Raju & Saadi

Raju & Saadi are brothers who grew up in Bow and have recently opened a café on Straudley Walk (1 min from Church). They love this community and want to see it thrive. We sat down with them and asked them some questions.

How long have you lived in Bow?

We were born in Bow, and our family is in Bow. We have a very community focused family. We have been involved in the community all of our life. Our mum was instrumental in joining the communities in Bow together, so we were always meeting new people and had very mixed friend circles.

Why open a Cafe?

The whole concept of Posted is for people to come and post-up. We wanted to open a place where people could meet and gather around good, healthy food. Food is a big part of our community and growing up we would gather with our friends and post up at chicken shops. We want to give people in this community more options and to inject life by adding more spaces for the community and young people to gather. 

Posted is curated beautifully and the food is amazing - what are your creative backgrounds?

Saadi-

I studied 3D design and love street food, so I started doing the branding for a hummus company and then did the branding for other big companies that had street food roots. But I wanted to work more with food curation because I love plating and designing food, so I joined the team at Café East on Roman Road and did the plating curation there.

Raju

I studied graphic design and did all the branding for Posted. We wanted it to look great and also keep the feel of being in Bow. I incorporated the feel of London but because Bow birthed a lot of the grime scene I made sure that it kept that feel, with the graffiti. We have a print studio space out the back where we print my designs onto t-shirts and other things. We want this to be a cultural hub where there are lots of different creative things going on. Whether that be music, printing or food.

What does this community mean to you?

It’s family. If you need food you’re going to be fed. If you need clothes someone will give you the shirt off their back. People don’t always have a lot but they give a lot. We want to give back to this community by providing them a space to post up and just be.

What’s your favourite order at Posted?

Saadi

The chicken caesar is our best seller and it’s definitely my favourite to make. Although, I really enjoy eating the cheese toastie.

And for a drink, our fresh squeezed apple + ginger juice is my favourite.