Fun at the Hangout Cafe… after hours when there’s less peeps hanging there
PLEASE NOTE THAT THIS POST HAS BEEN UPDATED ON OUR NEW SITE, WWW.ENGLISHMANINSLOVAKIA.CO.UK
OK, so this list is subject to change – when I hear of a new entry worthy of the list or of one of these entries deserving a different position I’ll update it. But as of right now, here we go:
1: Kava.Bar
Kava.Bar was treated with much excitement by englishmaninslovakia.com when we spotted it on a walk up to the castle this winter gone. It’s a small place, but huge blackboards and cute window seats and a liberal decoration with various curios make this very eye-catching as cute cosy cafes go. The coffee is great, the cake selection not bad, but I would also have liked to see a little more in the way of food. But the ambience is perfect.
Address: Skalná 1
2: Štúr
A bit of an institution now but a pretty good one, Štúr Cafe* has a menu in old-fashioned Slovak (faithful to founder of the Slovak language, Ľudovít Štúr, after whom it takes its name) and great baguettes and lunches. The cakes are also very good, and it’s open until 10pm.
Location: Štúrová 14
3: Hangout Café
The owner claims he does the city’s best espresso and he could well be right; the word on the street often backs him up at least. It’s a nice interior: bare-brick walls, seating at the bar or at window tables and a nice big blackboard touting the specials. It only doesn’t get a higher entry because the quality in the centre is getting pretty high.
Location: Kapucinská, right by the tram stop.
4: Bistro St German
Most people know about Bistro St German now, tourists included. But that’s because it’s a great place: with an atmosphere reminiscent of the Parisian bistros of old, formidable cakes, including a gluten-free option, decent (although betterable) coffee. The soups and lunches (a delicious burger, a succulent quiche) are worth a stop too.
Location: Rajská 7 (It’s just moved as of May 2014 to this new location from its former one off Obchodná – it’s new location is not QUITE as atmospheric which means its position on this list has now changed.)
More on The New Bistro St Germain
5: Corny Café
Another hidden-away place in an interesting area just east of downtown near the Blue Church. There’s a small outside garden, and the inside is lovably, cosily retro: you could imagine Communist leaders making breakfast business deals here. The coffee is great (fair trade, with produce from coffee growers around the world available, and in my opinion a candidate for the city’s best) and the cake selection is very good.
Location: Grösslingová 20
6: Caffé Trieste
This little place at Floriánske Námestie goes in at 6 for the quality of its coffee. It is up there with the city’s best, and for the quality/ price ratio (an espresso costs just €1) for a caffeine fix it could be top. It falls down for having a poor cake selection and for there being a lot of competition for seating: you often feel rushed. It’s so popular though that the outside seats are taken even in winter!
Location: Floriánske Námestie 1
7: Café Dias
Only come here for coffee and cake. These two items on the menu are pretty damned fine. The coffee at Café Dias is fair trade, often from Africa, and you’ll salivate over choosing your cake from the many-tiered display cabinet. It’s in the bookshop, Panta Rhei, and the other reason it goes in at number 7 is as a great people-watching spot.
Location: Poštová under Austria Trend Hotel
8: Caffe l’Aura
A great hidden-away little spot by St Martin’s Cathedral: at front it doubles as the Old Town’s coolest antique shops (yeah – alright, we’ll do another post specifically on this), at back the café, decorated with quirky knickknacks, is a place where you can sit and sip and never be rushed.
Location: Rudnayovo Námestie off Panská
9: Next Apache
Next Apache does good coffee, including its own special blend, amidst one of the best selections of English and Slovak language second-hand books in the city.
Location: Panenská 28
*To be linked once post is written
IN THE REGRETTABLE AFTERMATH OF THE CLOSURE OF PREŠPORÁK, THE TENTH PLACE HERE IS REMAINING UNFILLED PENDING NEW INVESTIGATIONS IN THE NEW YEAR
englishmaninslovakia... 
looks like haven’t been to casa del cafe on dunajska yet 🙂 Order Jamaican blue mountain if they have it.
Thanks for the tip Martin – will check it out for sure, hopefully this week!