A renovation full of heart and history has been unveiled at treasured Coledale food house, Earth Walker & CO, as operators set their sights on a move into destination dining. Subscribe now for unlimited access . Login or signup to continue reading The cafe has transformed into a restaurant but retains a menu written around nourishing, sustainably-sourced, inventive and rustic fare.
Those are the ethos of owner/cook Ciara Kulmar, a former nurse and midwife with a generations-long hospitality background. The new look is by Eliza Woodward, a luxury travel agency operator who pivoted into design work during COVID lockdowns. The pair met when Ciara catered a wedding at Eliza's Austinmer home, which doubles as an AirBNB, The Black Chapel.
They hatched plans to bring Eliza's fantastical yesteryear parlour aesthetic into Earth Walker , but it all gathered dust during the pandemic. The makeover is the result of six recent hell-for-leather weeks, spent pulling every resource and spare set of hands the duo, and venue manager Talina Wilson, could muster. At times it became a community project, with Ciara's children Kye, 16, Kailan, 12 and Zayd 10, among a crew of local kids who helped paint the chequerboard floor and hammer some character marks into the old brick walls.
"It was a very deliberately low-budget project, because restaurants are going bust everywhere," Eliza said. "A lot of things we found on Facebook Marketplace from other places shutting down. "We found these beautiful old antique leather stools from an old hotel in Sydney that had shipped them out from Europe.
" The bar is a Frankenstein's bride made from the dismembered parts of 11 antique wardrobes bought from Facebook Marketplace and reformed by local builder Lee Morrison. A Paul Ryan painting - Eliza's - is displayed on loan, while the exterior has been given a lick of a rich teal paint called Liquorice Green, reflecting the dramatic escarpment-meets-sea surrounds. The century-old building was originally a co-op that traded in farm produce, millinery and haberdashery, with a butcher and baker on site.
Now the walls are adorned with old photos and newspaper clippings harking back to that era. Original post boxes from the old Austinmer Post Office, wall-mounted antique kitchen gadgets and a playlist of 1940s jazz music round out the yesteryear references. One of the crowning details is the great, thick lengths of real vine sourced from Ciara's family farm at Stanwell Park.
They snake up the walls and across the ceiling, as if still growing. "To me they're very Earth Walker, because I wanted this place to feel like nature was just coming in, creeping through the ceilings. I wanted the place to feel like it was living and breathing," Eliza said.
"I believe wholeheartedly a transformative venue is one that hits you with every sense when you come in. "There's a lot to look at and I think that's exciting. I think that's what people need and it's lacking in design these days.
"Everyone does these modern, minimalistic things and I just wanted to bring back some fun." The vision for Earth Walker is that it will become a destination in itself - somewhere Sydneysiders, in particular, will plan a day trip around. Eliza points to its position in the gateway to the Illawarra, an all-important source of the first impression, with the potential to bear economic and reputational fruit.
"I want people to come down from the city and say 'wow, we've actually got some venues that are of that level that they expect in Sydney'," she said. Earth Walker's open kitchen means visitors see a kaleidoscope of fresh produce and a newly constructed brick fire with a dancing naked flame when they walk in. The already sooty brick surrounds, rattan and warm lighting create a stay-a-while atmosphere meant to emulate the feeling of being at someone's home.
Which it sort of is. Ciara, a self-described "control freak", can be found on site every day, and her family often ends its day with dinner there. The fire oven has two sides - one with a closed door for flat breads and focaccias, the other with the flame on bewitching display, to be used mostly for cooking meats hung overhead at different heights.
"A lot of kids have been fascinated by it. It definitely calms you," Ciara said. "I think it [flame] makes you more involved in the food.
It's basically going back to basics for us and letting the food speak for itself. "We had labneh yesterday just with some dutch carrots and some simple olive oil and some basil. It was just so delicious.
We don't need to complicate it." The restaurant's secret weapon is Ciara's family farm set on eight acres at Stanwell Park, which supplies some of the produce that ends up on the plate. The menu heaves with gluten free, vegetarian and vegan options and effortlessly hits its nutritional marks.
The plates arrive rustic, looking the work of a cook more than a chef, with a nod to the German heritage of Ciara's mother, Edwina Heidtman, a hospitality maven who ran a suite of venues, including the Scarborough Hotel when Ciara was a small child. The brisket sambo ($20) comes on rye with Swiss cheese, house aioli, pickled onion, house pickles and kraut. The winter harvest salad ($23) combines confit garlic labneh, charred pumpkin, harissa carrots, beets, house-made quinoa and lentils with seasonal nuts, with optional protein.
"We put so much emphasis on people's health here ...
I suppose there's a bit of nursing as well, if you can make someone feel good with what they eat," Ciara said. "When we first started here, we had the quirky [non-uniformly shaped] carrots. I remember when they came out and people sent them back to the kitchen say, 'what is this?'.
I had to go out and explain to them that this is what carrots look like. "I suppose it's about bringing people back to basics. "We know it's fresh, we know where it's come from and we have great suppliers.
" The Earth Walker staff has grown to 34 but this still isn't enough. A staff shortage in the small village is the only thing holding back plans to expand into a dinner service, slated to start this August. The fire will take on a deeper glow at night.
When the first nighttime customers arrive, there will likely be at least one family already seated. "I don't have an alarm. I get up, I want to come in.
I don't think of this as work," Ciara said. "It feels like home to me." Proudly Illawarra Mercury since 2008; these days covering crime and justice issues.
UOW alum. Thrilled by the chase and sobered by some of the things I see and hear when I stand still - sometimes in the same day. ang.
[email protected] Proudly Illawarra Mercury since 2008; these days covering crime and justice issues.
UOW alum. Thrilled by the chase and sobered by some of the things I see and hear when I stand still - sometimes in the same day. ang.
[email protected] More from Latest News.
