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Volunteer-run co-op book café located in the historical centre of Turku. Serves house-made vegan pastries, pies and snacks. Gluten-free options. Soy and oat milk for drinks. Reduced prices for coffee, tea, some sandwiches and pizza slices for those who are short on money. Hosts free events from live music gigs and DJ nights to queer clubs, film screenings, talks/lectures, reading circles, skill-share workshops, and, in the summer, open air festivals in the Brinkkala courtyard. See website for evening and weekend hours. Open Mon-Fri 12:00-18:00.
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- Accepts credit cards
- Free Wi-Fi
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Last update on 31 Mar 2025 by Guest
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Added by Qtea on 24 Feb 2009
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32 Reviews
First Review by birgit.m
Sarah_Lily
Points +107
Lovely vegan co-operative with atmosphere - Edit
Turun Kirjakahvila is hidden away in an inner yard but it was well signed and I had no trouble finding it. Luckily for me! It reminded me of a vegan co-operative in Brighton, England, as it was full of students, feminist rally photos, political books, vegan cookbooks for sale and artsy people deep in conversation, sharing books or flicking through images on their cameras.
Read moreI visited here twice, on the first day it was about 3pm and they'd stopped serving hot food. Everything in the place is vegan except for they do serve cows milk as well as soya milk for drinks. They had some bitesize vegan cheese and bacon pastries which they warmed up for us and seitan and salad in delicious granary rolls. Their cake selection is also fantastic and we enjoyed a peach filled cake and the best ever - vegan jaffa cakes!!! They're AMAZING and just like the ones I remember :D
When we returned the next day, expecting some hot food on offer, the selection was very limited as they only had beetroot soup, which we got with another seitan sandwich and unlimited tea and coffee for 7.50 euros. Their tea was a little on the weak side which is my only complaint. The soup was hearty and delicious.
The staff are volunteer students and some seemed to be learning the ropes, but all were very friendly and welcoming. The clientele pretty much all seemed to be students and they seemed as if they spent all day sitting chatting here, but they didn't seem to mind us popping by!
Another great thing about this cafe for me is that it was selling Go Max Go chocolate bars which I have never found in the UK.
I would really recommend this cafe if you like to support local, co-operative vegan business and want to enjoy some snacky food and cake in quirky surroundings.
Updated from previous review on Wednesday October 31, 2012
Pros: quirky atmosphere, good value and best ever jaffa cakes!, volunteer run co-operative
Cons: limited hot food selection
Guest
theveganbastard
Points +98
Lovely environment - Edit
I have the best experience in this cafe, I ate everything on the menu. the week that I went Turku, everyday the place have something a little bit different, and the best chocolate cake that you can get in Finland....
Read moreGuest
SonjaCPA
Points +5270
good for snacks and coffee - Edit
We ended up here after finding that both locations of KavsisKeidas were closed (one for the summer, the other for the week), so we were very grateful to find a place that served vegan food. As it's name implies, it's a book and coffee cafe, but it has a small serve yourself food area. We got the cashew foccacia (which they heated up for us), a hummus sandwich, a tempeh sandwich, a strawberry cake and a chai cupcake. As we were ravenous, it tasted good to us, so as long as you aren't looking for a whole restaurant, it's a good place to grab some snacks, drink coffee and check out some books. There were some tables outside for the summer as well, but we sat inside to get out of the sun as it was a rather hot day. Good central location too.
Read morePros: good location, vegan food at a book/cafe
Cons: a little hard to find
Guest
SimonaSignorelli
Points +95
not a wide choice - Edit
I have found a very little choice of food: only sandwiches with seitan or houmus and pizza with mushrooms. being intolerant to wheat I have found anything to eat. maybe it can be a nice place for a quite coffe reading a book but not if you are travelling and you arrived starved looking for a vegan lunch !
Read moreCons: little choice, anything gluten free
Guest
birgit.m
Points +16
great! - Edit
lovely little cupcakes with mint flavour the day i was there! small salty pies and sandwiches was also on the menue, larger cakes as well. small cafe with places outside in nice old town environment. yes, it was a little hard to find even though it's really in the centre. nice books and fanzine collection, and friendly poeple working, that gave service in english.
Read morePros: delicious cakes, good atmosphere, woman friendly
Cons: could offer bigger sortiment, not organic, bit difficult to find
Guest
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