Banjara Hills has a handful of vegetarian restaurants, most of which have been established for years and are known to serve authentic Indian fare. The all-new Kaffe Gardenia, located opposite the popular Kasu Brahmananda Reddy National Park, is a welcoming addition. Opened a couple of weeks ago, the 110-seater serves vegetarian fare with a twist — fusion tandoor dishes and a variety of dosas. Started by three young entrepreneurs from Hyderabad — Aarushi Narang, Tarun Lulla and Aanchal Narang Lulla — Kaffe Gardenia is a restaurant for all. “We wanted to provide a casual dining kind of a menu in a café set-up. So our target audience includes families, students and corporate events. You can drop by for a coffee and snack, or have a full-fledged meal, this space is for everybody,” explains Aanchal.
The menu boasts a range of options for breakfast, lunch and dinner in three sections — South Indian, North Indian and Chinese. For health-conscious folks, the café also plans on serving smoothies and herbal teas soon.
Tandoori nights
As we settled down with a Fresh Lime Soda in the air-conditioned section of the restaurant, we spot a huge kitty party group playing games in a corner. “We’ve been receiving a good response from customers with a couple of bookings done already. If pre-booked, we do accommodate a big group and serve food with a few specific customisations,” Aanchal informs.
Meanwhile, our first dish arrived at the table — Steamed Stuffed Potato. Steamed potatoes are stuffed with cashew, mushroom, onion and other dry fruits, before being cooked on a tandoor, giving the starter a smoky flavour.
On Aanchal’s recommendation, we tried Chinese Bhel next. With its unique blend of Schezwan sauce, bhel, fried noodles and raw grated veggies toppings, this one dish is enough reason to return. We suggest you pair this with a hot tea if you’re planning an evening visit.
Chinese creations
We moved on to the star of the menu — dosa. While the menu offers more than 10 dosas ranging from the regular Paper Dosa to fusion options like Khaali Dosa, we chose to try Jinny Dosa. Small rolls of dosa are stuffed with onion, chili, carrot and cheese and topped with coriander — a perfect breakfast option. If you’re in the mood for something bigger, go for the Burj Khalifa. No points for guessing that this one is served in the shape of a pyramid! The dosas, available all-day, are served with three kinds of chutney — peanut, coconut and tomato and with piping hot Udupi-style sambar. Next up was Peking Rice (rice and noodles cooked with veggies) and Chilli Mushroom — a perfect combination from the Chinese section.
We wrapped our meal with Death By Chocolate — vanilla ice cream layered on a bed of soft chocolate cake with nut and chocolate sauce toppings. Two spoons of this delicious dessert and we think there couldn’t have been a better end to the evening.
Price for two: Rs.600.
Pics: Sathya Keerthi.