Café Dan 咖啡丹
No. 41, Lane 248 Taikang Lu,
Luwan
near Sinan Lu
泰康路248弄41号
近思南路
6466-1042
www.idancoffee.com
info@idancoffee.com
Open 10:30am-10pm
Price Less than Y99 per couple
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- City Weekend says
This small café may look like any Taikang Lu shop, but take a sip of their luxurious coffee and you'll understand the distinction. Taka, the Café’s owner, personally roasts the coffee beans that go into every perfectly foamed cappuccino. Fresh juices and generous desserts round out the menu.
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Great place to just relax and chat with friends, the coffee and tea are impeccably prepared there, with very friendly waiters. Just take care when you're climbing the stairs, and you'll find yourself well rewarded with a very peaceful and calm environment away from the busy metropolitan city of Shanghai.
I came here with a few friends having heard about the fantastic tiramisu and coffee at this place. The RMB50 tiramisu was disappointing--barely any flavour and with too thick a layer of cream, and same went for the matcha cake--no flavour at all. I realize there are people who appreciate desserts that are not cloying sweet (I am one of them), but the other flavours should be strong in that case. Nope. My friends all ordered drinks, and granted nobody ordered a coffee, but they were very disappointed with the hot chocolate and RMB60 "hot chocolate with coffee". There was a white blob on top of the"hot chocolate with coffee" that my friend mistook for a homemade marshmallow and turned out to be a blob of cream. At these prices, we expected a lot more. RMB60 for a lemonade? Gimme a break.
Good atmosphere, great coffee, terrible prices for food.
For a coffee-loving Canadian hell-bent retaining some connection to coffee culture, Cafe Dan has proven a perfect hideaway. The quality of the coffee is comparable to chic, organic, fair-trade boutiques in my home on Canada's South West Coast, and for China that seems to be quite rare. The diversity of the blends is also terribly indulgent and I admit that ogling the menu is often half the fun. Thus far I have stayed true to simple black coffee and have yet to sample lattes or otherwise but, the coffee is never bitter, always complex, and available in such variety that there is sure to be a taste for everyone.
I usually also indulge in a slice of cake and find the tiramisu and chocolate cake better than most, but nothing particularly special. The cheesecake however, is perfectly prepared: simple and rich with just the right texture and sourness. Recently I also tried some of their matcha latte and was immensely pleased. It may threaten my loyalty to coffee.
As for atmosphere and service: A+. Though I know it's a bit kitschy and touristy, I love the quaint, split level seating area on the upper floor(s), and find the comparatively quiet and serene atmosphere perfect for an afternoon of studying, postcard writing or otherwise relaxing. The staff is friendly and helpful and the menu includes English so even fresh off the airplane and 100% Mandarin-free, Cafe Dan will not prove insurmountable.
One small warning though: go during the day (on weekdays) because if you wait until anywhere around the dinner hour, you will likely find this charming little coffee shop stuffed to the hilt and may end up outside on the debatably comfortable chairs (I found them fine, my larger male friends did not).
Overall: a perfect hide-out for coffee buffs and those in need of a quiet place to recover from the bustle of Shanghai with a cup of caffeinated hapiness.
i cannot believe the reviews this place is getting!?! it is great! yeh ok its slow, the service is sporadic and the coffee is expensive BUT.....if you love coffee and you want something different then you have to try this place. Don't go in if you are in a rush, its a lazy sunday kind of place. The person in this blog who says they make better coffee at home, get out more, learn to enjoy different tastes. I personally love coffee and this is like going to a vineyard for wine lovers. Enjoy the experience, or don't clog up an already incredibly busy and character filled place up.
Went there yesterday with a friend from out-of-town who said he wanted to have a good cup of coffee. I knew the place was expensive but expected the coffee to be extraordinary at such unrealistically steep prices. My friend ordered a cup of blue mountain at RMB100. He is a coffee person said the coffee he made at home tasted much better than this ridiculously-priced cup. I ordered an iced chocolate (RMB45) and have to say it was very good with all the finely chopped choco chips inside. In fact the 2 stars were given to my choco drink, would have given 0 star for the coffee experience - which is a total rip off and don't understand all these ravings about "Mr Taka Niuya was a true coffee connoisseur" blah blah blah...
Great food, Hokkaido home cooking, but way overpriced and incompetent service. I mean, this place is run by a Japanese dude who spends a week brewing the perfect cup of coffee and he can;t train the waitstaff properly? It was like pulling teeth getting any service there and then they handed the bill before all the courses had been served. HELLO
Try the blue mountain for a special treat. The set lunches are a good option and executed well. Prices are steep but it does provide an unique offering, not found anywhere else in Shanghai.
Cafe Dan ruined my birthday. It is my birthday, and I wanted a cozy spot to relax and enjoy some food and good ambiance. Cafe Dan seemed to fit the bill. I went with a couple of friends. After 30-minutes, we flagged down the waitress to come take my order. I ordered a few things, but my friends had already eaten, so they didn't order. Cafe Dan has a 1-order per person requirement, so even though I ordered more than one item, my friends left. After about 15-minutes, the waitress sent 4-guys in to sit at my table. She was surprised that I was still there, apparently. She asked me if I would mind moving to a smaller table. No problem, I said. I got up. The guys sat down. I quickly realized that there was no other table for me to go to. They were kicking me out! If you want to go to a restaurant that values their customers (especially at these prices), go somewhere else. Thanks for ruining my birthday, Cafe Dan.
The place is very nice and cozy, we truly enjoyed it. However, for the price... Yes, the beans are roasted there and all... so? Still think the price is ridiculous. If I would go back again, probably not. Thanks though and I appreciate the owner's dedication. Good luck.
The coffee is pretty good, but the service is so slow on a busy Sunday, it's unbearable. The food and dessert are mediocre - it may be healthy, but tasteless.
I think this is just another gushing pointless review. I went there and it's just a plain old local coffee shop.
oops, in my review below, i omitted the words "non-dairy creamer".
If Mr Taka Niuya was a true coffee connoisseur surely he wouldn't be supplying a crappy non-dairy creamer rather than real milk/cream to his customers.
Dropped by today for an apres-lunch coffee to go. At prices starting at 40rmb per cup, the proprietor should alert patrons that each cup of coffee is about half the size of the industry standard. Our coffee was sized like a shot of an espresso, barely filling half of the small paper cup.
Further proof that the place is overpriced: A placard on the wall advertised Panama Geisha coffee at 108rmb ($15.80) a cup. I get a 12oz bag of this same varietal from Stumptown Coffee in the US for $33.75. Neither the atmosphere, ambiance nor general experience of Cafe Dan can attribute to the high mark-up.
The smoking gun: If Mr Taka Niuya was a true coffee connoisseur surely he wouldn't be supplying a crappy non- rather than real milk/cream to his customers. Yikes!
If you love coffee, you owe it to yourself to visit this place. It takes 20mins to get your coffee but it is a great experience. It is brewed the drip styled and it gives you a different experience from expresso-derived coffees. There are also some very interesting japanese coffee snacks such as the smoked cheese and jellies. yum...
A charming wooden decor, very nice staff, good coffee but... I know it's Taikang Lu so prices are higher than usual, but c'm'on, guys, your food and drinks menu is just overpriced ! 40 RMB for a hot chocolate ! According to my friends, they have a rather cheap and excellent old Japanese whiskey, though.
The coffee was excellently brewed. The brunch menu was unusual but very tasty and satisfying. Still a quiet, mellow place to enjoy a cup of coffee while overlooking the ever-crowded Taikang Lu.
Correction: no eggs on the the menu. The cafe makes and serves homemade bread!
Every cup coffee made at this place is prepared with love and attention to detail. That's what happens when a physicist decides to open a Coffee Roasting Institute and cafe.
Mr Taka Niuya made a perfect latte for my companion, and I enjoy a cup of their medium house blend that was smooth and flavourful. My other guests also enjoyed their hot chocolate, fresh juice and desserts. The cheesecake is excellent and the homemade coffee jelly perhaps a bit light in coffee flavour. The menu also includes some light breakfast, lunch and dinner items like eggs, sandwiches and pasta.
We dropped by after dinner on the evening of Lunar New Year Day, when most shops and cafes in the Taikang Lu area were closed. Mr Taka and his wife gave us a quiet, warm welcome into their charming, wood-cabin style cafe. The entrance is a display of the coffee roasting equipment and a narrow staircase leads you up to the small seating areas and a few stools by the bar.
Good quality, thoughtful preparation and attention to detail in service. Definitely a place to sit back and truly enjoy a cup of coffee.
I went there last week and was diasappointed. I didnt have service issues however the coffee was ridiculously expensive as the guy referring to Stumptown mentions. My personal opinion is that there are way too many coffees on offer here. Which means that each one doesnt get ordered enough so then the roaster is roasting the hell out of the bean so the surface oils increase which results in some taste even after some weeks - thus prolonging shelf life but resulting in espresso roast style coffees being served as drip. Beans should be consumed within 2-3 weeks of roasting. Most roasts on a drip system should be light to medium with the process being stopped sometime after the first crack. So if drinking a coffee at over 100rmb i expect it not to be overroasted. The menu states light roasts, judging by the coffee bean colour there was no light roasting - light brown in colour. I also felt the grind of the barista was too coarse which probably affected the taste. We didnt try the food which looked good, but a small cup of coffee roasted in my opinion wrongly was not great product. Most good single variety coffee on drip should really be full of delicate flavours with acidity a key factor, it should be lively and fresh with nice sweetness, like a good wine, i didnt feel this here - i got some fruit flavours, perhaps black cherry but no depth and no journey. Apologies to the owner as he is clearly trying to offer something different however for the price, method and roast times they need to be adjusted in my humble opinion.