The Two Wolves Community Cantina | Chippendale

We were invited to dine at The Two Wolves Community Cantina. Located in a small alleyway of Broadway, it is a prime location for students to come, enjoy the food and drink to their liver's content... all whilst unknowingly doing it for charity!

The Two Wolves is not your average bar. Sure, you are able to find all your favourite alcoholic beverages here, however they are not in the industry for the sole purpose of profits. In fact, all surplus profits are donated to support the less fortunate both in Australia and overseas! Second to that, all the staff working on the premise are volunteers who give up their time for the cause. So if you are interested in this initiative, please reach out to David Braithwaite for more information.

Did we also mention that The Two Wolves is only a subset of The Cardoner Project, which is an initiative by which any interested individual can take up the opportunity to travel overseas for either short or extended periods of time to help out the less fortunate. Currently they are targeting high school and university students who want to take a short break away from study. They will spend travel overseas and teach students of countries who are not fortunate enough to have an educational system as ours. What an eye opening trip it would be. 

Now, back to the bar. The bar has been designed by Michael Delany and it truly shows what this bar is all about. From the bright fun-filled furniture, to the eclectic pieces of art you will see hanging up, each with it's own story. Spread across the wall are photos of a handful of their excursions, so it truly lets you see the impact made by the Cardoner project.

Christie absolutely loved the colourful configuration of this venue. She took several pictures and decided that only one was plenty enough to share with you all. 

Now onto the menu. There is no "one" specialty cuisine that The Two Wolves follows. Rather, it is a mixture of several!  The menu was designed to take flavours from each country the visit, to try and bring the experience to your plate. You will also notice that the food below is not elegant by all means. It is generously portioned and is described to be the "definition of soul food" 

Potato Curry

This curry reminded me of the Japanese curry that we had made at the Washoku Lover's cooking class. It felt and tasted like a home cooked meal. While it was a little insipid, it was also a great side to enjoy with the more over-powering dishes that we were to encounter on the night.

Korean Fried Chicken

Speaking of over-powering... this dish was a-may-zing. We are not quite sure what the chicken was marinated and cooked in, but it was full of intense flavour and was the dish that everyone fought for the last piece. We sneaked away with an additional wing because it was too damn good!
If... no, WHEN you visit The Two Wolves, make sure to give these a try!

Sister Hien's Bun Thit Nuong

Make sure to dig underneath the surface to find rice noodles, soaking up the Vietnamese salad dressing at the bottom. The dish was served cold and was quite sweet. Which was perfect as it helped reduce the spice of the Masala (below).

Aloo Gobi Masala

This dish should come with one of those "Danger - may cause fire" signs. We can normally take little chilli, however this was quite spicy. It was great to have the different flavours and spices all on the single plate, and surprisingly it worked. Each dish really did counter the other to help balance the acids in your stomach, and the sensation in your mouth.

Pope Francis's Spicy Empanadas

Who doesn't love empanadas? If you just answered "me" to the question then I will somehow find you, knock on your door, enter your house (if welcomed inside) and set up a proxy to block you from our page! But in all seriousness, these empanadas were great. The pastry was cooked well, so it was nice a light. There was a great mix of flavours happening, and it wasn't over spiced to send you running for the nearest water.... or beer!!

Eton Mess

There is a rare occasion where the planets align. Similarly there is a rare occasion where Christie and Matt disagree on a dish, especially a dessert!!! This is basically a deconstructed pavlova, and while it looks very tempting, Matt didn't quite like the flavours presented on the dish. The meringue base was sweet, and had a nice texture and the fruit/cream combo complimented it well. Unfortunately, if only the dish had ended there it would have been an enjoyable dish. The cherry sauce that was drizzled over the top and provided as a base for the dish, tasted like panadol. It was very off putting. However Christie seemed to enjoy the flavours. She said they worked well and she loved the strong flavour which counterbalances the sweetness.

Black Sticky Rice with Mango and Coconut

Surprisingly many people around the table hadn't tried this style of dessert before. It is a well known Thai delicacy and is perfect when served warm. It tastes like a very sweet pudding, however much lighter and probably not as healthy. After several attempts at a decent photo of this dish, we actually went back for seconds, that'show much we loved this dessert. Once again, another dish to explore if you visit!

Thank you Wasamedia for inviting us to this event, and a VERY BIG shout-out to The Two Wolves for not only hosting a great event, but doing such a great thing for the communities you help all around the world. Be sure to drop by for after-work drinks, or in-between classes. 

Just be sure to leave a tip.. it's for charity after all!