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Just Open: Wheat and Oats, Phillip

Natasha Rudra

The cafe interior features wooden pallets.
The cafe interior features wooden pallets.Supplied

Wheat and Oats is a new grocer and cafe that's just opened in Phillip this week. It's the brainchild of Lachhu Thapa and Ben Richardson, who are also the young owners of the Hungry Buddha up the road in Curtin.

Thapa said they decided to open Wheat and Oats after spending Saturday mornings breakfasting and talking business. "We thought, 'We've still got something in us, we can do a lot better than this.' That prompted us to look for an avenue and when this place came up - because of what we wanted to do and how we wanted to do it - the space was perfect."

In a rather awesome twist, Thapa and Richardson won a competition in which the prize was an all expenses paid holiday in Japan. So they went away to Japan to think about their new project, and then spent time doing intensive research in the cafe grocers of Melbourne.

The cafe in Colbee Court in Phillip has been open since Monday, serving up coffees and baked goods from Sweet Bones and Bread Nerds. The ceiling features 40 wooden pallets, there's a courtyard out the back and in the shop itself there's a separate section for the grocer's which will include "things we can't buy in IGA or Coles - biodynamic felafel mix, organic chocolates, organic olive oil". Everything will be local where possible.

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Thapa says it's very early days and they're still sorting everything out. "We're revisiting our menu every week," he says. Eventually there will be hearty meals and lunches with the occasional Nepalese special. "I think it's one of the most amazing projects for me," he says.

Wheat and Oats, 22-24 Colbee Court, Phillip, wheatandoats.com.au

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Default avatarNatasha Rudra is an online editor at The Australian Financial Review based in London. She was the life and entertainment editor at The Canberra Times.

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