Now Open: Fiji Pantry Brings Small-Batch Pacific Islands Staples to Darlinghurst

The day Fuzz Ali and his partner Ilai Jikoiono took down the butcher’s paper that covered the windows of their Darlinghurst store, Fiji Pantry, curious locals started walking in even though the store clearly wasn’t open yet.

“Darlinghurst is so diverse – it’s multicultural, multigenerational,” Ali says. “People are keen to try new things. They’re looking for inspiration.”

At the physical incarnation of the online store where the Fijian-born cooks have been selling non-perishables from the Pacific Islands, inspiration comes in the form of Taveuni hand-harvested sea salt; coconut oil from ethically sourced Solomon Islands coconuts; and exquisitely complex honey from Niue, an island nation of around 1700 people that’s a sanctuary to one of the world’s last disease-free Italian honey bee populations.

“We wanted to create a physical space where people could interact with the Pacific, and we deliberately opened in a suburb that’s away from where the community traditionally lives to remove it from that world of speciality foods,” Ali says. “Pantry goods are a low-risk way to introduce unfamiliar flavours to people. A bottle of chilli oil, a packet of lentils or curry powder has a long shelf life. We want people to experiment but also to fall in love so they buy the products over and over.”

A couple as well as business partners, Ali and Jikoiono champion producers from across the Pacific, but Fiji Pantry started with a chilli oil they produce themselves. Rather than using the crispy base found in many popular versions, Fiji Pantry chilli oil is a brilliant gold-and-red-tinged condiment based on Ali’s Indo-Fijian grandma’s chilli chutney. It’s chunky with a slow-warming, insistent heat, and overtones of star anise and cinnamon. There are two versions: one made from high-oleic canola oil, the other from Australian olive oil. It’s been a sellout since launching, inspiring the pair to add more of their own products, such as chilli-infused sea salt and Indo-Fijian curry powder.

With a population just shy of a million people, Fiji has a remarkably diverse cuisine. The predominant influences come from Indigenous iTaukei people, as well as the descendants of Indian indentured workers who once toiled on sugarcane plantations and Chinese Fijians, who have arrived in waves over the centuries.

In Fiji, ingredients connect cultures. Chicken is marinated in soy sauce, chilli and garlic, and wrapped in banana leaves or foil before being slow-cooked in a traditional earth oven or lovo. Curries are ubiquitous, and at just about every Fijian gathering you’ll also find spiced vegetables, chop suey, noodles and kokoda, an Indigenous dish resembling ceviche.

“Fiji has had a tough history in terms of social cohesion. Food is the common thread that’s given everyone a solid sense of Fijian culture and community,” Ali says.

In addition to running Fiji Pantry, Ali is a prolific social media chef who shares dishes which reflect his heritage, like chicken and plantain curry, and lamb palau. “Hello darlings,” is the irresistible greeting that begins every video. Ali is like a favourite uncle beckoning you to the stove to dip roti into a simmering pot of duck curry.

For a chef, a restaurant would be the logical next step, but Ali knows the market is tough. That doesn’t mean customers won’t be able to try his cooking, though. “We have plans to do a once-a-month kava and canapés night where we serve bite-sized Fijian food alongside kava, a traditional spirit. And we also plan to host dinners in the pantry. It will be by registration, with a maximum of eight guests, hosted by me and Ilai.”

Until then, the curious can experiment at home using the growing collection of ingredients sold at the sunset-coloured store on Darley Street.

Fiji Pantry
17 Darley Street, Darlinghurst

Hours:
Tue to Fri 11am–6pm
Sat 9am–5pm

fijipantry.com.au
@fijipantry