Warsaw has cafes to suit a range of personalities
By : Will Sartori
This is a tale of two cafes both American owned, both open early in the morning, both serving coffee and light fare. Their likenesses go beyond the wooden touches with which they try to smooth away the urban feeling Mala Czarna Espresso Bar and Stoney Point Java have plans to open a chain of coffee shops.
Mala Czarna occupies a small building on ulica Hoza, just off ulica Marszalkowska. The structure is dominated by picture windows that cover two of its sides. They look so inviting just imagine in the winter, sitting and watching miserable people trudge through the slush outside.
Coffee prices range from zl. 5.5 for a small espresso to zl. 10.50 for a large mocha and if those sound expensive it's because small is large and large is XXL. Smoothies, in fruit and coffee flavors range from zl. 6 to zl. 8. They also serve sandwiches but the menu isn't printed you have to ask. The first two times I visited this cafe, I didn't even know they served food. A couple of times I avoided going because, even though I liked the open airy room at Mala Czarna, I wanted to get a small bite to eat (hint to the owners!).
Lucky and I went one Saturday at noon and had coffee and sandwiches. I opted for a latte zl. 9 for a medium and this medium was a doozy, er, duza. There is nothing mala about their cups of coffee. It's rather a large latte that they call medium. It was strong and well caffeinated.
Lucky opted for the "Caffe Elektra" (zl. 9.50) a latte with a layer of honey at the bottom. It's an unlikely sounding combination, which sounded bad to me but it's really strong and delicious. Did I say I was bouncing off the walls afterward?
I ordered a turkey sandwich (zl. 7.50), which arrived on a generous ciabata. And what a relief it was to find a sandwich that could almost serve as a meal. While Mala Czarna won't knock Caft Brama out of the top spot for having the best sandwiches in town, at least they serve them quickly, unlike at Brama where a half hour later you find out that the waitress had spaced your order.
Lucky had the "Mozzarella Sandwich" (zl. 4). It comes on half a ciabata, the size of a baseball, with two thick slices of moist cheese hugging a slice of tomato and surrounded by enough bread to make it difficult to get all but the largest mouths around it. It was pleasant way to soak up the caffeine. Two monstrous coffees and two sandwiches came to zl. 30.
The only problem I could find with Mala Czarna is that it doesn't have a toilet for its clients. What is up with that? This is also a problem at Stoney Point and whoever designed these places must have been under the influence of a mighty stony joint. There is a very common physical need that most people have after drinking coffee, and to design a cafe bez toilets is stupidity bordering on cruelty.
The two cafes are not only united by their no-toilet approach, but also by having a comfy couch tucked back in a corner overlooking the whole room. These sofas look like good places to spend half the day watching people, reading the paper, or playing chess - that is, if you can manage to do drink mass quantities of coffee without needing to run outside and relieve yourself on the nearest tree. Sorry ladies, I can offer you no option here.
But the rooms these couches are in are quite different. While Mala Czarna is airy and dominated by picture windows, Stoney Point is focused on its serving counter. It looks so much like a Starbucks that it's hard not to believe that the owners have intentions to start a chain and sell the whole thing, lock, stock and barrel, to the Seattle coffee merchants. Everything screams Starbucks right down to the logo, which looks like a copyright infringement. So if you like Starbucks, you'll like this place.
Blackbeard and I went there recently and found the place filled with boisterous American types. Several tycoons were busy making power deals and a well-known Warsaw restaurateur was taking notes on how the business was being run.
We came in for a cup of coffee and a sandwich, which we heard were wonderful. But we were disappointed to find them sitting in plastic containers, in an open refrigerator case by the cash register.
"It's the gas station packaging that makes me think they won't be good," Blackbeard said. But the contents convinced us otherwise. "The sandwich actually tastes better than it looks."
Blackbeard had the chicken curry sandwich (zl. 10.50). Chicken, raisins and almonds were served in a nutty bread with sweet and spicy curry sauce. Since Blackbeard ordered what was also my first choice, I took a plastic container with the vegetarian sandwich (zl. 9.50). It featured hummus with grilled bell pepper and zucchini on foccacia with melted cheese, onion and rosemary. It was cold and slightly greasy but had a pleasant tangy taste.
Eating out of the triangular plastic package made it difficult to set the sandwich down between bites.
We also each had a salad (zl. 9.50), I chose the spinach salad, which had tomato, bacon, mandarin orange and onion in a curry vinaigrette. It wasn't fresh but was still good. Blackbeard had the Greek salad, which was merely satisfactory.
And, oh yes, the coffee the main reason to come here. My cappuccino (zl. 7) was so good it should have been served with a pedigree. Blackbeard was equally pleased with his latte (zl. 8).
Stoney Point roasts its own coffee and you can buy the beans, whole or ground and even a French press to help you make the best coffee at home.
Sandwiches, salads, and coffee for two came to zl. 53. One of the main attractions to Stoney Point Java is that they open at 6 a.m. Finally someone in Warsaw has figured out that people want to drink their coffee first thing in the morning! Stoney Point are also good corporate citizens, pledging to give any leftover sandwiches to charity at the end of the day.
The differences in these two cafes is nowhere more apparent than in the their clientele in one you find hipsters and smartly dressed young professionals, in the other business types. One is a neighborhood place with plans to expand; the other appears to be a corporate blueprint to attract investors.
