Friday 22 / November / 2024
Nawaf Al Wahaibi recently opened a hip little café in Amerat that specialises in his favourite bread, a traditional Omani flatbread called Al Mardhoof made of date syrup and ghee. With his mother at the stove, Habboh Café is an oasis of comfort food, and the best place for breakfast south of Bausher.
An ancient tale goes that once upon a time there was a Sultan in Oman who wanted to treat some upcoming guests to a bread they had never tasted before. News of the Sultan’s new recipe wish travelled far and wide and reached a woman by the name of Salama who lived in a small village. She looked around at the ingredients available to her and came up with a bread that required only date syrup, flour, and ghee (clarified butter).
She named the bread, Al Mardhoof, and presented it to the Sultan. He loved it. Amazed by the taste and this humble woman’s talent, he appointed her as head cook in his palace.
Many people have tried to recreate Salama’s fabled Al Mardhoof, but as the story goes, her secret recipe was only passed on to her daughter on her deathbed. Inscribed on goatskin and kept under lock and key, the recipe has been fiercely guarded through the generations since.
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That folklore always makes me hungry for the tender, mollass-y bread, but there is one man in Oman whose love for the bread might just rival that of the fairytale Sultan.
Nawaf Al Wahaibi loved his grandmother’s Al Mardhoof bread so much that he was inspired to open up a local coffee shop dedicated to the local specialty.
Habboh Coffee Shop (which means grandmother in Omani slang) serves bread alongside spreads like cream cheese, nutella, honey, and fruit jam for 500-700 baisa. It also offers other traditional Omani breakfast foods. The “Dala’a Habboh” special breakfast includes two pieces of the mardhoof bread; siweah, vermicelli noodles cooked in sugar syrup; stewed red beans; and an egg omelette along with karak tea or Omani coffee for OMR2.750.
While the food is traditional, the decor is a combination of traditional and modern design, thanks to his sister, who designed the interior.
Upon entering the shop, whose floor is covered with cement in the way they were in old local houses, to your right you’ll see dining tables inlaid with colourful tiles and a small reading corner where guests can page through old books while sipping their karak, nibbling bread, and listening to Omani classic music.
But, how did Nawaf learn this coveted recipe? The fact is, he didn’t. His entire family is supporting the charming cafe and it is his mother, an expert in local delicacies, who is at the helm of the kitchen, turning out Omani specialties and keeping her culinary secrets safe.
Every detail, right down to the menu design was thoughtfully considered and carried out by Nawaf or a member of his family.
In addition to running the business, Nawaf also was responsible for creating the wonderful “Habboh” character who adorns the shop menu and who “chats” with customers online. He designed the menu as a story as told by “Habboh” who talks to her grandsons in Omani slang, asking them what they want to eat.
And although Habboh might not be the one serving you in this little shop, the Omani staff have a warmth and hospitality that will make you feel right at home, that is if the smells of fresh griddled bread and rose-water-laced coffee haven’t done so already.
Habboh Coffee Shop
Al Amerat
(Just behind Sultan Centre)
+968 9616 9191
[email protected]
Instagram: habboh_
