A Sydney-based artisan style café and bakehouse, Foodcraft Espresso & Bakery (FCEB) has been offering extensive hand crafted dishes served fresh all day since May.
Inspired by the flavours of the Mediterranean and especially Greece, as well as the hospitality of its people, Foodcraft is a welcoming and relaxing place to visit for unique breakfast and lunch options.
One of the latest concoctions from the Erskineville cafe is a triple-decker ripper containing Nutella, a doughnut and a milkshake, which became an Instagram sensation overnight, with not only Australia but the whole food-addicted social media society obsessing over it.
The creative geniuses behind the world famous Tella Balls have captured the hearts, minds, tastebuds and of course, stomachs of every foodie around the world, by creating a brioche style doughnut ball injected with the most mouth-watering flavours imaginable.
Nutella, vanilla bean ricotta, salted caramel and five berry jam create a titillating explosion atop the most flavoursome milkshake in a jar, taking Australia’s milk bar heritage to a whole new level.
Within a few days FCEB began to distribute the original Tella balls to more than 50 other cafes across Sydney.
“We were mucking around, and decided to put our two products together, the Tella ball and the Nutella shake,” says Daikos, who has always been addicted to Nutella.
“At my other places, I used to put Nutella in my doughnuts. I kind of built a following as ‘Mr Nutella’.”
The creative concept behind the FCEB brand expands much further than the Tella Balls, with an aim to evoke a sense of clean, crisp wholesomeness.
The unique and modern familiarity of the olive wreath coupled with the cookery conveys a message of quality fine food that draws from yesteryear.
“The inspiration for both the brand and the cooking stems from the Mediterranean and is only brought to life when mixed perfectly with Sydney’s freshness,” Aki Daikos and Simon Kappatos, the two Greek Australian owners of the bakehouse cafe, agree.
“Watch our craftsmen make and bake some of the most delectable treats you’ll ever eat and enjoy your freshly ground coffee served any way you like.”
The partnership forged at FCEB between the two owners is like “strawberries and cream – sensational alone, but perfect together”, or at least, this is how they describe it.
“The intention is to create a trusted brand that prospective clientele would comfortably become a part of and existing customers would be happy to be associated with.
“Mixing old faithfuls with ‘up to the minute’ global cuisine preferences, the brand is sensitive to purveyors of ‘tried, tested and proven’ flavours.”
The duo will soon be opening an exclusive Tella balls dessert and gelato bar that is expected to be up and running by October this year.
“It will be the first of its kind, located in Dulwich Hill.”
Meanwhile, you can try out the Tell-a-balls and more go to 33 Bridge Street Erskineville Sydney NSW, or contact +61 (0)420 881 975 akidaikos@yahoo.com +61 (0)425 408 960 simon.kappatos@hotmail.com
–Aki Daikos (owner of Vesbar Café and Gasolina Espresso) opened Foodcraft Espresso in May, alongside business partner Simon Kappatos. Aki Daikos is a ‘cafentrepreneur’. He has successfully been contributing to the Sydney café boom over the past 10 years by creating, building-up and flipping what are now iconic cafés, in and around some of Sydney’s favourite café hotspots. A ‘well seasoned’ master of his craft, just like his cafés, he never leaves a foul taste in the mouth. His plan was to eventually blend all the good stuff from what he had learnt in the food and cafe industries and design a shop that offered a relaxed feel with honest food for his beloved customers.
Simon Kappatos, on the other hand, is a business minded individual who has the tendency to follow his gut whenever he needs to make big decisions – and for obvious reasons, his gut has led him to becoming a co-founder and co-owner of FCEB. He comes from a hotel background where service and quality are paramount. Experiences gained from the hospitality industry have equipped him with the skills to identify and make better even the most ‘well oiled’ establishment.