How Aussie flat whites and smashed avocado have taken New York

Within two months of Giles Russell and Henry Roberts opening Two Hands cafe in New York they were struggling to keep up with demand.

"We had lines stretching out the door and down the street for avocado toast and flat whites," Russell says.

'Somewhere you felt at home'

Talking to Fairfax Media over coffee in their sunny Tribeca cafe with its whitewashed walls and photographs of Bondi Beach,  Russell and Roberts say if they have captured a zeitgeist it's been more accidental than intentional.

"We just wanted to open a cafe that we wanted to hang out in," Russell says.

The pair were both 25 when they opened the first Two Hands using $500,000 from family, friends and an inheritance.

"We were quietly confident because what we had in our head, what we were missing from back home, we knew it would work," Russell says. "It was that classic Aussie vibe we were going for where you know the barista and they know you. That's the community we were going for. You could get half-decent coffee in New York but what we wanted was not just good coffee but somewhere you felt at home, that third space." Read more

Cara Waters - Brisbane Times - 30 Jul 2018