HERCANBERRA.COM.AU
THE TASTE of memory W O R D S
EMMA MACDONALD
CAPHS STANDS PROUD, if a little tired, on Franklin Street in Manuka. It is, after all, Canberra’s oldest continuously operating eatery.
under the high and ornate ceilings, proudly watching his two sons learning how to operate the business. His eldest, Theodore, is part of a new generation of born-andbred Canberrans with an entrepreneurial bent and a hankering to be part of what is now a nationally lauded restaurant renaissance. Theo is planning a big make-over for the venerable old café —with Manuka on the cusp of some large, new developments. He wants to make it great again.
Constructed in 1926 by the Notaras family, it was opened as the Liberty Café. By virtue of the fact nothing else had been built in the fledgling national capital, it was the place for socialising for those who had been unceremoniously uprooted from Sydney and Melbourne and dumped in what was little more than a sheep paddock with great expectations. It survived the swinging sixties and seventies as Mogambo’s—a romantic night-out destination for baby boomers and a constant influx of newcomers bolstering Canberra’s public service ranks. In 1973, after various changes in ownership, John Stefano and Partners named the restaurant Caphs, representing the initials of each of the business partner’s first names; Chris, Anthony, Philip, Helen and Steve. In 1990 it reverted to Notaras family ownership and is now run by Manuel (Manny) Notaras. Still serving the honest Greek Australian fare of its past, Manny sits in a front table of Caphs PAGE 104
In many ways Caphs symbolises Canberra’s restaurant history. Born of necessity, buoyed by bureaucracy and now being made-over to compete with a new generation of hip and happening eateries. It’s a saturated marketplace as Canberra has historically boasted more places to eat out per head of population than any other Australian city.
Caphs opening in 1983 and formerly known as Mogambo.
"I N M A N Y WAYS CAPHS SYMBOLISES C A N BE R R A’ S RESTAUR ANT H I ST ORY."
Of course, Manuka is no longer the hotspot it was up until the 1990s— when La Grange pulled a steady stream of revellers from across the city until the early hours, and the Ottoman had queues lining up around the corner.
