Date: 11 April 2018
Venue: South Point Mall, Gurgaon

We can never thank our lucky stars that we started blogging. We land up at a host of new places and get bragging rights for being the first to spread the word. This time it is Café Staywoke at South Point Mall, Gurgaon.

When we went there last week, looking for some offbeat dinner, most of the tables were full. In fact, they have a cool swing bench and that too was taken. Swing bench, graffiti and slogans on the white walls, splatter of turquoise in the upholstery and tiles – the décor exuded understated elegance. Nothing that we haven’t seen before. Yet a style that never gets in the way of things.

At the outset – be prepared for some flowing praise because that follows next.

And given that our dinner started with beautiful wine red beet and coconut soup that sent our taste buds in tizzy – we are left with no choice. The richness of colour and texture of beet cooked in coconut milk gave the soup smoothness yet body. The milky taste with a hint of tang made this a very suitable dish to stimulate our taste buds. We have had soups and soups but this flavour  is a first and deserves all the text applaud it is getting here.  Kudos to the chef on this dish. Needless to say – it is a must try.

But not only experiments, they got the basics right too. For example the smoked chicken salad had a variety of flavours.  There was thankfully no overload of dressing and yet it was just enough to add some taste. The smoky flavor in the chicken slices spread to the rocket leaves gave the dish a fresh woody feel. Loved it.

And there was the succulent prawns moderately cooked to retain softness and served with salad and cucumber slivers; the lamb that was mild but not bland and cooked just right – no fibers and the Pull Pork Burger. Along with the pork patty and coleslaw dressing, they had slices of grilled apples and raisins in the filling of this burger. This gave the burger some crunch and sweetness. This dish is wholesome and a complete meal for a diner with moderate appetite.

They also served their take of chicken biryani fried rice. They have taken Delhi style chicken rice and added Chinese fried rice seasoning. The sides include coriander chutney and a beautiful pink pepper raita. This one is surely in honour of the Indian palate.

A must try for vegetarians and others who like magic on their palate is the ragi upma with Thai sauce. Now the name of the dish didn’t excite but once we had it – we were floored. The humble upma was upcycled with sweet and tangy Thai sauce making it a cool dish that was so familiar yet so new.

Among desserts we tried Chai Parle G Kulfi. They have frozen masala chai in ice cream format and have garnished it with Parle G biscuit in ode to all who dip their Parle G biscuits in chai. This novel item tasted like ..hmm..chilled sondesh and the Bengali between us was oozing delight.

The Eggless Semifreddo was a chocolate mousse like mild dessert that was served with vanilla ice cream. The trick was the orange rind topping. The acidic taste of orange rind complimented the smooth taste of the mousse again sending fun signals from our taste buds to the brain. We landed up polishing the whole thing.

We also had sea salt caramel hazelnut cake. The cake was flavourful, little rich and just the right hint of sea salt. On the side we had masala chai and Firdaus green tea.  The masala chai was a great convergence of subtle spicy flavor in a mild milk based tea that carried just the right amount of punch.  We love the eye for details.

Café Staywoke calls itself a casual café. But we can see they haven’t taken any dish casually here. The chai and salads are impeccable, the watermelon juice was fresh with no bottled flavours, the soup was unique. We love the sincerity with which this place is being run.

This establishment is serving great food that has gone through some successful experiments in the food lab. We liked the experiments – the balance of proteins and fibers in each dish and the fusion of tastes.  Our verdict – Café Staywoke is a great Fun-Do that definitely deserves a shot.