@xiefei Thanks for the info. I am newcomer in the city and would love to try out a cozy place to read & nice coffee :)

@Xiefei TKS for your great input and sharing. U would be my guest someday. LOL

ain't I included too? :P

fine fine...but before I get you listed I have to give you a serious interview as my potential customer \(^o^)/~

:)

If you want to avoid friends - loiter in Chinese cafes instead. They usually have WIFI and hunt for a table with a power outlet - plus they love/dread foreigners. They love the foreigners as it's sort of a branding of quality - they dread foreigners because they're afraid of communication problems - but generally, the staff will take it in good stride.

The Green Drinks group meets somewhat regularly - and I get the impression they're more entrepreneurial, if that's your bent.

On the side of the Grand Park Hotel - for example - is the Encore Cafe - they don't really serve food, aside from a selection of cheesecakes - but there's a baozi/zhaozi (buns & dumplings) store next door. It's usually rather quiet and definitely NOT as raucous as Salvadors - plus it has a bathroom - which is important when you're sucking down coffee.

There are many other local chinese cafes, to include in and around wenlinjie and wenhuaxiang (arguably, salvadors street) to explore, menus to sample.

If you don't like smoking - mazagran upstairs roughly across from Sals. Depending on your taste buds - their food is excellent. I cook food that looks like slop - so Mazagran is gourmet dining to those who've survived my cooking (like my kids).

I prefer the off-the-beaten-path locales and cafes, as there are fewer people sucking up the single wifi router, watching streaming videos etc, so the connection speed is usually faster and more responsive.

Finally, the east gate (beimen jie) of Yunda has a prolific number of restaurants, juice bars, etc - but my favorite is the Green Lake O'Reilly's pub (bar & grill). Good grill food, nice selection of beers, passable coffees, nice staff, and generally quiet during the days - but it can get crowded and noisy from dinner time onwards....and they have a bathroom.

@laotou wow, seemingly you've mapped out and profiled the major café in KM. I'm gonna try one by one. Obviously, most of them are clustered around the neighborhood of Green lake. However, what I know is that there are a great number of grand malls springing up in this city. In your view, ain't these spots attractive for café Cheers man :)

@huiman
If you like to add people watching to your mobile office - then yeah - mall cafes are great, because they give your eyes a break, so you can people watch. The disadvantage is what to do with your computer and bag during bathroom breaks - if you leave the stuff on the table - you run the risk of theft. If you take everything with you on a potty break - you lose your cherished spot...

Managed to do brief site survey on several café/book stores this weekend, Salvador, Prague café, Chapter One, Mazagran, Mandarin bookstore and The Elephant bookstore.

Finally I decided to chill out at The elephant bookstore. A bit confuse when I was trying to find this location. Has asked few persons but they don't know either. The location is a bit hidden, it was in a small alley (the alley where Salvador café) and opposite of Salvador, you need to enter into a small area where you can find the elephant book store is in the underground.

Had a very nice cappuccino and the ambience. Too bad, some people sitting near one of the entrances (there are 2 entrances if not mistaken), did their smoking activity and somehow the smoke didn't go out thru the window, instead coming to my direction.

Very nice place and quiet for reading or working with your laptop. Wifi working, not too slow and not fast though.

Thanks for the recommendation.

Just to bounce this thread - new cool places are the Maan and Mellower Cafes in the mega malls.

Prague Cafe in Beichen (2F) is still super fantastic and super nice, but regrettably for Prague - not super high foot traffic. It's generally quiet.