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03/24/2025 | News release | Distributed by Public on 03/24/2025 18:26

My Own Boston: Raheeq Ibrahim

My Own Boston: Raheeq Ibrahim

BU computer science major introduces us to some of her favorite local cafés

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My Own Boston: Raheeq Ibrahim

BU computer science major introduces us to some of her favorite local cafés

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My Own Boston: Raheeq Ibrahim

March 24, 2025
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As a senior studying computer science, Raheeq Ibrahim spends most of her days in the Duan Family Center for Computing & Data Sciences, racing from class to class, interning at the Hariri Institute for Computing and Computational Science & Engineering's Software & Application Innovation Lab (SAIL), and pursuing additional coursework through the Duan Family Spark Initiative, CDS's innovation and experiential learning lab. And in her spare time she serves as president of BU's chapter of the National Society of Black Engineers (NSBE), which meets in the building's basement.

Spending so much time on campus, and in one building, Ibrahim (CAS'25) says it's important to her to get away from campus and find places to relax with friends and to study.

"It's so easy to get into a BU bubble," she says. "I love being involved on campus, but at some point it does get tiring to see the same thing over and over again."

When she can, the New Jersey native loves exploring local cafés, especially Turkish cafés, whose cuisine is similar to the Sudanese cuisine she grew up with. One of Ibrahim's friends has an extensive Google Maps list of cafés they've used to explore. "One café turned into another café, and then we just started getting farther and farther away from campus," she says.

Here are some of Ibrahim's favorite places in Boston to visit.

Turkish Lazuri Café
One North Beacon St., Allston

This large Mediterranean café is open for breakfast, lunch, and dinner, and it can sometimes get crowded and loud, Ibrahim says, which she enjoys because it encourages people to socialize. She says the casual ambiance and friendly staff make it feel like everyone in the restaurant is her friend.

The extensive menu features a wide variety of Turkish breakfast items, like menemen, a Turkish egg dish featuring eggs, tomato, green peppers, and spices cooked in butter and served with homemade bread, wraps, salads, soups, cold and hot appetizers, including stuffed grape leaves, spinach pie, falafel and stuffed meatballs. And for sweet treats, there are kazandibi, a Turkish burned milk pudding, and kunefe, a sweet pastry with cheese, drizzled with sugar syrup

Some of Ibrahim's favorite things at Lazuri are the baba ganoush and the Turkish flatbread. Both dishes always come out hot-she can tell they're fresh-and exquisitely seasoned. Because she's not a big fan of coffee, she orders the Turkish tea, which reminds her of a drink from Sudan called shai be laban.

Sip of Joy Cafe and Bakery
661 Tremont St., South End

Another favorite café Ibrahim has discovered with her friends is Sip of Joy, in the South End. She loves its elegant look and the natural light that pours in through the plate glass window. The decorations, plants, and sunlight make her feel like she's outdoors.

"It's a very easy café to work in," she notes, the perfect place to study away from campus. The restaurant offers free Wi-Fi, and there are numerous outlets for those who need them.

Like Lazuri, Sip of Joy offers an array of Turkish pastries and coffees. Standouts include the slow brewed, small-batch Turkish coffee, Simit, a Turkish bagel-like bread, and the pistachio shortbread.

"It feels like I'm not too far from home or from my mom's own pastries or her cooking," Ibrahim says.

She orders the iced chai latte whenever she goes there, because Sip of Joy makes it the same every time, just the way she likes it.

Magazine Beach
668 Memorial Drive, Cambridge

Ibrahim ran track in high school, and after sitting at a computer all day, she loves to go for a run. She enjoys the chance to see the Boston skyline from different vantage points. One of her favorite routes is running across the BU Bridge to Magazine Beach, on the Cambridge side of the Charles. Running gives her time to herself, she says, and a chance to think about everything-or nothing at all.

"I'm at BU so much," Ibrahim says, "it's nice to look at it from an outside perspective."

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