Kaffeemitte, Coffee, Mitte
May 24, 2011 4 Comments
I think everyone knows KaffeeMitte but just in case you don’t.
Here you go:
It’s all cement walls and pale blond wood and bare light bulbs. It makes me think of the Aveda Institute at Covent Garden, London: especially when they play plinky plonky psuedo-soothing tunes.
Outside there are pistachio coloured tables, in the Spring and Summer months they never manage to accommodate all the trendy Mittens (not fingerless gloves, the people of Mitte) with their diagonal bangs, trousers in primary colours and retro sunglasses.
Sounds like it would be the domain of the very cool so you (me) are not invited but that is not the case. The service is friendly, polite and there are frequent smiles. I even had an outlandish experience where I once had to pay for one solitary coffee with a €50 bill* and instead of lip sucking, head shaking and general undisguised disdain, change was handed over with a smile.
?
Bizarre! But welcome.
Coffee’s in the name and it’s good. They serve hot food, usually pasta of the day which I haven’t yet tried but it looks quite promising. What they do that are excellent are fresh sandwiches. At first I thought I had to pick from the wilting specimens in the front vitrine but those are just for reference. The sandwiches are all made fresh to order in a long open bar area at the back, by two nonplussed lady cooks, you don’t have to wait long but Kaffeemitte have invested in some of those buzzing, flashing discs that alert you when your order is ready so you can chat away to your friends without the anxiety that someone might be picking up your sandwich.
My favourite sandwich is the piadina. Thin bread, a little like arabic bread, stuffed with salami, rocket and tomato slices.
All the sandwiches come with some uninspiring salad and a zig zag of balsamic vinegar, forget about that and concentrate on the sandwiches and the coffees.
KaffeeMitte
Weinmeisterstraße 9
10178, Mitte
*”Oh No! Two women love me! My wallet’s to small for my fifties and my diamond shoes are too tight!” Quote from the character Chandler Bing in the Friends sitcom.
Funny quote at the end, but more fitting here, since the larger the denomination, the larger physical size of the bill. My wallet actually barely fits 50s so I try to avoid them. That and your experience of trying to pay for low-cost items with such a large bill. I always apologize when I have to hand them over.
Also, beautiful looking bread. Do you know if they make it on site?
I know! It’s so annoying when you ask for 60 Euro and the machine gives you a 50 and a 10! Why do they even give out 50′s? Nobody takes them. Except for Kaffeemitte and the Ritz (well you probably need more than one for the Ritz).
No idea where they get their bread from.
you know, i really like that place. despite that mitte chi-chi-ness.
Yeah! It’s good right?