Prince Coffee House

Turkish coffee, poured with a ritual

Turkish coffee is the order that explains Prince Coffee House. It arrives strong and unhurried, poured in a way that makes the preparation part of the drink, and it connects this Bronx café directly to the brand's Kosovo roots. The house coffees, Prince Espresso and Devolli Turkish Coffee, are roasted in Kosovo, which is unusual enough on Arthur Avenue to be the whole point of coming.

The rest of the bar is broad rather than specialised: espresso and macchiato for something direct, cappuccino and latte for the familiar, a café Parisian, a Viennese and a Thai mocha at the sweeter end, plus teas, shakes and smoothies including Citrus and Heidi Alps. It is a long list for a café this size, and it is meant to be: nobody is expected to arrive knowing what they want.

A Belmont room built for staying

This was the brand's first café outside Kosovo when it opened in 2016, and the room was built for lingering rather than turnover. Trees shade the front, window-walls let the sun in, mugs and vintage bulbs hang from the ceiling, the tables are blond wood, and a century-old Eastern European mural runs across the main counter.

At weekends it fills with groups and behaves more like a neighbourhood square than a coffee counter. On weekdays it takes students and laptop workers, with seating indoors and out. In an Italian-American stretch of the Bronx, a Kosovar café serving crepes and Turkish coffee makes more sense in practice than it does on paper.

Order the Prince Crepe, then share a cake

After the Turkish coffee, the Prince Crepe is the most on-brand thing to order, filled with espresso and Nutella so the coffee runs through the food as well as the cup. The Nutella and strawberry crepe is the straightforward alternative for anyone who wants fruit rather than more caffeine.

Then share something from the cake counter: tiramisu, tiramisu cake, tres leches, cannoli or the chocolate cake the house calls Mona's. There is savoury food too, salumi, Italian pastries, popcorn and a tuna melt on Italian bread with fries, which is what lets the café stretch from a mid-morning coffee to a long afternoon at a table. Start with the Turkish coffee and let the rest of the order follow from it.