It has been raining incessantly the past couple of days, and the clouds still look happily full, the way a child looks after a bowl of ice-cream. The weather is just right for it...
I close my eyes and find myself transported to a beautiful outdoor cafe in the middle of a small, busy square. As I sit back and breathe in the aroma of freshly brewed espressos, I look around to see a network of echoing alleys filled with gossiping shopkeepers and enamored tourists. The town appeared to consist of a dozen streets made for hours of mindless wandering. Expensive, spotless establishments gleam at the town's center while beautiful, old-fashioned hotels are hidden away behind wild creepers. I imagine myself reading 'Pride and Prejudice' or some such lumbering classic befitting the serene setting. I sit there for hours in a happy daze...
I close my eyes and find myself transported to a beautiful outdoor cafe in the middle of a small, busy square. As I sit back and breathe in the aroma of freshly brewed espressos, I look around to see a network of echoing alleys filled with gossiping shopkeepers and enamored tourists. The town appeared to consist of a dozen streets made for hours of mindless wandering. Expensive, spotless establishments gleam at the town's center while beautiful, old-fashioned hotels are hidden away behind wild creepers. I imagine myself reading 'Pride and Prejudice' or some such lumbering classic befitting the serene setting. I sit there for hours in a happy daze...
I awake from my reverie to discover that the cappuccino I had ordered twenty minutes ago has arrived. The waiter at Barista has been kind (or conversely creepy) enough to draw a heart with cream on top. The coffee arrives in a standardized and conspiratorially small mug, designed so the customer has to pay much more than what was deserved while not even keeping the option open of stealing that silly mug. Win-win for the cafe guys. I hardly ever go to Barista unless a friend has a discount coupon.
Hypocrite, you say?
Who passes up an offer for free coffee, I retort.
The same goes for Cafe Coffee Day(CCD). The Tropical Iceberg which tastes exactly like the Iced Eskimo is alright, though. The fact that the more appetizing items on their menu are always, and I repeat, always missing is yet another capitalist conspiracy against the cafe-going customer, I presume. And the music playing makes me want to weep like the windows on a rainy afternoon.
But there's a whole other reason I dislike The Coffee Bean and Tea Leaf. It tends to have too many people pretending to write novels, and too few people pretending to read novels. It just has this pretentious arty vibe to it that I don't enjoy. Its only redeeming aspect are the adorable tea bags that I'd just like to steal and stash away for a rainy day stuck at home.
This is lamenting the utter lack of cafe culture in this city of dreams.
If the coffee is good, the cafe isn't. Or vice versa.
This is lamenting the utter lack of cafe culture in this city of dreams.
If the coffee is good, the cafe isn't. Or vice versa.
If you live in the city, do share your perfect coffee haunts.
If the offer of a free coffee and my lively company isn't enough, I promise to tell you about the best ice-cream in the city in return :)
Image Source: Albaflickr's Photostream
If the offer of a free coffee and my lively company isn't enough, I promise to tell you about the best ice-cream in the city in return :)
Image Source: Albaflickr's Photostream
10 comments:
loved this post
I replied to your post with a post here - http://tinyurl.com/3sq46s4 :)
Cheers,
Annie.
I really dont know what kind of cafe you'd like..but there's Madras Cafe at Matunga which comes with a heady smell of South Indian filter coffee and a ton of college folks and office-goers. No arty folks for miles!
Then for something even more old-world is Irani Cafe at Sion whose brun-maska-chai is the best in the world! When teamed up with akhoori (Parsi scrambled eggs) it becomes fairly unbeatable. You shud go here on rainy days when there's few people around. Very plain place but clean and one of the most courteous staff in the world. Very affordable and one of the last surviving Irani cafes in the city.
For something more firangi, try Cafe Brittanica at Colaba Causeway. You shud get their full English breakfast. It's stuff out of Enid Blyton books - scones with strawberry jam! :D
And I have ever even heard of The Coffee Bean or Tea Leaf but sounds like a good thing I havent! :D
@Tangled Up In Blue,
Both those places near Matunga you mentioned.. (I dont know if you are talking about Koolar Cafe near King's Circle.. the one near Khalsa College / UICT / VJTI) were college time favs. Every VJTIian loves them to bits! :)
There are pretty good ones in Matunga... when you pass those shops the aroma just..rejuvenates you.
:)
Thanks for using the time and effort to write something so interesting.
My site:
rachat de credits rachatdecredit.net
Matunga is pretty far from Andheri, which is where I live. But all this talk of tasty Iranian food and coffee is getting me super excited! I'll have to plan a trip there ASAP. :D
And Ice Maiden, you are never going to believe this! I visit the Mindspace Barista ALL THE TIME. The one mentioned in this post is the one at Mindspace only! Eeeeeee! We live so close! Small world and all :P
Prithvi Cafe at Prithvi Theatre in Juhu. You get brilliant Irish coffees and you get the strangest people.
Juhu.
Go.
:)
Last year I was admitted in MICU and I had this strange urge at 4am in the morning. Ten minutes later, I was roaming on the empty dark street after sneaking out of the hospital. There was a guy with a bicycle, selling coffee. Best coffee I ever had.
A friend and I went midnight bike riding across South Mumbai last month. We crashed into the Taj at 5 am and ordered coffee. Didn't like it at all :-(
Life is inscrutable.
@Ice Maiden, no, I havent actually been to Koolar Cafe but I've heard lots of good stuff about it. Must go sometime. I was actually talking about Cafe Mysore and Madras Cafe near the Maheshwari Udyan circle.
@Nitisha, I agree. Matunga is too far off from Andheri, but I used to go to Ruia so my coffee hangouts have remained pretty constant there.
I've been to Prithvi Cafe and you get seriously odd people there. It's fun to watch a nice play at Prithvi Theatre, then order blueberry cheesecake at the Cafe and just talk about the play or whatever. But it tends to get seriously smoky in the late evenings. So afternoons are better.
Post a Comment