My partner and I often called his grandparents on Sunday to check up on them and update them about our lives here in New Zealand. They sometimes mentioned about their favourite coffee shop name Las Violetas Café which is very close to their place. So in my recent visit to Buenos Aires, Argentina, we had a coffee date with my partner's grandparents at this very famous and historic café shop.
Las Violetas café is now over 125 years old and it's extraordinarily popular among locals, especially in the afternoon as everyone here love their coffee and sweet for their afternoon tea. I am not a big fan of sweet stuff, savoury is more likely my style. However, after 3 weeks visiting Argentina, I fell in love with sweets. We arrived at 3pm on Monday and this place was packed with people. Lucky for us we didn't have to queue up as it was not on the weekend.
We ordered black coffee, tea, some medialunas (croissants) and a piece of my favourite - Tiramisu cake. Even though it was crowded, it didn't take long for them to prepare our order. I was so surprised when seeing some heart-shaped cookies which was brought together with the coffee. It is not common in NZ so I thought they made a mistake with our order. Later I found out that whenever you order coffee here, you will get some sweet cookies to have with your drink. I think it is really a nice way to treat your customer. But it will be better if they ask first because I can see not many people will eat the cookies, meaning it will become waste.
Little heart-shaped cookies to have with your coffee - for me totally ❤️ it
Here comes my favourite Tiramisu - creamy and rich in flavour. I prefer they added a bit more liquor in it but I won't complain about this beautiful one
After finishing our coffee and cakes, my partner and I went around the shop to have a look. This place is not so big but a good size for the afternoon tea. I don't want to imagine it on the weekend as our grandparents said it is always packed.
A big area in this café is dedicated for sweet lovers. They can just come, pick anything they want and then out on their way - simple, easy and no hassle at all.
Look at these cuties, I wish I could have stayed longer to taste all of them
I love how they decorated the walls with old paintings - really old styles. I sometimes envy the old things as they have been witnesses our changing world, they have met so many people in their lifetime. Oh shoot I talking nonsense stuff right now. Whenever I see old things, my mind wonders to the past.
It was not easy to stand outside, in front of the café and take photos of the place so here I present to you the entrance of the café from the inside. You can see there was a friendly waiter standing outside to greet customers.
My partner lost his voice on that day so I was a bit nervous at first as it would be hard for me to communicate with his grandparents. I only spoke "poquito" - a little bit of Spanish and his grandparents - a little bit of English and in a busy café would make it more difficult. But it was actually the opposite. We both enjoyed our companies together and because we often talk about this place, it brought me a familiar feeling.
Buenos Aires in general and Las Violetas Café in particular is a heaven for coffee and cake lovers. It is one of the things that I miss the most about Argentina - spending afternoon tea with friends and family and talk about our lives. Well sometimes you don't even need to talk, just to be with each others is enough.
Designed with Canva
