West End to welcome Cafe Disco – a new eatery and wine bar with a DIY ethos
West End’s evolution into one of Brisbane’s most exciting neighbourhoods to dine will continue next month with the opening of Cafe Disco. This Hardgrave Road haunt will serve a tight menu of eats inspired by Bangladeshi cuisine alongside killer caffeine from Passport Specialty Coffee and a selection of wines from unheralded small producers. Here’s what we know …
“Hospitality is as punk rock as it gets,” says Tasfeen Hassan.
We’re sitting out behind the building that will soon be home to Tasfeen’s new West End wine bar and eatery, Cafe Disco. Tasfeen’s journey to hospitality is fuelled by a deep-seated passion for the culinary craft and an affinity for the community-centric spirit inherent in the industry’s grassroots aspects. “It’s a DIY scene,” Tasfeen tells me. “You get back what you put into it.”
Tasfeen knows a lot about DIY endeavours. Years ago, he was arranging sneaker swap meets in Brisbane Square, a pastime that eventually led to Tasfeen co-founding contemporary fashion boutique Contra and its coffee-slinging offshoot, Cafe Contra. After the shop closed in April 2023, Tasfeen’s thoughts turned towards opening a hospitality concept of his own – one underpinned by the same spirit of personal expression that anchored Contra, as well as Tasfeen’s own penchant for entertaining.
“The idea got cemented from doing house parties,” Tasfeen tells us. “I was hosting 30 to 40 people in my two-bedroom apartment every other weekend, cooking by myself. It took me a week to prep everything, but it was what I enjoyed, making something from nothing.”
In mid-to-late October, Tasfeen will parlay his passion for cooking into Cafe Disco, which is currently taking shape on Hardgrave Road in the space previously home to Yoke Kitchen and Luigi’s Italian. Working with Sam Stewart and Dugald Moncrieff from public art and fabrication crew Parts Department, Tasfeen is looking to evoke the comfort and familiarity of his dream living room with Cafe Disco’s interior aesthetic, which he says will be cosy and plush. Seating for approximately 40 guests will be spread between the inside and footpath dining, while long-term plans are in the works to activate the site’s back garden.
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As for Cafe Disco’s offering, Tasfeen tells us that it will be a mix of his own tastes and travels across Australia and abroad, citing Hobart wine bar Sonny as an inspirational benchmark – the kind of venue that does hospitality well.
“Cafe Disco is really a distillation of ideas,” says Tasfeen. “It’s a combination of dining out and making mental notes of what I’ve enjoyed over the past decade.”
The venue will launch with daytime trade, with a nighttime component commencing once the venue has found its footing. In addition to the influence imparted by Tasfeen’s globetrotting, Cafe Disco’s menu will also be shaped by his Bangladeshi background, tapping into the rich culinary diversity of the country, which Tasfeen says defies neat categorisation.
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“It’s hard to describe, because Bangladesh is in between India and Burma,” explains Tasfeen. “We’re a Muslim country, but we also have that Indian influence and we also have a Persian influence. It’s going to be a very personal menu that’s going to be informed by family recipes – passed down from my mother and grandmother, who are both phenomenal cooks – and my own experiences of eating around the world.”
Cafe Disco’s seasonally evolving offering will be concise, but made with care and intent. Tasfeen will be making as much of the fare in house as possible, with a focus on fresh breads (a homemade pita, cooked in a flame oven, will be a specialty), pickles, preserves and jams. The menu will also include hallmark ingredients of Bengali cooking like mustard oil and varieties of sweet water fish – both fresh and dried forms. “We’re going to do a a daily plate that’ll change depending on what we can get from the market,” Tasfeen elaborates. “There will also be a rotation of baked goods, such as my take on a lamb murtabak, which is my ultimate version of a sausage roll.”
Coffee will be supplied by Northgate-based Passport Specialty Coffee, with a seasonal blend expected to be available alongside a program of black and pour-over coffee, and cold-brew sips. Cafe Disco will also be serving booze from day dot. Wine will be a big focus – Tasfeen tells us that the venue’s list will largely be comprised of vino sourced from small producers.
“I’ve been meeting wine producers and those people inspire me so much – they put so much work in on their end of it and I just really wanted a platform to showcase all of these people in the right context,” says Tasfeen. “We’ll hopefully be working with a lot of interesting producers that aren’t available in your local bottle shop.”
On the cocktail front, Tasfeen reveals that Cafe Disco will favour batched concoctions, drawing influence from the Asian subcontinent and employing fermentation techniques to create thirst-quenching fruit-laden drinks that will combat the summer heat. As for vibes, Tasfeen will be playing an assortment of disco records accumulated on his travels – think music by artists from Pakistan, Indonesia, India, Malaysia, which will form the bulk of the venue’s playlist.
Though not short on ideas and aspirations for Cafe Disco’s long-term future, Tasfeen is content to keep things simple to start. “We are hoping to be a just a solid neighbourhood wine bar and a cafe,” says Tasfeen. “We won’t do everything, but whatever we do, we’ll put the most into it. We will be a small team giving you all of our attention.”
Cafe Disco is set to open in October – we’ll be an up-close look at the offering when it launches.