This newly opened Kolkata cafe & bakery mirrors the French colonies in Puducherry

A lack of neighbourhood coffee spots in Newtown motivated the couple, Labani Chowdhury and Suryarup Bhaduri to start their own coffee place and bakery in the locality. Amari: Specialty Coffee and Artisanal Bakery gets full marks from us, thanks to its minimalist décor, simple set-up, and French café-like ambiance.

“The word Amari means a lot of things in multiple languages, but the one in Bengali is closest to our hearts...it means ‘mine’. The space and comfort level are such that the customers feel at home,” says Suryarup.

Labani, an architect herself, has designed the café in white, with some muted earthy tones of browns, a few greens, and a hint of black. The menu is packed with various types of coffee — hot and cold, fresh juices and freshly made bakery products.

As Elvis Presley’s songs played on a digital gramophone, we settled down with a glass of Lotus biscoff frappé and a butter croissant. The creamy frappé had the perfect balance of sweetness and bitterness introduced by the coffee. It was not overly syrupy, either. The hot, crusty butter croissant, when dunked into the sweet frappé froth and biscoff syrup, transported us to the French cafés in Puducherry.

We ordered a pour over V60 coffee next and it was a sight to behold. The Yercaud coffee, aged in a champagne oak barrel, first needs to be measured, put in a coffee dripper lined with filter paper and hot water, which has a temperature of around 80-85 degrees celsius. It was left to drip and settle, and the coffee was poured into a fresh cup. The coffee was smooth, with an oaky, woody finish and a slightly sweet aftertaste. With this smooth yet robust coffee, we had a cheesy and garlicky Korean bun, which had a crispy outer edge and soft centre, a classic blueberry cheesecake, and a Boston créme. The pillowy soft doughnut, with an outer chocolate frosting had so much whipped custard cream stuffed inside that even a small bite made our mouths full.

We enjoyed it thoroughly and almost finished it when we decided to take a much-needed break with a glass of freshly pressed, orange juice. And oh boy, this sweet and tarty drink refreshed our palate so much. We went back to our Boston créme after this, paired it with a glass of strong filter coffee, and called it a day!

Meal for two: INR 500 onwards

Pictures by Anindya Saha