![]() The slick, minimalist interior bears the hallmark of Sir Terence Conran. Opposite the Naschmarkt, Cafe Drechsler is another upbeat choice, often with DJs on the deck as day spills into night. In the Innere Stadt, you could try dark, bohemian Kaffee Alt Wien (Bäckerstrasse 9), a student haunt haloed in a fog of smoke, which is open to 2am and does a mighty fine goulash, should you get peckish. Where can you get a coffee at a blurry-eyed hour? Well, it just so happens that a number of Vienna's coffee houses morph into bars by night. Comic strip art on the walls and a mishmash of vintage furniture create a nicely laid-back vibe.īreaking away from the classic coffee house mould back in the Innere Stadt is Cafe Neko (Vienna's first Japanese cat cafe, where coffee comes with a feline friend to stroke. Less about the coffee, more about the cake, Fett+Zucker (offers a fat and sugar kick after a morning's mooch around the Karmelitermarkt. His baby is a La Marzocco Strada EP espresso machine, which he uses to whip up creative coffees in minimalist, art-slung surrounds. Time warping you back to the 1950s with its formica tables and vintage bar, it's a totally chilled spot for a strong shot of Italian espresso, a gourmet breakfast, organic day special or a slice of homemade cake.Ī drop of cool in the university district of Alsergrund, CaffèCouture (is the brainchild of barista Georg Branny. One such place is retro-flavoured Espresso (espresso-wien.at), tucked down Burggasse in the design-focused 7th district, Neubau. Vienna has always been a city that successfully walks the tightrope between past and present, so cue a wave of cafes that are ushering in a new era for the Kaffehaus. Come for afternoon apple strudel that flakes just so, or linger into the evening – a pianist plays from 7pm to 10pm every Monday, Wednesday and Friday. Among the cream-filled, chocolate-glazed, fruit-topped confections, one torte stands out – the Anna Demel Torte, a chocolate-nougat calorie bomb.Īfter a crisp autumn walk through the Stadtpark or an exhibition morning at the MAK (step across to Prückel, on the Ringstrasse boulevard, which is a real blast of the 1950s with its intimate booths and high ceilings. Even Empress Sisi, famous for her wasp-like, 19-inch waist, was partial to the sweets here. There's only one thing to order here: Sacher Torte, a rich iced chocolate cake with a layer of tangy apricot jam, created for Prince Wenzel von Metternich, but named after the baker, not the prince.Ī short amble south brings you to the exquisite rococo salon of Demel, a mini temple of three o' clock indulgence, which once catered for imperial tastes. Just as swanky is chandelier-lit Café Sacher, which arrived on the scene in 1832. At the turn of the century, a stream of great thinkers, poets, philosophers, musicians and artists poured into the city's grandest Kaffehäuser. Mozart and Beethoven gave public performances in 1788 at one of Vienna's oldest, Café Frauenhuber (cafefrauenhuber.at), still in business today. In the 18th and 19th centuries, palatial coffee houses began to pop up all over the city, serving coffee and fanciful cakes to sweet-toothed Hapsburg emperors and the high society. The rest, as they say, is history.įrom those tiny beans grew an entire culture. The coffee beans were roasted, sugar and milk were added. At first these mystery beans were dismissed as camel feed or dung, but Jerzy Franciszek Kulczycki, a military officer who had spent time in captivity in Turkey, knew they had struck gold. ![]() Back in 1683, when the Ottoman invaders beat a hasty retreat from the Polish-Hapsburg allies at the Battle of Vienna, they left behind sacks of beans at the city gates as they scarpered. Like many a good fairy tale, Vienna's coffee house culture began with some magic beans. Joining them is your golden ticket to the city's soul. But brewing under the surface of each and every one is the belief that the Kaffehaus is an extension of society a place where locals can linger over a single cup unhurried, trade gossip, read, write, dream, play games, put the world to rights, laugh and love – all while drinking in the warm, nostalgic glow of Gemütlichkeit, the Austrian quality of cosiness. Rococo and boho, trendy and touristy, grand and grungy – today Vienna's coffee houses are as diverse as the Viennese themselves.
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