Café Raabe

For generations, if you needed shoes in Kellinghusen, you came to this corner. The red brick building curves around the upper end of the market square, the kind of rounded corner that old northern German shops have, with the doorway tucked into the bend rather than cut out of it.

In August it opened again as Café Raabe, run by Maria Lohmann and her partner Bernd Rodewyk, and they timed the first day to the start of the Töpfermarkt. In a town built on ceramics, with a museum dedicated to its own faience, that is about the best week of the year to open anything. There is a small hand painted sign hanging outside with a raven on it, because Raabe sounds like Rabe, and a little yellow tile with the number 15 next to the door. Somebody really put their heart and mind into thinking about all these details.

The Records

The first thing worth knowing about the inside is not the furniture. It is that there are vinyl records and books, and they are not there as decoration. You can pick something out, put it on, sit down and read.

This is one of the things we love about small towns in northern Germany. People stay a while. They talk to each other, they talk to the people behind the counter, and we never feel the rush to turn the table over. Our German is far from perfect, and it never once mattered here. Everyone was warm with us both times.

You order at the counter yourself and then they bring the food and drinks over to you, which is a nice middle ground. No waiting to catch someone’s eye, and you can also relax and chill while waiting for your drinks to come.

Everything else follows from that easy feeling. The room is much deeper than the street suggests, opening up and running back around a corner with a step down near the counter. The tables are thick reclaimed planks, and you catch yourself running a finger along them while you talk. None of the chairs match, which seems like a design decision and feels like somebody’s living room, and in the corner there is a red velvet armchair next to the vinyl for people to sit and listen, and it is obviously the best seat in the house.

Two Afternoons

We came twice in a short stretch, both on weekdays.

The sunny one was quiet. A couple of other customers sitting outside, the red and white striped awning rolled out over the windows, bunting strung across the street outside, and enough calm that you could hear the cups and the street and your own conversation.

The rainy one was full. And this was the visit that took a spot in our hearts, because when it is grey and gloomy outside, this room does the opposite. The light comes through those tall windows soft rather than dull, a lot of tables were taken, but it didn’t feel too crowded. People were chatting to one another, and they talked to the staff behind the counter too. You walk in damp and slightly sorry for yourself and about four minutes later you feel fine and cosy.

What We Drank and Ate

We do not drink coffee, so we cannot judge theirs and we are not going to pretend otherwise. What we can say is that there is a proper barista counter here, and a tall shelf near the back stacked with bags of beans to take home. Somebody is clearly taking this seriously. And the people who do drink coffee here seem very happy about it.

We had the hot chocolate, which comes in a thick ridged tumbler with a good foam head on top. It stays warm long enough that you never have to rush it. The team also offered us some water, in a glass swing top bottle with two small glasses on a metal tray. For people who don’t drink coffee like us, there are apple juice and lemonade too.

We also ordered some sweets. Franzbrötchen came on a white plate with a thin gold rim, the proper flat spiralled kind with the cinnamon caramelised down into the folds. They warmed it up for us, which we did not ask for and did not expect, and which makes a bigger difference to a Franzbrötchen than it has any right to.

But the thing we would absolutely order again is the homemade chocolate muffin. Rich, properly chocolatey, clearly made in house rather than bought in, and not a huge portion, which we liked. Enough to feel like a treat without ruining your appetite for dinner. We can tell you almost nothing else about it, because it was gone before either of us remembered the camera. You will have to take our word for that one.

The One We Missed

We came in the afternoon both times, so breakfast was never going to happen for us, but the chalkboard A-board is standing right there and it is hard to ignore. There is a Levante option, flatbread with hummus, sheep cheese, a savoury cream cheese, cucumber, tomato, olives and olive oil, with a croissant and apricot jam. That is not what you expect to find on a market square in rural Holstein, and it is the reason we have to go back. The other one is called Buntes Wochenende, with a Laugenecke and Mettwurst, and there’s an option to add a croissant and jam.

From the name of that second one, and from what we understand, breakfast is more of a weekend thing, or when the Wochenmarkt is on. Worth checking before you plan a morning around it.

Worth the Stop

The square around it is quietly turning into something. There is a Greek taverna, Keramos, an Italian place called La Rose, and a gelato shop, all within a few steps. Café Raabe sits in the middle of that now and already feels like it has been there far longer than it has.

One local review of this place says, more or less, what a great café, modern, top quality, friendly staff, and in Kellinghusen of all places? Unbelievable. We would drop the word unbelievable. Somebody brought an old shoe shop back to life on their own market square, filled it with mismatched chairs and records and books, put a real barista counter in it, and opened at the start of the pottery market. That is not unbelievable. That is just somebody paying attention to make something wonderful in this little town.

Closed Monday and Tuesday. Wednesday to Friday 9 to 5, Saturday 10 to 5, Sunday 10 to 6. Plenty of parking around the square.

*Disclaimer: Everyone’s taste and experience could be different, this is just based on the visit we had and our personal opinion. 🙂