The future looks bright for Fusion Organic Café
A celebratory event was hosted by Fusion Organic Café last Friday to mark their 3rd birthday, recent refurbishment and to announce the opening of the new ‘Academy of Makers’ shop. Sheffield’s Lord Mayor cut the ribbon on this new outlet that will be selling crafts, jewellery and art produced by the artisan makers at Butchers Works.
Fusion Organic Café has gone from strength to strength since it was set up as a pilot project in 2008 by The Ruskin Mill Education trust, led by Melvin Jarman (who still manages the café today). This is something to be commended especially considering the current economic climate.
I’ve written about Fusion a few times, as it is a vibrant place to eat with excellent and exciting food influenced by cuisines from around the globe. Aside from it being an enjoyable food venue, it also provides a ‘real’ practical working environment for the students of Freeman College, who get an insight into running a food business by undertaking operational roles in the café.
As time has moved on, Fusion Café has developed and grown. In September, they had a sizable refurbishment which resulted in a changed layout and massively improved kitchen facilities. This has enabled the café to offer regular evening bistro events and to launch their deli and bakery.
This event celebrated the next phase in the life of Fusion and showcased their great food with some signature ‘Fusion twists’. There were colourful canapés including - tender oriental seared local chicken breast with spicy chutney and furikake, perfectly seasoned Thai spiced fishcakes with fresh crisp cucumber, mini quiches – mushroom deuxelle and parmesan and bacon with blue cheese, which were gone in a tasty mouthful.
My highlights were the vibrant roast cheese polenta topped with sundried tomato and olive. These were packed with flavour and the contrasting sweetness from the tomato worked fantastically with the salty olive. The lamb pasties were my other favourite, these had beautifully crisp pastry and a tasty subtly spiced filling.
The cakes, oh the cakes…. they were truly something very special. I don’t have a sweet tooth but these sweet treats were seriously something else. All credit to their makers – Lee Gilbert, the onsite baker and Komal Khan, who is well-known for the top-notch desserts that she makes in Fusion.
Lee’s beautifully looking dark chocolate ganache truffles with edible flowers were delicious with a deep cocoa flavour. Komal’s chocolate brownies were soft and decadently rich, and the lemon drizzle cake had a nice citrus zing. I’d have liked a bit more of a ginger hit in the pear and ginger cake, but other than that it was spot on with a perfectly light and moist texture.
The evening was an enjoyable opportunity to celebrate Fusion’s present and future, and to view the crafts in the gallery and new shop. I even managed to persuade my husband to buy me a necklace as one of my Christmas presents.
The food served was excellent and clearly demonstrates how committed, talented and passionate the staff and students are at Fusion. It is this symbiotic relationship between education and creating quality food that makes it a vibrant and exciting place to eat. If you haven’t been yet, then I’d definitely recommend that you go to discover for yourself the culinary delights on offer.
Fusion Organic Cafe
The Butcher Works
74 Arundel Street
Sheffield
S1 2NS
Telephone: 0114 252 5974
Email: info@fusioncafe.co.uk
Follow on Twitter:
Fusion Baker – if you follow Lee, then you need to be warned that you will see lots of delicious looking pictures of the breads that have been baked.
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