First look: Short Eats Café

Posted on 2 May, 2022

It’s a funky food van like no other, and while Short Eats might be itty bitty, it’s never lacked flavour. But now the food truck has found a bigger home on the southside, and it has a new menu to match.

Located in the growing foodie precinct of Furzer Street, Woden (just around the corner from The Alby and eightysix south), Short Eats Café has officially opened its doors.

Offering a Sri Lankan take on a traditional Australian café, Short Eats owner Michael de Silva has put a twist on a menu that showcases the bold flavours that made his van so popular.

“I’ve always done Western-style cafés and then when COVID hit, I sold my café and brought the van,” says Michael.

“I didn’t think about coming back into the café scene until this spot came about. But then I decided there’s a lot of competition around here and the only way I can survive is to do something very different.”

Serving breakfast and lunch six days a week (with hopes to eventually open for dinner), Michael says he wanted to differentiate himself from other cafés in the area with his unusual menu (which does include a few Western favourites) and his very own specialty coffee beans.

 

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Working closely with business partner DD Mishra, a former manager at Espresso Warriors, they have perfected a signature coffee blend that pairs perfectly with the menu.

“A lot of people associate Sri Lanka with teas—and Sri Lankan coffees, like our food, are generally quite intense with flavour,” says Michael. “Specialty coffee is fairly new to Sri Lanka, and I’ve said from the beginning I want to change how people look at Southeast Asia…You pair wine with food so why not coffee with breakfast?”

While the coffee is worth a visit alone, what makes the Short Eats breakfast offerings truly unique is that everything—and we mean everything—comes in the form of a toastie.

“We found especially around here, people don’t have the time to sit down and have breakfast,” explains Michael. “That’s why we moved all our breakfast items into toastie form.”

“For example, with the Lankan breakfast usually you get curry, eggs, and bread, so we just changed it into a toastie.”

And that’s just the start. The Sri Lankan Eggs Benedict toastie is filled with a curry hollandaise, while the steak and egg offering features slow-cooked peppered lamb chunks with capsicum and a fried egg. For a sweet treat, a Lankan French Toast toastie (with palm sugar, cream, and seasonal fruit) is also available.

 

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If that’s not enough, there are also four different smoothies on offer—including a Chunky Monkey, Michael’s personal favourite.

“Our breakfast is different. I want people to want to travel here for breakfast because it’s something you can’t get anywhere else. It’s for people who are open-minded, who want that bit of difference. That’s the people we want to attract,” says Michael.

While the breakfast menu is new territory for Short Eats, the lunch menu goes back to what makes the sleek Tiffany blue van so popular: food from the heart and inspired by home.

“I learned cooking from my mum. I was a chef by trade, but I was a Western-style chef. For the last 15 years, I’ve been learning from my mum and she’s not a trained chef,” says Michael. “So, the flavors are very authentic and I didn’t want to change that.”

Including dishes like Chicken Biryani (spiced yellow rice with chicken, yogurt, Sri Lankan-style salad, and a boiled egg) and string hoppers (a delicious combination of three houses made curries, rice noodles, coconut sambol, and papadam) most dishes are gluten and dairy-free, with vegetarian and vegan options.

 

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But if you’re craving something quick and easy, there’s plenty to choose from including ham, cheese, and tomato roti toastie, panrolls, banana bread, and gluten-free brownies.

It’s Michael’s love of fusion that has also inspired the unique interiors of Short Eats Cafe. Open and airy, the space features a giant graffiti-style mural of Michael and DD, as well as a traditional Sri Lankan mask that represents trade.

While the café is already becoming a popular spot on Furzer street, Michael and DD have plenty of plans for the future, including using the space for functions, bringing in a special weekend menu—sans toasties—and opening little satellite shops to sell their specialty coffee and pastries.

But for now, Michael’s ultimate goal is to keep introducing Canberrans to his take on traditional Sri Lankan cuisine. But don’t worry, the Short Eats van isn’t going anywhere.