Lily showcasing her kifle and stuffed capsicums, both available in the Mediterranean section of Cafe Royale.

The Heart of Café Royale

Royal Brisbane and Women’s Hospital is proud to be a place which recognises and celebrates diversity among our staff, patients and wider community. The Retail Services team has found a way to showcase the unique heritage and traditions of their staff at Café Royale and will be launching an initiative in the coming months to continue showcasing the cultural dishes of our Retail Services team members.

When the new healthy food directive A Better Choice was introduced to Queensland, the Retail Service project team knew it was a great opportunity to reinvigorate the food and drinks available for purchase at the hospital. It was also the perfect time refresh the food court and its many different sections, some of which hadn’t seen a change in years.

Based on consumer feedback, one idea was to replace the Mexican bar with a cuisine that utilised fresh ingredients and could bring an interactive feel for the customer to create their own meal. The Mediterranean bar was born with souvlaki wraps in three different flavours and spartan boxes (a gathering of delicious favourites from the Mediterranean Bar). However, Chef Dawn knew there was still something missing.

One day, Café Royale team member Lilijana (Lily) brought an amazing array of homecooked foods from her home city Sarajevo. The kifla breads stuffed with feta cheese and the stuffed capsicums instantly inspired Dawn. She spent the day with Lily learning the background and methods for recipes that are culturally special to Lily.

“Lily’s love language is food – she cooks from the heart. She is from Sarajevo in former Yugoslavia and has suffered great hardships in the 90’s when her family lost all their possessions,” said Dawn.

“She left with nothing but her handbag and recipe book – the very same book she has taught me her recipes from.

“To be able to learn Lily’s recipes and apply them to a commercial kitchen production environment has been an incredibly humbling experience and has provided me with a new appreciation for what the human spirit can do and achieve.

“I’m proud to be serving up Lily’s recipes for the wider RBWH community to enjoy.”

Lily’s kifla breads and stuffed capsicums are delicious and available for purchase in the Spartan Box or sold separately at the Mediterranean section in Café Royale.