CULTURE CLUB

A new wave of café culture is emerging across Australia as chefs and owners bring their diverse cultural heritage and traditions to the table, writes LEE TRAN LAM.

- LEE TRAN LAM.

Some cafés chase Instagram trends, but Saha in Adelaide serves century-old dishes instead. “We wanted to bring our heritage into our cooking,” says Jinan Mehio, who runs the business with husband Abdoullah. These recipes have survived a lot, such as war in Lebanon and a devastating fire at Saha’s original location. They moved the café to a new site after the 2019 blaze, the fatteh, ful and manoushi remain as their grandparents’ grandparents made it: the chickpeas topped with yoghurt tahini, broad beans flavoured with garlic, lemon and olive oil and flatbreads seasoned with za’atar.

Don’t treat the whole menu as an ancient text that can’t be changed, though: Mehio recalls their mothers “workshopping” dishes at the café’s start. “It was a bit like World War III some days – hearing about how much salt should be in one dish, or how much lemon should be on another,” she says. Their parents are key to Saha: her dad’s za’atar is dusted over 10 different dishes, while her father-in-law makes the Lebanese sweets.

Like any rule-abiding café, there’s smashed avocado on offer, but tahini dressing and pomegranate molasses give it a Middle Eastern twist. This blended approach reflects the Mehios’ upbringing: her husband’s family will serve an English-style roast if you pop over, because they lived in a South Australian country town, but “my dad will never touch anything like that”. He insists on Lebanese meals every day and she remembers “it was the event of the year” if she could visit Pizza Hut or McDonald’s as a kid.