Gluten-free in Brno: Waffles and coffee at Kafec

I’ve been living in Brno, the Czech Republic’s second-biggest city, for some time now. Through the years, it’s been exciting to watch Brno’s food scene become increasingly diverse and international, with more and more choices for anyone following a gluten-free diet. This post is one of a series in which I will be looking at specific restaurants, cafés, and eateries in Brno that have a good array of gluten-free options. I will discuss how suitable the establishment is for celiacs, as well as give my overall opinion about the quality of the food.

For this series, my focus will be predominantly on desserts, sweets, and baked goods. For a more in-depth look at gluten-free eating in Brno, you can check out this blog post from Gluten Free Traveller.

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It’s no secret that Brno is a terrific city for walking. The historic city center is quite compact and perfect for pedestrians, and I frequently enjoy going for long leisurely walks around the city. After a few hours of walking, there’s nothing I like more than to stop in one of Brno’s many picaresque cafés to have a little rest and enjoy a nice cup of coffee. One of the best places to go for coffee in this city is a charming café called Kafec.

Kafec has two locations in Brno, one on Úvoz street, and the other in the center of the city on Orlí street. The popular Orlí location has a lovely outdoor garden with plenty of tables available, as well as a cozy interior with an upstairs and downstairs seating area.

Kafec always has an interesting selection of coffee, which they roast themselves and prepare as either a drip or espresso-style coffee. A popular place for brunch, they have a build-your-own brunch menu that has many gluten-free options such as eggs, bacon, sauteed mushrooms, sausages, and fresh salad.

But Kafec is perhaps best known for their large, pillowy, Belgian-style waffles. These gorgeous waffles can be prepared as a sweet or savory dish, as they come with a wide variety of toppings and adornments. These waffles are huge, so if you can’t manage to eat a whole one— don’t worry! Kafec also offers smaller waffle pieces with a choice of side dips such as whipped cream, chocolate, or strawberry sauce. And fortunately for celiacs, they have a gluten-free version of their famous waffle.

One afternoon, my husband and I came to Kafec eager to try their gluten-free waffles. We started the meal by ordering coffee; my husband asked for one of their home-brewed drip coffee, while I had a flat white (pictured). The drip coffee had a light, fruity flavor, while my flat white was rich and creamy.

We had arrived too late to order from their brunch menu (available until 1:00 PM), but we were delighted to see that their afternoon menu (odplední menu) had a very interesting variety of both sweet and savory gluten-free waffles. We decided to go for one of each to share.

We started with savory, and our choice was a spinach and cheese waffle topped with a beautiful fried egg. The waffle itself was lightly sweet and cakey, with a nice soft texture although it seemed slightly denser than a glutenous waffle. But the taste was almost identical and the waffle paired beautifully with the creamy egg, spinach, and ricotta.

After gobbling up the first waffle, we turned our attention to dessert. While their menu had many intriguing options such as the strawberry waffle, banana waffle, and chocolate waffle, we thought that the Strudelwaffle looked particularly enticing.

We chose wisely. The Strudelwaffle was a waffle covered in caramelized apples with cinnamon, walnuts, raisins, and topped with whipped cream. The overall taste was sweet, though not too sweet, and beautifully balanced with the flavors of the apple, nuts, and spices all playing off each other. The waffle base, after soaking in rum syrup and the apple mixture, was so soft, that we thought it was virtually impossible to tell that it was gluten-free. My husband and I agreed; this dessert was dynamite.

Overall, Kafec is a lovely cafe with very good coffee and truly outstanding gluten-free waffles (especially the sweet options). Although many restaurants and cafés in Brno have gluten-free cakes, cookies, and pastries, I have yet to find anywhere else in this city that has gluten-free waffles on the menu. And luckily, they’re absolutely delicious.