Cafe Cay

Review

Sounds like tea, is coffee

Photo: Heribert Corn What can the Yppenplatz/Yppenmarkt do better than - let's say - the Naschmarkt? Firstly, there's hardly any car traffic, but it's a real square; the market doesn't give the impression of dying, it's not just a backdrop, but a living backdrop; the crowd is multicultural, young, urban, lots of fathers on maternity leave, hardly any tourists, which creates a certain identity; and the range of restaurants here, which is not exactly weak either, is somehow more relaxed. Firstly, the restaurants here hardly crowd out the market stalls, but rather "line" them, and secondly, not everyone here does what their neighbor does, but rather the opposite. Which leads to great places like Wetter, one of the best Italians in town, Kiang Winebar (at least for a few more weeks), the atmospheric La Salvia, the cool Truksitz and the two An-Dos (the soon-to-open Brauwerk thing sounds a bit hypertrophic, but let's see) - one complements the other.
The newest Yppen eatery is called Cay, which is short for "Café am Yppenplatz" and is not pronounced like Indian tea, but more like the agent played by Tommy Lee Jones in "Men in Black", if I've understood correctly. Until last year, Cay was home to various vegetarian Indian eateries, which were lovely anyway, but just - not just visually - borderline boring. Daniela Condric and Ivica Matisic changed all that by turning the bland Indian restaurant into a really appealing café with a bit of bamboo wood, old 60s armchairs with colorful seat covers, a bit of industrial lamps, a bit of flowers and a bit of sixties-style wall painting, very pleasant. Above all, of course, the Cay scores points with its huge façade window overlooking Yppenplatz, and the fact that a jazz station from the internet was chosen as the background music was perhaps not the worst idea. The cuisine is rather minimal, with the inevitable breakfasts, two soups and two pasta dishes. The vegetable soup was as good as you rarely get - the carrots soft, celery and cauliflower with a good bite, not cooked to a pulp, eggplants in decent quantities, lots of herbs, very pleasant soup (€ 3.50). The cannelloni, interestingly not labeled as vegetarian, unfortunately lacked this harmony a little, the mushroom filling could have used a little more zing, and the béchamel was more reminiscent of a lasagne, which was also available that day, so probably a simple mix-up (€ 8.90). Be that as it may, the coffee is from Accademia del Caffè and is quite good. All in all, it's a very reasonable package. To sum up: a small place that looks nice, where you can get a good espresso and a bit to eat. Should be enough here anyway. Cay 16., Payerg. 14/3 Tel. 0650/633 90 74 Tue-Sun 9am-2pm

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