The Lentil as Anything pay-as-you feel, not-for-profit restaurant concept has been a growing ‘business’ in Melbourne for over a decade and this unconventional enterprise has now been documented in a three-part series for the Secrets and Lives productions currently being showcased on SBS this month. The Naked Lentil, directed by Greg Williams and produced by Kylie Bryant, is a candid exposition of how this unique restaurant has operated over the past years, with no holds barred in the final cut.

(Photo. Left: Greg Williams right: Shanaka Fernando)
 

The word ‘business’ is used loosely when in reference to Lentil. In fact, when Shanaka Fernando, the founder who immigrated to Australia from Sri Lanka over 10 years ago, was asked what ‘business model’ Lentil used to operate, his response, with a little self-deprecating laughter,

“I don’t have any models working for me, unfortunately, but I think that it has worked remarkably well considering that society in general isn’t always encouraging of trust in contrast to convention and yet people have warmed and responded positively to it.”

While the public response to Lentil as Anything is favourable, with the restaurant described as a haven for the many involved, there are certainly underlying issues that have made for a very up-and-down, almost turbulent relationship between managers and the ideals of Lentil’s founder, as will be seen on The Naked Lentil.

“One of the things we didn’t come across was closed doors. Shanaka was very willing to have the story told in an honest a way as possible, in keeping with the philosophy.” Williams said.

There were some hurdles in the filming process, as Williams was dealing with different cultures and sensitivities, with some people understandably hostile and suspicious of camera’s, “I was very naive at the start about that.”

Working with SBS on the documentary also helped Williams create “a better show and helped to tell a very complicated story in a succinct way.”

Williams originally came across Lentil as Anything through Grace Mcquilten, one of the managers who features in the documentary, but has since departed,

“I got approached a year and a half ago by Grace to do some interviews of people that worked at this Lentil here (In Abbotsford). She was herself pretty amazed at the huge eclectic mix of cultures and nationalities that were working here. I did some of the interviews and got kind of hooked as well, because I hadn’t encountered anything like it either.”

Over the duration of filming and editing, the restaurant has gone through plenty of transitional changes, accrued mounting debt that is yet to be resolved and people who have come and gone, creating uncertainty in the sustainability of the restaurant. On viewing the documentary,

“The public will have a much better understanding of the fact that doing something like this is not easy, but it’s something that people in our society ought to support...the idea of trying something different, flawed or otherwise.” Williams said.

Being a seasoned hospitality worker, Hannah Colman came to Lentil over a year ago and initially was in awe of the place and in turn became involved, emotionally and mentally,

“Working at Lentil is much more than just a regular hospitality job. A week at Lentil felt like a month because so much had gone on. It’s so intense and there are so many people who have come through the doors of its existence. It’s quite exhausting.”

She has mixed feelings about the place since she left a few months ago and reflects on what it was like,

“Back about a year ago, it wasn’t running like a regular restaurant. The money situation was terrible, for example they couldn’t order in eggs so they stopped doing breakfast... there was a bit of a culture of ‘Someone else will do it.' The culture changed a lot over the past year though and customers started coming back the food really improved."

While there, she also had concerns about ethical conduct, where money was spent on things like umbrella’s and chef’s uniforms over paying suppliers for their produce, which she found difficulty accepting.

However, Fernando always set out to achieve something that was against the norm, even calling himself a fundalentilist and the place continues to thrive, despite these past events,

“I purposely ignored rules and conventions and tried to do something that felt natural to me, and naturally I just open up to people around me and tend to facilitate participation” he said,

“Not having prices in the restaurant was an obvious way to facilitate that participation and send a message of trust and that it’s about time we started trusting each other as unconditionally as possible.”

Make your own mind up and delve into the world of Lentil as Anything as the documentary premieres on Thursday, the 28th of January at 8:30pm on SBS.

For details on the documentary, click here