In the heart of Canberra’s National Triangle, Heritage Café has found a home inside the revitalised West Block Building, and it’s already making its mark with fresh food, great coffee and its warm design.
With its refined interior of polished wood, soft leather tones and arched windows, Heritage blends the beauty of its historic surrounds with a fresh, modern approach to food and hospitality. The result is a café that feels firmly rooted in tradition, yet forward-looking.
“It was important to keep a lot of those heritage elements, the arches, the façade, while bringing in a modern product offering,” explains Dimitri Damianakis, co-owner of Heritage.
Fresh food, made daily
The food and drink offering is the beating heart of any café, and at Heritage, it’s the menu — built around fresh, local and seasonal ingredients — that makes it a go-to breakfast and lunch spot.
“Our focus is always on high-quality fresh produce,” says co-owner Dimitri Damianakis. “We make all our sandwiches and salads in-house every morning, and the hot dishes change daily with different international influences.”
The café’s ever-changing hot food cabinet features everything from slow-cooked curries, chicken schnitzels, hearty roasts and plenty more. These offerings change with the seasons, and the new à la carte menu will reflect the same commitment to fresh, seasonal ingredients.
“We’ll have café classics like bacon and egg rolls, eggs on toast, Eggs Benedict, as well as our own take on smashed avo with chilli oil, signature salmon bowls and gourmet burgers, including a lamb burger that’s pretty exciting,” says Dimitri.
This expanded menu will stay true to Heritage’s philosophy of fresh, seasonal produce and a flexible, modern approach to flavour. “We adapt our menu seasonally, including the à la carte options, but the biggest strength is our cabinet displays.
Along with the selection of hot meals, Heritage also offers a thoughtfully curated grab-and-go cabinet that is restocked each morning with house-made sandwiches, vibrant salads, as well as sweet and savoury pastries.
Dietary preferences are also well catered for, with a range of vegetarian, vegan and gluten-free dishes available daily, alongside their selection of house-prepared sushi.
“It’s really about providing fresh, local, and flexible options,” Dimitri says.
Great coffee, matcha and more
Of course, no café experience is complete without great coffee, and Heritage takes pride in serving OTHERSKY, an Australian-roasted coffee that is well-regarded amongst coffee drinkers.
Alongside the classic flat whites and long blacks, Heritage has developed a fun and modern matcha range, including the famous strawberry matcha and a signature passionfruit matcha topped with a scoop of gelato.
“OTHERSKY really ties in with this space,” Dimitri says. “It’s an Australian roast with earthy tones, a good fit for the character of the building.”
After launching around Easter this year, Heritage Café has already developed a loyal following with plenty of returning customers, something Dimitri is grateful for. “The feedback has been positive, and there is a great buzz and sense of excitement around both Heritage and the building being open. For many customers it’s quite nostalgic” he says.
A growing community
For the Heritage team, the project has been about more than just great food and coffee — it has been about creating a sense of place. Canberra’s National Triangle is rich with national institutions and political history and the West Block Building itself is a landmark.
“There’s a beautiful outdoor area that we’re excited to make more use of in summer,” Dimitri says. “It provides a really flexible space for our customers to dine in.”
That outdoor space, framed by the West Block’s timeless architecture, is set to become a favourite among locals and visitors alike as the weather warms up. Whether you want a quiet coffee break, a casual meeting with colleagues, or a long lunch catching up with friends, Heritage offers an experience that feels both welcoming and special.
While Heritage stands on its own merits, it does share a little DNA with Symonston café Red Baron, which is run by the same team. Red Baron has developed a strong reputation amongst locals, and Heritage draws on the same commitment to good food and coffee done well, and great service. “There are definitely some similarities that customers might recognise” Dimitri says. “But Heritage is unique to the area with its own personality.”
Heritage is a celebration of what Canberra does best: bringing together the old and the new, the classic and the contemporary. It honours the character of the West Block Building while introducing something fresh, accessible, and relevant to today’s café culture.
As Dimitri says, “We’re really proud of the fresh, locally sourced produce and variety we offer, and we look forward to welcoming new faces to the venue.”
For those yet to discover it, Heritage is open Monday to Friday, 7am to 4pm. To find the café, simply head to the West Block Building in Parkes and follow the signs. Whether it’s a quick coffee or a long lunch, Heritage offers a quiet pause in the middle of one of Canberra’s most historic precincts.
Heritage Café
West Block Building, 21 Queen Victoria Terrace, Parkes
Open Monday to Friday, 7am to 4pm
Instagram: @heritagewestblock
