Almost everything is taken care of in Cadu. “Cadu” stands for “Cafe at the University”. There it is located in the middle between Ludwigskirche and Brüder-Scholl-Platz. On a sunny Sunday lunchtime you can see all the tables full, see shirt collars under buttoned coats, dashing sunglasses and gelled hairstyles. The glasses glitter in your hands, Aperol Spritz for 8.90 euros.
“The Cadu is a meeting place for the entire university environment,” says Michael Mühldorfer, who expanded the café 26 years ago and has been running it successfully ever since. During this time he has observed how the situation at the university has developed. “This used to be a lifeless intermediate area, not quite Schwabing, not quite downtown.” Today, guests come from all sides: university students, walkers from the English Garden, tourists from the Maxvorstadt museums.
On Thursday mornings, Cadu is simply a quiet café. Two middle-aged men are sitting in the winter garden, chatting actively through the steam of coffee. If they aren’t, the two could easily pass as LMU professors. At the back of the Cadu, a dozen young students meet for breakfast.
Quiet sounds come from the speakers in the main room of Cadu, which the YouTube player behind the counter aptly describes as “restaurant music”. Lounge and bossa nova, eight hours on a continuous loop. There are many round coffee house tables here. There are so many that the waitress has difficulty maneuvering Bob Dylan and Arafat through them. Bob Dylan, that’s two fried eggs with avocado on bread. Arafat mixes scrambled eggs with tomatoes and herder cheese. Both come with a small bowl of cereal and both cost almost 14 euros.
For 13.90 euros you can get the Arafat breakfast in Cadu: scrambled eggs with shepherd’s cheese and a small muesli.
(Photo: Stephan Rumpf)
In Cadu you eat from large red plates, not exactly cheap, but a lot. “Unfortunately, we have had to raise prices in recent years,” explains Mühldorfer. At the same time, the industry-wide shortage of skilled workers also has its kitchen firmly under control. In order to be able to offer a greater variety from 12 p.m. – for the lecture break or a late brunch – there is now a pizza oven in the Cadu. A Margherita for 10.90 euros, student pizza with seafood for 13.90 euros.
Reading corner and pizza oven – the offerings at Cadu are diverse and imaginative.
(Photo: Stephan Rumpf)
The pizza is ready in less than ten minutes and you can get a Margherita for 10.90 euros.
(Photo: Stephan Rumpf)
Mühldorfer says his aim for the Cadu is to preserve what has grown and at the same time absorb new impulses. The wobbly tables, the Nivea cream machine in the women’s toilet and the books sorted by color in the reading corner are preserved here. The operator observes that the students who are coming to Munich and Cadu are getting younger and younger.
A new addition was a cell phone charging station right next to the books. And the Elfbar machine at the entrance, which offers e-cigarettes of all kinds for sale in a playful way via the touchscreen. A new addition was the flat-screen TV on the wall, which advertises a Vodka-Redbull deal during breakfast. A bottle of Absolut, plus six cans of energy drink, all in a refrigerated bucket for 75 euros.
New impulses in Cadu: The startup beer Noam is available here, as well as a vending machine with e-cigarettes.
(Photo: Stephan Rumpf)
Breakfast, brunch, pizza and other lunch dishes, coffee and finally a party location: the Cadu is versatile. On a cool Friday evening, for example, the tables in front of the café are empty. Through the entrance door into the winter garden, a mixture of conversations and music spills out onto Ludwigstrasse. It’s crowded inside, young people are drinking cocktails for 9.70 euros. Most people drink beer. The half Andechser Helles costs 5.20 euros. Five euros for a small bottle of Noam, a startup beer from TU students. People party here until two in the morning.
“We don’t want to be a jack of all trades,” says Mühldorfer. If you let your gaze wander through the Cadu, you could come to a different conclusion – but that’s exactly the charm of this café, here at the university.
Cadu – Café at the universityLudwigstraße 24, 80539 Munich, telephone: 089/28986600, opening hours: Monday to Thursday from 11 a.m. to 1 a.m., Friday from 11 a.m. to 2 a.m., Saturday and Sunday from 10:30 a.m. to 2 a.m.