Fishtown’s newest pastry destination celebrates Yemeni coffee culture — and it stays open late

Exactly one year ago, Enaas Sultan invited her mother, her aunt, and two family friends to a Zoom meeting to present a Pinterest mood board of what she envisioned Philly’s second Yemeni coffee shop would look like. In early September, that vision board came to life with the soft opening of Haraz Coffee House’s second location in Fishtown.

The 26-year-old pastry chef is one of five women who have expanded Philly’s Yemeni coffee culture footprint — coffeehouses that have become cherished cultural spaces in the U.S., especially in immigrant, Muslim, and diasporic communities.

The 2,600-square-foot coffeehouse is filled with marble tables and rattan chairs and a long booth for customers looking to settle in for hours. A private room sectioned off by a sliding door is designated for those seeking a quiet workspace. For decor, the owners commissioned Pakistani artist Zahid Mayo to create murals of poetry in multiple languages.

By day, large windows bathe the space in sunlight. At night, ornate light fixtures illuminate the coffee shop — open until 11 p.m. on Fridays and Saturdays, a rarity in a city where coffee shops often close before sunset.

Pistachio raspberry tarts, Turkish coffee-infused chocolate chip cookies, Dubai chocolate brownies, potato and za’atar patties, everything bagel milk buns, and other pastries line the display cases near the checkout counter. The menu also includes a nostalgic savory pastry in the Pakistani community, Sultan’s chicken patties. She developed the recipe for the patties (which she pronounces as pay-tee), puff pastry shells stuffed with shredded spiced chicken, with her aunt and co-owner, Summaiyah Sohu.

“The chicken patties are typically made to go with chai,” Sultan said. “It’s a very common tea time snack, often for special occasions, and it really just brings people together.”

The Fishtown location’s coffee menu is standard to Haraz, a national chain with more than 20 locations in cities like Dearborn, Mich.; Orlando, Fla.; and Austin, Texas. Customers can sip on staples like Jubani (made with coffee and the husk of coffee cherries, served with cardamom, ginger, cinnamon), Adeni (Yemeni black tea, cardamom, nutmeg, milk), and Mofawar (coffee served with cardamom and cream), along with more familiar contemporary drinks like pistachio lattes and strawberry matcha.

Haraz Fishtown’s quintet of owners formed when Farah Khan and husband Hamza Shaikh, owners of Haraz in West Philly — the city’s first Yemeni coffee shop — reached out to friends (and Sultan’s parents) Zehra Wamiq and Wamiq Sultan. Zehra looped in her sister and local community organizer Aisha Zia Khan.

Sultan, who trained at a French pastry school in London, joined the team shortly after.

For each owner, opening a Yemeni coffee shop in one of their favorite Philly neighborhoods served two purposes: offering a non-alcoholic alternative third space in a buzzing bar scene, and sharing their Pakistani heritage.

“In Pakistan, tea time culture is huge — you have your afternoon chai with a snack,” Sultan said. “We wanted that to be present in our cafe.”

The pastry menu is unique to the Fishtown location, thanks to Sultan. Previously, the neighborhood resident worked in finance. Two years ago, she decided to go to Le Cordon Bleu in London for a four-month program to train in French pastries. When she returned, she worked at OsoSweet Bakery Cafe in Chadds Ford for several months. Then, her mother told her about the new Haraz location project.

“I love Yemeni cafes and the cultural space they’ve created, so the idea of starting one was very exciting, but nerve-wracking,” Sultan said. “I told my mom I didn’t want to do it at first — a project this large wasn’t something I felt ready for. But I’m a big believer in learning as you go and starting before you feel completely ready, and I knew I’d regret it later if I let this opportunity pass by.”

When developing the menu, Sultan wanted to combine French pastry techniques with the Pakistani and Middle Eastern flavors she grew up eating.

“I did a lot of recipe testing, putting together flavors and techniques that I thought would work well together and match the vibe of this space, and that would go well with the coffee,” she said.

For Sultan and her family — her mother lives in Garnet Valley and her aunt is in Princeton — it was a special treat to open a Haraz location in the neighborhood they would visit when she was growing up. Farah Khan wanted to add to the neighborhood’s bustling coffee footprint with Haraz. And bringing the Yemeni coffee culture to Fishtown was a no-brainer to Aisha Zia Khan, who has lived in the neighborhood for 18 years.

“Fishtown, for me, is an intergenerational, interracial spot where you see lot of older Palestinian, Arab families; Al-Aqsa Mosque is close by, too,” Zia Khan said. “And if you go to Frankford Avenue, there’s so many amazing restaurants, but it’s also a total bar scene.

“We thought, ‘When Haraz comes here, it’ll be that alcohol-free alternative space, that third space, that is so needed.”

Haraz Coffee House Fishtown, 23 W. Girard Ave.; harazcoffeehouse.com, instagram.com/hrzcoffeephilly, Monday to Thursday 7 a.m. to 8 p.m., Friday 7 a.m. to 11 p.m., Saturday 8 a.m. to 11 p.m., Sunday 8 a.m. to 8 p.m.