Vacilando

Vacilando is a sui generis café, the kind you could spend a few hours in a world that doesn’t exist anywhere else. The lounge welcoming you looks more like an antique store with enough room to walk around for a change. Nothing reaperts itself, no two things are a pair, yet everything seems to complement each other perfectly.

Usually good-looking coffee shops tend to be just that. An ex-architect or a designer having decided to open up a well-curated ambiance that happens to be selling coffee, the most sought after drink in the world. But Vacilando stands out from this 21st century trend.

The café makes a point of sustainability and ethical consumption paired with excellent patisserie. Most items in and around their display cabinet is either vegan or vegetarian. Their produce comes from small producers and changes not seasonally but weekly depending on what’s available. Most food waste is repurposed somehow and intelligently.

What to order: The baked goods, especially quiches and sweet tarts are excellent. They are rich and flavorful. Especially the summer fruit tarts, my favorite being fig tart, are perhaps the best in the city. Other items you can have are house water keffirs, granola, small brand products like jams, olive oil, etc.

Their online activist stance is also one that I admire. Not only about sustainable consumption but also regarding social justice Vacilando’s official account does not stay brand-happy but bites the bullet.