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Shoppers exhausted after a festive spending spree can relax and rejuvenate with tasty treats and refreshments at the Ashrafs Coffee Shop in Hoora.
Situated on the first floor of the showroom overlooking the bustling Old Palace Road, the cafŽ is a popular haunt for shoppers, businessmen and women enjoying a lunch break, as well as passers-by.
The cafŽ offers a selection of tasty sandwiches, quiches, salads, muffins, cakes as well as an array of hot and cold beverages.
Managing the station for the past eight years, since its inception, is Alma C Aleta, 43. The smiling hostess has a reputation for being the coffee queen of Manama. Her cappuccino is legendary with regular customers. "I tell them I have a magic touch!" she said.
Alma has also contributed to the menu with her own culinary creations. She said: "We have a salad dressing which is particularly popular. It is a healthy recipe which I call my 'secret dressing'."
Alma moved to the island from her home in the Philippines in 1982 as a teenager to take up a hotel job to help support her family. She travelled with a group of job-seekers heading for the Gulf region. She said: "At the time I wasn't aware we would be coming to Bahrain so I did not know much about the kingdom.
"There were only four big hotels here at the time - the Sheraton, Regency, Golden Tulip (formerly Hilton) and Gulf Hotel and I was delighted to find a waitressing position."
At the Intercontinental Regency she worked in the pastry shop and gained experience in a coffee shop environment.
She said: "I really enjoy working in a cafŽ and hope to open one of my own in the Philippines some day."
Alma, who lives in Ras Ruman, has a 21-year-old son, Theodore, who works as a salesman at the Ashrafs store in Bahrain Mall.
The coffee shop is open daily from 9am to 9pm and offers free wi-fi for customers and visitors making a purchase of BD1.5 at the cafŽ.
