Make Cafe Cultura your next brunch stop! Photo: Kazuri Photography.
The hexagonal prism of a building where The Fish Shack once stood in the city now boasts tangerine and vanilla stripes and Middle Eastern music and exotic aromas waft out from its cheery subway-tiled entrance.
Cafe Cultura has arrived with delicious Turkish offerings!
The space is open, with umbrella-shaded seating surrounding the kitchen. We check out the menu: eggs dusted with za’atar and chilli flakes paired with herbed garlic yoghurt, zucchini fritters, feta, or beetroot hummus; a shepherd’s salad full of Turkish rice, hummus, salad and the marinated meat of your choice; eggplant stuffed with rice, meat and cheese or mushrooms and vegan cheese; or guvek – fragrant beef and eggplant with rice that comes out in a clay pot. So many exotic options!
For the less adventurous, you can just grab a coffee. Photo: Kazuri Photography.
After a standard vanilla brunch? Cutura has got you. Poached eggs on toast, with all the sides you like, and Cultura’s burger game is vast! And their Holly wrap, with all the eggs Benedict goodness in a wrap, sounds incredible.
Co-owner Cemre Keser says that this all happened a lot quicker than she expected. The plan to run a cafe seemed to be a couple of years away from becoming a reality, but the amazing opportunity presented itself and the space was better than they could have ever hoped for.
“My uncle heard that the Fish Shack was being sold. At first, he considered keeping it as the Fish Shack but I said if we’re going to do something here, we should go with something we know and understand and love.”
After renovating the cafe themselves for two months, they opened Cafe Cultura.
“People love it,” Cemre says. “We’re getting positive feedback, and they love what we did with the space. There aren’t many outdoor cafes in the city at the moment, but this is such a delightful spot. We put out the cute little benches and umbrellas, and it is a lovely atmosphere for families and we are dog friendly. You will find great coffee and Turkish food within our unique menu.”
You can still find fish and chips at the new Cultura Cafe, but the menu’s scrumptious-sounding Turkish brekky banquet for two is what has lured my friend and me.
Turkish brekky banquet for two. Photo: Kazuri Photography.
The breakfast comes out on a board, featuring lots of variety and far-flung flavours. Slices of feta rolled in spices, sigara borek, capsicum dip, honey-drenched clotted cream, and tahini with molasses, and two types of Turkish bread. A hot pan of spiced eggs with slices of salami-like sujuk fried into them. We dip the toasted spongy Turkish bread first into the robust capsicum dip and then into the tahini. Then we also slather some of the honey-drenched clotted cream across the bread. The sigara borek is herbed cheese wrapped in phyllo pastry and deep fried. It’s golden and crisp, giving way to oozy molten yum.
While some desserts are made in-house, many of the delectable honey-drenched pastries like baklava come from well-loved Turkish sweets and food provider, Saray. Pair a dessert with Turkish coffee.
Well-loved Turkish sweets. Photo: Kazuri Photography.
Cafe Cultura is located at 87/105 Petrie Plaza, Canberra. Just look for its distinctive shape! It is open on weekdays from 7 am to 3 pm, and on weekends from 8 am to 4 pm. Follow Cafe Cultura on Facebook and Instagram.
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