Hannah Jackson knew 10 years ago that the North East needed a café serving matcha. Working as an executive assistant, she spent four days a week in London – where health-conscious cafés were already commonplace and clean meals were easy to order on Deliveroo.
Fast forward a decade and she is now serving a full matcha menu from Sana Soul Food, her chilled-out café and wellness space in Sunderland.
“I think we are catching up in the North East,” she says. “What I saw in London was my original reason to do this – I wanted to create a really healthy place to eat in this area.”
The menu at Sana boasts a colourful array of loaded toasts, granola bowls, and poke bowls. Hannah is also on a mission to get her customers to love matcha – a fine powdered green tea used in Japanese tea ceremonies.
“A lot of people come here and have never tried it,” she adds. “A man in his 60s said it looked like it tastes like grass, so I made him a little sample to try with his coffee. He told me it was so nice he was going to order it next time.
“The health benefits of matcha are amazing – that’s the main thing for me.”
High in antioxidants, matcha is also thought to improve alertness without the jitters associated with coffee.
Sana isn’t Hannah’s first food venture, as she explains: “When my secondment in London came to an end, I decided to take a bit of a gamble and open Flamingo café in Seaham.”
Flamingo, which opened in 2018, quickly gained popularity and thrived on click and collect service through Covid lockdowns, but after the pandemic the location and costs became unworkable. Hannah decided to have a change – moving to a premises just streets from where she lives and launching Sana Soul Food.
Her favourite item on the menu is the cilbir (pronounced chillburr) – a Turkish dish with poached eggs served on a thick garlic yogurt and drizzled with hot honey, chilli oil, pomegranate seeds and coriander.
“The cilbir is hands-down my favourite dish,” she says. “It has loads of health benefits, lots of protein, and we use really good authentic yoghurt which is great for your gut.”
With increasing numbers of people trying to avoid ultra-processed foods, Hannah has extended the kitchen offering to customers who want to eat more nutritious food at home.
“We also do meal prep,” she adds. “It’s all whole foods, nothing processed, nothing with refined sugar. I started by creating menus that don’t have any additives in and that’s really taken off.”
Knowing that she wanted to create a whole experience around visiting the café, Hannah also runs workshops in the space upstairs, collaborating with other businesses to put on wellness events – and hosting everything from run clubs and yoga to sound baths.
Hannah also loves seeing other business ventures thrive and is excited that the number of great hospitality venues in Sunderland is increasing. Her favourite places to eat locally are Vito’s Osteria in Sheepfolds Stables, and Wildfire Pizza. With new cafés and venues springing up on both sides of the River Wear, she hopes this is the start of an exciting era for Sunderland’s food and drink scene.
Now, who fancies another matcha?
Sana Soul Food is open Tues-Sat 9.30am-2.30pm and Sunday 10am-2pm at 79b Ewesly Road, Sunderland, SR4 7PR. Follow on Instagram @sana.soulfood
