Chat. Eat. Drink.
I had a brilliant afternoon at the Cha Bar today, since I met a very close friend from primary school, after about over a decade. We met last, when I was 14 and we could not stop reliving the beautiful memories. But the niceties of the restaurant also added up to the enriching experience.
The Cha Bar is located in the Connaught Place, Outer Circle
(N-block). From the outside, you can see the name of the restaurant labelled up
on the white wall, towards the end of the N Block. But there is no noticeable
approach to it, invoking an impression as if it’s somewhere up there waiting to
be found! The bar is inside the Oxford Bookstore, and that is when I learnt
that the place is an integral part of the Oxford Bookstores pan India.
The Cha Bar is a small space, but the ambiance is
urban and contemporary. It conjures a
mood of white, since the sitting and the walls are painted white all over. It’s
simple, basic, not dramatic or thematic. Even though it's peaceful, it's strangely inviting.
As the name suggests, the restaurant offers a countless varieties of Cha (chai/tea) to be
chosen from, from simple to exotic, basic to exclusive. The menu runs into
quite a few numbers of pages, offering only Cha options-organic, herbal,
masala, jasmine, Darjeeling, fruit and the list is endless. The names are quite
fancy and interesting, and some of them are bizarre. (Katakali cha?) Ala carte
savouries are also spottable in the later part of the menu.
Intrigued by the menu, Shekhar, Eva and me took over five
minutes to decipher the options therein, and ultimately, we chose to mentally
dice and select an eatery and a drink. Shekhar ordered a Bun Maska, Keema Samosa and Masala Cha. Bun Maska was simply toasted sweet buns with lashings of
butter, and the Keema Samosas were made of spiced mutton minced triangles. Both
the eats were delectable! The Masala Cha was a heady brew of masala, milk and
tea. Interestingly noticeable was the glass of the cha which had a bronze
monkey, hugging the glass, as a handle- an attractive concept. indeed! Shekhar
enjoyed these.
The Edgy Masala Cha Glass
Eva ordered a Paneer Kurchan Wrap, and a ‘Bollywood Masala Mix Cha’, which she quite
liked. The cha teapot, painted with the picture of a bollywood actress was a star
on the table in its own light. I appreciated that the idea was not just to serve the cha as an old and regular beverage, but to bring with it an experience that goes with it, keeping in mind the cultural and experiential association-by serving each kind of tea in a particular teapot.
I ordered fish and chips complete with a tartar
dip, the fish was soft with a toss of chat masala. I also drank the regular
Earl Grey which was quintessentially English tea, smooth on the palate. In the
end, we ordered a flourless chocolate truffle. Made of rich layers of cake and
cream, thoroughly full of flavour, with melt-in-the-mouth texture, it was extremely heavy on the stomach,
so much so that the three of us could only consume just more than a quarter of
the portion.
Keema Samosa
Fish and Chips with Dip
Flourless Truffle
Flourless Truffle
The restaurant is reasonably priced, and the meal costed around Rs. 900 to us.
Our Bill
The three of us happily chatted about career, family, future
and life in general. Shekhar and me could not stop reliving the wonderful
memories of primary school, and narrating to Eva all about it, like we were
living it only a second ago. I was literally transported over ten years back.
I say, visit the Cha Bar for more than just a rush of caffeine, or drinking cha like an old and generic drink. Savor the tea for an elevated experience.
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