A couple of reasons helped me to decide picking Caffè Gambrinus for a quick stop:
- Their absolutely beautiful and charming in-store decoration, (with a classy and vintage look)
- To try an authentic Naples cappuccino,
- And to finally have a Sfogliatelle (traditional Neapolitan pastry) – a flaky pastry stuffed with a delicious ricotta cream.
My order
We both decided to have a cup of coffee there and get the sfogliatelle for take away.
Here is the complete order:
- Hubby: caffe del nonno – espresso blended with vanilla ice cream.
- Mine: Italian cappuccino – double espresso and steamed milk foam.
- To share: sfogliatelle riccia and sfogliatelle frolla.
You may not know but there are two main types of sfogliatelle:
Sfogliatelle frolla (rounded) and Sfogliatelle riccia (curly).
Of course, I decided to try them both. But here is the difference between them:
Sfogliatelle riccia (the curly one): the crust is some sort of puff pastry (using lard instead of butter), crunchy and flaky.
The filling is not super sweet, made of a mixture of semolina, ricotta, eggs, sugar, candied citrus and cinnamon.
You must eat it still warm, preferrably fresh out the oven.
Sfogliatelle frolla (the rounded one): uses pasta frolla (shortbread crust) instead of the flaky sfoglia crust.
The filling is pretty much the same; a mixture of semolina, ricotta, eggs, sugar, candied citrus and cinnamon.
Everything was very good.
I personally liked the sfogliatelle frolla better, its pastry is more my type of thing.
No words for its filling though, definitely something from heaven.
I had it again as a pie filling on one of my train trips, simply delicious!
The verdict
The place architecture is beautiful, coffee and pastry equally good. However, they get packed due to its central location!
There is always a waiting line for seating and waiters tend to get a bit distracted.
So in case you are short in time just place your order directly at the counter.
Interesting enough, they charge €0.50 to use their toilets, even if you ordered something.
Unusual, but kinda understandable due to the number of tourists in the surroundings.
Exact location: maps.google.com/maps/ZQEvqxT4vgx
More information: www.grancaffegambrinus.com/en/
You can check more posts here on the blog about my holidays in Europe and also everything I published about Italy or Naples.