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The Oldest Cafe in Tallinn: Maiasmokk Cafe and Kalev Marzipan Museum Room

If you are like me when travelling who is constantly on the lookout for lovely historical places to have a cup of coffee or tea and elegant hotspots to hangout, then you have come to the right blog!

In Tallinn, Estonia I am sure you will want to visit Maiasmokk Cafe. The cafe is owned by the confectionery company, Kalev and in their branch in Tallinn Old Town, they have a Marzipan Museum Room and a candy shop as well.

The little terrace on the entrance in Suurgildi Plats (a small corner square). The main entrance of the cafe is on Pikk Street, just behind this building.

Kalev Marzipan Museum Room
Website: Kalev Marzipan Museum Room

Adjacent to Maiasmokk Cafe is the Kalev Marzipan Museum Room. The museum is tiny sharing with the Kalev confectionery shop which sells mostly marzipan candies.

Visiting is free of charge and when a crowd gathers, there is someone from the shop who gives a short lecture about the history and making of Marzipan. What is interesting about this museum are two things:

(1) They have samples of different kinds of marzipan designs, from figurines to plates to whatnots, about 200 in all displayed in the museum room.
(2) There is a resident marzipan artist that you can watch while he or she paints the sweet goodies.

The Marzipan shop, all sweets are Kalev’s products.

These plates with embossed design and painting are marzipan sweets displayed in the museum. I am sure you would rather preserve them and not eat them, would you?

The man is giving a short lecture about marzipan to eager tourists.

The marzipan artist in action. I am sure those paint are edible.

The finished marzipan candies. Great to give as coming home presents.

Maiasmokk Cafe
Website: Maiasmokk Cafe

The official entrance of Maiasmokk Cafe is at Pikk Street, but if you entered at the Suurgildi Plats (the corner square) via the Kalev Marzipan Museum, you can as well take a short cut inside through the door in the middle and you will arrive at the cafe.

Maiasmokk means ‘sweet tooth’. I am far from the sweet tooth type, thus when I sit at cafes, I do not come for the bonbons, pastries, candies and cakes. I come for the coffee or tea.

The cafe is unique in Tallinn because it is the oldest cafe in the country and has been left unchanged since 1864. Through the years, the cafe and its building have been handed down to different entrepreneurs and have even gone through company mergers, however, it is important to note that this was the same cafe and confectionery shop that has always been here on this exact same place and who also used to supply the Tsar of Russia marzipans back then.

The design on the golden ceiling. 

Having my cafe (espresso). They always serve it with water.

A cafe that goes back a century ago and managed to survive and kept its tradition and interior design through the years.

This is on the Suurgildi Plats (little corner square). The yellow pretty building is the Kalev Marizpan Museum Room & Confectionery Shop. At the back is Maiasmokk Cafe. There is an outdoor terrace here as well where you can opt to take your snack and drink your coffee.

Travel Period: May 2013
Destination: Tallinn, Estonia

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