Cafe Timor-Leste

LOCATION
The Cavanagh Street entrance to the Air Raid Arcade.

PROFILED BY DE GROOTS MEDIA
Cafe Timor-Leste is situated a short block from the main city mall in Darwin. Colourfully decorated with Timorese fabrics, posters and brightly-painted chalkboards, the cafe offers breakfasts, lunch and snacks, with dinners served during the wet season. Owners Jenifer and Hernany have run the popular Taste of Timor-Leste stall at Mindil beach markets for some time and also sell their delicious fare at the Deckchair Cinema during the dry season. Hernany is the operator behind the scenes, an experienced chef with a Timorese background who recently ran the kitchen of the Esplanade Hotel in the Timor capital of Dili. At Café Timor-Leste he recreates the authentic Timorese cuisine – an intriguing blend of Asian and Portuguese.

Cafe Timor-Leste is a pleasant place to settle with a Timorese newspaper and an organic Timorese coffee. Breakfast dishes include Spanish omelette, Rasta pepper eggs and the matabisu boot (big breakfast – chorizo, eggs, bacon, peppers, budu and toast). Sasoro is a traditional chicken rice porridge with spinach, eaten either at breakfast or later in the day. Felafels with lashings of hummus and yoghurt make a tasty snack or entree. Gourmet salads are made fresh daily and include a delectable warm potato and chorizo option. For lunch look to the unusual traditional dishes which are served with rice, batar daan (a sweetish mix of corn, mung beans, pumpkin leaves, kangkong and eggplant), and budu (Timorese tomato, mint and lime salsa). A traditional main is caril chicken; a mild curry with roast capsicum coconut sauce. Ikan sabuko is seasonal fish marinated in tamarind and baked with capsicum and basil (Hernany only uses wild-caught fish). Following these savoury delights, it’s hard to pass up on a genuine Portuguese custard tart or the magnificent bibinke – a custard-like layered coconut cake. Finish with a refreshing iced-tea with mint and lime.

Merridy Anne Pugh