Listening to Jules Mitry is inspiring. Jules is the founder and owner of the Wollongong restaurant Balinese Spice Magic (BSM), which opened in 2014. In addition to running a successful business with her husband Will, Jules and her team work with charities to give back to communities, both in the Illawarra and in Bali.
Jules came to Australia from her home in the village of Baturiti in central Bali at the age of 17. She lived with her sponsor family in Dapto – she'd met them in Bali as a young girl. Jules, who spoke very little English, began studying hospitality management at TAFE, then moved on to an Economics degree at the University of Wollongong. For those studying economics and business innovation, the focus was on a career in the corporate world. This didn’t sit well with Jules, who was already thinking about doing good work in the community.
Cooking and owning a restaurant was not on her radar. She and Will married young and had a family soon after. “Our house was always a hub of community,” Jules says, and good food was a huge part of the welcoming atmosphere. People would ask when she was going to open a restaurant, so the idea took hold and when, in 2014, the site at Keira Street became available, she and Will made the leap.
From the beginning, the community was part of the restaurant's story. People would offer Jules produce from their gardens. Whatever was offered, Jules included it in her menu – green papaya, chokoes, turmeric, “as long as it’s fresh and local”. She has 19 local people currently supplying her with produce. All her meals are made with love.
Jules employs 20 people, and all staff, past and present, are part of “her family”. She has nurtured many young people, who she encourages to move on to have other experiences, but they do come back to “big sister” Jules.
Life in rural Bali was not easy for Jules and her family, and she is grateful to her Australian sponsor family for giving her an opportunity to make a life here. Jules told me that she often was hungry as a child and associated the feeling of hunger with anger. This experience, as well as her giving nature, inspired her to find ways of using food to give back to her community in Wollongong, to feed the hungry.
During the early days of Covid she would give away food from the restaurant to people living on the streets. Jules formalised her community work through partnerships with local charities. She allocates a proportion of her profits to food donations, which is done in conjunction with local charities like the Homeless Hub, Kind Hearts and Women Illawarra. BSM staff and volunteers work alongside her for a weekly cook-up of healthy hot meals with a Balinese twist. Jules speaks highly of these charities and the love that is inherent in people coming together to work towards a common goal.
The pandemic hit Bali hard, with many Balinese people losing their income as a result of closed borders. While supporting those undergoing hardship in her local Wollongong community, Jules has also continued to support her community in Bali. Her region is in the highlands of Bali, where locals grow organic fruit and vegetables, much of which supplies the tourism market. The local schools were closed for many months and the children learned “online”, that is, by mobile phone as computers are rare. Jules works with an Australian charity called Project Nasi, which raises money to support the Balinese people while they recover from effects of the pandemic.
How lucky is Wollongong to have Jules and her extended family as part of our community?
Balinese Spice Magic is at 130 Keira Street, Wollongong. For bookings, phone (02) 4227 1033 or visit the website