On Sunday Morning, Jeff and I went to Chhaya, a nearby café that specializes in gourmet waffles and coffee. I splurged and had a pumpkin waffle with pecan maple syrup and cinnamon whipped cream, and Jeff had an “everything” bagel with cream cheese, bacon, tomato and avocado. And yes, both were as delicious as they sound.
Chhaya opened on East Passyunk Avenue about three months ago, and is a welcomed addition to the neighborhood. This charming café is a constant reminder even on our busiest days to stop and smell the coffee – literally! Chhaya is open all hours of the day, so you can stop by for breakfast, lunch or dinner, and enjoy everything from vegan cupcakes to Tuscan meatballs. The full menu can be viewed here.
Husband and wife team Brett Shangold and V Beuria, who live in the neighborhood, wanted to open a waffle business and considered a waffle truck, but after walking by this space they knew it was the perfect location for their culinary venture. V has a background in culinary arts and has worked in many kitchens - including my favorite, Tria. At Chhaya, she takes pride in always providing the freshest products, and even if it’s just two fried eggs and home fries, ensuring that it’s done with quality and care.
Brett and V use coffee beans from three different providers – including Joe’s, a.k.a. Philly Fair Trade Roasters (mentioned in this recent post). Jeff and I typically buy Joe’s beans and make our coffee at home using a French Press. Our go-to bean is Mexican Chiapas, but really anything from Joe is amazing. At Chhaya we were able to experiment a bit with the Mexican Chiapas roast and try it in two new brew styles – Pour Over and Siphon. The differences were incredible. The siphon style produces a clean, crisp, rich yet smooth taste, and I wish I could drink it this way everyday. I think Jeff summarized it well by saying it tasted clean like the flavor of tea. The simple manual Pour Over method had a full body, was slightly bitter at the end, but was still quite clean. Both of these brew styles tasted different from our daily French press, and I can’t wait for our next tasting with other beans.
East Passyunk Avenue has been growing at a steady pace over the past few years and we are hopeful that Chhaya is successful and will be around for a long time to come. It truly is a little slice of heaven in South Philadelphia.
PS. If you are wondering about the name, V didn’t want to name the restaurant something that had to do with coffee, so she decided on Chhaya (pronounced chai-a), which means a shelter or shady place in Hindi.
that waffle sounds like perfection! love seeing a peek of a chemex on the table there - makes such divine coffee.
ReplyDeleteOur little town so needs a place like this... I am with Amanda on the waffle, yum. Before we moved, we went to a cafe that was like this, the line would be out the door and down the block on the weekends, but we'd wait and it'd be worth it. Thanks for sharing :)
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