Category: Cafe

Eating out in Vienna

Eis Greissler
www.eis-greissler.at
Rotenturmstraße 14, 1010 Vienna, Austria
Nearest U-Bahn (Stephenplatz or Schwedenplatz)

You can tell that this ice cream outlet is really popular from the queues that form around it. The story behind this popular ice cream place is that all the ingredients are organic, and they avoid putting any chemicals or additives into their ice cream. The result is a creamy, rich textured ice cream that is simply delicious.

The ice cream store isn’t very big with a counter that is only suitable for serving two at a time and no seats or tables to sit down. Fortunately they are very good at serving people and the line moves on very quickly. You can definitely taste the quality from this place.

Tichy
www.tichy-eis.at
Reumannplatz 13 1100 Vienna, Austria
Nearest UBhan (Reumannplatz)

One of the big ice cream vendors that actually advertises on the U-Bahn, and from the interior is either very old styled, or is at least themed to be like that. It doesn’t seem to be only tourists there when I visit (probably a good sign) and there seems to be quite a number of locals as well.

They have a huge selection of ice cream, but taking the seat I opt for a sampler platter of the ice cream balls they are famous for. The original is a vanilla ice cream filled with an apricot jam (very much like the Sissi kugel chocolate balls you might find around town) and they had three other varieties including a “snowball” filled with raspberry and coated in fluffy white chocolate marshmallow-like coating, a “Tartufo” richer chocolate ball rolled in cocoa and filled with a filling that tasted like raspberry, and probably my favourite which was the “nuss (nut)” filled with a nice hazelnut ice cream inside a larger chocolate ice cream ball.

My mistake was figured that these balls were quite small – they didn’t even warn me and although very tempted to finish it off, it was simply too much for me. Yes, even with my sweet tooth.

Figlmüllr
http://www.figlmueller.at/
Wollzeile 5, 1010 Wien, Austria ‎
Nearest U-Bahn (Stephenplatz or Schwedenplatz)

One of the most tourist-centric places but a place where the potato salad was so memorable I had to go back and try it again. I realised that the secret to their potato salad was actually a bit of sugar (I definitely noticed it) alongside their home made pumpkin-seed oil. The schnitzels here are over-sized, decent and worth just one trip.

If they have it, I would also recommend trying the clever “Mozartkülgen”, a clever spin on a traditional dumpling filled with a chocolate-marzipan filling and rolled in pistachio nuts.

Neni
http://www.neni.at
Stand 510 Naschmarkt, 1060 Vienna, Austria
Nearest U-Bahn (Kettenbrückengasse)

I was lucky enough to have great weather, or at least, blue skies on the Saturday I spent in Vienna. Like many of the locals and tourists, I headed down to Naschmarkt to check out the antiques and the food markets down that street. One of the cafes that is perfect for people watching and do some great food is Neni.

I only stopped for a coffee and although service was a little slow, was perfect for the type of lazy wandering day that I wanted.

Cafe Savoy
http://www.savoy.at/
Linke Wienzeile 36, 1060 Vienna, Austria
Nearest U-Bahn (Kettenbrückengasse)

Whilst you are at Naschmarkt and have time to spare and, a small hunger, head on down to Cafe Savoy. This gay-friendly cafe does a Sunday brunch spread and the interior is cosy, filled with strange antiques and one of the largest single glass mirrors I have ever seen. Apparently you will only find larger in the Palaces in Marseille. Impressive and a cool interior.

I stopped for the apple strudel, also another Viennese specialty that you can have either cold or warm here. Yum.

Ofenloch
www.ofenloch.at/
Kurrentgasse 1, 1010 Vienna, Austria
Nearest U-Bahn (Stephenplatz)

We went out to dinner with one of the conference attendees from Vienna to the heart of Vienna (around Stephenplatz) where they’re many of these traditional restaurants. We tried going to one place but was fully booked and ended up in Ofenloch, a slightly ritzier but still decently priced restaurant.

Strangely enough, and very unlike many other Viennese places, service was absolutely shining with waiters, waitresses all being extremely friendly and prompt if you ever needed anything like another beer, the menu or tap water.

Pretty good experience here. All the food is pretty high quality and many traditional dishes that you can choose from.

Coffee hot spots in Dublin

It seems like Dublin has any many coffee houses as they do pubs. The good news is that most of these seem to be pretty independent places (for the most part). You do see the occasional Starbucks, but you don’t see the typical Costa, Starbucks, Nero trio on every part with either a bit more of a local feel. Hunting down places that do good coffee seems like a mission I’m happy to take when trying a new city.

My favourites for the coffee turned out to be:

3FE – I dropped into here on the way to head out to Howth. It was positively buzzing with people sitting, chatting with a friend or people reading their kindle or messages on their phone. The coffee took a while to make with only a single barist and a backlog of coffee orders but it was pretty tasty. Found at 32/34 Lower Grand Canal Street, Dublin 2.

Coffee Angel – I tried to find the store quite close to the Custom House’ Quay to no avail, but stumbled across their smaller, tiny store around … those seemed to sell more of their hand-roasted beans and coffee equipment. They did a mean flat white that was nice to sit on their only bench outside in a ceramic cup. Found at various locations but I visited the one at 16A South Anne Street, Dublin 2

The Bald Barista – Named after Buzz Fendall, their bald barista (who I did not see), this place seemed more like the place you’d sit down to have a breakfast. Order at the bar, and then take your seat. The flat white here wasn’t as good as the others, but still drinkable. For me it had a bit too much milk, the milk was slightly too hot and yet somehow missed out on being the microfoam that a flat white really deserves. Found at 55 Aungier Street, Avalon House, Dublin 2.

Brunch at Farmer Browns

Dublin is full of cafes offering the full “Irish breakfast”, typically distinguished from the “Full English” breakfast by the present of white and black puddings. A culture of drinking leads to a culture of a late brunch and so Dublin offers plenty. As more people move towards the coffee-drinking culture Dublin has sprouted to match the expectation of a quality brunch place offering meals that go beyond the “plate that fixes the hangover”.

I went along to one of the newer ones, Farmer Brown’s located just near the newer Dockland part of the city. Nestled between a number of residential places, this cafe offered seating outside, a covered terrace and inside seating for all. Wanting some French Toast, it arrived with a hugely generous portion of bacon that had literally been cooked together where the strands of bacon seemed to infuse itself. So… much… bacon but very good. Unlike other places where you run out of bacon before you have finished the eggy-goodness-soaked bread, there was plenty of it to go around with each bite. Yum. Flat white wad admittedly disappointing with milk being both too hot and not foamed enough.

Other dishes looked good looking around at what other people ordered.

Other places I’d like to try next time include the Lennox Cafe (31 Lennox Street, Dublin 8) and Herbstreet (Hanover Quay, Grand Canal Dock, Dublin 2) Another one worth trying is apparently Odessa (14 Dame Court, Dublin 2) although I’m loath to bother lining up for a place when there are so many other options.

Find Farmer Browns at 25A Bath Avenue, Dublin 4.

Milchglas, Hamburg

Our team has had a bit of trapsing around the area near our office, checking out coffee places for the a good coffee place. I suggested we visited Milchglas, a place that touts itself as a coffee and catering place. We walked in and there quite a few people in, eating lunch so I guess it must be okay.

Milchglas

There wasn’t really much room to sit, but that was fine since we either normally have a coffee standing up, or at least take away.

Mlichglas Interior

The cakes, muffins and brownies looked pretty tempting.

Mlichglas Muffins

But I managed to stop myself :-)

Milchglas

It's easy to miss the entrance since it's up a small set of stairs and opposite another store.

Milchglas Exterior

Name: Coffeeshop Milchglas
Found at: Alter Steinweg 11, 20459 Hamburg
Website: http://www.milchglas-catering.de/

Breakfasting at Caravan

It was a fairly rainy day that I met up with a colleague to talk breakfast about the new client I was going to join. We decided to meet somewhere close to my work, and decided on Caravan. It’s a great place that roasts its own coffee, has a great brunch offering on weekends and just a nice atmosphere all around.

CaravanCafe

Although tempted by lots of the different offerings on their menu, I started with a flat white whilst I waited for my colleague to arrive.

CaravanMenu

Well made – a perfect “heart” and all the things I look for in a well made flat white – not too hot, creamy milk foam, and a good combination, I probably could have gone for a second coffee.

CaravanCoffee

Breakfast finally arrives – I went for the caramelised banana served atop a hearty bowl of porridge. The porridge was perfectly stodgy and there was plenty of banana caramel to go around without being too excessive – it was pretty sweet after all, but just enough for the entire bowl.

Porridge

Name: Caravan Restaurant
Found at: Exmouth Market, London, EC1R 4QD
Website: http://caravanonexmouth.co.uk/

Tartine San Francisco

Tartine is a well known institution in San Francisco where you need to queue and you need to come early. It’s well known for being a great bakery and with only a number of tables inside, you need to queue and watch like a hawk to get one on a first come first serve basis.

Just like the good citizens of the city, we queued just like everyone else. Things seemed to be move pretty fast although I’d recommend they had pictures of what they sold as well as their names so you got an idea about what you wanted before you got to ordering. Once at the counter where you can see into their case of decadent cakes and baked goods, the pressure is on for you to hurry up and order by the big number of people behind you.

I tried one of their morning buns in the hope for trying to get some cinnamon roll goodness before leaving. Although not filled with cinnamon sugar delights, their bun lightly coated with caster sugar also came with pleasant hints of orange infusions. The bun instead made of reasonably good bread and not pastry.

On the other hand, I looked at all the croissants. The one below is an almond croissant and the pattern seemed to be the same across the entire range. Impressively large, but way over cooked. Almost no croissant appeared unharmed by their overzealous baking and the result, bitter aftertaste in the pastry. The pastry was indeed very flaky and buttery, but devastated that a “good” bakery can’t quite perfect the honest croissant.

Here’s one before the eating.

Tartine definitely has its fans. Is it worth lining up for? Maybe if you were buying quite a lot. And then again, be prepared to pay a premium for all their goods. I’m sure you cold probably find better elsewhere in the city but for a whole bunch of people this is probably an easy option.

Name: Tartine Bakery and Cafe
Found at: 600 Guerrero Street San Francisco, CA 94110, United States
Website: http://www.tartinebakery.com/

DeLise Dessert Cafe

This cute little ice cream and cake store sits quite close to the tourist-central Fisherman’s Wharf. They offer an eclectic range of foods including sandwiches and salads involving truffle (mmm!) and other interesting flavour combinations.

Choose to have a coffee and a small cake from their broad range of offerings like banana, carrot, green tea, red velvet or perhaps you want something a bit lighter light a brown butter cookie or a chocolate macaroon. A small, beautifully displayed assortment of what’s available shows you what is on offer.

The store looks very inviting being extremely bright from the large windows but unfortunately they only have one table and a counter for you to sit out. Not really a problem if you’re taking things to go. Here’s the picture of the brown butter shortbread cookie and bacon maple scone that we tried. Both fairly small portions and reasonably priced at 85c and USD1.50. I’ll admit it’s a bit of a premium for the size and bear in mind you’re paying for some quality stuff.

Of course we had to try the ice cream flavours of which they cycle through plenty of different offerings. In the end I settled on a pear yuzu involving plenty of tart bite, as well as the sweeter honey lavender yogurt. A good combination that left me refreshed.

Beware their opening hours as we tried to visit on the Monday and found them shut. Check out their website for a more up to date account.

Name: DeLise Dessert Cafe
Found at: 327 Bay St, San Francisco, CA 94133, United States
Website: http://www.delisesf.com/

Culture Espresso New York

I’m always on the look out for decent places that do great coffee. One place that I found was Culture Espresso. The store is pretty big for a coffee place in Manhattan, with huge glass windows allowing lots of natural light into the store.

The bar is simple, though welcoming with a cold drinks station as you walk in, and a very tempting bakery selection on the right where the queue forms. I found this place because it was one of the places that actually did a flat white (US$3.75) and it was beautifully made.

Perfect latte art to enjoy. Deliciously well made to boot.

Name: Culture Espresso
Found at: 72W 38th Street, New York, New York
Website: http://cultureespresso.com/

Godshot

Berlin is in no short supply of coffee stores. And fortunately for me, they aren’t all like your run-of-the-mill German coffee stores where there is often more milk than in their coffee of their “latte macchiatos”.

One of the coffee stores I’ve been meaning to visit was Godshot. Although it’s not that far away from our workplace, the fact that they don’t open up until 9am doesn’t make it easy to get to before work, and my body’s auto-awake til 3am response with coffee after 2pm doesn’t encourage me to try going after work. So, with that, I had to wait for a weekeend where I stayed in Berlin.

Fortunately it was worth the wait for a good coffee. It’s surprisingly big on the inside, not something you’d really expect from the small front interior – although you’ll probably be nudging people out for any of the seats outside. There’s enough character in this place for you and another one of your alternative ego’s.

I like the fact, for example, the sugar, mixes and tap water stand atop old Austrian Airway dinner trollies and the soft leather lounge chairs make you feel like you’re visiting someone else’s home than just a normal coffee store.

Just like all good coffee stores, this one sells your classic Flat White (offering three different coffee beans from €2.70-€2.90) although on my post-lunch visit, decided to go for a full bodied espresso, that comes accompanied by a nice little biscuit that I failed to eat.

Name: Godshot
Found at: Immanuelkirchestrasse 32, Berlin, Germany
Website: http://godshot.de/