Literary Cafe

Hand-made chocolate pralines and Belgian chocolate are the reason to stop at Literary Cafe, the book-lined room attached to Boutique Hotel Hviezdoslav in Kežmarok. Homemade cakes fill the rest of the case, and coffee, tea or a glass of wine goes beside them.

A sweet counter, not a kitchen

The format is an all-day drinks-and-desserts stop rather than a restaurant. The strongest part of the menu is the sweet end: homemade cakes, homemade desserts, Belgian chocolate and hand-made chocolate pralines, which is a narrower and more specific list than most hotel cafés manage. The chocolate work is the part that would not look out of place in a much bigger city.

Drinks follow the same logic. Coffee and tea anchor the offer, with wine named alongside them, so the room works as an afternoon coffee stop, a quiet place to meet someone, and a hotel lounge for something sweet, depending on the hour. Wine is not an afterthought here: it is named beside the coffee and the tea, and it is what lets the room carry into the evening.

Books, and time to sit

The literary part is not just a name. The room is full of books, which supports a slower kind of visit than a counter you pass through, and the seating is arranged for couples and small groups rather than for turnover.

Kežmarok's main square is the setting, in a historic town below the Tatras, and the café belongs to that pace rather than a city one. The hotel frames it as a place for relaxing, for a date and for meeting friends, and that matches how it is set up. Come for conversation, a daytime pause or a sweet break tied to the hotel, and let the counter guide the order.

Pralines first, then cake

Start with the hand-made chocolate pralines. They are the most distinctive thing made here, and they are what separates this room from an ordinary hotel coffee lounge.

After the pralines, move to cake or another homemade dessert, and pair it with coffee, tea or wine depending on the time of day. The formula is simple and it holds: pralines for the chocolate, cake for the baking, a hot drink or a glass of wine for the sitting, in a room where the books encourage you to stay longer than you planned.