Near to the Alter Markt (Old Market Square) on Brodgasse, the Café Konditorei Fürst is one of the oldest coffee houses in Salzburg, which produces fine confectionary, the Original Mozartkugeln, cakes and offer delicious coffee as well.
The History and Background
The history of Café Konditorei Fürst started in 1884 when confectioner Paul Fürst opened his first confectionery shop. After many years of experiments, he invented the worldwide famous ‘‘Original Salzburger Mozartkugel’’, which is still the most popular thing to buy for the visitors of Salzburg. Nowadays, the café is run by the 5th generation of the Fürst family, by the great-great-grandson of the founder – Martin Fürst and still produces the ‘‘Mozartkugel’’ according to the traditional recipe and processes.
Original Salzburger Mozartkugel
Writing about the Café Konditorei Fürst mentioning the ‘‘Original Salzburger Mozartkugel’’ is inevitable. Everyone should have tasted the ‘‘Original Salzburger Mozartkugel’’ if they were at least once in Salzburg. Chocolate balls filled with pistachio marzipan and coated with hazelnut nougat and dark chocolate are what make it unique. As mentioned by Martin Fürst – ‘‘There are many Mozartkugel – but only one original’’. The Mozartkugel produced by Café Konditorei Fürst is only sold in their four locations in Salzburg and online shop.
The Atmosphere
As soon as I stepped in a moment, I thought that I had entered a café in the 1900s. The old building, dark green leathered sofas, old wooden chairs, old-styled flooring, the low ceiling, the wooden wall-shelf behind the counter, everything together create the atmosphere that you are traveling back in time. Luckily because of the pandemics, there were a lot of free places, and it was not overcrowded, so I had a chance to sit, drink coffee, eat a cake and write about it
As I have been told from one of the employees, they have many local customers but even more tourists and visitors because of its history, Mozartkugel, and if there are people who never heard of it, the location plays an important role. Additionally, he said that in late spring and summer, they have sitting places outside of the restaurant which is the perfect option for the visitors to sit and enjoy the ice creams in hot weather.
The Menu
There are no doubts that everyone buys Mozartkugels there, but apart from that, the café offers a wide variety of cakes, confectionery, and drinks. The cakes are placed in a glass counter where a customer can have a look and choose from there. The variety of the cakes includes the famous Sachertorte, Cremeschnitte, the Apfelstrudel, and many more. Visitors have the option to enjoy breakfast till 13:30, but the cafe doesn’t offer a wide variety of choices, and the prices vary from 7€ to 14.40€ (depending on the size of the breakfast). Besides that, I found out that there are offering alcoholic drinks as well, including beer, wine, aperitifs, and spirits. Additionally, they provide different types of ice creams and cold shakes in summer.
My Experience
As there was a large variety of cakes, it was a bit hard for me to choose which one I wanted to try. After staring at the names on the menu and looking at the cakes from the glass counter, I finally decided on two different types of cakes. The ‘‘Heidelbeertorte’’ – a blueberry cream cake with a marmalade topping was very delicious and soft. I could not remember the name exactly, but it was something like ‘‘Nusstorte’’, which was a biscuit with mixed nuts cream inside.
I tried two different types of coffee, one cappuccino and one ‘‘Hauskaffee’’. The cappuccino was as expected and the ‘‘Hauskaffee’’ was a regular coffee without milk, but with cream (in German, they call it – Schlagobers) on top. I enjoyed and loved the cakes and the coffee as well and besides that the service provided by a man, aged over 45-50 was terrific. He was very friendly, very welcoming, explained to me everything I asked and in every second word he was saying ‘‘Danke’’ which is thank you in German, which made him more memorable for my experience in that café.
Summary
In summary, Café Konditorei Fürst is a must-go place in Salzburg if you want to experience the history and heavenly cakes with delicious coffee. The location is fantastic; it is just a few mins walk from Mozart’s birthplace and the main shopping street in Old City. Additionally, I would say that the prices are very acceptable for such a historic place. In summer, you should be ready for long waiting lines and difficulty to find a free table, but every minute standing outside in the hot summer would be worth to at least once have a sip of a coffee, enjoy every mouthful of cake, and experience how it is to sit in a café which was opened more than 130 years ago.
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