Now Open: The Shop Next Door Is Leichhardt’s New Cafe, Grocer and “Modern Apothecary”

The Shop Next Door doesn’t want you to have any excuse not to be healthy. So it’s brought together all the good things – from veggie-packed meals and wholefood desserts, to teas, herbal remedies and nourishing body oils – under one roof in Leichhardt.

The duo behind this new paean to health are Kate Levins, nutritionist and founder of meal-delivery service Nourishing Club, and Amanda Haberecht, naturopath and director of health care clinic Darling Health (which sits next door to the new shop).

“When the shop came up for lease, Amanda asked me, ‘If you could rent it, would you want to do, in your wildest dreams?’” Levins recalls. Her answer was The Shop Next Door, a cafe, grocer and “modern apothecary” that opened in September.

The supremely healthy menu is based entirely on fresh, premium vegetarian wholefoods. Dine in on a rainbow flaxseed wrap with egg or tempeh, avocado and salad; sprouted toast with avocado, salad and dip; or a salad bowl of the day. Or take home Levins’s 1 Litre Nourishing Meals, which were a staple of the Nourishing Club. These rotate, so one week you’ll be feasting on pumpkin, chickpea and ginger curry, and another, lentil bolognaise (you can also get them delivered each Wednesday, within a 10-kilometre radius).

“Our philosophy is to follow the Mediterranean-style diet,” says Levins. “It’s mostly vegetables, legumes, seeds, grain and healthy fats.”

Dessert follows suit. Highly processed ingredients, like sugar and white flour, are replaced with wholefoods. Levins even grinds her own buckwheat flour. The delightfully chewie cookies are made of tahini, maple syrup, 70 per cent dark chocolate chips, pumpkin seeds and hemp seeds, while the caramel chocolate bars are filled with caramel made of nut butter and rice malt, and coated in cacao, maple syrup, cinnamon, medicinal mushrooms and vanilla.

Pair them with a seasonal smoothie or house-blended cacao, matcha or chai. There’s also Buchi kombucha, Single O Coffee (cold brew or filter) and a range of botanical teas.

The cafe is decked in timber furniture handcrafted by local artist Stuart Cook. It’s flanked by shelves crowded with signature teas (made on-site with organic herbs and based on medieval recipes) and herbal remedies blended by Haberecht (including the Chill Pill, Adrenal Love and Sleep Well). If you’re under the weather, try the Immune, a concoction of ginger, echinacea, lemon myrtle, Siberian ginseng, hibiscus, lemongrass, astragalus and calendula.

Other shelves are dedicated to skincare, homewares and gifts made mainly by local suppliers. There’s Summer Solstice Body Oil by Bopo Women, Green Botanical Serum by Activist, Remedy Balm by Love Beauty Foods, and more.

Levins and Haberecht also plan to host monthly health and wellbeing-focused community events, talks and workshops.

The Shop Next Door
135a Catherine St, Leichhardt

Hours:
Wed to Sat 8am–3pm

theshopnextdoor.sydney
@theshopnextdoor.sydney