A Banjara Hills café escape where artisanal coffee, fresh bakes, and a tiger mascot come together in style

A mint green and white striped awning canopy, golden name sign on the glass door, and the fresh smell of bakes greet you, when you look for Qaffeine Bistro.

The inside space is regal, with pastel décor, hand-painted details, and walls adorned withtheir mascot, Baaghini the tiger. That’s not all, once you step out, it leads to a large outdoor area called the baagheecha, almost reminiscent of the dining setting on palatial grounds in Jaipur.

Experience regal dining with artisanal coffee and gourmet bakes at Banjara Hills' new café

As we took our seats, we dived right into the coffee experience. Every coffee in the café is made with Baaghini, their in-house blend. Beans from Chikmagalur, Koraput, Coorg, Nagaland, Yercaud, and Wayanad are brought together and roasted to a warm medium-dark. The pour-over V60 beans were from Chikmagalur and medium roasted. Served over ice, they had light notes of citrus and plum. Next, we tried the city staple, Kaapi narıyal, fresh tender coconut water topped with a coffee foam — it was refreshing, sweet, with a kick of caffeine.

Then came the signature croissant experience from the bakehouse: a fresh and warm butter croissant, served with truffle butter, classic salted butter, red thecha butter, forest wild organic honey, Nutella, and house jam. The red thecha butter was rustic; the truffle butter was rich, but the highlight was the wild forest honey, light and floral in taste, paired wonderfully with the flaky pastry.

Our food tasting started with Avocado sev puris, a classic street snack elevated with smashed avocado layered with red harissa, imli chutney and hung curd. a delicious mouthful worth stuffing your mouth with! The Kataifi cottage cheese batons was served on a bed of toum, burnt butter hummus, muhammara, and parsley salsa. The toum and muhammara overpowered the hummus a tad bit, but collectively was a flavour bomb. From the non-veg section, we tried the Cajun chicken skewers, meat with puttanesca sauce — juicy, and perfectly seasoned.

One of our favourites was the Adana kebab with pita bread and pickled vegetables. The char-grilled minced lamb skewers were spicy, with the hint of tang coming from the pickled vegetables. The mains consisted of a Burrata & cherry tomato pizza, finished with a balsamic reduction. A jar of in-house chilli oil also made its way to our table, waiting for the crust to be dipped in it. We also tried the Cantonese stir-fried chicken, wok-tossed in Schezwan sauce, served with soba noodles.

Dessert was the Baaghini espresso tiramisu, espresso-soaked ladyfingers with mascarpone cream; the layers were creamy and melted into each other and formed a perfect blend of bitter, sweet, and light.

Meal for two: Rs 2,000++

11 am – 10.30 pm. At Banjara Hills.

Mail ID: anshula.u@newindianexpress.com

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