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Monday 11am - 11pm Tuesday 11am - 11pm Wednesday 11am - 11pm Thursday 11am - 11pm Friday 11am - 11pm Saturday 11am - 11pm Sunday 11am - 11pm

Yafa Cafe

Name: Yafa Cafe
Address: 1785 Portage Avenue, Winnipeg, MB, R3J0E8, CA
Telephone: +12042211636
Price range: $$
Rating: 4.7

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Yafa Cafe

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Our food takes inspiration from Traditional Arab Street Food. Get a taste of cuisine from various co Introducing Yafa Café opening soon in Winnipeg!
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Our food takes inspiration from Traditional Arab Street Food & it’s very ore. We start from scratch everyday to bring you the enduring Arabic flavors. At Yafa Café we offer our guests an authentic Arabic street food experience. We also want to share our love of the coffee with you. We brew locally roasted Single Origin coffee. Our menu is based on the freshest, carefully-sourced ingredients full of fresh healthy food that is cost effective and in an environment that is as friendly as our community in Manitoba. We believe in supporting our local suppliers and serving the freshest products. We source our foods from Manitoba farms and our coffee from local roasters. Catering

No matter the occasion, or location, Yafa Cafe hits the spot. All events, big or small are handled with the highest level of quality and service. In addition to our upscale catering menu, we also have a special menu for office and corporate functions that is available upon request.

11/01/2026

Yafa Café 🇵🇸

If you had to leave home today, not knowing if you’d ever return, what would you carry?

For Palestinians, the answer was often a bokjeh (بقجة): a cloth bundle tied at the corners, holding whatever a family could save. It became the luggage of the Palestinian refugee, recognized around the world.

In 1967, a mother walked to the Jordan River with her children and one bokjeh on her head. Today in Gaza, mothers are tying bokjehs again.

Different generations. The same displacement.

Endless Journey bridges 1948 to the present. Through its silhouette & the weight of the bokjeh, it shows how displacement travels across generations, borders, & political eras; a recurring story etched into history’s pages, waiting to be read.

Art here does what borders & laws have failed to do: it bears witness when home is withheld.

Our café is named for Yafa, a coastal Palestinian city on the Mediterranean Sea. In 1948, its people were expelled during the Nakba, fleeing by boat or on foot, carrying their bokjehs with them.

Many of you have asked about the bundle hanging from the ceiling by our cash register. That’s a bokjeh. Now you know its story.

Our owner Rana is curating the Palestinian section of Faith, Belonging, and Resilience at the Manitoba Museum, where the things people carried will tell their stories.

Here’s the teaser. Next time you’re in, look up at the bokjeh, and ask us about it.

📸 Hana AL Hefnawi and Dr. Fadi Ramadan

10/12/2026

Machbous: a taste of Kuwait, now on the Yafa catering menu
Our founder was born in Kuwait. Like so many Palestinian families scattered after 1948, hers carried their own food with them and also took in the kitchens of the places that held them. In Kuwait, that meant Machbous, the national dish, served in nearly every home, and one she first learned to cook in school.
It’s spiced chicken and basmati rice with fried onions, split chickpeas and raisins, built on three flavours: baharat, saffron and loomi (dried black lime), the tang that tells you this is Gulf cooking. We serve it the traditional way, with daqoos, a garlicky tomato sauce.
The version we make comes from her Mama. She was a mid-century housewife and seamstress with an innovative style and a taste for fine ingredients, and nothing less than exceptional came out of her kitchen. She cooked with a modern touch, adjusting flavours with a spritz of lemon or one more pinch of salt, and our founder loved cooking at her side.
Her Machbous never disappointed. She’d slice two large onions and keep them on medium heat, stirring often until they turned bronze and sweet, never rushed, never bitter, never burnt. Then she’d serve it on her favourite Limoges, always set to impress her guests.
Our founder still thinks of her every time she crushes garlic or slices onions. Her own children are accomplished cooks now, and she wishes they’d had the chance to share a kitchen with their grandmother and learn her patience and generosity firsthand.
That care is the heart of Yafa. It shapes everything we cook, and it’s what we hope you taste in every plate.
Machbous is available for catering. Message us to add it to your next event.

10/07/2026

Cheese is serious business at Yafa. 🧀

We mix it with za’atar, spinach, sfeiha, chicken, eggs and more. But it all starts with the cheese.

Jibneh Akkawi is named for the Palestinian port city of Akka (Acre). It’s a smooth, semi-soft white cheese with a gentle saltiness.

Jibneh Nabulsi, a white brined cheese, comes from the historic city of Nablus. Traditionally made from sheep’s or goat’s milk, it is firmer and saltier and melts beautifully.

These cheeses have been part of Palestinian food for generations, from manakeesh and breakfast plates to knafeh and kollaj, our most famous Palestinian desserts.
When a dish calls for Akkawi or Nabulsi, that’s what we use. If I don’t have it, I won’t make it. No substitutes.

From a Palestinian breakfast to a warm manakeesh coming out of the oven, these are flavors of home we are proud to serve in Winnipeg.

09/26/2026

When an Egg Becomes a Story

I recently saw a post about a Palestinian child in Gaza celebrating after eating an egg for the first time in 9 months. The family had only one egg to share. The child deserved so much more: safety, nourishment, love, and protection.

I thought about Qdouh Bayd قدوح البيض, a Palestinian dish my mother used to make for us. At Yafa Café, we prepare it traditionally: dough is placed briefly in the oven so the edges rise, then the eggs are poured into the center with herbs and spices.

For me, it is comfort food a memory of home.

Palestinian food is also connected to land, displacement, access, and survival. My grandmother could not cook the same way after she was displaced from her land.

My mother often spoke about the hunger and thirst she experienced as a child during the Nakba in 1948. That experience never left her. Even into her late seventies, she stored canned food and filled any empty container with water. The hunger and thirst she experienced as a child stayed with her for a lifetime.

Through food, we preserve stories about who we are, where we come from, and what has survived. Sometimes that responsibility feels heavy, but it is also a privilege.

Qdouh Bayd قدوح البيض is not only eggs and bread. It is a memory that survived.

And that child celebrating one egg is a reminder that every child deserves enough food not as a luxury, not as charity, and never as a weapon, but as a basic human right.

This week, Qdouh Bayd قدوح البيض is on special at Yafa Café for $4.99.

09/14/2026

Zaatar زعتر has always been part of the Palestinian table. I remember my mother in our Ottawa kitchen on September 11, 2001, mixing Zaatar with olive oil as we watched the news unfold, trying to understand what was happening.
As Palestinians in Canada, we found connections between the food around us and the food we carried from Palestine. As summer rolled into fall, we experimented with taste and texture while holding on to familiar flavours. Zaatar and olive oil were the foundation, but my mother added fresh tomatoes and onions. It became our version of Manakeesh مناقيش rooted in Palestine and adapted to life in Canada.
Zaatar is more than a spice for Palestinians. It is the aroma of our homes and the scent of our land—the wild thyme that grows across the hills of Palestine and is gathered in spring. Its earthy smell carries memories of villages, kitchens and family tables. Palestinians travelling abroad have long carried bags of Zaatar and sage) in their luggage, to keep or give to family and friends. Sometimes the scent gives away what is inside before the suitcase is even opened. These herbs are anchors of memory, connecting us to the land and the homes we left behind.
Maybe that was when I began to understand Zaatar differently. It was not just something we ate. It carried land, memory and ancestry in something small enough to fit in a bag, but strong enough to remind us who we were. Like so much of Palestinian food, it travelled with us.
Today, at Yafa Café, we share that memory through our Manakeesh. We still make it with Zaatar and olive oil, with tomatoes and onions mixed in the way my mother made it in our kitchen. Every serving carries a piece of that table: the adaptation, the longing and the reminder that home can be made again.
Food travels with us. It changes with us, yet still takes us home. Making it, eating it and sharing it connects us to our land and our ancestry, and lets us offer that connection to others.
And in sharing it, we carry home forward and make ourselves whole.

08/31/2026

A little bit of everything! 🇵🇸
Pick some of our Palestinian favourites and make your own table to share freshly baked manakeesh, crispy falafel, creamy hummus, falafel salad, Palestinian salad, pickles, warm pita, fries and more.
There’s always something for everyone at Yafa Café.
📍 1785 Portage Ave, Winnipeg

Photo by Tim Reisdorf

08/19/2026

The winner of our Yafa Café Giveaway is Shannon Mueller! 🎉
Congratulations, Shannon Mueller! Your Yafa Café gift bundle is yours! 🎁 Please contact us by phone at 204-221-1636 to pick up your gift.

A huge thank you to everyone who participated, followed, liked, and tagged their friends. The response to this giveaway was incredible, and we loved seeing so many familiar and new names.
Thank you for all the love and support you continue to show Yafa Café. ❤️Stay tuned — we may have to do this again! 🌿

08/08/2026

YAFA CAFÉ GIVEAWAY — TWO WINNERS!

We’re giving away TWO Yafa Café gift bundles filled with some of the favourites you’ll find on our tables and in our kitchen every day.

Each bundle includes:

Yafa Café tote bag, Locally handmade by newcomer women.
$50 Yafa Café gift card
Olive oil & za’atar
Arabic jam
Herbal teas
Nuts
And a few more Yafa favorites!

TO ENTER:

Follow
Like this post
Tag a friend in the comments — one friend per comment
Every additional comment tagging a different friend counts as another entry.

Giveaway closes August 16.
TWO winners will be announced August 17 and contacted by DM from ONLY.

Prizes must be picked up at Yafa Café in Winnipeg.

Good luck!

This giveaway is not sponsored

07/31/2026

Wild sage (Salvia palaestina)—maramiya مريَميّة in Arabic is more than a drink. It is a ritual, a healing herb that grows wild in Palestine, a connection to the land, and a taste of heritage.
Maramiya is a deeply healing plant that purifies the physical and energetic body. It is soothing to the nervous system and gently helps to ease indigestion and congestion.
For centuries, maramiya has been part of everyday Palestinian life. A pot of sage tea was always on the fire. Its warm aroma filled the home, bringing calm after a long day, comfort to the sick, and warmth to every guest who entered.

Sage was woven into every stage of life. It accompanied celebrations and sorrow alike, and for generations Palestinian women gathered it from the hillsides, passing its healing knowledge from mother to daughter. Every cup carried a deep connection to the land.

As the colonial project advanced, access to this tradition was increasingly restricted. Wild sage and other native herbs were classified as protected species under nature protection laws, making their traditional gathering punishable by fines. What had long been part of everyday Palestinian life became, for many, another barrier separating people from their land, culture, and food traditions.
At Yafa Café, every cup of sage is our way of preserving a tradition that has endured for generations and ensuring its story continues to be shared. 🇵🇸

07/11/2026

From the Garden to Your Cup – Baboonej (بابونج) at Yafa Café
In Palestine, chamomile is known as Baboonej (بابونج). More than just a tea, it is a tradition rooted in the land and lovingly passed from one generation to the next.
For centuries, Palestinians have hand-picked these delicate, daisy-like flowers from the hills and countryside to prepare a soothing golden infusion. Traditionally, Baboonej has been enjoyed after meals to support digestion, promote relaxation, encourage restful sleep, and bring comfort to both body and mind.
Our latest video takes you on the journey from flower to cup.
We hand-pick the flowers from our Manitoba garden, dry them naturally, and brew them just as Palestinian families have done for generations.
Palestinian wild chamomile (Anthemis palaestina) has long been treasured in traditional herbal medicine. It has traditionally been enjoyed to promote gentle relaxation, calm the nervous system, support digestive comfort after meals, ease bloating and minor stomach discomfort, and encourage an overall sense of well-being.
This is more than tea and more than foraging. It is a Palestinian tradition that connects us to our homeland. The knowledge of gathering, drying, and preparing Baboonej has been passed from one generation to the next. We never picked it just for ourselves. We gathered it for our parents, grandparents, family, and neighbours, so everyone could enjoy a warm cup of Baboonej together.

That is the spirit behind every cup of Baboonej we serve at Yafa Café a tradition from Palestine, grown with love in Manitoba and shared with our community.

Address

1785 Portage Avenue
Winnipeg, MB
R3J0E8

Opening Hours

Monday	11am - 11pm
Tuesday	11am - 11pm
Wednesday	11am - 11pm
Thursday	11am - 11pm
Friday	11am - 11pm
Saturday	11am - 11pm
Sunday	11am - 11pm

Telephone

+12042211636

Website

http://www.yafacafe.com/

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