Liesbeth is a cafe on the Zollhafen in Mainz, tucked in next to the Kunsthalle in what used to be the engine shed for the port

Port.

It’s been there since the Romans built up their fleet to defend Moguntiacum from invading hordes.

Flattened during WW2 and rebuilt in the late 19th C by Eduard Kreyßig, the inspired city planner.

But back to Liesbeth.

Hechtsheim, 15 minutes on the bike from the homestead, has been enriched by the Pankratiushof, which started as a sourdough bakery, then a sourdough bakery and patisserie, then a sourdough bakery and patisserie and vege shop, then a sourdough bakery and patisserie and vege shop and restaurant.

And now has Liesbeth as their outpost in Mainz.

And excellent it is too.

Everything in the way of sourdough and treats from Hechtsheim, an exclusive blend of coffee from Paul Bonna’s Kaffeekommune, nice young folk running it and a nice bunch of customers.

It’s bang in the middle of an upmarket condo development between the harbour basin and the Rhineand the folk you meet are a mix of (mostly) female students, young mums with kiddies and decent sized dogs, professional couples and the odd (very odd if you ask some people…) geriatric gravel biker.

And a cardamom bun fan who likes it there so much that he’s sketching the atmosphere to take with him.

An artistic takeaway, if you like…

22 Dec This entry was published on 22 December, 2024 at 09:00. It’s filed under Art, Cool stuff, Culinary, Eduard Kreyßig, History, Mainz, Neustadt, Why I like Mainz and tagged Kaffeekommune, kunsthalle, liesbeth, Pankratiushof. Bookmark the permalink. Follow any comments here with the RSS feed for this post.