One thing I really enjoy in Medias is my coffee. After some brief hunting for great coffee, I really did find it. My husband had this brilliant idea of adding whipped cream (frisca, pronounced free-sh-ka in Romanian) to my coffee and since I've been doing that, my originally good cup of cappuccino just became great!
Frisca won't enhance any coffee though, the coffee itself needs to be good too. My search through town concluded with my favorite two coffee shops: Lidia Cofetaria and Offside Cafe.
Lidia, which is a cake store, and Offside a sports cafe, are as different as day and night.
Lidia, which lies on a road extending from the center square, is the traditional, local cake shop. It sells mainly cakes and sweets and has one coffee machine that pretty much serves coffee black or cappuccino style. Older ladies work there and they wear a white dress covered with a red apron. They recently added a small red cap to their uniform.
The storekeepers stand behind a counter, which has an ice cream fridge on one side and a cake display on the other. You stand in line, ask for what you want and they serve you and take the money at the register. You can then leave or take a seat there.
The seating area is a small open area about the size of a medium sized room with some basic small round tables and cream-colored chairs with high backs around them. All the tables are arranged very close together so that if two adjacent tables are occupied people will have to move chairs to let others pass. The walls are plain and the decoration is mainly one of the walls painted a dark red. One thing to be said though, they have the most amazing frisca and for coffee purposes it is the best in town!
By contrast, Offside is a recently opened modern joint. They serve all kinds of drinks ranging from fresh juices, alcoholic drinks to a wide array of coffees and teas. And as large as the drinks selection is there, they serve no food save for a few small biscuits they occasionally offer with your coffee. And more often than not, they don’t have those biscuits available either. The servers are two young women that alternate shifts and behind the small 'bar' two men, who also alternate shifts, make the drinks. There is no uniform so the waitresses wear their choice of clothing.
The blend of orange walls, seasonal decorations at the window, modern stainless steel heating radiators and candles all serve to create a warm cozy atmosphere that encourages socialization here. Seats are either couches and coffee tables or comfortable chairs around tables.
The man preparing the drinks stands behind a small bar but customers are served at their tables for the most part. In the summer, the cafe also sets up a terrace (terasa) outside. This takes advantage of their prime location on the center square. For us, this has the added advantage of allowing our children to play on their bikes and scooters in the square, which is a predominantly pedestrian zone, while we watch from the terasa and enjoy our coffee.On a side note however, my favorite coffee in all of Medias is currently the cappuccino at the Binder Bubi hotel sweetened with fresh frisca from Lidia!
