trading Circle’s CEO.
This community-focused initiative continues to empower and educate women and refugees to operate and grow their own small business. Alongside their store filled with Fairtrade items made by women in the Asia-Pacific and their refugee-run communal eatery, this bakery is the next chapter for three of the women who came through the FBW program and are ready to cook up a storm once again and show us what they've got.
Grab a tray, plate or gift box and help yourself!
Zara from Iran, who was The Trading Circle’s first-ever chef in the FBW kitchen cooking her Iranian menu, and Iana and Yulia from The Magic Tablecloth, who served up their Georgian menu right after, head up this bakery along with a group of chefs that will also be supporting larger-scale catering services.
Zara is well known among Sydney’s Iranian community for her bespoke cakes and delicate Persian biscuits. While Yulia and Iana will be baking their specialities including medovik - an epic Russian layered honey cake and Ukrainian ricotta doughnuts. Yulia says Four Brave Women has given her a strong sense of community. “I’m quite shy, but everyone is very friendly and I love meeting the customers.”
“Grab a tray, plate or gift box and help yourself!” are the words that immediately greet you on entry, and glass cabinets brimming with homemade baked goods fill the old-Italian pizzeria. Expect to find Ukrainian baked cheesecake and doughnuts, Russian honey cake and Persian jam biscuits as well Zara's famous Iranian kashke (grilled eggplant dip) served with flatbread and Russian pirozhki (stuffed pastry pockets) packed with mushroom, spinach and feta and beef and onion. And many of these snacks are gluten-free, vegetarian and vegan-friendly, as well.
Medovik - Russian honey cake Source: Four Brave Women International pop-up bakery
The bakery is currently leased until the end of December, there are plenty of chances until then to forge your weekly takeaway tours between $14 lunches at The Trading Circle eatery and then $4 treats right next door at the bakery. And if you only have a couple of dollars in your pocket, then pre-empt the afternoon sugar hit with an oreshki – an Eastern European biscuit with a variety of fillings - dark chocolate and hazelnut, white chocolate and pistachio, or sticky caramel - all as divine as they sound (we’ve got firsthand intel here).
While the commercial kitchen hopes to spark larger catering opportunities and cooking classes in the near future, The Trading Circle is striving to change the world one baked good a time – and we're completely on board.
Mon-Sat 7am - 3pm
24 Lackey St, Summer Hill, NSW
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