The owners of one of London’s best new bakeries — Kapé and Pan — will open their third site, a coffee house and roastery in south London, this spring. Kapihan, which literally means “coffee house” in Tagalog, is due to open in Battersea Park in April or May this year at the end of June.
“This will be our interpretation of the modern day Kapihan,” owners David and Nigel Motley told Eater this lunchtime. “Traditionally these were little shacks where the neighbourhood would buy freshly roasted beans and at the same time converse and recharge over kapé [coffee].”
The drink most closely associated with those houses, according to the Motleys, is “brewed black only and sweetened with a dark muscovado-like sugar called kalamay.” They will serve their own version in addition to a range of “more contemporary espresso based drinks.”
Style-wise, the duo hope to keep the details “beautifully simple, reminiscent of a bahay kubo (wooden house).” All furniture and the counter top has been crafted by Fred Dobson of Tatara Workshop from a single Ash tree, according to a specialised Japanese technique, which uses a kanna (or plane). (Dobson designed the counter at Popham’s in Islington.)
Among the bakes, there will be the brand’s famed croissants — including kimchi; chocolate; and plain — plus pan de sal, cassava cake and “more traditional Filipino classics” designed to be paired with rotating single origin coffee. Those will feature varieties from across the Philippines, alongside a rare species of coffee called Liberica.
“We also support award-winning Malagos chocolate from the southern Philippines and use this in our signature hot chocolate and bakes,” they added.
The site’s coffee roaster, displayed at the back of the shop, will be used to supply the company’s emerging wholesale customer base, which includes Thai restaurant, Greyhound Cafe in Fitzrovia, as well as its other two branches — in Central Saint Giles and the concession at SOAS University.
Kapihan is due to open either at the end of April or in early May, a short distance from Battersea Park itself, next door to the new Royal College of Art campus.