Highlights
- Former IT professional Anthony Herrera had to change careers when he developed an illness.
- He now owns New Life Cycles and Enelssie Cafe & Grill located in Burnside Heights.
- The cafe serves Filipino favourites such as bagnet and tapsilog.
"I remember creating a vision board wherein I had chosen an image of a shop on the first floor and a home on the second floor," Anthony Herrera muses, adding, "We have that now."
While the New Life Cycles and Enelssie Cafe & Grill owner is now living his dream, this reality was prompted by a radical shift of path when he was forced to leave a previous career due to illness.
Anthony Herrera, owner of New Life Cycles and Enelssie Cafe & Grill Source: Anthony Herrera
Changing gears
Migrating to Australia as an IT professional in 2013, Anthony didn't have plans to leave the industry.
"But then I started getting this pain in my knee. It worsened over time and I kept on taking strong painkillers for it. I found out it was a severe case of gout," he shares.
Not only did his illness prevent him from working, the constant medication he was taking thinned the lining of his stomach.
"I had to undergo stomach surgery. The company I was working for could no longer sustain keeping me because I was on leave for too long," he shares.
Anthony's illness led his family towards a different path. Source: Anthony Herrera
Anthony, a devout Christian, took the loss as a sign that he needed to search for another path.
"My father taught me to love bikes. Growing up, he taught me how valuable bikes could be. What I love about biking is it clears my mind and energises me.
"In the Philippines, we also lived near a bike shop. I would hang out there and learn how to repair bikes.
Anthony's father [in photo] taught him to love bikes. Source: Anthony Herrera
"So while I was applying for jobs, I began repairing bikes in our garage to earn money. After a while, we had become the go-to place for locals to get their bikes repaired."
Breakfast and bikes
As the business grew, an opportunity to take over the lease of an existing milk bar presented itself to Anthony.
"It was a way for our repair shop to evolve into a proper business. My wife and I decided to take the chance. We opened a bike shop on the first floor and we took residence above it.
"We became the community bike repair shop. While people waited for their bikes to be repaired, I began serving them coffee and pandesal [sweet bread roll]. Even tradies would come in asking for breakfast and coffee."
Anthony and his wife Tina Source: Anthony Herrera
The popularity of the shop and breakfast requests pushed the Herreras to seek a license for a proper cafe and expand the menu to more Filipino favourites.
"Enelssie was born. A lot of people ask me what it stands for - some think it's named after my daughter," he laughs, adding, "Actually it's NLC (New Life Cycles) spelled out. It was different and we liked the name."
The cafe has become a local favourite. Source: Anthony Herrera
"The term 'new life' is fitting for us - not only is it biblical, but it signifies our new journey."
The new journey now involves a bike shop and Filipino cafe sharing the same space.
"Our menu consists of recipes we've perfected through the years - like bagnet [deep-fried pork belly] and tapsilog [marinated beef with garlic rice and egg typically served for breakfast]."
The cafe also serves other Filipino dishes such as kare-kare [peanut stew typically with either seafood, oxtail or other meats], sisig [dish of chopped pig head, snout and ears], bulalo [soup with beef shank and marrow] and palabok [noodles with shrimp sauce, shrimp, smoked fish, pork rind and others].
"We're planning to expand both our menu and space soon," Anthony shares.
The Enelssie Cycling Team Source: Anthony Herrera
Bagnet Source: Anthony Herrera
Sisig Source: Anthony Herrera
"It's fulfilling to look back to how it was and now to how it is. It wasn't easy getting to this point, but we had faith. We trusted the path we were being led."
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