Date: 15 May 2019
Venue: Huda Market, Sec 14, Gurugram

The humble Kulcha has glammed up at KOOLCHAS, Gurgaon. They have two branches as of now – one in Sushant Lok and the other in the Sector 14 market. The outer wall at this branch is done up with fun graffiti and the board up the building announces the deal of the season.

When we dropped at the latter outlet for early dinner, we liked the space. The bright prints on the white walls gave Koolchas a café feel. The menu is long and they had a host of genres – a variety of kulchas such as regular, whole wheat, multi seed etc.; long list of side dishes;  starters like fries and wedges; kids menu; quick bites;  beverages; desserts and so on. The beverages included tea as well. Indeed it was a kulcha café.

We met Gaurav, the owner and he corroborated our notion. He wanted to come up with a café that moved away from sandwiches, burgers or pizzas and offered Indian food items. This led to Koolchas. Given that kulchas are already a popular item up North, we must say, this is a good starting point.

We tried a couple of kulchas with a few sides. To start – we tried the basic matra and regular white kulcha. The Matra was cooked to perfection and spiced just right. It opened our taste buds and we realised why it might be worth paying a little extra for the otherwise roadside matar kulcha. We also loved the sweet and sour khatta meetha matra and the mutton keema that went very well with wheat kulcha. We also tried the egg-salami kulcha and it seemed that the taste of kulcha was somehow lost in this dish.

A special mention would be their tea. It was just right on milk and sugar, completely home variety. And talking about home food, Gaurav mentioned that all the dishes that they serve, except the kulchas, that they procure, his mother’s recipes. Consequently their spices are ground and blended in-house. This reminded us of Chef Osama Jalali and his mother’s recipes at Rampur Food Festival.  They also retail pickles and chutneys under their brand. Their kulchas are procured from a vendor.

To sum up, it was the curiosity of experiencing kulchas at a restaurant that had got us here. The taste, the hygiene and the cool seating in a clean aircon environment make Koolchas value for money. If you want to experience Koolchas in full glory, we suggest you are not rushed since they take some time to serve. But we feel, the time that we spent at Koolchas is totally worth.