This afternoon I had coffee and cake at the Vienna Cafe in Shanghai. Set on the quiet and picturesque Shaoxing Road, it offers the best true cafe I’ve yet to see in Shanghai. Once you cross through the doors from the street, one of those “am I in China” moments happens and you feel like you can spend the afternoon in there. The cafe is quite small on the inside with only 12 or so tables, three of which in the very back are in what looks like a converted patio with light streaming in through glass on three sides.
The cafe offers a special Sunday brunch, which we didn’t partake in but it did mean that we had to make reservations for a table and were not able to spend as much time there as we liked (since others later had reservations for our table). The coffee (latte) and (chocolate) cake was quite good, but without a doubt, the best part was the atmosphere. In so many cafes here, you never feel quite comfortable for various reasons but Vienna Cafe hits the nail on the head. I’ll be back for sure.
25 Shaoxing Road (绍兴路25号), near Shanxi (S) Road.