00:00 We are opening for a very special Christmas lunch where we're going to serve over 100
00:07 people a really beautiful Christmas meal.
00:09 So the idea is that we give everybody a fine dining experience, a real dignified dining
00:14 to make them feel really special today.
00:17 But we do this actually every day, five days a week.
00:20 We serve a real dignified fine dining experience.
00:23 Most important question of course is what's on the menu today?
00:26 Oh, it's a gorgeous menu.
00:29 So we have a black lentil, cornflake garlic and walnut Wellington, spinach and mushroom
00:35 and carrot fennel jam with cream frioche, grilled peach salad, some real typical Australian
00:42 style Christmas salad, broccoli and smoked cheese as a side as well with garlic butter.
00:48 And then of course, traditional pavlova with fresh cream and mango and guava and all sorts
00:53 of deliciousness to make it that extra Christmassy.
00:56 You might have to set me an extra spot at the table.
00:58 Tell us about how the restaurant works and who you welcome in.
01:01 Yeah, so daily what we do is we connect with all of our different agencies here at OzHarvest
01:08 where we connect with vulnerable people who might need a free meal.
01:12 So it might be people sleeping rough, it could be people who are isolated, maybe families
01:17 or single parents.
01:18 We offer them a free meal in our gorgeous space.
01:23 And what we do is we connect with them.
01:26 We bring them into our restaurant, offer them a real community, a community hub, a way to
01:32 gather and to connect with their community here in Surrey Hills in Sydney.
01:36 So the way we work with it with our community and our extra communities, we rely on sponsors
01:43 and donors and people can even come in the evening and they can donate to be able to
01:47 support our cause.
01:48 It's such an important service because Christmas can be, you know, while it's full of joy and
01:52 abundance and generosity, it can be a difficult time for lots of people.
01:57 Particularly Christmas time, it's all about indulgence and abundance.
02:02 And at Christmas time, what we find for our guests is they can feel like they're maybe
02:06 not part of that.
02:08 They can feel like maybe they don't have the opportunity to indulge and see other people
02:13 in their life and in their families.
02:14 So what we're about is really providing that experience.
02:18 We know all of them by their name.
02:20 We're here to provide a really gorgeous dining experience for them, but also just beyond
02:25 Christmas, a place for them to see and actually feel like they're part of the family.
02:30 It's been such, you know, the cost of living crisis has been such a big issue this year.
02:35 People are finding it harder to make ends meet as interest rates go up and inflation
02:38 and all of the various economic factors.
02:40 Are you seeing a change in, you know, the people that you feel like you want to help
02:47 and support, especially in times like this, but year round?
02:50 Yeah, absolutely.
02:52 We've seen a real food relief crisis here at OzHarvest where people who maybe have a
02:57 mortgage are still working, but actually cannot make ends meet day to day and week to week.
03:03 So what we're finding is people are coming to us for the first time, never having sought
03:08 any help or relief and really an increase in what we call the working poor.
03:14 People are really struggling to make ends meet.
03:15 So that's why it's really important at this time of year to be able to offer something
03:19 like this for people who really don't have the chance to actually indulge.
03:25 Really important indeed and a wonderful service you're putting on.
03:27 Nicole, Khoury, have a fantastic lunch and have a very Merry Christmas as well.
03:31 Merry Christmas to you as well.
03:33 Thank you.
03:33 [BLANK_AUDIO]
Comments