How the Walkers created an Oasis

Head Chef of the Oasis Café Nisa Walker during the café’s anniversary celebration.
Head Chef of the Oasis Café Nisa Walker during the café’s anniversary celebration.

What initially began as having a good cup of coffee in Georgetown Guyana has led to 13 years of service for Oasis Café where patrons have been visiting for breakfast, lunch or dinner comprising all kinds of mouthwatering delights.

Head Chef Nisa Walker had left the country when she was 19, and spent some time in Europe, before migrating to the US where she lived for nine years taking care of her family and running a catering business in New York. During a visit to Guyana, her family fell in love with the country and settled here. Being coffee lovers, the Walkers had scouted Georgetown in search of it. Not just any coffee, but a simply delicious cup of piping hot, well-brewed beverage and were dismayed when they could not find any good coffee shops. They soon realized they would have get behind the situation themselves and thus Oasis Café was born.

The Oasis Café anniversary cake.

The last 13 years, Nisa shared, have been a learning experience. They tried different menus and decors to create the most suitable delights with the homiest atmosphere. It has not always been perfect, she explained, but added that such is life. “We’ve seen so many changes that we are still the same nervous wrecks we were 13 years ago. Every day is like the first day. But, we treasure the constant movement, that metamorphosis, that ebb and flow, because really what is life without those? Yet despite the constant change, there is one thing which exists about Oasis that we hold to be lasting and true and that is the sense of community and belonging one feels when one enters… We value those random conversations that turn into beautiful friendships over a slice of cake or a glass of passion fruit juice and even if those friendships are fleeting and you must leave, we love that you were here, that you touched our lives…. Thank you for your support, your critiques, your praise,” Nisa said.

The restaurant celebrated its anniversary on Wednesday last and did so with the sharing of scrumptious chocolate cake.

Oasis Café is located at 125 Carmichael Street, Cummingsburg, Georgetown and can be contacted at 226 9916.