My Grandma Ben

Jessie Spiby’s first bricks-and-mortar venture – My Grandma Ben – is at Plant 4. The 60-square-metre cafe centralises her workshops, masterclasses and catering.

Sustainability is the bottom line here. Spiby works with producers to use their by-products, or for example, will make use of your homegrown lemon harvest. It’s about using things that would otherwise be wasted.

Chef Jodie Zerna (ex-New Local Eatery heads up the kitchen. Expect a lot of pickling, fermenting, smoking and preserving. Sustainable proteins supplement the vegetarian-leaning, produce-dependent menu.

During the day find house-made crumpets and marmalade with cultured butter, carp rilette (similar to pate though usually made with pork), and a staple roo bolognaise that pulled a crowd at Spiby’s Womad pop-up.

Small share plates dominate after dark and take hints from the daytime menu: Smoked and pickled Coorong mullet, lightly cured roo, loads of veggies with herb sauces, and charred seasonal stuff.

Grab and go on Wednesday and Friday market nights. There’s non-Spanish “pintxos”, toasties and traditional cakes and tarts.

All zero-waste products on sale at the cafe are available on My Grandma Ben’s online store, plus more. Starter kits can help you go waste-free at home, one room at a time.

Antique lampshades dangle around a centrepiece high table that’s perfect for group dining. It’s surrounded by bench seating and lower-set tables with chairs reclaimed from Elementary Coffee. Half the tabletops are Oregon timber recycled from house demolitions.

Yetti and the Kokonut winemaker Koen Janssens has drawn up the wine list.