Does this new Gungahlin café have the best sandwiches on the northside? 

Posted on 12 September, 2024

Let me start this by saying, I love sandwiches.

It’s hard to beat fresh, quality bread, with classic fillings that always hit the spot when you’re hankering for lunch. 

For a couple of years now I’d wandered around the shores of my local walking path, Yerrabi Pond, thinking how lovely it would be if a cafe were to open its doors, providing somewhere for me, and my fellow northsiders to go on a weekend. 

Cue Caffé al Lago, serving Italian sandwiches on freshly baked schiacciata and focaccia panini bread. 

Open for a month now, Caffé al Lago is the brainchild of Dragan Bektesh, and his wife Natalija. I visited them on a bustling Sunday afternoon, talking to Dragan over the counter as he made sandwiches for his customers. After their European honeymoon a couple of years ago, sampling fresh sandwiches across Italy, Dragan decided it was time to bring the same quality to Canberra. 

 

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“Every time we stopped at a petrol station, we ate fresh, light sandwiches, and we don’t have anything like that here in Canberra.” he says.  

“We bake our own bread, and make sure all our ingredients are very fresh. I’m very passionate about food, I’ve been a baker for 15 years. The bread is our point of difference. Usually when you get a toastie, the bread is store bought and it’s from the day before or the night before. It’s not fresh like our bread.” 

Dragan’s colleague and friend Nikola took me behind the counter to show me how the Schiacciata bread and Focaccia Panini are baked to order. The dough is prepared 72 hours in advance, and stored beside their oven. As an order is made, the dough is flattened and placed into the conveyor belt to bake. Once it’s through, Nikola uses a mixture of olive oil, herbs, and salt and pepper to season the bread. The smell is divine and it’s a routine curated by Dragan himself, as a third generation baker in his family. Dragan also owns Bektesh Burek Bakery, the makers of over 15 types of traditional Burek flavours sold to 36 supermarkets throughout Canberra. 

The small café is filled with families, friends, and couples who’ve walked in off the street. As I wait for my order to be made, one lady returns to the counter to ask for a paper bag. The sandwiches are so big she’d struggled to eat one on her own. Quality and quantity wrapped up in Caffé al Lago branded baking paper. 

The beauty of Dragan’s sandwiches is they are big enough to share, and full of fresh ingredients. Even the meats are sliced as the orders come through. Dragan says the most popular sandwich on the menu is the La Speciale, with prosciutto, fresh mozzarella, tomatoes, basil and balsamic vinegar. It’s so delicious, Dragan’s wife Natalija says it already has a cult following. 

If sandwiches aren’t your thing, they have macarons, gluten-free chocolate brownies, caramel walnut tarts, lemon tarts, carrot cake, and Ferrero Rocher cake. You can have a sweet treat of your choice with a cup of ONA coffee. 

One day Dragan plans on turning his cafe into a part-time wine and cheese bar, serving vino on the shores of Yerrabi Pond as the sun sets on a summer day. He’d also like to host a Fun Run, or some kind of event to involve the community, where runners can finish and treat themselves to a fresh sandwich and an espresso. 

He’s full of ideas for expanding, and with a unit above the café , it’s very easy to pop downstairs and spend extra time on a recipe. 

But for now, make a date with Caffé al Lago. The sandwiches are the best thing since sliced bread.

Correction: the article previously incorrected identified Natalija as Natalie. We apologise for this error.