Vienna’s Vollpension Cafe Is Like a Visit to Grandma’s House | Eater

"Walking into the cafe felt like wandering into a rosy memory of your grandparent’s living room: exposed brick walls adorned with a Victorian portrait, dozens of dog pictures, a deer-tapestry, porcelain animals on the sill, mismatched secondhand couches in pink, yellow, blue and white florals, laminated wood tables, old classroom chairs and plenty of doilies. It’s an intergenerational cafe where half the staff are senior citizens—omas and opas who bake from their own recipes—and I met Kathrin, a former nurse who was hired as a baker in 2017 and still churns out family favorites like banana cream cake while experimenting (she finds vegan-brownie inspiration on Pinterest). The omas and opas are literally the stars—co-founder Moriz Piffl-Percevic has them bake in front of guests so you pick up your slice directly from them, chat, and get baking advice—so dishes like oma Beata’s buchteln (fluffy plum-jam buns with vanilla sauce), oma Charlotte’s acclaimed, moister Sacher torte, and oma Christine’s vegan cakes are central to the experience. On my visit I sat in a lumpy armchair beside an oversized ceramic cat and sampled from the rotating baked goods—choices that day included a dense flourless poppy-nut cake with apricots, a chocolate-and-egg-liqueur cake topped with Maraschino cherries, and a carrot cake with thick, luxurious icing—and later exchanged a fake coin for a sticky walnut-caramel torte (the oma even offered whipped cream). Beyond food, Vollpension was born from Piffl-Percevic’s 2012 mission to “bring the feeling of grandma’s cake back to Vienna,” went from pop-ups with his Mutter Mayr to a permanent cafe in 2015 and expanded to a second location in 2019; it ran a crowdfunding campaign that raised €140,000 during the pandemic to open a studio and launch an online baking academy offering video and in-person classes (live workshops cost about €130–140 and include a selfie with the oma). The place sells merch and a cookbook of staff recipes and stories, and its stated mission—to create community, give seniors meaningful work and extra income, combat loneliness and spotlight old-age poverty (especially among women)—is woven through everything from the coin-for-cake ritual to the baking classes and the friendships staff form." - Valeriya Safronova