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Rating: Standard, mid-range Roman coffee
The Shikafé café was in interesting trip into another world, a different world. Walking onto the Piazza Enrico Fermi I was greeted by a slew of tents and people huddled around them trying to get a deal from the different vendors. Stuff like clothes, cheap electronics to other ‘stuff’ was on sale. The café was facing these, and on its outside there were some guys who where purveying the events. When they saw me take a picture they seemed pretty pissed off at me, and tried to stare me down … as if I didn’t grow up in a shitty burb of Southern California reeking of idiotic gang members. Whatever. I gave them a nice smile and walked in the café. The Shikafé reminded me of some middle eastern fusion. However, inside I was met by 80s sounding Italian rock music, and a steampunk interior with lots of flashy pink everwhere that gave me the feel of a trashy discotheque with some trans-biker attitude to it. It was interesting I a positive way, and it was like stepping into another world. The two baristas were deep in conversation, however, the female counterpart was the one taking and breaking out the orders and she was as methodically efficient as polite.
This is what I got served after I asked for a coffee:
Presentation: No water given, and probably would have been given I guess. Didn’t care to ask, they were to busy trying to keep up with the different people walking in and out. The cup was clean, but it looked ‘stained’ or something. Look at the picture, it was dark in here and the ‘bar’ had a light coming up that made it almost impossible to photograph the cup. But you can see the fluorescent color coming out from the cup. Hmm… glow in the dark? Radiation? Probably not, but who knows what caused it. I felt ‘clean’, as I touched it with my hands first to see if it was oily or not. Either way, I was committed to trying it. The shape of the cup was one I like.
Temperature of Cup: It wasn’t scalding. It was good.
Quantity: Short shot, I was glad.
Temperature: The espresso itself was warm, hotter than the cup let on, and yet didn’t burn my tongue.
Volume/Consistency: The drink was thin, it was sandy, and not necessarily oily. It was not runny but no heavy nor thick.
Crema: If you manage to see anything in the photo, the crema was light brown, thin, not persistent, and didn’t add to the drinking experience.
Odor: Nope!
Taste: It was bitter, not rancid, but deeply bitter. It was lighter overall than the bitterness could have made it. It was OK.
Overall: Not a bad drink, nothing remarkable. It was not terrible, and yet not comfortable either. It was a mid to lower end Roman espresso- it lacked body.
The setup: The machine was a workhorse seen in almost half of the cafes here in Rome, a La Cimbali M24. The grinder seemed to be a Mazzer. Now the coffee being served was not Circi Caffè as the outside and even the gargantuan billboard outside the corner of the building said (Maybe their ‘headquarters’ were here?), but yes, what they were actually brewing was Marziali Caffè. This is usually an ultra bitter near rancid cup, that makes hair grow on a plant if you water it with their coffee, but here it was mild, deeply bitter but not rancid. So it was good!
Take a look at this great sign!
Shikafé
Plazzo Barbara
Piazza Enrico Fermi 33
00146 Roma
Tel. 06 5530 1514
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