Kusuka Cafe is a Warung Kopi (coffee) House. Kusuka translates from Indonesian to ‘I Love’, and we do love Kusuka cafe. So much so, we will certainly return again for more. This quaint trendy Indonesian inspired cafe is hidden down a laneway in Haymarket. Despite the conspicuous location, it is a busy little cafe. Kusuka is open for breakfast lunch and dinner, serving extremely Instagrammable Indonesian food and drinks. 

Having seen a number of impressive pictures on Instagram we were excited to receive an invite from Zomato to visit Kusuka. Visiting on a Monday night we found our way using Google maps. We were greeted by the friendly owners Liz and Mario. 

Provided with not one but two menus, there was a really good amount of choice. The impessive beverage and dessert menu is our instant focus. With a range of Kopi (coffee), different types of colourful lattes, smoothies, dessert shakes, juice, teas and some colour changing drinks. The disco princess is first on our hit list. This refreshing lemonade is not your standard lemonade, this drink has more colour changes than the Opera house during Vivid lighting festival. Presented nicely, it starts out a Lavender purple, with a bit of sorcery add some mystery liquid, it then becomes pink in colour, pour in a different serum and it finishes morphing, ready to drink and orange in colour. We also earmark the interesting avo/coffee/chocolate drink, the hypovocado which we enjoyed after our meal.

The Genesis is another cool drink offering, an impressive berry elixir. Pour in some of their magic potion give it a stir and you will be holding a drink that looks like a glittering galaxy. 

The fact that Kusuka opens all day, means it has a range of food available and it is great if you are after a cheap eat. The savoury beef and cheese pancake called the Ultimate Martabak, an Indonesian style fried crisp pancake was full of flavour, the chili taichan providing a punch of spice.

Staple of Indo cuisine are the mie goreng and the nasi goreng(fried noodles and fried rice) with ketsup manis (sweet soy sauce) as the main flavour component. Kasuka offers a variety of these staples served in a bowl. The Super Bowl a must if you enjoy mie goreng and meat. A double dose of noodles topped with an array of mouthwatering meat including pork belly, corned beef and sausage, for additional flavour there is the chili matah. Another tasty street food option is the double chicken rice bowl topped with their fried chicken and satay chicken skewers. This dish had us clucking for more. 

Having saved room for dessert, you know the hypovocado was happening. Usually associating avocado as a millennial favourite of smashed and served on top of toast, this drink has opened our eyes to the unknown diversity of the humble avo. This was a standout with this bizarre sweet combination of flavour strangely working very well. We also tried the pink latte, which was a refreshing watermelon and rose water flavour. They also do red velvet and matcha.

Another great sweet option for dessert is the ropang delight, a thick Indonesian sweet toast smothered in nutella and topped with toasted marshmallows, an Indo style smores. This was outstanding! 

A great little Indo Warung Kopi, with a playful menu. A fun cafe to visit, with reasonably priced Indonesian street food and some cool beverages. Thanks to Mario, Liz and their staff for their hospitality. We enjoyed chatting to Mario and the service provided was impeccable. We really enjoyed our visit and will return.