Showing Soon at BAMPFA: Avocado Iced Coffee and Art-Inspired Cakes

When Nora Haron visited the vacant cafe space at the Berkeley Art Museum and Pacific Film Archive earlier this summer, the museum had just put up a beautiful exhibition of African American quilts. Her chef brain was immediately inspired by the colorful patterns: What if she baked a Swiss roll that emulated one of the designs? What if she turned one of the quilts into a cookie?

It was a no-brainer, then, for Haron to put in a bid to take over BAMPFA’s upstairs cafe, which has sat empty since its former tenant, Babette, moved out at the end of 2021. And as it turns out, the Berkeley museum was just as enthusiastic about her vision.

In a couple of months, Haron will reopen the BAMPFA cafe as a new incarnation of her Indonesian-inspired coffee shop, Kopi Bar & Bakery. The idea, she says, is to bring a slice of Indonesian and Singaporean cafe culture to Berkeley. Think kaya toast; pastries made with pandan, coconut and palm sugar; and, perhaps Haron’s most famous creation, the iced coffee drink known as the Kopi Avocado.

All in all, Haron hopes the cafe will establish itself as an “extended visit for museumgoers” — in other words, that no trip to BAMPFA will feel complete without a stop at Kopi Bar. And yes, part of that will include creating a special art-themed cake or pastry to complement every big new exhibition that opens at the museum.

In many ways, the project is a dream come true for Haron. “I always wanted to go to Berkeley,” she says.

For East Bay food lovers, Haron’s comeback is big news in and of itself. Back in March, the chef made the difficult decision to close SanDai, her two-year-old Indonesian-Singaporean restaurant in downtown Walnut Creek, and the original Kopi Bar coffee shop that shared the space. Reached by phone, Haron explained that business had been terribly slow for well over a year — much too slow to justify the nearly $29,000 rent. At first she’d hoped that another restaurant would move into the space, allowing her to continue running Kopi Bar next door. But she never wound up finding the right collaborator.

SanDai was a rare East Bay destination for Indonesian food — elegant, umami-packed versions of classics like beef rendang and seafood mee goreng. For the museum cafe, the savory side of the menu will be greatly simplified, consisting mostly of soups, sandwiches and congee.

The rotating selection of fusion pastries and creative coffee drinks, on the other hand, will be similar to what she served at the original Kopi Bar, where the Kopi Avocado — a cool, creamy blend of espresso, avocado and coconut condensed milk — was a particular standout. The cafe will also be one of the only places in the East Bay where diners can get the classic Singaporean breakfast of buttered toast slathered with coconut jam. (As a nod to the Bay Area, Kopi Bar’s kaya toast will feature sourdough bread made with a starter Haron has been feeding for 10 years.)

And Haron also plans to continue to hold special events at the cafe, like the occasional Indonesian-Singaporean high tea series that she used to host in Walnut Creek.

Haron says she expects the renovation process to be fairly quick. One of the only big changes that she’s excited to make is hanging up the collection of Balinese carvings that she used to display at the old restaurant. If all goes well, she hopes to open no later than October.

To start out, Kopi Bar & Bakery will be open Wednesday through Sunday 11 a.m.–3 p.m. (and from 9–11 a.m. for UC Berkeley students and staff only) on the second floor at the Berkeley Art Museum and Pacific Film Archive (2155 Center St., Berkeley).