December 2019
May 2020
Upon arriving in Duhok I was happy to find that my new digs were close to the Rixos Hotel which had decent coffee in its bar/coffee shop overlooking the city. [see: Friday morning coffee] However, the Rixos was a five-star hotel with prices to match and I longed for a real coffee shop. Luckily, the librarian at American University of Kurdistan, told me of a place called "Buon Gusto" that was in reasonable walking distance of my room. Not only that, it was near a city landmark, the zoo, so when I had to take a taxi, it was easy to direct the driver. On my first visit, the cafe was rather empty, and I must say I was underwhelmed. Not because of the coffee or the service, but just because it was located in the equivalent of a strip mall, with floor to ceiling windows that overlooked a parking lot and a busy street. They tried hard to make the boxy, boring interior look nice (with some exposed brick and interesting tables and chairs), but in the end, it never felt cozy. My beer brewing friend Matt H. said, "this place would make a much better bar". I tended to agree. Decor aside, it was NOT the Rixos and the prices were far lower. I started to go frequently. It also allowed me to have a worthwhile (but noisy) walk since it was located a good 40 minutes from my home.
I only ever went in the afternoons which was apparently their dead time. I became used to having the place entirely to myself. Occasionally, I would run into students there, but that wasn't the norm (thank God). I met colleagues on occasion, too, and we usually greeted and returned to our our respective seats to continue with our lives. I will credit expats in the Middle East with one thing, almost everyone respected everyone else's privacy and there was not a huge amount of pressure to socialize after work.
I got to know the baristas/servers. They were very sweet, young Kurdish guys who were eager to please. For a time, they were serving killer chocolate cake with peanut butter icing (in Duhok??) which was imported from Turkey. Since we lived just a short distance from the border, there were some obvious advantages in getting baked goods "fresh". Most of the time I chatted with friends online or caught up on my classwork. Some days if I stayed late enough, I would either take a taxi or walk down the highway to Efes Beer Cafe and continue drinking my "other" favorite beverage in town.
My love affair soured with Buon Gusto during the pandemic.
Once things started to open again in Iraq it was already summer. My hotel was officially "closed" except for me and another American guy who lived there "illegally". That meant the owner was not going to use the generator, so when the electricity went off - no fan and no AC. It was absolutely brutal at 40C, and hellish when it was higher. My place became an oven. I literally was not sleeping. I went to Buon Gusto (which had recently reopened) and sat down on a comfy chair in its crisp AC and promptly slept. I do agree that they did not want customers coming there to sleep, but they knew me and I was literally the only person in the shop. After I woke up (maybe 20 minutes later) and went to pay, the manager roundly scolded me for what had happened and hoped I would never do it again.
I was furious because no one else was there, I was a regular, and worst of all - I had endured the boorish behavior of uneducated Kurds in that shop over the two years I lived in Duhok without complaint. I came to the shop and quietly dozed off in a corner and they were angry with me. Some old Kurdish guy could come in, shout into his mobile phone, blow smoke in everyone's faces (the cafe was no smoking), and be genuinely indecorous in behavior and NOTHING was ever said.
I apologized and asked them why they did not come over and wake me? I was so disappointed in their reaction, but that was it for me. No more Buon Gusto. I left a couple of months after my last visit. I have to say it never was my favorite coffee shop in town, but I still have some good memories from the place. I feel sad it ended on such bad terms.