As an immigrant, every now and then you come across a joint that makes an instant connection to your heart. This will probably ring well with first generation immigrants like myself. We were 7 of us this time coming in from a gathering a few miles away because one of us recommended this place. Honestly, it felt like home. This was at about 10 pm I think and the crowd was phenomenal. We all felt like we just came back home.
Before getting into the drinks and food, I just have to point out the warmth, friendliness and welcoming demeanor of the owners and staff here really touched all 7 of us. Of course we were welcomed, recommended things, asked several times if everything was ok. And here's the thing guys; it wasn't a 'transactional' type of interaction that you get in most places where it almost feels like the staff is just doing their job. There was a genuineness in the interaction which you could tell. The chef came out to greet us and shared a brief on how he opened this joint up. Yeah, it's a hike for me but I loved this place so much I intend to make this hike often.
Now to the mouth watering drinks and eats.
We ordered a few different chais. The Sona chai (gold chai), Gulabo (rose), doodh patti, Junoon (mixture of tea and coffee), a dadh cheeni and a Kashmiri.
ALL the teas base was EXCELLENT. I'm not much of a chai drinker cause I'm damn picky; I need my chai to be full fat, creamy. I don't like the watered down stuff. All these teas were rich and full of flavor.
The gulabo, I wish there was that little extra hint of the rose in terms of flavor.
The Junoon while an amazing concept, I think it might do better if they were able to make the coffee separately in milk and make the tea separately and the mixed the two together. What I got was a little underwhelming. There was the tea and then there was a touch of instant coffee on top and that's what gave the aroma of the coffee.
Food, yeah we had some food too.
We ordered a chana chaat which was EPIC. There was flavor, there was that slight tang and sweet. Hit all the flavor notes beautifully.
I ordered a bun kabab. I LOVED the kabab. I didn't quite enjoy the other flavorings with it and I think I know why. I think for the quantity of other flavors (the sauces, onions, chutney), and the size of the bun, the kabab was quite small. I think you need a better bite of the kabab. Thing is, I've never been to Pakistan so I don't know what the actual bun kabab tastes like so the review on this one is highly opinionated.
Then we had the rusks and naan katais. I have to say guys; the rusks and the naan katais are probably the BEST I've had in my life. The rusks were freshly made. We tried all of the flavors they had. The best part was that the chocolate on the rusks did not make the entire thing too sweet as it had just the right amount of sugar.
The naan katai, so fresh. You could taste the butteriness of it. It was truly heaven in your mouth.
I'm taking all my stars I have and giving my bucks to this cafe. Don't need any bucks after this. read more