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Vilnius Latte Benchmarking

If you live or come to Vilnius, here is something interesting for you. I have to say, I discovered the smoothness of the Cafe latte in Vilnius, and not in Italy or in some loosy Starbucks Coffee selling "Coffee Ersatz" a bit everywhere in the world. The idea rulling in this post is that the quality of the Latte produced in a place reflects rather well the overall quality (food and service) of the establishment.
That is why this post is called the Vilnius Latte benchmarking, which is the first benchmarking of its kind ever made in the whole world. (I looked on Google). I encourage all bloggers to do the same in their city and report it in their blogs.

Since I have arrived in Vilnius, Daiva and I have been wandering in many pubs, cafes, restaurants in the city. I have to say the quality of the Latte can change a lot from one place to an other, this lead me to consider other aspects in the visited places and I eventually came to this conclusion: The better the Latte, the better the place.
I noticed also that Lithuania has a definite advantage over Latte drinker countries: its milk is of excellent quality, which really helps a lot.

Cafe Solero on Traku Street serves so far the best Latte in town. I gave this establishment a note of 4.5 out of 5. The caffe Latte is served in high transparent glass allowing you to see the 3 layers: 2/3 milk, 1/3 espresso and the thin layer of milk foam. The coffee beans used has a good quality, and you will get your caffein kick for your bucks. Reflecting this high score, the Solero is a great place to meet friends or to organize relax professional meeting. The Solero has 3 rooms of medium size (some of them slightly below ground level), well designed, equipped with rather large tables and confortable sofas. The service is perfect nevertheless a bit slow: it takes time to produce quality. The standard is well kept. The dishes served succulent and very well presented. The groovy but relaxing music is sometimes a bit to loud, but you can ask the staff to reduce the volume. I definitly recommend this place.

Double Coffee, a Lithuanian coffee company, a copycat of the Starbucks Coffee, provides an excellent Latte. You can find many stores across the city, the two sites I have tested for you are located on Gedimino prospektas. I am giving a note of 4 out of 5. The Latte, served in a high glass allows you to see the layered composition. The milk is at the right temperature, and you may drink it fast. The service is quick as well. Double Coffee has a large panel of hot and cold beverages, alcoholic drinks and hot dishes. The Double Coffee interior design are quite similar from one store to an other and on the dark tones, the stores visited lacked of windows, therefore, appart from the sexy waitresses and other customers, there is not much to look at. One of the good thing at Double Caffee is that they give "drink on the house" vouchers. This attractive offer is definitly a plus for them.

The Pica 25 is located at the last floor of the shopping centre CUP. I will give a note of 3.5 out of 5. The Latte served there is a normal Latte. It has absolutely nothing special to say about it: it tastes coffee, it has a correct proportion of milk, espresso shots and foam, served in a transparent glass. It remains a good Latte, far better than any Latte served in any Starbucks. This establishment is a pizzeria serving italian dishes arranged to the taste of lithuanian people. Their hot dishes have no extra stuff, but it is tasty, and served quickly by the two members of staff working there. It is a small place with a big view. This small pizzeria has big windows bay from which you have a view on Vilnius. Not a fantastic view in fact, a view on the black waters of the Neris and the grey building accross, with many people crossing the pedestrian white bridge. I recommend to go there for sunset and order there a pizza and a latte. Simple combination. No better place to threat yourself after work.

The Presto is a coffee company like Double Coffee and you can find many of their stores well located accross the city. The stores I have tested are located in Europa and on Trakai street. I would give a maybe fair note of 1.5 out of 5. The latte is served in a small white cup. It taste coffee but disappointed me a lot. It seems they use skimmed milk to make their latte and it tastes very much like water. The fact that it is served with a little coffee bean does not smoothened my unsatisfaction. The place itself are not particulary attractive. It is small without being cosy and it is noisy. Bad experience really and we could not wait to leave the place really.

The Mambopizza is located on Gedimino prospektas which is Vilnius main street, but not on the most passing section. It has a covered terrace advancing on the pavement which is quite pleasant in summer. However, I gave this establishment a harsh note of 1.5 out of 5.
The Latte macchiato served there has definitly lost its capital letter. The milk was burned, the shots were burned too or they maybe use a low quality of coffee, the beverage did not taste like a latte, actually it tastes anything particular. The place is far too dark, they failed to create a cosy atmosphere. Even air seems to be lacking there. The pathway is none existant: When you enter, tables are right in the path and you have to squizze yourself against the wall to make your way to the long bar. The armchairs are not particularly confortable and the tables are too high. They offer hot and cold beverages, pretty much all tastless and alcoholic drinks. The Mambopizza offers an average selection of italian dishes arranged to the lithuanien taste, but even the traditional lithuanian cold soup made with beetroot looked not fresh and untasty. They are trying without much effort, consequence of that: they are not convincing, therefore they desserve their note..

I will continue my Latte benchmarking throughout spring and summer in Vilnius, and surely in other towns of Lithuania. After all, this calm country has a lot to offer.
Our next target will be Fortas, and other independant coffee shops.

Don't mess with the crows

One of Vilnius symbols could be the crow. There are a big number of them flying and croaking above the capitale. Beware, the crows are always watching you...

Vilnius: 1st day of spring!

Today, we could really feel spring coming. We went for a long walk along the Neris, then climbed to the castle. Here is a general view of the Vilnius upper castle, built during the 14th century. This time, bricks were used instead of wood too easily burned by the enemy: The Teutonic Order.

Below, a close-up of the Gedimino castle. Inside, you will find a museum. It was much higher before, but you can still catch a superb view of Vilnius from its top.

Then, we went down hill and reached the cathedral square: The cathedral tower is our "little Pise"


A few step away from here, the passing Pilies gatve (Castle street), with all its small craft shops and welcoming cafe.



(Love is in the air...)

Short Snow Storm in Vilnius

It's when you think the spring is coming soon, and you are just about to celebrate that the winter strikes back hard. For an hour, the snow, carried by raging guts of wind, fell on the city. Fortunately, we were not outside but keeping ourselves busy in our cosy flat. Locals are maybe used to such weather, nevertheless it was an impressive snow storm. At some point, we saw a electric flash in the sky followed by a cracking noise: First time ever I witnessed a lightning during a snow fall. This pix was taken from the balcony of our appartement tonight. A surreal atmosphere, that was.

Lithuanian trolleybus(as)

Lithuanian trolleybuses are usually old and slow. In winter, the ice often covers the windows inside, appart from the front window obviously. Its a bit like sitting in a fridge or in the cave of an iceberg. As you can't see outside, its sometimes hard to locate yourself, you have to scratch the ice until you create a small patch of clear area and peek out, or wait for the vehicule to stop and open its doors.
The best place is on the right side of the trolley, 2nd seat behind the middle door. Why? because there is a little electric heater on the floor which, when it works (rarely actually), keeps your legs warm. It can be as cold inside as outside, especially when the driver forgets to close the doors when driving which happens often on the line 13.

This pix has been taken today, on my way back from work. Yeah, its old, but has its charms...You can also notice that I am sitting at the best place, just above the heater. Each stop is announced by a recorded women voice: Kita stotele...Saltinielis.... The first time I heard this voice, I nearly jumped wondering what it was. First, You dont expect these old trolleybuses to have such system, and second, the strange voice seems to be coming from "outerspace", like if suddenly you were in an old sci fi movie.
There is now a new model of trolleybus running as well, much faster, but they are not many and they do break down as often as the old ones. Here is below an outside view of an old model:

You may have noticed the electric cables hanging above the street, (top left), and the yellow "antennas" sticking out of the roof. When the trolleybus turns and get too far from this cable, the antennas get detached from them, and the vehicule simply stops where it is, then the driver has to get out and play with some ropes at the back to reposition the sticks. And beleive me, nobody is happy when it happens.

Yes, if you ever come to Vilnius, you will quickly see one of these fat and slow bugs. You will also find normal buses, slightly faster but as old as the trolleybuses, and the minibus, very fast, but using them to commute is at your own risks, they crash a lot.

Time to relax, Vilnius, Lithuania, -10 C outside. 10 cm of snow.

After an other very boring day at work (that's me speaking), Daiva and I went to the Intro visiting our friend and local DJ Jonathan. That evening, he was playing some reggae to a buzzing audience. I have to say this kind of music is not really my cup of tea as I am more fond of Heavy Metal. However the atmosphere was relax and welcoming, which confirms that the Lithuanian University students are not so scary after all ;-). Also important to say about the Intro: the beer, despite it is served in plastic cups, is fresh and tasty.
Jonathan keeps on repeating that Lithuania is the best place to live in the world...(and he travels a lot). If the beer remains always nice, I will believe in him.

Note: Today was also the Women's day...Hey, here is a cute one passing by! Meet Daiva, my beloved girl friend. Sweet and wild creature to meet when the moon is full, isn't she?

Daiva and I cannot wait to see the longer and warmer days coming back. We are in march (time flies here), but the Neris is still covered with a thick layer of ice and snow. It seems that the Winter wants to mark deeply the land and the people before withdrawing reluctantly.