Calendar An icon of a desk calendar. Cancel An icon of a circle with a diagonal line across. Caret An icon of a block arrow pointing to the right. Email An icon of a paper envelope. Facebook An icon of the Facebook "f" mark. Google An icon of the Google "G" mark. Linked In An icon of the Linked In "in" mark. Logout An icon representing logout. Profile An icon that resembles human head and shoulders. Telephone An icon of a traditional telephone receiver. Tick An icon of a tick mark. Is Public An icon of a human eye and eyelashes. Is Not Public An icon of a human eye and eyelashes with a diagonal line through it. Pause Icon A two-lined pause icon for stopping interactions. Quote Mark A opening quote mark. Quote Mark A closing quote mark. Arrow An icon of an arrow. Folder An icon of a paper folder. Breaking An icon of an exclamation mark on a circular background. Camera An icon of a digital camera. Caret An icon of a caret arrow. Clock An icon of a clock face. Close An icon of the an X shape. Close Icon An icon used to represent where to interact to collapse or dismiss a component Comment An icon of a speech bubble. Comments An icon of a speech bubble, denoting user comments. Comments An icon of a speech bubble, denoting user comments. Ellipsis An icon of 3 horizontal dots. Envelope An icon of a paper envelope. Facebook An icon of a facebook f logo. Camera An icon of a digital camera. Home An icon of a house. Instagram An icon of the Instagram logo. LinkedIn An icon of the LinkedIn logo. Magnifying Glass An icon of a magnifying glass. Search Icon A magnifying glass icon that is used to represent the function of searching. Menu An icon of 3 horizontal lines. Hamburger Menu Icon An icon used to represent a collapsed menu. Next An icon of an arrow pointing to the right. Notice An explanation mark centred inside a circle. Previous An icon of an arrow pointing to the left. Rating An icon of a star. Tag An icon of a tag. Twitter An icon of the Twitter logo. Video Camera An icon of a video camera shape. Speech Bubble Icon A icon displaying a speech bubble WhatsApp An icon of the WhatsApp logo. Information An icon of an information logo. Plus A mathematical 'plus' symbol. Duration An icon indicating Time. Success Tick An icon of a green tick. Success Tick Timeout An icon of a greyed out success tick. Loading Spinner An icon of a loading spinner. Facebook Messenger An icon of the facebook messenger app logo. Facebook An icon of a facebook f logo. Facebook Messenger An icon of the Twitter app logo. LinkedIn An icon of the LinkedIn logo. WhatsApp Messenger An icon of the Whatsapp messenger app logo. Email An icon of an mail envelope. Copy link A decentered black square over a white square.

Take a look inside Aberdeen’s vibrant new Instagrammable cafe

Coffee sprinkled with edible flowers, Kinder Bueno milkshakes and Belgian chocolate croffles are some of the exquisitely presented and delicious drinks and dishes on the menu at Suma Cafe.

The chicken burger is a smoky sensation. Image: by Scott Baxter/DC Thomson.
The chicken burger is a smoky sensation. Image: by Scott Baxter/DC Thomson.

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.

Owner Fhad Khan is excited to bring an Instagrammable cafe to Aberdeen. Image: by Scott Baxter/DC Thomson.

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.

The coffee is a work of art. Image by Scott Baxter/DC Thomson.

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.

The eggs florentine looks and tastes amazing. Image by Scott Baxter/DC Thomson.

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.

Croffles are all the rage at Suma Cafe.  Image by Scott Baxter/DC Thomson.

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.

The beef brisket pancake is melt in the mouth. Image by Scott Baxter/DC Thomson.

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.

Check the shine on that burger bun. Image by Scott Baxter/DC Thomson.

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.

The beautiful interior makes for a very relaxing atmosphere. Image: Scott Baxter/ DC Thomson.

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.

The Kinder Bueno milkshake has gone down a treat. Image by Scott Baxter/DC Thomson.

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.

For a dose of flower power, head to Suma Cafe. Image: Scott Baxter/DC Thomson.

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.

The halloumi fries are a cheesy delight. Image by Scott Baxter/DC Thomson.

For more information on Suma Cafe check out their Facebook @Sumacafe and Instagram pages @sumacafeaberdeen.

Conversation