Oula Café
A Tunisian house of harvests.
Opening times:
Wednesday - Sunday
10am - 6pm
A pantry written in
spice, soil, and story.
Nestled inside Ibraaz, Oula is both refuge and resonance. A place where food is an heirloom, art an accompaniment, and the quiet murmur of gathering, a cadence of home.
Rooted in matriarchal foodways and slow rituals, our pantry is a living archive. Apices, sundried peppers, and mountain herbs from Cap Bon; Deglet Noor dates from Tozeur; olive oil pressed in Mahdia from groves that have endured for centuries. Closer to home, flours from regenerative UK farmers and vegetables from small, ethical growers are woven into cooking that is intuitive, personal, and liberated from the boxes of ‘authentic’ or ‘modern’.
The menu draws from seasonal rhythms and recipes shaped by the Oula harvest: the annual gathering of grains, fruit, aromatics, and meats that sustains households, marks time, and brings communities together. Here, food speaks of family, migration, and memory: a culinary ledger passed from hand to hand, plate to plate.
Food is lineage. I am part of its thread.
Icons of the Oula Table
Brik
Crisp malsouka pastry that shatters to reveal a free-range runny yolk, balanced with capers, turmeric potato, pecorino, and herbs. A dish of delicate textures and bold flavour, served with understated elegance.
Drô Gourmand (Gf, Vegan-friendly)
A velvety porridge of sorghum, one of Africa’s oldest and most resilient crops. This nourishing dish is enriched with chamya, roasted pumpkin seeds, coconut chips, pomegranate, and Nabeul orange blossom.
Heritage Bsissa (V, Vegan)
An ancient blend crafted with Deglet Noor dates from Tozeur, olive oil, roasted almonds, sesame, linseed, and halva. Once the elders’ secret of longevity, now a quiet luxury.
Oula is my way of honouring the matriarchs who fed me, taught me, and shaped how I see the world. A way to bring Tunisia, with its rituals, scents, and stubborn beauty, to the table.
I believe food is memory, and even the simplest ingredient carries history. Hospitality, when done right, can be radical.
Boutheina Ben Salem Cook, Food Curator, and Founder of Oula
Food is lineage. I am part of its thread.
Where taste becomes touch.
To step into Oula is to enter a dialogue between coast and desert, Maghreb and diaspora, art and appetite. It is a space to meet, reflect, and feel: the table at the heart of a cultural salon that champions the resilience of memory itself.
Beyond the table, the cafe extends into a boutique of objects chosen with the same care as its ingredients. Textiles woven in traditional ateliers. Sejnane pottery shaped as it has been for millennia. Hand-crafted writing paper for those who savour words as they savour food.
