Solace Kitchen

Solace is a unique caterer, serving up gourmet street food, inspired by South East Asian cuisine. Solace is owned by Melinda Chiew, who started an eco-ethical gift/book shop, including a fair-trade organic coffee and food cart, inside Wesley Mission in Sydney's CBD called H.O.P.E. Collective (Helping Other & Planet Earth) in 2012. The H.O.P.E. Collective shop moved to Manly in 2013 for a brief period and then continued online. Over the next few years, Mel found herself catering and cooking for friends/colleagues whilst working as a specialist admin at a school, before trying to sell her style of street food at food markets. Eventually, she bit the bullet to pursue her passion, purchased a food/coffee caravan, and set up an outdoor eco-ethical cafe (with edible garden, worm farm, compost, kids zone, 24/7 Free Pantry, and mini library) outside "Church on the Hill" in Ingleside in 2019. Things went well for this unique outdoor bush cafe in Ingleside but started to dwindle with the continuing effects of the pandemic and then a year of unrelenting wet weather in 2022. So, in January 2023, Solace moved to Belrose, outside Northgate Church (cnr Forest Way & Wearden Rd), after the kind and timely invitation of pastor/comedian/podcaster Duncan Robinson.