From The Kitchen, With Love
Woolworths TASTE|July 2020
One of the Mother City’s most iconic deli-restaurants, beloved by both locals and a certain US First Lady, has been forced to close its doors for good. Owner Karen Dudley recalls the joy, spirit of connection and the unforgettable food that made The Kitchen a home from home
Karen Dudley
From The Kitchen, With Love

When you’ve been pouring your heart and soul into the day-to-day urgencies of running a business (“The cold room’s down!”; “We need more coriander, Mama!”) you don’t realise how it has evolved into something other than what you’d expected. In 2009, we moved my catering company from my home to a burnt-out fish-and-chip shop on the Main Road in Woodstock. Ten years later, I realised we’d become a restaurant that also did catering.

The Kitchen buzzed. Every day was a performance, peaking with the lunchtime crush. People would line up for the salads and honey-mustard sausages, for grilled chicken, falafel and more. In summer, we needed four to five servers to manage the making of Love Sandwiches and to dish salad plates and boxes.

This story is from the July 2020 edition of Woolworths TASTE.

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This story is from the July 2020 edition of Woolworths TASTE.

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