The Shabandar Café (Arabic: مقهى الشابندر, romanized: Maqha al-Shabander) is one of the oldest and most famous coffeehouses in Baghdad, Iraq.

[3][6] In March 2007, in the wake of sectarian violence in the country following the US invasion of Iraq in 2003, the Shabandar Café was a victim to a bombing from a booby-trapped car situated on al-Mutanabbi Street which killed more than a hundred people.

Two days after the incident, Iraqi poet Ahmed Hussain recited a poem on the ruins of the coffeehouse with journalists and people, including both the elderly and younger generation, gathering around him to listen.

[9] During the incident, Iraqi artist Emad Ali Abbas, who studied Cinema Department in the Academy of Fine Arts in Baghdad in 2006,[10] made a twenty-five minute long documentary titled "A Candle for Shabandar Café" chronicling the history of the coffeehouse and its significance, as well as distinct sections.

[11] The goal of the documentary was to document the Shabandar Café as well as showcase another part of Baghdad that wasn't the sectarianist violence that was taking place at the time.

[11] Eventually filming continued months later but as he was leaving al-Mutanabbi Street, he was attacked by a group of thugs that stole his camera and shot in the legs.

Given the grandeur of the building and its uniqueness in terms of design and engineering in which Iraqi architecture excelled, it is considered one of the most important archeological sites in Baghdad that is still standing.

Al-Khashali explained that he wanted to distance himself from the commercial mentality to preserve its old atmosphere, including the use of old wooden seats and old samovars that are still being used inside.

[8][13][16] The coffeehouse's interior walls on the first ground floor are decorated with old photographs dating back to Baghdad during the 19th century and the early 20th century including pictures of Ottoman pashas such as Halil Kut and pictures of other Iraqi personalities such as King Faisal I, King Faisal II, Royal Era ministers and Iraqi poets and artists and even foreign celebrities such as Umm Kulthum.