Cafe: Four Friends
Location: 5/29
Holtermann Street, Crows Nest
Phone: 0415 068
881
Over the
weekend, the team at Next Stop: Food was invited to Four Friends for a
chocolate experience at Crows Nest (Jess and I work at St Leonards so we love
to venture new foodie places around our area). Luckily, the four of us made
some time out of our busy schedule to come together for this four friends experience. So happy that
the four of us could make it as I wouldn’t have wanted it any other way and for
anyone of us to miss the opportunity to meet Katze (pronounced as K-C) and
Jimmy (the couple who are owners of Four Friends) and also proud parents of
three gorgeous children (aged 5, 3 and 6 months). And Katze, if you’re reading
this - I will babysit your children any day!
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An array of chocolate delicacies to chose from |
I promise this
won’t turn into a Katze’e life blog but the team at Next Stop: Food really
wanted to take the opportunity to share her story and the ethical values that
Four Friends follow. Katze and her team support handmade chocolate and organic
produce - meaning no artificial sweeteners and preservatives. Chocolate that
stands by this only have a 3 week shelf-life, so let’s ask ourselves: How many
businesses out there can proudly say they also follow this business practice? I’ll let you be the judge of that.
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"Planet" Chocolate indulgence, chocolate almonds, caramel robot, crown, lemon tart, mango macaron, orange macaron, lemon macaron, passionfruit, popping kitty, raspberry tart |
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Sweet Tier |
Because of
miscommunication with the PR team, Katze and her team had only expected one of
us at the meeting, rather than the four of us rocking up at her shop front on
an early Saturday morning. Katze was very catering and offered us the ‘planet’
dish (there is also a ‘galaxy’ option for a bigger group) and a two-tier
dessert selection AND a dish of her Christmas season collection AND choices of
tea, coffee and cold drinks. (Note: there are 40 varieties of tea available)
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Christmas season chocolates |
Previously
diagnosed with scleroderma left Katze with no choice but to be severely
bed-bound. Some of you might not be familiar with scleroderma but in a
nutshell, it’s an autoimmune disorder that affects the skin, which can also
damage the internal organs, unfortunately for Katze’s case it did. Just when
Katze had almost given up on life– this is when she found herself pregnant with
her third child.
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Our tea selection |
It was the
presence of her third child that gave her the willpower to fight this rare disorder. Katze practices religion but she is
open-minded and respects the teachings and faith of each religion. Ever since
her recovery, Katze now faces all life challenges and experiences with this
formula: Love + support, Respect, Gratefulness, Freedom = Happiness.
From our visit,
I also found myself guilty of the crimes that Katze had mentioned. The
inability to sit down and enjoy a cup of coffee, checking emails/constant
texting/talking on the phone when we should be enjoying our coffee or simply to
indulge and appreciate food and also to acknowledge the person you’re with and
NO, it is not acceptable even if you’re both doing your social-networking
duties.
With 2014 just around the corner, I would like to reflect on these crimes that I am guilty of and hopefully remember that happiness does come from within and of course sometimes that extra bite of chocolate can help too!
For those
interested to know how Four Friends got its name, please click here
I realised this
blog entry didn’t quite turn out to be food-related but I will end with – any
business that operates with love and moral values will not create products that
are of poor quality. My favourites would be the crown (vanilla apricot) and
seasonal collection (cinnamon). Popping kitty and robot would be the highlight
as it offered quite interesting innards (popping candy in the kitty; oozing
caramel in the green man)
That’s it from
the team so please have a safe and happy Christmas and may you all be
tummy-filled with yummy food and/or with chocolate! hehe
With love
Cee
Thank you to Katze and her team for sharing her story and delicacies.
Next Stop: Food was invited
to Four Friends, however all comments are based on our own thoughts.
mmmm love the poppin candy in the asian lucky cat!
ReplyDeleteI agree and love it how it wasn't over-filled with popping candy either but still had plentiful inside (:
Deleteher story is so powerful and motivating! must visit this place soon!
ReplyDeleteyou sure do Amy! Happy 2014! :D
Delete