Home cooked and hearty

Anita Grace grew up with home-cooked, hearty food ‘a bit like your grandma used to make’ and her bustling business on Charles Street proves that those are the dishes we’ve always got an appetite for. At Café Bon Appetit, Anita’s family-style food fills the counter every day and practically walks out the door.

The café is a regular rest and refuelling spot for daytime shoppers, and for those who want to take a nourishing ready-made dish home with them in the evening, too. There’s a full sandwich bar selection available, but it’s the hot dishes which are firm favourites, whatever the time of day. Anita describes it as fast food but healthy. ‘The curried chicken is very popular,' she says, and a traditional roast-of-the-day never goes out of style.

Well established in its spot on Charles Street, Café Bon Appetit this year took its next step. With Anita and husband Jamie looking to expand the business, takeaway and delivery seemed like a ‘natural add-on’, and it quickly proved a hit.

Now they provide anything from a lasagna-for-dinner picked up at the end of the day, to complete catering for a family celebration. When it comes to delivery, Anita’s open to requests. Deliveries to central and suburban Launceston? No problem. Further afield – just ask.

What she’d really like to do in the winter months is hibernate, but there’s no time for that, with the kitchen opening for food prep in the early hours. Soups make their way onto the menu, and Anita loves to mix it up with potato and leek, or chicken noodle. But the perennial favourite is pumpkin. ‘People just keep on asking for it!’

That means a lot of pumpkin peeling for Anita’s team, as everything is made on-site in the Café Bon Appetit kitchen, and all ingredients are sourced locally.

With Anita’s food now satisfying more appetites than ever before, it’s rewarding to see the business growing – all from the good, wholesome food that she grew up loving.

Cafe Bon Appetit 139 Charles Street, Launceston.

– By Fiona Stocker