Callum Hann and Themis Chryssidis’s Pantry on Prospect Does a Little Bit of Everything

Pantry on Prospect (or Pop as it’s affectionately known) doesn’t fit into a box. The new project from Masterchef alum Callum Hann and Themis Chryssidis, his business partner at Roma and Olive, opened last week.

It shifts from coffee and quick bites in the early AM, to long lunches that stretch into the evening. All the while, it welcomes shoppers looking to stock up on some of South Australia’s best from the packed pantry.

“There’s a lot of beautiful cafes and coffee shops here in Prospect, but there wasn’t necessarily a lot of lunch and evening meal places,” says Chryssidis. “We wanted to create a place where the local community could come and hang out while enjoying a beautiful meal, with the addition of the pantry.”

The shelves of that pantry are lined with more than 200 products, a mix of fresh staples and small-batch goods from South Australian faves (and a few international producers). Expect bread from Emma Shearer’s The Lost Loaf in Bowden and pantry items from makers like Little Tin Co. A selection of cookbooks – including Parwana, Africola and Provecho from La Popular Taqueria – nod to the broader SA food scene.

The dine-in drinks list is stacked with locally made sodas and juices from Mischief Brew, BTNC and The Garden Farmers. There are also wines (80 per cent of which are South Australian), cocktails and beers, including the occasional Coopers longneck.

The pair are focusing on small, independent producers. “There’s an incredible amount of passionate artisanal producers… and it’s really hard to compete in a world of mass production, so we really wanted to showcase those.”

Those same small-batch pantry products carry over to the dine-in menu, part of the team’s “pantry-to-plate” approach. “If people like it, they can buy some and take it home,” says Chryssidis. “It’s about wholesome, honest food that’s not pretentious.”

The menu spans snacks, larger plates and desserts, with early standouts including a Spencer Gulf king prawn sando with dill tartare; La Vera ricotta gnocchi with Alexandrina Jersey cream; and Barossa Artisan haloumi topped with Woodside honey and fresh juicy figs.

The Pact Architects-led fit-out is bright but intimate, with tables spilling out onto the street in the evenings. It’s simple, but deliberately so. “We’re in the game of under-promising and over-delivering, and I want people to walk in and go, ‘Wow, that wasn’t at all what I was expecting’,” says Chryssidis. “We want to create an atmosphere where people feel welcome [and where] locals feel like it’s their own.”

Pantry on Prospect

71 Prospect Road, Prospect

(08) 8448 1184

Hours:

Wed to Sun 8am–9.30pm

@pantryonprospect

pantryonprospect.com.au