Cafe Hoz has been operating within The Canberra Hospital since 1995, and while it sells an extensive range of sandwiches, salads, sushi, freshly squeezed juices and homemade meals, the cafe is well-known for one dish.
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"We're quite famous for our chips and gravy," manager Ian Morgan said. "I've had some people come in and say 'we're not coming to the hospital, we just came for your chips and gravy'. We've got to give them what they want."
Cafe Hoz, which opens from 8am to 8pm every day of the year, has linked with ACT Health and supports their push for healthy options.
"We make three different salads every day and we make two different 'wet' dishes everyday - so, for example, today there's a risotto with chicken and pumpkin … and there's also a Mediterranean lamb casserole dish," Mr Morgan said.
"We make a lot of fruit salad, we sell fruit salad all day and yoghurt and raspberries. But then we sell chips as well. We sell a lot of chips."
Mr Morgan takes pride in offering fresh, homemade dishes and locally sourced food, but also caters to demand with takeaway offerings including pies, cakes and doughnuts. "If your menu is 90 per cent healthy and 10 per cent takeaway, 50 per cent of your sales can still be takeaway. It depends what people want," he said.
But the cafe is not the only place where visitors can get a sugar fix. An auxiliary shop next door, which raises money for the hospital, sells items such as canned and flavoured drinks.
''We don't compete directly on any lines with them," Mr Morgan said. "So they don't sell coffee, we sell coffee - we sell soft drinks, but only in post-mix, and we sell fresh juice."
