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  • 8 months ago
In the middle of COVID, John Widmer traded his life on the sunsoaked Sutherland Shire, NSW, for the shores of Himeshima, Japan, where he is now the only foreign resident on the island. With his wife, Teruko Nakamichi, the Cronulla local opened Ozi Cafe, on the island to introduce Japanese caffeine lovers to Aussie beans and coffee styles.

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00:00Music
00:00Japanese coffee tends to be very bitter.
00:27And so either they've undercooked the beans or they've overcooked them.
00:33So you either get a really bitter taste or an acidic burnt taste.
00:37And we're sort of turning around.
00:39When we first opened, we were selling a lot of black coffees, which they know as Americanos.
00:44On my menu, it comes up as Australiana because I wasn't going to be an American.
00:48Now people are coming in and going, oh, flat white.
00:52And it's interesting watching the Japanese because we're primarily a takeaway shop.
00:59They're not in here saying, oh, this coffee is beautiful.
01:01They actually leave the shop and then come back in to tell us that the coffee is delicious.
01:07So it's not politeness.
01:09It's actually, we must be hitting the mark somewhere.
01:13We do make toasted sandwiches, so like a smoked ham, mustard and cheese.
01:18And on some of those, I put a smearing of Vegemite.
01:23And it just gives that little bit extra flavor.
01:27So the toasted sandwiches really, and we use Australian teas.
01:31So I don't know if you can see these, but these are from Western Australia.
01:37And they're all like using Aboriginal plants in amongst the two.
01:43So they've become quite popular as well.
01:46We get cookies from a friend of mine in Covert, which is sort of up from the main island.
01:53But we only have a small space here.
01:55I'm looking at hopefully taking over the back end of the building shortly.
02:01And then we'll be doing like eggs benny and stuff like that, because a lot of, we've only
02:05got five restaurants on the island.
02:08And a couple of them you can only get into if you pre-booked the day before.
02:13And of course, some people come to the island not knowing that.
02:17And then the other restaurants are full, so this will sort of give us another opportunity.
02:22The local Shinto priest is probably my best customer.
02:25He's in here every day for coffee at least once.
02:29I'll get a toasted sandwich.
02:31He tries to get, because I've got jars of Vegemite for sale as well.
02:34And he'll bring somebody in, this one loves Vegemite.
02:36And I'll give him a little bit on a knife and some will go, oh, this is really nice.
02:41Others go, oh, oh, that's really good.
02:44But I say to them, it's Vegemite's like natto.
02:47It's a natto's Japanese breakfast dish, which is fermented soybeans.
02:54And it's really gluey, like you see them mixing it up and it's like got strings of glue.
03:00It's not something I'm a big fan of.
03:03You know, I guess we grew up on Vegemite.
03:05They grew up on natto.
03:06I was worried when I first started here that not being able to speak the language could be a problem.
03:20But I'd make a joke of it.
03:22You know, people come in and they'll start talking Japanese and I'll just go, Nihongo Choto Choto Choto Choto.
03:27That means a little, little, little.
03:29And then they start to laugh.
03:31And the other thing with the name of the shop, O-Z-I, Aussie,
03:35I couldn't put our normal spelling for Aussie because the Japanese couldn't say it, A-U-S-S-I-E.
03:41So I thought, oh, Aussie, that's a perfect thing.
03:43My wife didn't say anything.
03:45Aussie is actually pronounced O-G, which means old uncle.
03:49And so that's become a bit of a laughing thing because they come in and I've got Australian flags
03:54and I've got Australian jerseys and all that sort of stuff up on the walls.
03:58And they go, oh, Australian.
04:01I said, yeah, Aussie, like Aussie beef, not O-G.
04:05And they all laugh.
04:06So it's become, even though I don't speak the language, I can still converse with them.
04:11You know, at worst possible case scenario, Google Translate.
04:19They are starting New Clerks
04:30and they do what I want to represent.
04:35And we'll see you next time in next day,
04:37and we'll see you next time in handcuffs.
04:38The CNIL YA
04:44and real music being produced in cepillo
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