Café De Wan Credit: Matt Keller Lehman

The most noticeable aspect about Café De Wan, a new Turkish restaurant in the very unnoticeable Summit Plaza strip mall in Casselberry, is that the scent of seared meats is all but absent. In fact, kebabs, or kebaps, that most Turkish of eats, are nonexistent on the menu. The reason? There’s no hood in the kitchen. So owner Habibe Sungun and her sister Esra work with what they’ve got, baking borek and pide, plating soups and dips and, for early risers, serving Turkish breakfasts.

The pair had planned to take over the Aladdin’s Café space just a few doors down after owners Hassan Hafza and his wife, Samia, retired last week. The idea was to open a Turkish kebaberia there and retain Café De Wan as a breakfast and lunch spot. But the folks who run Flafel Spot inside the Marathon gas station in Casselberry beat them to the punch. So, while a grill space is being secured, the pair do their best to keep the supper set satiated. 

During Ramadan, a special iftar menu was served, starting with a serving of soup. The chicken soup ($4.50) had enough soul that I paused my spoon mid-air to inhale the heady scent of roasted chicken.

“I need to put this soup on the list for when I’m sick,” said the pal after wolfing down the liquid gold.

Even as he was saying it, I’d sunk my teeth into a meat-and cheese-filled borek ($6), fragmenting shreds of flaky phyllo all over myself.

“You should try this in the morning after it’s freshly baked,” said Esra, and I made a mental note to do just that. 

But there was a meze plate ($20) to consider first — ezme reddened with spices and pomegranate molasses, smoky baba ghanoush, hummus (that veered thick rather than creamy) and herbaceous haydari that we scooped with warmed triangles of pita. Pretty standard stuff, as were the pide baked in a double-deck countertop pizza oven.

The crust was a bit doughy in both veg ($12) and sucuk ($14) varieties, but the punchy flavors of the sausage in the latter made my tongue sit up straight. I just wish there’d been more of the spiced Turkish tube steak on that boat-shaped pie.

Café De Wan Credit: Matt Keller Lehman

The lahmacun ($8), on the other hand, its crackly, wafer-thin base covered with spiced ground beef, was everything we hoped the flatbread would be. A squeeze of lemon served to amplify the flavors of each exquisite bite. 

There are drinks, like a “special juice” ($4) made from apricot, citrus and ginger, and a “crimson bloom” ($4) with notes of clove, hibiscus and a cranberry tang, but a pot of tea is complimentary, and we stuck with that as our quaff of choice.

A pot also comes with the Turkish-style breakfast ($25), which at Café De Wan is served in spurts, not all at once. In fact, the restaurant’s name is in reference to Turkey’s Wan, or Van, province, where breakfasts are legendary.

If you’re the sort to let the camera eat first, patience will be key for that bird’s-eye shot of the byzantine assemblage of nuts, fruits, vegetables, jams, dips, spreads, cheeses and eggy dishes spread across the table. My favorites: menemen (eggs scrambled with tomatoes and peppers) and kaymak (clotted cream) set in honey and tahini mixed with grape molasses. Small quibble: The menu said three varieties of cheese were included, but only provolone and feta were served.

On this particular morning, borek was being baked fresh in their oven, so I stuck around the charming dining room and waited for them to be done, and I’m glad I did. Just one flaky bite left me Wan-ing more.

Café De Wan: 1015 FL-436, Casselberry, 651-802-2835, instagram.com/cafedewan_

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This article appears in March 11-17, 2026.

Orlando restaurant critic. Orlando Weekly restaurant critic since 2006.