Alumna turns Burnley Gardens Canteen into a Melbourne favourite

IN 2009, alumna and hospitality legend Tansy Good arrived on the scene to rescue the soon-to-be defunct Burnley Campus’s student-run canteen. “The food was horrible! There were bacon and egg sandwiches that had been sitting there and a coffee machine that had never been cleaned,” says Ms Good of her inheritance.

The Burnley Gardens Canteen is an understated establishment, full of quirky artefacts such as National Geographic magazines and Ms Good’s own personal culinary relics and knick-knacks. It’s a place where students and University staff alike can feel instantly at ease.

Ms Good refers to the canteen as a ‘national treasure’ wedged between Burnley Road and the national park. “We’ve had quite a number of international visitors ... even walkers from the UK have even stumbled upon us.”

“It’s such a good campus. We know all our customers – it’s quite the community. We like to think we’ve provided a centre, somewhere where people can study and meet – even if they’re not from the University,” says Ms Good.

As soon as Ms Good and her husband John Evans took over the kitchen reins, reviews flooded in touting the Burnley Gardens Canteen as the ‘best student canteen.’ One review made particular mention of Good’s Chicken Mayo, a sandwich listed in The Age’s Melbourne’s Top 10 Sandwiches.

Of course, it doesn’t hurt to have a good hospitality pedigree. Those familiar with the hospitality industry of yesteryear will know that Ms Good is famed for opening up Tansy’s, a legendary Carlton restaurant favoured by food critics in the ‘80s and ‘90s.

“Tansy’s was a lovely restaurant,” recalls Ms Good. “It was very different from a lot of other restaurants at the time and won a lot of accolades. My mum used to grow unique produce, such as lambs lettuce and Jerusalem artichokes that we used in the restaurant. And we used to make our own chocolate and pickled plums. It was like nothing else.”

Last year, Ms Good who had not studied at tertiary level, took on an associate degree in Environmental Horticulture through the Melbourne School of Land and Environment. She decided it was the perfect time to revive her life-long interest in studying science.

“I am absolutely fascinated with botany, biology, taxonomy, morphology, and I love insects. It makes you understand how we all tie in with nature and are just part of that cyclical thing,” she says.

“There’s been a departure from nature, that’s why it’s good to have someone like Stephanie Alexander (another fellow alumna) because she’s getting kids to understand where the food has come from.”

Ms Good admits that she is not what some would describe as a ‘natural’ student. She admits to avoiding school because she couldn’t bear the thought of not achieving high distinctions and is a self-confessed perfectionist. “I’m a high-achiever and it makes it difficult to study.”

After completing Year 12, she did a two-year diploma at William Angliss which led to working at a family friend’s restaurant. That restaurant (Stephanie’s) was in fact founded by culinary luminary Stephanie Alexander OAM (BA 1996).

“I’d say our philosophies are quite similar,” she says of Ms Alexander, “we let the ingredients speak for themselves. I was the first person cooking there [at Stephanie’s]. It’s fortunate that it happened, we were both babes in the wood.”

Ms Good doesn’t believe her cooking style has changed all that much. “I always had the same approach to food; I respect the ingredients. I’m a creative cook. As I cook, I build and I taste all the time.”

This same approach is prevalent in the canteen’s menu. Besides the highly regarded chicken mayo sandwich, Ms Good puts up daily specials (today’s is goat’s cheese quiches) that ‘fly out the door’; has a regular curry dish on Wednesdays; and an amazing assortment of friands and homemade milkshakes.

Judging from the empty food display after the lunch-rush, Ms Good and Mr Evans have a good thing going for them. And for the students and staff at Burnley Campus, they’re grateful that the duo have taken up the cause to turn a common canteen into a modest success.

To find more information about studying at the Melbourne School of Land and Environment, please visit
www.land-environment.unimelb.edu.au/courses/