Salt Lake's Jugnu gives out Santorini vibes

Nowadays, walking into most cafés is like scrolling through our Instagram handles, with bright colours and picturesque corners everywhere. But at times we also bump into places like Jugnu in Salt Lake, which offer a respite to the tired eyes. The all-white interiors with blue accents lifted our mood the moment we stepped into this café and transported us to the scenic islands of Santorini in Greece.

A dream project for owners Atul Gupta and Vedant Agarwal, Jugnu sports a minimalistic look with unique lighting arrangements as well, not to forget, the large handmade tree right at the centre of the café. “In Hindi, jugnu means fireflies. The lights from our café brighten up the otherwise muted locality, drawing people to the café, just like fireflies,” says Atul.

Serving a multi-cuisine menu, we were welcomed with Jugnu signature cranberry iced coffee, and Blue merry, an elevated version of our go-to blue lagoon mocktail along with a side of Charcoal cheese croquettes. Don’t be confused by the black colour of the dish— it undoubtedly tastes great. The crumb-coated croquettes were crispy from the outside with an oozy, salty and melt-in-the-mouth corn and cheese filling. We next tried the Corn and mushroom galouti kebab sitting atop bite-size parantha pieces and they were unbelievably flavourful and smooth, just like the meaty ones.

For the mains, we tried Open stuffed chicken — a wholesome chicken breast stuffed with sliced button mushrooms, doused in a white sauce, and served with mashed potatoes and sauteed veggies. If you are looking to have a healthy, protein-rich meal, this can be your go-to option for its flavourful, creamy filling. We also tried a few slices of Smoked chicken pizza. The thincrust pizza, loaded with chicken chunks, caramelised onions, chillies and black olives, went very well with the sweet cranberry iced coffee.

Wrapping up our session with the delectable house special Breaking Bad hazelnut mud pie wasn’t a choice we regret. The decadent, gooey chocolaty cake sprinkled with hazelnuts tasted heavenly with a side of vanilla ice cream.

Price for two: Rs 800

Pictures by Anindya Saha