Date: 26 December, 2019
Venue: Majnu Ka Tila, Delhi

Majnu Ka Tila could be just another locality in New Delhi. But no – it isn’t your typical neighbourhood up north. It is way more colourful and happening. Majnu ka Tila is home to Tibetan settlers who have moved in from various places including Dharamshala and settled in Delhi. The settlers have got along with them their colourful culture and food. Anybody who has been to Dharamshala, especially Mcleodganj would confirm that it is foodie’s paradise. The sheer variety of food in cool cafes at affordable prices makes us want to visit Mcleod again and again.

But then there is just so much McLeod travel we can do. When we crave for some Tibetan kind of café grub, the cafes at Majnu Ka Tila come handy. This is a treasure trove of all sorts of cafes. From typical Tibetan food to western fast food to continental – the sheer options are rather mindboggling. Ama Café at Majnu ka Tila fits in the latter category.

Ama Café at Majnu ka Tila

Among the famous restaurants at Majnu ka Tila of MKT, Ama Café has garnered a lot of goodwill as featuring among pocket friendly cafes in Delhi. We tried eating at Ama Cafe earlier but it was long waiting and we ate at Dolma House instead.

We recently went again to MKT and this time, we found a table at Ama Café. Though we went with an expectation of Tibetan fare, the menu here is all about fast food and, so to speak, student specials – burgers, pizzas, shakes etc. Since it is a café near Delhi University area, it also caters to college crowd. That explains the pricing as well. It is definitely one of the pocket friendly cafes in Delhi.

Food

We ordered vegetarian club sandwiches, vegetarian Caesar salad, ice tea, the fungi pizza, Tsampa shake. The 4 sandwiches on the platter and fries etc were totally value for money. This was filling for not one but 2 people. The pizza was thin crust and while we like the regular crust better, we found this to be delicious. The salad, in contrast, was a little underwhelming. There was nothing special about it and could be passed. Ice tea was nice too. The only Tibetan item that we ordered was Tsampa shake. This somehow tasted exactly like our Suji ki Kheer. This was our first time trying this roasted barley and milk based shake. It felt healthy and nourishing but should not be order with so much of food as the shake was heavy. It might take us another few tries to start liking the shake.

Ambience

The décor at Ama Café has no Tibetan or mountain hangover. It is contemporary, hep and laidback. The place is well lit and exudes positive vibes. The waiters don’t hover over the table and don’t ask you to reorder or leave. The seating area is huge. There are multiple floors here. We sat on 3rd floor and I guess they are working on a 4th floor as well. We could smell some varnish or paint on account of the construction and and that came in our way of enjoying the meal.

Service

No complaints. The team here seemed to be like robots functioning with clockwork precision. Our orders were delivered promptly and any customisation that we had requested had been executed. Service, we believe makes or breaks a restaurant and good service makes diners return to a place. Ama Café is definitely one such restaurant.

Why try Ama Café

There is no dearth of Cafes in Delhi NCR. Some new place keeps sprouting every other day. Majnu ka Tila is no different. This place is choc-a-bloc with food joints vying for space in adjacent building. What made Ama Café tick for us is their taste and good service. Most of the items that we had were tasty and the dishes were filling. In fact, we felt that we should have ordered less. The next reason for coming to this place is its pocket friendliness. Every item was most reasonably priced and one did not have to think twice in terms of costs before ordering an item. Last but not least, as we mentioned earlier – we would recommend this place for their quick service. Waiting endlessly between 2 items is such a turn off!

What can be better

The menu is rather predictable and is like that of any other café. Given that Ama Café is located at Majnu ka Tila, the North Easterners hub in the city, we would expect some signature dishes or Tibetan / North East items of fast food variety. This would give the diner options as well as make Ama Café stand out from its peers.

Nonetheless, we were happy with what they have. It was a nice fuss free dining experience here and we may come back again to Ama Café for a safe, seamless meal.