Fresh homecooked meals you don’t have to shop, prep, or cook – welcome to TummyTales!
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It’s a quirk of fate that an internationally trained and awarded fine dining chef should end up in Canberra.
Even more random that he should find himself working in a childcare centre.
But Karthik Javadula doesn’t care who he cooks for, just as long as there is joy in the eating. And among his very young charges, who love nothing more than sitting down to an authentic Butter Chicken, Green Thai Curry, or perhaps a Mushroom Risotto, there is palpable joy. Lucky for the mums and dads, all of Canberra can now start ordering Karthik’s cooking through his news start-up Tummy Tales.
The kids at childcare love Karthik. But they love his lunches even more!
Unlike most of the pre-cooked meal options out there, Tummy Tales provides fresh meals which are distributed from a commercial kitchen Karthik hires each week in Belconnen. These meals will last three days in the fridge and are designed to be eaten fresh and not frozen.
It’s no real surprise that Karthik can tempt the youngest of palettes. He has spent 14 years travelling the globe and learning every side of the cheffing industry, from his Culinary Arts qualifications in India in 2015 and joining a United Kingdom-based cruise line, he has cooked everywhere – from a pub in Amsterdam to a fancy French restaurant in Barcelona. Since following his now wife Riya to Australia, Karthik has spent the bulk of his time with the Hyatt Regency in Darling Harbour before relocating to Canberra just before Covid struck. He has since cooked in restaurants, aged care homes, and even and IGA deli – believing everyone deserves access to fresh and inventive meals.
Whether he is cooking for families or gourmet fine-diners, Karthik prepares each meal with care.
It’s this down-to-earth approach that is earning Karthik many locals fans. And spawned his new business. It turns out, the kids aren’t the only ones loving his food in the childcare centre. Some of the parents were quite perplexed that once they brought their children home, their own cooking didn’t elicit the same level of enthusiasm as Karthik’s. They wanted to know what he was making. And when he told them some of his recipes, they wondered whether he might be able to make them some dishes too. Tummy Tales was born.
It’s a meal service based on fresh meals for busy families.
“The kids, they love what I serve, and they get so excited by the meals. Even if they are fussy at home, when they are in daycare the meals are the most exciting part of the day.”
Karthik doesn’t cook them mush or dumb the meals down. Instead, the children eat a range of vegetables, protein, green leafy matter and some spice.
He says it is essential to introduce flavour to children when they are young, and if at first they don’t take to it, it’s OK to revisit certain food and encourage kids to have a second or third attempt. But with the vast majority of his meals – his legendary Butter Chicken a case in point – very few need encouragement…
The weekly menu is based on what is in season and what he loves the look of during his big shops at the Fyshwick Markets. He also visits specialty stories for spices and supermarkets for the staples and to keep prices accessible.
Indeed, this is one of the biggest draw-cards of his meal service. Karthik will shop, prep and cook a fresh meal from scratch and you can purchase a small serve for $13.99 or a large for $18.99 with sides of creamy mash or extra veg going for just $5.
Karthik cooks all of his orders on a Sunday, you pick them up from his commercial kitchen space at 2 Grazier Lane, Belconnen between between 5 pm and 7 pm, and have meals at your fingertips for the next few days. Karthik prefers the fresh meals to be eaten within three days and is considering doing a second mid-week meal prep if demand is there. It’s a little bit of the fine-dining chef in him which wants the integrity of the food preserved. Sure you can heat things up in a microwave, but Karthik prefers the texture of his fresh food not to be frozen.
“I know so many families are busy in Canberra and I think this food service fills a need for home-cooked fresh and healthy meals that all the family will like.”
You can check out the new website at tummytales.com.au and follow Karthik on Instagram to see what’s on the menu each week.
