March 26, 2013

ISSUE 1: THE RAGLAND CAFE

FRIENDS IN THE FERN

...and thus begins our monthly piece on the incredible shops, bars, cafes and galleries that surround us at QJV Headquarters in Redfern, Sydney. We hope to inspire you to come to “The Fern” and visit the talented people who have set up shop.
 
First up Dave Jiew, owner of much loved local joint Ragland Cafe, an excellent addition to the vintage inspired wave of eateries popping up around Sydney. 
 My name is David Jiew. Mates call me Dave for short. I moved to Sydney for uni after completing high school in Adelaide. I completed a degree in Engineering but worked in hospitality throughout my years as a poor uni student and developed my passion for coffee and hospitality through those years. I worked in the Engineering industry for almost 4 years before throwing in the towel to start up my own cafe in 2010. I started with a small joint in Coogee, sold that business and moved here to Redfern/Waterloo in September 2012 and have been lovin it since!The name Rag Land came about as a play on words with its street location, Raglan St (129 Raglan St, Redfern/Waterloo). It’s also driven by the fact that

the entire shop is furnished by discarded/repurposed/vintage pieces (i.e. rags) that were collected over the months leading up to the opening of the café.

Apart from the cost factor, I also wanted to showcase my other interest which was collecting vintage items and furniture - so to be able to showcase my “collection” at the cafe was a satisfying realisation for me.

In terms of food and coffee, my main goal was to highlight my passion for coffee. At the cafe, I serve a house-blend and also a rotating single origin bean roasted by my supplier - folks from The Golden Cobra. This year, I also started to introduce filtered coffee as an option. As for food, what you see on the menu is basically what we like as cafe patrons ourselves. My wife and I thought long and hard about our offerings and are pleased that all of them have been well received by our customers.

So far, our pea fitters and pork belly and egg rolls have been a massive success!

 
Prior to finding the site for Rag Land, I had always wanted to move to Redfern for its diversity and proximity to the city. I looked around for a few suitable sites and this one came up and was perfect.  Our aim is to maintain the small community feel we’ve cultivated. We’re located in the Redfern/Waterloo border. I am tremendously grateful for the locals who have been nothing but supportive. I think everyone’s glad to have a little coffee shop joint in their
neighborhood and I am also super stoked to be located close to FBi as I think they’re just amazing at what they do in terms of encouraging the local music and arts scene.

In terms of the future - who knows! Just a quick shout out to all the small businesses in the area. Let’s hope we all thrive together in 2013 and beyond!