With bright pink roses lining the walls and ceilings bursting with lush green foliage, stepping inside Suma Cafe is a visual feast for the eyes.
But it’s not just the secret garden style decor that has tongues wagging in the city as this trendy cafe in Guild Street, across from Union Square, is also serving up works of colourful art when it comes to food and drink.
From the aptly named Instagrammable coffee complete with edible flowers to the chocolate croffle – a cross between a croissant and a waffle – with homemade Belgian chocolate ganache, chocolate blossoms and walnuts, the dishes not only look good but taste amazing.
To get a flavour of the cafe, Society met with owner Fahd Khan, 40, who reveals the story behind the new venue and the inspiration behind his exquisitely presented dishes.
How did Suma Cafe come about?
I’m originally from Pakistan but I moved to Aberdeen in 2005 to work in the oil and gas industry. I just felt that Aberdeen was missing an Instagrammable cafe as other cities across the UK have cafes like that so I wanted to bring that to Aberdeen. This venue in Guild Street had been empty for 12 years and I thought it was a bit of an eyesore in the city centre. It’s a great location, right across from the bus and train stations so I bought it almost a year ago. It was in a state of disrepair so I’ve worked really hard to breathe new life into it. I’ve named it Suma Cafe after my wife Summera who works as a doctor at Aberdeen Royal Infirmary. We’ve been open for three months now and the feedback has been really positive.
Tell me about your food menu?
People eat with their eyes so I wanted to create a place where the food is not only beautifully presented but also tastes delicious. So we have a brunch menu with dishes like avocado toast, eggs benedict, eggs florentine, mushroom and spinach benedict and eggs royale.
What is a croffle?
Yes I believe we’re the first place in Aberdeen to offer croffles which are croissants which are made in a waffle machine. One of our most popular croffles is All About Chocolate which has our specially made Belgian chocolate ganache. We also have other croffle flavours including indulgent Biscoff croffle, Berry de la Creme, Cookie Craft and Figlicious with figs with ricotta cheese drizzled in honey and sprinkled with nuts. People can choose to have those flavours with crepes, pancakes or waffles too.
You also do savoury pancakes, waffles and crepes too?
Yes people can choose if they would like a pancake, waffle or crepe and whether they would like a sweet or savoury filling. Some of our savoury dishes include beef brisket with slow cooked, melt in the mouth, fresh beef, our in-house made special cheese sauce and barbecue sauce with pickle. We also have a crispy chicken with buttermilk marinated chicken breast strips, smoking pink salmon with cream cheese and hollandaise sauce and peri peri chicken. We also have vegetarian options too.
Your burgers look amazing too….
They certainly are amazing as we have a crispy fried chicken burger. We marinade the chicken in our special sauce and coating. It’s served with crispy onions, jalapenos, lettuce and cheese served in a toasted brioche bun. We get our buns from The Bread Guy Bakery in Aberdeen as we’re really keen to support local businesses. We also have a vegan burger, fried halloumi burger, a beef brisket burger, a cheese burger and a special beef burger made using 6oz fresh beef burger patty hot off the grill, layered with strips of turkey bacon and cheese, jalapenos, crispy onions and sauteed mushrooms with fries and coleslaw.
And the loaded fries….
Our loaded fries are delicious as people can choose from peri peri chicken or beef brisket. We also have halloumi fries too.
You can take special food requests can’t you?
Yes we recently had a customer who was lactose intolerant so she asked if we could make the pancakes with oat milk so we did that. We try to cater for everyone.
What Instagrammable drinks do you offer?
We have lots of different milkshakes like Kinder Bueno, Ferrero Rocher, Biscoff and Malteaser flavour. We also make signature lattes like the pink moon latte which is made with beetroot and the golden latte which is made using turmeric. Our Instagrammable coffee is very popular as its made using locally sourced coffee beans which have been freshly roasted the week before. We decorate it with edible flowers so it’s a work of latte art. We also have special hot chocolates too.
What about mocktails?
As we’re more of a cafe we don’t have an alcohol licence but we do have a selection of mocktails. For example we’ve got the devotion potion which is made using pineapple juice, coconut water, lime juice and pina colada syrup.
Are your cakes homemade?
Yes we make everything fresh in house. One customer always comes in for our carrot cake as he loves it so much. We also have brownies and cheesecake.
We’ve heard that your ice cream is a big hit too?
We have 24 flavours of fresh, luxury ice cream which is locally sourced. I think the ice cream is one of the best in the north-east. People can also get ice cream sundaes.
Why should people visit?
We serve beautifully presented food which is delicious too. We want to give people an experience so that when they get their coffee, it makes their day. Our portion sizes are excellent too and budget friendly. Often when people see an image posted on Instagram by a cafe or restaurant, when they go, they are disappointed as they won’t get the same thing as they’ve seen in the image. But that’s where we are different as what you see on Instagram is what you get. We’re methodical about everything as we want the customer to have the best experience.
For more information on Suma Cafe check out their Facebook @Sumacafe and Instagram pages @sumacafeaberdeen.
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