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| How cool is my green veggie
jazz music cafe? |
Opening their own café is a fantasy
made reality for Immy Doman and Risa Pabatznik, writes Jane Wild
IMMY Doman and Risa Pabatznik, (pictured) both 26, were best
friends at school and they spent their youth dreaming of owning
a cafe together. Their friendship was formed through a shared passion
for vegetarian food and their love of folk, jazz and blues music
of the 1960s and 1970s.
It gave them the ambition to set up their own venue where they could
serve good vegetarian food and book performers to entertain the
discerning crowds they would attract.
But they both believed it would stay a daydream – something
to while away the school day, musing over the live bands who’d
play, the delicious veggie food they would serve and the quirky
touches of decor they’d choose.
But all the while they never believed it would actually happen.
Now their dream has became a reality with the opening Green Note,
on Parkway, Camden Town.
And the result is an unpretentious veggie café which offers
the diner live music too.
The food is varied. Dishes from around the world include Spanish
tortilla with roasted peppers and rocket pesto.
Others include an eclectic mixture of dips. Diners can eat Greek
– melitzanosalata (aubergine salad), featuring fresh aubergines,
feta cheese and walnut and tzatziki. They do a similar dish but
with a Tex-Mex flavour – guacamole and tomato salsa with crunchy
tortilla chips to scoop up the sauce.
And then there is a salad which hails from Spain. Seville oranges,
avacados and goats’ cheese.
This is not the only cheese and fruit combo. The Green Note marries
mango and halloumi in a salad, tossed in a minty dressing. All these
dishes come in for under £4, and you can choose the chef’s
own choice of tapas for two, which comes in under £15. But
for Immy, one of the key things is the music.
She said: “We look for acoustic stuff. It is an intimate venue
so we have blues, folk and country.
“We think it is something a bit different.”
Immy says although the café is vegetarian, they pride themselves
on food everyone will like. “We don’t want to be known
as a vegetarian café,” she says “We don’t
even mention it – people like the food so much they don’t
notice. We are not just looking for veggies – everyone who
comes in will like it.”
And the people they have booked so far have found themselves playing
to a full – and appreciative – house.
“We like the way people have come in, found out about us, told
their friends and then come back,” said Immy.
And they feel they have found the perfect venue in Camden.
Hunting unsuccessfully for their dream café lead them across
London. It took them more than a year, and they were on the verge
on giving up on their dream premises.
Then a location on Parkway came up. Camden’s vibrancy, ecleticism,
plentiful tourists and good transport links had meant it was always
their first choice. Overjoyed, yet another stroke of luck came when
they met their head chef who had always wanted to open a live music
cafe too.
Momentum gained, they set about refurbishment. Looking around Green
Note you see testament to their years of discussion. The light,
airy cafe welcomes you in with a homespun feel lent by the aged
wooden furniture. Their musical icons got a look-in too.
Slick paintings of iconic photographs are displayed in a first exhibition,
Joni Mitchell and Miles Davis amongst them.
Trips scouring Camden and Portobello markets yielded a unique collection
of sumptuous silk cushions, a mishmash of vases and Moroccan lamps.
Behind a red velvet curtain is the cosy bar where you can well imagine
enjoying some of their organic lager with friends to the strains
of live music.
• Green Note, 106, Parkway. Tel: 020 7485 9899. For full
gig listings, check out their website: www.greennote.co.uk. |
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