Having found itself an unlikely home in an old medical centre near Swan Street, Jethro Canteen is an exciting new addition to Richmond’s exploding scene. Located at the perfect junction of city life, sporting precincts, music venues and residential and commercial businesses, this modern café, with a strong emphasis on quality coffee and a ‘back to basics’ approach, is going be a trailblazer.
Founder Billy Zarbos calls his business an “extension of everyday life and family.”
This becomes especially apt when we discover the story behind Jethro Canteen’s name: Zarbos and his wife Sarah, when she fell pregnant with their first child, settled on the names ‘Jethro’ for a boy and ‘Gwenyth’ for a girl. When Gwenyth arrived the cafe naturally became Jethro and both keep them equally busy.
Former head chef and previous co-owner of the café Merchants Guild, Paul Davies, has come on board as head chef, and brings with him a wealth of experience and a unique methodology when it comes to the menu, putting a nostalgic twist on old favourites and playing with stimulating new ideas. Paul Davies names their waffles with cereal milk panna cotta as a personal favourite; taking diners back to their youth with the flavour of that sweet condensed milk that lingered in the bottom of your cereal bowl. The café will soon feature two menus: one for hearty take home food, and the current in-store menu that sports more experimental options.
Jethro Canteen’s menu is fuelled by environmentally conscious ideas with the inclusion of more unusual ingredients. “Everything points to insects playing a big part of our diet in the future,” says Zarbos. “They are super good for you, packing in nutrients at a far denser rate than other, more traditional foods, and they actually taste good and add great texture.” We look forward to seeing crickets on the menu, yes, you read right, crickets of the creepy crawly kind.
In a market saturated with health conscious coloured lattes, their focus is on using beautiful beans to create amazing coffee. The Shady Lane house blend and rotating single origin options are provided by Wide Open Road Coffee, along with a batch brew and cold drip, as well as a range of specialty teas, Prana chai and a healthy, sustainability-conscious latte option, featuring camel’s milk.
Exposed brick and beautiful hard wood tables are softened up with comfy chairs and a fresh green colour scheme. The old, raw, industrial building in which Jethro Canteen is located is a perfect marriage to Zarbos’ ‘nostalgic but progressive’ philosophy and this café enterprise is all about representing both the old and the new with flair, colour and enthusiasm.
