July 2024 update: In very tasty news, sweetheart of the Sydney food scene Danielle Alvarez – who led the kitchen at Fred’s from 2016 until 2022, before going on to write life-enhancing cook books and bring fuel to some of Sydney’s biggest events as culinary director of the event spaces at Sydney Opera House – is behind this month’s specials menu. Alvarez will bring her signature elevated comfort food to the Two Good Co Café, with a spicy tuna melt toastie, an aromatic pumpkin soup and macadamia-loaded brown butter and white chocolate blondies available for four weeks only. If you can’t get to the Darlinghurst café, you can sample one of Danielle’s delicious recipes at Loam – the sexy Surry Hills diner is serving up her divinely decadent saffron lasagnette throughout July, with $2 from each dish going to Two Good Co.
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Your morning coffee and toastie go the extra mile at Two Good Co Café. Housed within Darlinghurst’s Yirranma Place, this social enterprise café provides employment opportunities for vulnerable women, while serving wholesome menus curated by Sydney’s top celebrity chefs.
Two Good Co began as an organic soup kitchen back in 2015, and later branched out to sell catering-style salads and soups on a buy-one-give-one model. Now, the social enterprise is in its seventh year and to date, has donated almost 250,000 meals to those in need. What’s more, the Two Good Co Café has provided more than 50,000 hours of paid employment for women with lived experience of homelessness, domestic violence and complex trauma, which is all funded by the café’s wonderful weekday breakfast and lunch service. Forget virtue signalling, these guys are the real deal.
You can eat well and feel good with freshly baked treats and a rotating guest chef menu of seasonal salads, toasties and baked goods. Past hits include Darren Robertson’s (Three Blue Ducks) cauliflower-cheese toastie; Matt Moran’s (Aria, North Bondi Fish, Chiswick) croque monsieur; Neil Perry’s (Margaret, Next Door) Cubano roll; Jill Dupleix’s wild rice, smoked turkey and dill salad; chef Orazio D'Elia's (Da Orazio, Mia Dolci) crumbed and smoked mozzarella and leg ham toastie; O Tama Carey's (Lankan Filling Station) spicy sambol cheese toastie; and Kylie Kwong’s (Lucky Kwong) ginger and sour cream cake.
Two Good Co Café is passionate about supporting like-minded producers and social enterprises, so you can also cosy up with Mood and T Totaler teas, Kua Coffee, milkshakes with Messina gelato, and toast by the Bread and Butter Project.
Yirranma Place is a fitting home for the social enterprise café, as it’s also the headquarters for the Paul Ramsay Foundation and a hub for other non-profits. Despite its petite size, the café is filled with light, positivity and irresistible baked goods that will leave you smiling from the inside out.