New café in Waterford puts locals first
Mohammed Omar and Ayse Leflef, at the Junction Cafe Restaurant with some of the Mount Sion All-Ireland Schools U-19 Hurling Champions, who they hosted a breakfast for. Photos: Joe Evans
The T-Junction café opened in January of this year and has already proven to be a favourite with the Barrack Street community. Run by Ayse Leflef, her children attend Mount Sion school, and she “always wanted a sit-down place in this area".
"I didn’t know it was going to be me,” she said.
Ayse grew up in Dublin, where her mother, the Irish language poet Nuala Ní Domhnaill only spoke Irish to her, and her Turkish father passed on his culture to her.
Her husband, Serkan Yigit, has been a chef for 30 years. They originally came to Waterford to take over the fish and chip shop in Dunmore East.
Over 10 years ago, they took over the café in the Lisduggan Shopping Centre.
“Our regulars are like family to us. We’ve been seeing these people every day for 10 years.”
Ayse tells me what she loves about the Lisduggan café.
“When you go to the café in Lisduggan, you never see anyone on their phones.”
She believes that this is “the way cafés should be".
Now, Serkan is running the Lisduggan café, whilst Ayse runs their newest venture on Barrack Street.
For Ayse, the true purpose of the café is to create a place where the community can gather.
She said, “In this day and age, the more spaces we have where people can come together, the better.”
Very much in the same vein as the café in Lisduggan, T-Junction has quickly amassed a group of regular customers.
Ayse said, “The elderly people are coming in every week, meeting their friends, it's closing a gap in their social lives.”
Despite opening a café in January, a notoriously difficult time for small businesses, the T-Junction café has received huge support from the community, according to Ayse.
“All different kinds of people come here, and they all feel comfortable and they seem to be at home.”
The cafés regulars so far have included the ‘arty people’, sports people, teachers from the school, the ‘mam’s’ (“which is totally needed, especially for mam’s of small children, it can be a lifeline”), elderly people, and people from Lisduggan who come along to show their support.
The Mount Sion hurling team won the All-Ireland hurling final last week, so the whole team are coming for breakfast at the cafe, “to show the community are completely behind them.”
What makes this café different to the one in Lisduggan is its focus on local artists. Ayse holds a master’s in art from NCAD and wanted to give local artists a place where they could display their work.
The current art on display is from Rosemary Dulson Garvey, a local artist who lives in the area.
She has already sold four paintings, and 100% of the money will go to her. Ayse doesn’t “believe” in taking commission fees from artists.
As well as providing some lovely décor for the café, they are also a good excuse to throw a party. Ayse told me all about the latest exhibition launch: “Last Saturday... Rosemary’s friend Paul Dillon plays the guitar... She said there was going to be a bit of live music. I thought, brilliant. So he started playing, but I didn’t realise she had loads of friends who all sang and who all played guitar. It ended up being the most beautiful opening, where everyone was singing and they were passing the guitar around. It just happened organically.”
With teas and coffee starting at €2, this café is accessible for every budget.
The salad in the café’s deli looks fantastic, and the café’s chef Mohammed Omar brings his Palestinian heritage to the café, where coleslaw sits next to hummus and falafel can be paired with Tayto crisps. You can get a wrap, salad and chips for €10, which has to be one of the best value lunches in the city.
According to Ayse, the café's most popular dish remains a full Irish breakfast – how bad!
