By Casey Neill
Dandenong’s new all-day brunch spot is a family affair.
Sister and brother Nhu and Tam Nguyen and their respective partners, Tony Tran and Selina Nguyen, opened the fresh, bright Walker’s Kitchen on Monday 14 November.
“Dandenong is the new next big city,” Nhu said.
“It’s close to home and it’s booming.
“We were confident about opening it because my brother knew he could make that cup of coffee
and I had a strong vision of what sort of food we wanted.”
The twenty-somethings got a taste for the industry through their Vietnamese-born parents.
Nhu helped them to introduce coffee to their bakeries “because it’s the trend now” and they were losing bread sales to the major supermarkets.
“My brother just jumped in because he saw the latte art and was so intrigued,” she said.
He honed his skills at Jaspers in Chadstone.
“I think he can spit out two coffees a minute,” she said.
Nhu helped her parents to set up cafe Iconic Culture in Clarinda, taking a leading role in almost all aspects of the process.
“My brother said to me ‘if you can set up a business and I can do the coffee side, let’s join up’,” she said.
“This year he took me and said ‘I want this space’,” referring to 21 George Street, Dandenong.
They inquired and were moving in before they knew it.
“I was pretty much involved in everything, from working with the design of the cafe to hiring to sourcing suppliers, establishing product lines, then setting policies and procedures,” she said.
“We want the cafe to be able to run itself down the track.”
Nhu and Tam grew up in Springvale and Keysborough so were familiar with Greater Dandenong’s dynamics.
She said the menu theme was modern breakfast, from chilli scrambled eggs to black forest French toast.
“We want it to be known as one of the best specialty cafes in Dandenong,” she said.
“This is the only brunch place in Dandenong at the moment.
“We want it to be the best.”
Menu specials change every two weeks.
“We’re trying to capture that foodie type of audience,” Nhu said.
“We want photography food.
“Not only does it have to taste good, but look good.”
In addition to the all-day breakfast fare, there’s a lunch menu available from 11am to 3pm that includes homemade gnocchi and soft shell crab souvlaki.
A display cabinet near the entry features “anything that’s quick to grab and go” made in-store daily, from toasties to salads and fruit.
Nhu said the cafe’s look was corporate, professional and fresh.
“It’s somewhere where business people can come, have their meetings, do their work, read their papers and feel like they belong,” she said.
“They’re not squashed in a corner in the bakery.”
Nhu is also focused on making her staff feel welcome. She asked each team member what they wanted to get out of the job and will offer training accordingly.
“It’s not about being selfish and trying to keep them at your place,” she said.
“No one wants to be in one place forever.”
Walker’s Kitchen is open from 7am to 4pm, Monday to Friday. It will close for a Christmas break on Friday 23 December and reopen on Monday 9 January.
