Food Drink

The little café with a big heart opening soon in Kensington

The cafe overlooks a beautiful garden area with an outdoor space that boasts peace and tranquility.

A new café is set to open in Kensington in October, bucking a gloomy hospitality trend brought about by COVID-19.

High Street Cafe, a cosy little spot in the eastern suburbs will welcome patrons from October 16.

It’s the brainchild of Barmera born and bred Mick Beech who moved to the big smoke of Adelaide in 2011, with wife Tammy-Lee and five children who ranged in age at the time from 7 to 18.

Opening a café was something Mick and Tammy had spoken about as a passion project for their later years, but Tammy sadly passed away in 2016 after being diagnosed with lung cancer a year earlier. For the past 10 years, Mick has worked as a Volunteer Development Manager at Vinnies in a role that he finds very rewarding.

An opportunity presented itself at the end of last year and it sparked Mick to seriously revisit the idea of opening a café.

“It was an idea that kept coming back to me and I knew it was time to explore it more thoroughly,” he said.

Mick admits to keeping the name of the cafe simple and obvious as he took inspiration from the café’s location, on High Street at Kensington. “I’m going to be in trouble if I want to expand my empire. I’ll only be able to open cafés on other High Streets. But at last count in metro Adelaide, that was 48 streets so I think I’ll be ok,” he joked.

As a country lad at heart and deeply ensconced in various sporting clubs in Barmera and Adelaide, Mick and his family are big on community connections, and that’s what he hopes to achieve with the opening of the café.

“Kensington is already very much a village atmosphere, and we are really excited about offering another place where people can come together. We have all missed those connections when we weren’t able to socialise due to COVID and I see intimate venues such as this one becoming really important.” Mick said.

The café is close to a number of local schools and Mick is hoping it will attract teachers, students and especially parents who are catching up after school drop off.

Next door is the St Mary MacKillop museum where visitors can explore the history of a special lady who was way ahead of her time, and then finish their experience with a cuppa and a bite to eat.

The menu is designed to cater to people of all ages and tastes – it will feature espresso, smoothies, shakes and meet a range of dietary requirements for dine in or take away food, plus some refined menu options for people who want something a bit more adventurous.

The cafe overlooks a beautiful garden area with an outdoor space that boasts peace and tranquility.

Local coffee roasters Altura will supply their premium range Tuscan blend, which has strong, rich character and a medium-strong body.

It will be a family affair, with Mick’s children Sheri, Jono and Kylan involved in supporting their Dad in the café.

Mick also looks forward to training and developing casual staff from within the community to be welcoming and of service to all its customer – a motto his late wife lived her whole life to family, friends and the wider community.

Opening hours are Monday to Friday 7.30am ’til 2.30pm and Saturdays and Sundays from 8.30am ’til 1pm.

High Street café will be found at 4 High Street, Kensington.

For more info, click here.

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