Step 1: Stand facing the stove.: RESTAURANT REVIEW: CAFE 88, MEHARCHAND MARKET

For when you want coffee and elegance

I want that LV trunk in the coffee table. If you hear someone broke into Cafe 88 and stole only the trunk that's probably me.

A friend with good intentions advised me to review new restaurants because everyone is already a familiar with the stable of Delhi classics and unlikely to want to read more about them. This is obviously good advice so I set off in the direction of Hauz Khas Village and Meharchand Market, where new restaurants seem to open and close every day and I wasn’t disappointed.

Eating at new restaurants every weekend is thoroughly enjoyable, the only hitch is getting my review together and up on the blog before these fly by night operations shut shop. While I’d love to be able to update you in real time about where to go (and more importantly what to skip) I’ve to come to terms with the fact that my day job doesn’t leave me that kind of time. On the brighter side, I do have reviews on 5 (now not so) new restaurants to get to you guys.

We’re starting with Café 88. No real reason except that it is extraordinarily pretty. I’ve changed my mind about my future living room looking like Ca Va. In my head it now looks like Café 88, subject to my boss tripling my salary.

Fresh flowers! Fresh flowers can change your mood, your day, your room and the world.

LOOKS LIKE

This place is so pretty I can even forgive that hundreds of birds must now be homeless because their cages were wrested away from them and flung around Café 88. The interior designers deserve a pat on the back, no, a bear hug for not going down the usual boho-hobo-shabby-chic road expected of young establishments. Eschewing cutesy posters and curated clutter these brave souls have created a wonderfully grown up, minimalistic luxe space. My favourite things - the whimsical astro-turfed roof top area with its cabana style umbrellas, the fresh flowers everywhere and the gorgeous vintage Vuitton suitcase doubling up as the coffee table for the ground floor. I want that suitcase. I’m happy to trade in my younger brother and a couple of cousins for that suitcase. You can inspect them here.

TASTES LIKE

Maybe my expectations were too high when I heard Café 88 is run by the guys who handle Yeti. Maybe they had teething troubles when I visited in their first week of opening. Whatever the extenuating circumstances the food here is a disappointment. The menu is a confused mash of different cuisines and I’m not sure how they expect us to piece together a coherent meal out of the scramble of continental, India and south east Asian options.

Most people aren’t very good at ordering food. I know I’m not. At the end of a long day I don’t even want to try. Any decent restaurant will set up the menu in a way that makes it easy for you to find what suites your palate. This doesn’t happen at Café 88. When my order arrived I found myself looking at an odd assortment of mismatched food.

The Nachos with Spinach Dip and some other cheesy type dip were poorly plated and the spinach bitter. The Caesar Salad and Juliet’s Meat Loaf were tasty but hardly exceptional. The Tom Yum Soup was watery and not worth anyone’s time or money. The highlight of my meal was the bread basket filled with different kinds of fresh, warm, fragrant bread.

If you read my blog you’ll know I’m not a big believer in food presentation. Do as much as you can but don’t kill yourself trying to make a dish look pretty. After all, once it’s in someone’s mouth it’s not going to matter how photogenic it was before. But that doesn’t mean the food should look sloppy on your plate, specially not at a restaurant. What is going on with the plating at Café 88? The dishes are thrown on the plate so casually I felt like I was serving myself dinner before settling in front of the television at home.

Go for coffee and cake. Or a milkshake. A whole meal is a risk that might leave you discontent and poorer by about INR 2,000.