The eight-year-old city brand Chai Break, the brainchild of young entrepreneurs Anirudh Poddar and Aditya Ladsaria, has reinvented itself as a multicuisine café dining chain, with more stress on the 'break' part rather than 'chai' in the nomenclature. The chain has recently come up with a posh café cum lounge called the Chai Break Café and Bar to cater to the young and the restless in the city’s IT hub, Sector V. Indulge visited the outlet to check out the food there. We found the 90-seater café thronged with young office-goers, grabbing some quick lunch. “This place has been designed to cater to the energetic crowd, who catch up for a drink or two in between work and distress,” says Aditya Ladsaria, co-founder, Chai Break.
Conceptualised by architect Ritesh Ranjan, the décor and ambience, too, are in sync with the vibrant and energetic youth. There is a dedicated 30-seater Hookah bar with a range of flavoured smokes on offer. The ceilings and the roof wear a look of a factory shed, with copies of Mexican artist Frida Kahlo’s self-portraits adorning the iron wire mesh of a wall. There is an eye-catching work of art done by artist M. Pravat in one of the white-washed walls, where faces in different moods pop out, inferring that they all need a break. The bar counter is dotted with funky bar chairs, with a giant LED screen hanging on the opposite wall. The playlist has the latest tracks, which provoke you to jiggle a bit. Even the alcohols are served in a quirky and stylish way in tall beakers or short ceramic, tikitok glasses.
Since this is the only place where Chai Break serves alcohol, the menu has some lip smacking started to go with it, too. You can choose from a wide option of vegetarian and non-vegetarian dishes including galouti kebabs served with puffs in a sigree, Louisiana Chicken Wings and Mezze platter served with baos, to go with your favourite drink.
But what bowled us over was their signature dish, MCBC – Mango Cheese Baby Kulcha with sweet mango relish. The soft as cotton candy kulcha melts in your mouth with the stuffed cottage cheese having a balanced spicy flavour. The tandoorichicken momos are also worth trying for, with a very unique taste.
Next we tried the lunch buffet fare, which has both vegetarian and non-vegetarian options and comprise continental, oriental and Indian cuisines. On any given day, there’s a salad counter, two varieties of soup, a fish or meat dish cooked in continental style, a Thai red or green curry along with a variety of Indian dishes. Besides, biryani or pulao is served everyday along with raita. In the dessert section, there are also Bengali sweets such as kachagolla, rosogollas and sandesh, which are not outsourced. “We have two cooks, who make all the sweet dishes, we don’t outsource anything. Once our 4,000 sqft centralised kitchen is ready, we will be able to make Bengali sweets with a twist for all our outlets,” stresses Ladsaria.
For as cheap as Rs 650, the buffet lunch seems to be a good deal. And the crowd in the neighbourhood, too, seems to appreciate it with 120-125 buffet plates being sold every day.
When it comes to buffet, there will be no prefixed menu with changes incorporated every day. We are offering regional cuisine with a twist in the menu. For example, there will be Bohri mutton from Gujarat, Laal Maas from Rajasthan, Chicken Chettinad from Konkan region, Maska Pulao from Mumbai and Sindhi curry besides other delicacies. All the pickles that we serve are homemade,” says executive chef Sudipta Saha.
Apart from the buffet, one can also choose from the a la carte menu at any time of the day. Another thing that we loved was their fusion phuchkas made using molecular air gastronomy. There are paneer and crabmeat stuffing and you can have them with any of the six flavoured waters including anardana, jaljeera, sweet tamarind, orange and the regular minty one.
“We are also planning a lot of ladies nights and live music events to liven up the evenings and promote upcoming singing talents,” adds Ladsaria.
Chai Break Cafe and Bar
Where: K-1, Block-EP & GP, RDB Boulevard, ground floor, Sector V, Salt Lake City, Kolkata - 700 091
Timings: 11 a.m. - 12 a.m.
Price: Rs 800 for two approx (Without the alcohol)