Demel's Plunder
Not your ordinary mille-feuille pastry
shipped in frozen from a dough factory in the Palaeozone,
but mille-feuille created fresh daily in their own Backstube,
using yeast dough with layers of the freshest butter.
Man appeared in Holocene,coinciding with the Plunder period.
Man prospered
after the cell phone was invented.
There was a simple reason for that:
It was so much more efficient to call in
a breakfast reservation at Demel's
than making your own
hunting for breakfast mammoth!
Man may be an evolutionary latecomer,
but Charles Darwin appeared in time
to espouse about the tenets of evolution
by natural selection!
A Propos Selection:
Would you prefer
the Guglhupf to the right
or the one to the left?
Would You Rather
have more icing on the cake of life?
Or different layers?
Annatorte chocolate cake
wrapped with hazelnut nougat
or Schichttorte,
filled with layers of poppyseeds, hazelnut and apples?
I voted for Annatorte,
and a pot of Earl Grey!
I slowly savoured
cake fork after cake fork
loaded with chocolaty decadence,
while outside the city
slipped into evening mood.
Murano Chandeliers
light up the room
but empty tables are heralding
closing time at Demel's.
Photographed by Merisi
in April 2009
K.u. K Hofzuckerbäcker
Demel Royal and Imperial Confectioners
CH. DEMEL' S SÖHNE GmbH
Kohlmarkt 14
Note:
"Man in the Holocene"
- "Der Mensch erscheint im Holozän" -
is the title of a novella
by the Swiss writer Max Frisch
Chocolate overload! When is that next plane to Vienna?
ReplyDeleteOh, how I loved your witty evolutionary allusions to go with the supurb pictures! I am still smiling :-)
ReplyDeleteI have never been in to Demel's... must remember to do that when I come over in May.
ReplyDeleteI'm so in love with your photos! I could paper the walls with them!
ReplyDeleteSuch beautiful pastries! And the flowers in your recent posts are just exquisite! Thank you so much for brightening my day with your amazing images!
ReplyDeleteBetty
well
ReplyDeletei do wonder if secretly
you are Paid in Product
to feature
yummies
here.
{{ you make them
look
so good... }}
:-)
now,
wouldn't that be
a good
idea?
Your journey in Annatorte'schocolate decadence is a real movie! I'm dreaming at your pictures I can't resist this dark cake under Murano's Chandelier...a Visconti 's movie?(a dream that have to be painted!)
ReplyDeleteWell, Merisi, every time that I think I have seen the perfect Demel pastry or cake, and am able to make my selection, that is when you produce more spectacular choices!
ReplyDeleteMagnificent baking skills, civilized and very evolved setting. Thank you for your marvelous photographs and words.
xo
Merisi,
ReplyDeleteI'd be happy to tag along for the day on your next photo assignment!
You and I will make a perfect team. You take the pictures. I eat the cake! That's teamwork, no? :-)
Oh, are you making me hungry!
ReplyDeletespacedlaw,
ReplyDeleteyou at the airport yet? ;-)
Wandring Star,
it makes my day when I can cause somebody to smile! :-)
Gavin Plumley,
that place is neither a real Kaffeehaus nor only a pastry shop, even though it shows signs of both. Demel is a Gesamtkunstwerk, and a unique one at that. Detractors may call it theater. In my opinion it is highest performance art.
Vickie,
ReplyDeletethat would be interesting! ;-)
The Gossamer Tearoom,
you are welcome, Betty! :-)
somepinkflowers,
I solemny swear to never ever have had a crumb without paying for it (a matter of principle, seriously - I have quite an independent streak).
I do appreciate good work.
Bridget,
Visconti would have been great,
but I'd take Zeffirelli any day (he has Opera experience, after all!).
I shall look out for your dream painting! :-)
Frances,
you are welcome!
Demel's pastries and cakes would really deserve better pictures! Unfortunately, the lighting in the shop is such that only one of ten pictures or so is not totally blurred.
The Girl From Cherry Blossom Street,
fantastic, you are hired!
I only ate half the cake,
it is exquisite, but so darn rich. It's usually a strudel that I eat, if I'll have anything at all.
I'll have whatever you are having! It ALL looks SO good!! One day my husband and I would like to live in Vienna. And when we do.....we must sell our car and force ourselves to walk everywhere so that we can enjoy all that Demel's has to offer and not gain 200 pounds! :D
ReplyDelete~Allie
Torte and Earl Gray?
ReplyDeleteWow.
By all means the Annatorte! Und ja! to the Earl Grey as well.
ReplyDelete"mille-feuille created fresh daily in their own Backstube,
ReplyDeleteusing yeast dough with layers of the freshest butter." ~ wish I were there to plunder the plunder! And everything else you are showing us here too....
Yummy cakes, and the surroundings is so elegant and beautiful.
ReplyDeleteHave a perfect weekend.
Alexander
Alex's World! - http://www.kakinan.com/alex
The third and fourth images are lovely. From the flowers the hands seem an extension, and the mobile phone as well.
ReplyDeleteMerisi, are you seriously telling us that you left half of that slice of voluptuous choclitude behind on your plate and just walked out?
ReplyDeleteWhat a fine atmosphere at Demel's!
ReplyDeleteWonderful photographs, Merisi!
I think you must be very busy to update your blog every day with so many beautiful pictures!
Have a great weekend! :-)
Simply fabulous! What a decadent setting for a delicious indulgence! And your perspective is so, very clever!!!! Love this!
ReplyDeleteAnnatorte, Earl Grey, and thou! Wish I was there--but your blog is the next best thing.
ReplyDeletetasting all the Austrian goodies is an experience by itself, and you put it wonderfully in images and words!
ReplyDeleteI blamed you when my husband asked why Demel is on my must see list :)
ReplyDeleteI've no idea at all how you can down that Torte Anna and survive to shoot another day...
ReplyDeleteNever seen anything close to that top-heavy lushness in ole Paree...
Jamais!
Yum--I'd take one of each of those cakes. These photos are all so luscious. Wonderful!
ReplyDeleteI'm sure I could live in Vienna, love the ambiance
ReplyDeleteI like very much your page !!!
ReplyDeleteOh lord, now I'm famished!
ReplyDeleteGreat post and very... yummy :-)
ReplyDeleteI was lucky to try the Annatorte when Demel was in nyc So sorry they left It was amazing Such a wonderful place!!
ReplyDelete