If you’ve watched Midnight Diner on Netflix, chances are you have also longed for your own nocturnal cafe to curl up in with some good food, in a space that is both cosy and liminal.

In Canberra, that space is easy to find. Simply ask the nearest hospo worker, emergency services operator, or insomniac, and they will point you towards Kita Café in Narrabundah.

The constants of the café include mismatched flooring reminiscent of Indonesian Warung, eclectic décor that shouldn’t go together, but just does, a TV that plays Studio Ghibli movies through the night, and 23-year-old Zachary Young.

Zac has been nocturnal for four years now since taking over the café at age 18.

“My dad and I started the renovations ourselves and we opened the doors two months later on 31 October 2018.”

There are a handful of Canberra staples that stay open past midnight. However, since the closure of Pancake Parlour in Civic, Kita is the only dine-in experience open from 6pm to 6am.

The owlish hours aren’t for everyone, something Zac has to be completely transparent about when interviewing new staff.

The late evening and early morning crew conduct a handover halfway through the night. Only he stays from 6pm to 6am.   

“If we were in the city centre, I would probably have an extra set of hands or two,” said Zac. “But out here in Narrabundah, even though we’ve been established for four years, some nights I only get a couple of tables.”

He laughed in surprise when asked if it ever gets lonely.

“No one has ever asked me that before. It definitely does. Being the age that I am, in the industry I’m in, it can get quite lonely in the sense that I’m always here.”

In the last four years, he says can count on one hand the nights he’s had off.

“Last August, me and my girlfriend went to Cebu in the Philippines, where she’s from. I had a week off and it was the first time I’ve ever had off since we opened.

“I don’t get to have a more traditional life as a 23-year-old, or even an 18-year-old back when we opened … To be honest, I would not prefer to be anywhere else.”

People ask Zac all the time what keeps him motivated to stick with the nocturnal lifestyle that Kita brings. Much of it comes back to the reason the café was created. 

“My dad’s a shift worker, and he always has been. For most of my life he’s been in the protective services.”

Throughout his career, Zac’s father noticed the countless workers that were limited to McDonald’s or service station food after coming off the night shift. It was a market that had been forgotten about for so long that no one other than Zac’s parents believed that Kita would be a success.

“Industries that I had never even heard of until I started working the same hours as them. It’s like this whole other world,” says Zac.

“AFP, emergency services, people who work the overnight shifts in disaster centres. Night workers from Fyshwick. Writers. Students.

“During exam periods, we can have a whole sea of just uni students with their laptops, studying all through the night. I can have 80 per cent of the restaurant full at 10pm, and it’s completely silent,” he smiles.

For Canberra’s hospo workers in particular, Kita has become a common ground. Zac says he can tell what line of hospitality a customer is in from the time they walk through the door.

“Restaurant workers come in anywhere between 10pm to midnight. Bar staff come in between midnight to 2am. And then we have club staff coming in anywhere between 3am and 5am.”

At 5am the kitchens close, as does Zac’s favourite part of the night.

“2am to 5am is just an open door to anyone who wants to come through. You get the occasional person that’s just up in the middle of the night or had a big one at the casino.

“I get messages from people in the morning after they’ve come in at 3am saying they’ve woken up better for it, because they actually had some decent food before bed,” says Zac.

“And a bunch of water, since we don’t sell alcohol.”

Much like the Chef character of Midnight Diner, the conversations held in the wee hours, and serving hearty food to diners who are often forgotten about outside the café’s doors, is what keeps Zac going.

Canberra Daily would love to hear from you about a story idea in the Canberra and surrounding region. Click here to submit a news tip.