Biblioteka is a stylish but comfortable café restaurant on the main boulevard Terazije, which later becomes the pedestrian artery, Knez Mihailova. It served the best coffee that we found in Belgrade.

We just stumbled across Biblioteka (the library) one morning as we walked into town, and decided to try it out on the principle that if it’s full of locals, it can’t be too bad. Its central location just across from the Hotel Moscow no doubt contributes to its popularity and, even on the morning we stopped in there early for breakfast, most seats were already full.

While there were a full range of meals on offer, from double hamburgers (345DIN) right up to beef steak dishes (880-900DIN), we chose more breakfast-like meals. Three eggs and well-cooked bacon (bekendegs) were 210DIN each, my espresso with milk was 118DIN and Francie’s hot chocolate was 149, so with a little extra for bread, the whole thing was about 750DIN (almost €10) for the two of us. Not bad value considering the quality of the food and central location of the café.

The space was pleasant to spend time in, too; dark wooden tables, chairs, and benches upholstered in leather, and shelves of books, magazines, and newspapers all around gave the café a thoughtful and literary atmosphere. There was a good mixture of people who had come to gossip or debate with friends and others who’d come alone to read the newspapers or spend their time contemplatively smoking and staring off into space. Biblioteka follows the custom of displaying historic prints of the city around the walls, and if it hadn’t been for the waiters in their bright-green gingham-checked shirts and the electro-jazz music on high rotation, the interior could almost have passed for that of an old-school Viennese café.

The service was friendly and prompt, the menu was available in English, and really the only thing I could possibly complain about would be the smoking arrangements. Belgrade being Belgrade, I guess I should be happy that there was a non-smoking section provided at all, but I didn’t really see the point when the smoking section nominally ended at table 16 and the non-smoking began at table 17 with nothing to physically separate them, not even a thin curtain or low screen.

In a city without a single dedicated non-smoking café though, I’d happily return to Biblioteka and would probably even try something from the cake cabinet to go along with a cup of their excellent coffee.