A little group of 60-somethings sit outside, possibly recalling their younger years. Likely they were among the regular patrons back in the day.
Another, significantly younger group, stands by, seemingly solely for the purposes of photographing this Nanjing icon recently given a new lease of life.
Welcome back to Nanjing’s very first café; Nanhu Coffee.
When it first opened in 1985, a cup of coffee (instant) cost eight jiao (¥0.8), the same as a bowl of noodles. Other than multiplying by a factor of three to arrive at today’s prices, little else has changed.
Painted a nostalgic green hue and with tables and chairs from the time, the look is complete with the now-obligatory retro items such as a rotary-dial telephone and valve radio.
Outside, above Nanhu Coffee hang an assortment of signs as part of an 600-metre-long urban-renewal project supposedly taking us back in time.
Except that it’s all fake. A photograph of the intersection from the time of the café’s orginal opening adorning the walls reveals the area to have been really rather bare, the wide and empty streets devoid of any form of China’s opening up. Stalin himself would not be out of place in this.
But Nanjing’s flirting with modernity came to an end in the early 1990s, when Nanhu Coffee was closed and the site put to use as a supermarket, a fruit ‘n’ veg market and other purposes.
Bringing us to 15 January of this year, when the store’s reopening caused quite the sensation. And those same seniors have presumably been sitting outside ever since, making up for nigh-on-40 years of lost caffeine opportunity.
As to the café’s offerings, the mocha (¥22), of which The Nanjinger is so fond, was pleasant enough, the goji coffee (¥20) the exact opposite, while a cheesecake (¥28), delicious without doubt, arrived still frozen. Perhaps it been in the fridge since 1985, we wondered.
Also featured on the menu are refreshments named after nearby streets, local sayings and landmarks, e.g. the number 13 bus stop outside.
Next time you’re passing, get off, if only to check out the wistful look in those old timers’ eyes.
