From St. Petersburg to Chickmaglur

Last night after seeing Les Poupées Russes for the second time, my friend and I checked out the latest addition to Vienna's café scene, "Coffee Day", the first European branch of what is apparently India's answer to Starbucks. I had read that the coffee beans they use were grown in a place called Chickmaglur and decided I had to try the mysterious "chick-coffee".

The decor looked very Autogrill motorway restaurant meets frequent-flyer airport lounge. The staff (bringing drinks to your table unlike at Starbucks or Coffeeshop Company) were of the headless-chicken variety and seemed to serve a merely decorative function and the menu didn't actually offer that great a selection of coffee. I chose a "Café Caramello" which was predictably sweet, but ok and cheaper than Starbucks-coffee and my friend tried one of three teas on the list, a rather bland "Indian chai" which came in a tea-bag. We were there shortly before Midnight so none of the handful of patrons was actually eating anything but it seemed that there was quite a big selection of (self-service?) dishes on display. The selection of pastries actually looked very nice and freshly baked.

The advantage Coffee Day might have over Starbucks (which in Vienna is mainly frequented by tourists and mothers with toddlers who don't want to expose their kids to the opaque nicotine fumes you'd otherwise find in Viennese cafés) might be that there's also a cigar-lounge and screens for live-broadcasting of sports events.

If you - like me - expected some Indian touch in furnishings or menu, don't go. If you want American-stlye flavoured coffee for less than you'd pay at Starbucks where you have to queue for it, do give it a try.

Purchases: Only groceries, but I might use the space to make your mouth water instead:

Menu for tonight's dinner chez retailtherapist and Turkish Delight:
Starter: Salad of warm pumpkin with rucola, prosciutto and pecorino
Main course: slow-roasted (with soy-sauce, rice wine, star-anise, cinnamon bark, ginger, Asian mushrooms etc.) pork served with vegetables (baked carrots, fennel and stem cabbage with dates and cranberries) and basmati rice. Dessert: self-made lime-coconut ice-cream.

Not bad, eh? Better return to the kitchen to get going now.