Yas Cafe

Yas Cafe is a heritage coffeehouse on Mutanabbi Street, part of the dense cluster of small, mostly century-old cafes that line Baghdad's literary heart. Like its neighbours — Shabandar, Umm Kulthum, Al Zahawi — it follows the classic Baghdadi formula: low wooden benches, a samovar steaming with sweet black tea, walls hung with framed black-and-white photographs of Iraqi poets and politicians, and a steady rhythm of dominoes being slammed onto tables. It is at its best on a Friday morning, when the booksellers spread their wares onto the pavement outside and the cafe fills with browsers taking a pause from the open-air book market.