Hills District Independent August 2020 #62 August 2020 | Page 11

LOCAL LIFE
Tutti Fruitti,
you beauty!
Resolute owners, Cynthia Demmock and John Groat have commenced rebuilding iconic Bilpin
cafe, Tutti Fruitti. Photo: Kathryn Johnston.
by Greg Martin
Now, first off it is my absolute pleasure
to pass on the good oil that partners,
Cynthia Demmock and John Groat are
hopeful of reopening Bilpin’s Tutti Fruitti
cafe “late September or early in October”
The iconic business was totally
destroyed on 21 December when a wing
of the giant Gosper’s Mountain bushfire
swept across the property.
Also reduced to rubble was the
beautiful home of Cynthia’s daughter,
Megan Kezik, and her husband, Chris and
three young children.
And heart-wrenchingly lost were the
magnificent gardens surrounding the cafe
and the Kezik’s home
Could you please bear with me as I
reminisce?
I am unashamedly a fan of the Marx
Brothers and my favourite of their madcap
movies was A Day at the Races.
There was a scene in it when Chico,
an ice-cream vendor at the racetrack, was
shouting in his mock Italian accent, “Get
yer Tutsi-Frutsi ice-cream” which attracted
mug punting sucker, Groucho, to whom he
sold “Itsa sure thing” (dud) tips.
Down the years I never gave a thought
to whatever was “Tutsi-Frutsi” as the
name never crossed my path until about
15 years ago when I was driving up to
Bilpin.
And there on the left-hand side of Bells
Line of Road was a cafe called Tutti Fruitti.
I pulled over, bought a superb meat pie
and coffee and asked the delightful lady
serving me – it was Cynthia – about the
name and she was delighted to give me
the oil.
Seems Tutti frutti (Italian for “all
fruits”) is a colourful confectionery
containing various chopped and usually
candied fruits, and in Western countries
outside of Italy, in the form of ice cream.
“I first heard it in Little Richard’s song,
Tutti Frutti, and thought it was a catchy
name and, as our initial plans were to sell
fruits such as apples, figs, persimmons
and feijoas, we opted for that,” Cynthia
explained.
As you are all aware, the fruit stall
morphed into a wonderful café, which
since 2004 became a “must stop” venue
for locals and travellers along Bells Line of
Road.
Heartbroken at the loss of Tutti
Fruitti, Cynthia and John were initially
reluctant to re-establish the business,
but time worked its magic along with the
prompting of a host of customers, who to
the couple, had become “family”.
So, the partners decided to bite the
bullet and rebuild, aided in part by a
$50,000 grant to small businesses which
resolved to re-establish after the horrific
bushfires of last summer decimated their
properties.
The task was daunting, but Cynthia
and John rolled up their sleeves and got
to work. First, they cleared the property
of the debris and then purchased a
demountable which will be the servery.
They also bought two large shipping
containers, one of which houses a stateof-the-art
kitchen and the other will be
used for refrigeration and storage.
“We will also resurrect the surrounding
gardens and lawns – of course it will take
time for it to grow to what we used to have
here but it will still be a pleasant place for
customers to relax and enjoy that Tutti
Fruitti experience,” Cynthia said.
Whop bop be-luma b-lop bam bom!
Decimated in the summer’s bushfires were
the cafe’s magnificent gardens which, over
time, will be re-established to their former
glory by Cynthia and John.
THE HILLS INDEPENDENT www.hdinews.com.au ISSUE 62 // AUGUST 2020 11