Coffee and Cake: The Qwensel House Café

The Qwensel House Café is located in the inner courtyard of the Pharmacy museum near the center of Turku. The museum is only open in the summer (from May to the end of August) and at Christmastime, but now is the best time to visit, I think. 

The café is located in a 1700s house that survived the Great Fire of Turku in 1827, a rare occurrence for a wooden house of the time. Maybe the house's proximity to the River Aura had something to do with it? The house is named after Wilhelm Johan Qwensel, who bought the house in 1695 when he moved to Turku from Stockholm to work in the court of appeal.   

The café serves homemade cakes, pies, and pastries along with coffee and tea. 

I tried a savoury cheese-and-tomato pie this time, which turned out to be a good choice, although the sweet treats my friends had looked really good too.

Definitely a café to visit as much for the atmosphere as the food. I'm thinking it would be a great place to write some steampunk or historical fiction, but bringing a laptop here would be sacrilege; this is clearly notebook-and-pen territory. If you have the time, do check out the museum, too.

https://www.turku.fi/en/pharmacymuseum 

Coffee and Cake: Tiirikkala

For our monthly coffee and cake meetup last week, we chose Tiirikkala, a café/restaurant on the bank of the river Aura, only a few blocks from the center of Turku. I'd never been there before, but I'll definitely go again. In addition to awesome cakes and pastries, Tiirikkala serves delicious, trendy lunches and dinners, including vegetarian fare, and there's live music of Fridays and Saturdays.

Here's what I had. So pretty, and tasted good, too.


Tiirikkala had a nice, relaxed vibe and it would be a great place to hang out with friends or do some writing. I'd definitely recommend it.

Here's the link to their website: http://www.tiirikkala.fi/eng

Coffee and Cake: The Book Cafe

Turun kirjakahvila, or the Book Café, located in the Brinkkala courtyard on the historical Suurtori market square, is something completely different: a volunteer-run vegan café that hosts author visits, book circles, and all kinds of cool events for the alternative crowd. As the name suggests, they also offer a lending library of interesting books on social justice issues, distribute small press zines and books, and there's also the opportunity to swap used books or buy them for a reasonable fee. You can also donate books to the café. 

Here's the chocolate mousse cake I had. Delicious. The tea was fair trade, and you could choose soy or oat milk with your coffee. I've tried the seitan sandwich on a previous visit, and it was also very tasty.  

If you enjoy interesting events and a relaxed college coffee bar atmosphere, give the Book Café a chance. And don't let the vegan part stop you; honestly, if I hadn't known that cake was vegan, I wouldn't have been able to tell the difference. 

Coffee and Cake: The MBakery café at Aboa Vetus

MBakery has opened a new café at the Aboa Vetus museum. I've tried their café at Kauppahalli, and I really enjoyed both the sweets and the savouries. They're also known for their artisanal breads,which are amazing. The Aboa Vetus café has served an amazing brunch on the weekends, and MBakery is continuing the tradition. I'll have to try that, too, when I get the chance.

The Kauppahalli café tends to get a bit crowded and the museum café is open an extra hour, until 7 p.m., so we picked that one.

Here's what I had:

Cinnamon hot chocolate and a chocolate meringue, total sugar overload. I have to admit, I couldn't finish the whole thing.

This café might also be a nice place to do some writing, if the early closing time isn't a problem. And you can check out the museum before or after your visit, of course. Here's what's on this month: http://www.aboavetusarsnova.fi/en

And I also checked out the Kirjastosilta (Library Bridge) Christmas makeover. It plays Christmas carols and you can see the light display in the photo.  Very Minas Morgul. The night was very foggy, which heightened the creepy effect. 

Coffee and Cake: Pink Vanilla Desserts

Our coffee shop expeditions continued this week with Pink Vanilla Desserts,  a café run by a couple of American expats who make the best cupcakes in Turku. In addition to visiting the cafés in Turku and Uusikaupunki, you can also order American-style cakes for birthdays and other special occasions, and they're on Foodora, so you can get a box of cupcakes right to your door if you live in delivery range. The shop is located at Maariankatu 2 on Puutori, so about a five minute walk from city centre.

Look at all the cupcakes! And brownies! And cinnamon buns!  There's even a vegan option!

The sweets are the main event, but the café also serves bagels, toasted sandwiches, and an American breakfast with pancakes. 

This café is perfect for those times when I feel a bit nostalgic for California (especially in November, when Finland is at its worst) and crave for something to take the edge off. Like my little sister said, these cupcakes taste like America. I'm pretty sure the kiddies would love this place, and the café is child-friendly.  Can't wait to take my niece and nephew!

But hey, Finland in November is not all bad. These Christmas trees had appeared on Teatterisilta last week. The lights make it feel like a fairytale forest. 

Coffee and Cake: Café Art

It's coffee time again. This time we tried Café Art, right in the centre of Turku, on the bank of the river Aura. It's in a beautiful historical building, and if you happen to get a table by the window, it's a perfect place to people-watch. The café also shows work by local artists, and you can browse paintings while enjoying your coffee. Right now they're showing Mari Pyykkönen's work, beautiful paintings with sea creatures both real and fantastical. (Show ends at the end of October.)

Café Art is definitely a place to try the coffee instead of tea; they've won the Barista of the Year award seven times so far. The café looks small from the outside, but they've got plenty of seating in the back. I really liked the feel of the place, like it would be a nice spot for writing. I actually saw a few people with laptops, and one of my friends said she sometimes comes there to write.

You can also buy coffee beans from a local roastery, Turun kahvipaahtimo, there. 

I'm no expert, but I thought the coffee was good. I even bought a bag of dark roast for Hubby. The barista did that thing where they make a leaf pattern on the coffee with the foam. It was really pretty until I fumbled with the cup and spilled coffee all over the counter. (Yup, I'm very graceful. Also elegant and understated. Not.) The carrot cake was nice, too, and my friends liked the mousse cake they ordered.

A lovely café, where writerly types will feel right at home.  

Here's the address: 

Läntinen rantakatu 5

20100 Turku

Opening times:

Mon-Fri 10-19

Sat 10-17

Sun 11-17

Coffee and Cake : Gaggui

There are many great cafés in Turku, but I rarely visit them, although I'd like to. To change that, my friends and I decided to check out a café per month (or thereabouts), just for fun. Coffee, cake, and gossip, where's the bad?

First up: Gaggui. The name is a Turku dialect version of the Finnish word for cakes, and that's no accident; cakes are their specialty. The menu is in the Turku dialect, which probably won't mean much to any English readers, but in Finland, the dialect is considered funny. It's hard to explain, but some think it makes us sound like hicks or simpletons, maybe? There's also a bit of funny intonation involved, and the tendency to use the negative when asking questions. (Those aren't sticky buns, are they? vs. Are those sticky buns?) There's a humor publication called News from Turku that's news written entirely in the dialect. It's a big seller. Yeah, go figure.

Here's an excerpt from the site for the Finnish readers out there:

   "Tervetuloo gagul ja kaffel. Meijä päivän gagguvalikoima koostuu gaguist, suklaagaguist, juustogaguist ja muist jälkkäriherkuist, sekä tuareist, kaffelas alus asti leivotuist kroisanteist ja herkullisist leivist. Gagguvalikoima vaihtelee melkee päivittäi, mut tiättyi suasikkei me leivotaa teil herkuttelijoil joka päiväks."

The cakes have names like Ai minttuu vai? (Oh, mint, you say?), Kamala magic (Awful Sweet), Varför Paris?(Why Paris (when we have Turku)),  Heaven On Örth (self-explanatory, right?), and Eioota (Got Nothin') (the vegan and gluten free option).

I had the lemon-raspberry cake called "When Life Gives You Lemons." It was perfect. 

Here's the address for anybody who wants to check it out. It's quite close to the railway station, but only a few blocks from the center of town (let's face it, we don't have that much town):

Humalistonkatu 15a

20100 Turku

Mon Closed

Tue-Fri 10-19

Sat 10-18

Sun12-18