Reportedly,
the most hipster place in Warsaw is Saviour Square ('Plac Zbawiciela'
in Polish), and the most hipster place in Saviour Square is
Charlotte. When I was in Warsaw, I decided to investigate it myself,
especially because I really liked the Charlotte café and bakery in
Kraków (you can read about it here).
Saviour
Square seems to be one of the most charming corners in the Polish
capital. The round square with solid buildings in Socialist realism
style is dominated by a neo–baroque Church of the Most Holy Saviour
and a half–burnt rainbow awaiting reconstruction. Charlotte is
housed in one of the buildings with a colonnade, under which you can find
a pleasant beer garden with a view of the whole Square. The café’s
interior is rather stark and industrial but it's enlivened with a
huge common table decorated with fresh flowers.
My friend,
Jasmine, and I sat at one of the few free tables under the colonnade
and we were immediately approached by a cute waiter. With his side
swept blonde fringe and impeccably white shirt he didn't look like a
hipster at all. We discreetly glanced around but unfortunately we
couldn't notice anyone bashing out at their typewriter, wearing their
granddad’s clothes or even wearing glasses without lenses. We were
a bit disappointed. ;)
Nothing in
the menu seemed particularly hipster, either. We had a problem to
choose just one dish from all the French delicacies but finally
Jasmine ordered quiche with ham and asparagus (PLN 9), while I
settled on a French toast called pain perdu (literally 'lost bread'
in French), which was golden, crunchy and lavishly covered with honey
(PLN 12). Yum. :)
Sipping
aromatic coffee, we almost gave up hope of meeting a real hipster but
at last I saw him! He was wearing a hat (granddad’s?),
thick–framed, black glasses, checked shirt, rolled up corduroy
trousers and the final proof – elegant, leather shoes without
socks. So Charlotte does sometimes become hipsters' den. Mystery
solved. ;)
Address:
Plac Zbawiciela (Savior Square), Warsaw
