DEMEL CAFE - VIENNA
Confectionary and Coffee of Kings
Waiting for an audience or a bit of largess from the emperor took time, so sitting down for a cup of coffee and a sweet became not only a lifestyle in Vienna, but nearly an art. If strolling the avenues of the city visiting palaces and museums, you’ll likely feel the pull of resting at a café street-side table for a demitasse. Just around the corner from the Hofburg on the upscale shopping street of the Kohlmarkt, you’ll find the bakery café simply called Demel, where desert artists have been creating sugary masterpieces for over 200 years.
In 1786, Ludwig Dehne, a journeyman baker moved from Württemberg Germany to Vienna. He opened a shop to sell deserts of jam-filled pastry and the frozen creams. The shop became a popular spot for cavaliers to bring beautiful young ladies to ply with the artfully designed and decorated sweets. In 1856, the original owner’s aging son sold the business to his first assistant, Christoph Demel. The reputation of the Demel confectionary design became recognized internationally as he created desserts with his sons for the royal palace. The shop gained the name of K & K Hofzuckerbäcker and Sons (Imperial Court Suppliers Confectionary Bakers) and moved to its current location during the time of Emperor Franz Joseph. The empire ended after World War I in 1918, but the sweet shop kept the name.
The interior design of the Demel shop, as ornate as the chocolates and parfaits, was created by renowned Viennese furniture makers Portois & Fix. Then, in 1933, the Baron Federico Berzeviczy-Pallavicini stepped into the shop and fell in love, not only with the sweet presentations, but also its owner Klara Demel. An artist and a romantic, after the Second World War, he began a tradition of creating and staging shop window displays. Another of the traditions of the Demel are the all-female staff, the Demelinerinnen, wearing plain black uniforms with a trim of white, who still address customers with imperial third person formality. “Would one care for that plain or with sprinkles?”
The artistry of the desert makers can be viewed in first person through observation windows in the rear baking shop, where daily orders of wedding cakes and party designs are filled along with the apple strudel and Sachertort. Watch the confectioners create fantastical creations of frosting and caramelized sugar in layers of edible architecture. Or just sit at a table where one can enjoy the world passing by with a coffee, ice cream or signature swirly cinnamon roll “Zimtschnecke”. © Bargain
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SEE ALSO:
SACHER TORTE AND THE HOTEL SACHER CAFE LIFE
TREASURES OF ST STEPHENS CATHEDRAL
ST PETERS CHURCH HIDDEN BAROQUE GEM
HALLOREN CHOCOLATE WORLD MUSEUM HALLE
