Photos: Peter Tarasiuk for Broadsheet Melbourne (Main); Courtesy of Kaffeine (Coffee)
BIG BITE
Café Culture
From Berlin to Vietnam you’ll find small cosy
hideaways where delicious simplicity is key.
Ascott Living gets behind the counter
There’s something about a café. No matter
where in the world you find yourself,
each country has its own inimitable café
style. It’s somewhere you’ll be welcomed
whatever the time of day, for a great start
to the morning, a catch up with friends
over coffee or a long languorous lunch.
28 Ascott LIVING
Above left: Much of the
appeal of a delicious cup of
coffee is in the eye of the
beholder, as this artistic
creation from the Kaffeine
Café in London illustrates
Above: If you’re a foodie
the potential of delicious
discoveries at a café gets
the heart racing. From sticky
pastries to enormous filled
sandwiches and sugary
cakes, at Brother Thomas
café in Melbourne there’s
plenty to get excited about
Of course the origination of the word
is French (for coffee house), but over
the years the meaning of the word and
the attributes of the café have evolved
to be so much more than somewhere
to stop for a quick flat white. In today’s
parlance a café may be based on the
best coffee, but is likely to also offer
quality cuisine, from sweetly addictive
cakes to substantial sandwiches that
need two hands to hold, or heartwarming regional fare. Often run
by several generations of the same
family, these can be a treasure trove of
inexpensive, traditional regional food.
You can tell a lot about a country’s
culture from its cafés, not least because
these are the best places to people
watch, whether it’s as you slowly
wait for your coffee to drip through
its miniature silver pot into a pool of
condensed milk in Vietnam, or you
warm your hands around a café au lait
on a frosty pavement side in Paris.
In recent years the café culture has
spread. Coffee drinkers previously
placated by a cloudy mug of instant
granules have become more educated
about good coffee, in all its different
guises. Today’s consumer, helped along
by the large US coffee chains and the
passionate independents with their
knowledgeable baristas, now has no
trouble in discerning an affogato from a
cappuccino, or a macchiato from a latte.
While coffee was once the remit of
Italy in the west and Vietnam in the
east, it’s now an artesian calling across
the globe. But to enjoy café culture,
a cup of coffee is only the start.
In Singapore, local coffee shops
with kopi (coffee with condensed milk)
served in a traditional plastic bag,
rub shoulders quite happily alongside
the influx of western-influenced
industrial chic cafes. From Tiong Bahru
to Tanjong Pagar, cafés cater for the
early work crowd, leisurely lunches
and as a break-out meeting room
for business. At weekends they teem
with families and friends enjoying
the second most popular national
pastime (after shopping): brunch.
Try Ronin in Hong Kong Street for
its renowned coffee, and if you want
to switch things up a bit the Wicked
– a concoction of coffee, mint and
chocolate will start your day with a
buzz. If you’re only staying here for
a few days you’ll be hard pressed to
choose – and it’s not much easier if you
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