RESTAURANT REVIEW: CAFE 27

For when something serviceable is sufficient

The biggest problem with Café 27 is that it doesn’t know what it’s trying to be. Café, lounge, disco, restaurant – with too many discordant parts it doesn’t end up amounting to much.  



Al Funghi with Ketchup

LOOKS LIKE

The décor is actually quite sweet, the first floor has a fresh café vibe and the rooftop is pretty with exposed brick and smatterings of green. I wish they would get rid of the posters on the first floor though. They’re trying to so hard to be cute they end up mostly silly and sad. The club space on the rooftop is just unnecessary – I can’t imagine there are too many people trying to get into club “zephyr”.  

Chicken Salt and Pepper

TASTES LIKE 

The Al Funghi (Mushroom, Fresh Tomato Sauce) on a thin wheat base was bland and could have used a little more of… well, everything really. The Chicken Salt and Pepper had way too much salt but both were serviceable.  

The menu makes the common mistake of taking on too much. There are salads, wraps, rolls, Indian, Oriental and Italian options. With so many choices I can’t even begin to guess what the kitchen’s strengths and weaknesses might be. The menu would benefit hugely from a pruning exercise. I would recommend the owners slash the dishes down to half or even a third of what’s on offer now and focus on getting those right.  



The Rooftop

 FEELS LIKE 

The service was unremarkable.

The place has promise but the management needs to take a cold, hard look in the mirror to stop the place from descending into mediocrity. One admirable effort in this direction is trying up with these guys to arrange movie screenings every Monday and pub quizzes every month.

 

Club Zephyr

THINGS YOU NEED TO KNOW

Should you go: Only for the pub quiz. Or if you’re using the place as a neighbourhood dive.

Vegetarian Options: Yes

Liquor License: Yes

Smoking Area: Yes

Address: 26, Level 2, Kailash Colony Market, New Delhi

Phone: 011 30146022