Venue: Hauz Khas Village
Date: 28th OCT

While coffee is one of the most consumed beverages of the world and this is what the West wakes up to every morning, India runs on tea. Chai – (as even the rest of the world has started calling Indian style tea, i.e., tea leaves brewed with milk and sugar) has been a part of India’s daily life and routine since decades. Bringing the tea culture out of Indian homes, are these new age tea bars that are opening and slowly gaining clientele in the city. Chaayos is definitely one of the front runners in this area. Already having more than 10 outlets in Delhi NCR, and the occasional kiosk like at the Trade fair, they not only serve tea and snacks in their outlets but are also coming up with delivery solutions as well.

We recently visited their Hauz Khas Village outlet and found this to be more spacious and decor and seating arrangement better than other outlets. This could probably be the only place in the very noisy and busy HKV, where one can sit and talk, work or just be.

We ordered two cups of Desi Chai with our choice of add ons – tulsi, ajwain, adrak, black pepper and saunf. The tea is made in the traditional Indian way with sugar and milk and brewed to suit the desi tastebuds to the T(ea) – pun intended.

We also ordered a Modinagar Shikanji for our friend who was off tea that day. He found the shikanji to be flat.

Along with our beverages we ordered a Chatpata Kebab Wrap, Keema Pav, Egg Bun and a Sicilian Chicken Sandwich. Kebab Wrap and Keema Pav was just about ok. Egg bun and chicken sandwich were much better. None of the food items totally disappointed in taste but were not up there in quantity and couldn’t justify the price.

Chai is their real star and we went for another round of tea, this time with slices of lemon and carrot cake and pistachio cookies. Cakes and cookies were decent and we finished them in no time.

Staff and service at this outlet were excellent. We went to the counter to get our tea warmed up again and the guy completely replenished the cup with a fresh serving of piping hot tea. Brownie points to the team for this gesture.

Chaayos did not let us down by way of their tea but they should definitely think of reducing prices or adding affordable food items to their menu. Chai is a very basic beverage for Indians and customers want to visit such outlets more often without thinking too much about the impact on their wallets.