Happy days at Hapi Daze
Semaphore’s Hapi Daze cafe is serving up a “contemporary Australian brunch” and fresh produce.
When Hapi Daze opened on Semaphore Road the week before Christmas, co-owner Davide Cavuoto wanted the space to show “old school, breezy, laid-back hospitality”.
“Just something a little bit different to, I guess, what has predominantly been popping up,” he says.
“When we opened, we just wanted it to be a fun and a real focus on keeping people happy who come in.
“We’re making sure that the cappuccinos were nice and frothy, the food was fresh…and people were leaving with a smile on their face.”
Hapi Daze offers “contemporary Australian brunch” with a mix of breakfast staples and alternate additions.
“We’ve got a whole bunch of different things: we’ve got a chicken fajita bowl – which is a bit of a Mexican influence,” Davide says.
“Then we’ve got stuff like your smash avo or avocado and poached eggs on sourdough, which is a staple of any Millennials diet.
You might like
“We’ve got a chicken katsu roll – which is a bit of a Japanese influence – which has been really, really popular.”
The chicken katsu sandwich
Davide says Hapi Daze has a strong focus on fresh ingredients and that “everything’s prepared when you order it”.
“We use Joe Scarfo from Adams Apple at West Lakes, so that’s nice and local for all our fresh produce which is great,” he says.
“Literally, [we can] drop him a message as soon as we’re low on something, and he’s here within the hour – that’s always good when you’ve got people like that.
“Having working relationships like that, just complements a fresh, seasonal menu, so, so nicely. [Co-owner] Jason [Russo] is pretty big on that as well, which is really nice.”
The clean and crisp interior is highlighted by plants, cacti and artwork by Davide.
“Aside from the records – obviously didn’t do those,” Davide laughs.
Subscribe for updates
“I would have loved to have done work for The Strokes and the Arctic Monkeys, but I don’t think they can afford me.”
Davide says he doesn’t really lean into a style when producing something.
“I guess it’s a snapshot of whether it’s an album I’m listening to at that time, or whether I’ve been somewhere or a season or something I’ve seen,” he says.
“It’s just a combination of influences, I guess, that can impact what I’m creating at that point in time.”
Davide Cavuoto
Davide says he “wasn’t expecting as much community support from the get-go” when opening Hapi Daze.
“We did very little social media stuff – only spoke with you to begin with late last year – and that was it and then from that, it was just an Instagram post and a post on my personal Facebook, which goes out to my mom and her four friends so that’s about it, really,” Davide laughs.
“From that, that first day was pretty crazy. We were pretty busy from as soon as we opened, which was great. It was, like, a lot of friends and family, but it was also a lot of locals who had seen the shop progress from when we started doing it up.”
He also says people “have that loyalty to the [Semaphore] area”.
“As a business owner, you always feel that pressure for social media and to always be present and posting on there to meet whatever algorithm that Meta’s got now, or whatever goal posts you have to shoot towards,” he says.
“It’s not really a focus for us. My aim is to post once or once or twice a week, but the main focus for us is just word of mouth, and that’s what we’re getting a lot down here.
“People in Semaphore, Port Adelaide area, Exeter [are] they’re really loyal to their shops around here – not just with us but any of the shops.”
Hapi Daze is located at 170 Semaphore Road, Exeter and is open from Monday to Saturday from 6.30am until 3pm and Sunday from 8am until 3pm.
Connect with the business on Instagram for more.