Enter Tina’s Cafe on Gokulam Main road, in VV Mohalla, and we promise you, food won’t be the first thing you will notice. You will see that people are chatting away, music is playing aloud somewhere in the background, home made chocolates and samples of that day’s dishes kept in katoris don the counter, someone’s deeply engrossed in a game of chess, and no one is rushing anyone into eating.
And, while you are here, you can find your way to Yoga, Spanish classes, chocolate classes, schedule for Inner Engineering, belly dance classes and why cycling is good for you and the environment too! One part of the wall has been turned into notice board, along with the people-facing side of the counter as well!
Non-conformist decor
The decor is non-conformist and hence secular or rather all-accommodative. There’s a small item from Kashmir, there’s an indoor plant, there are paintings in black and white growing on the wall, wooden chairs, few square poufs -- everything is so diverse that they all seem to meet under some invisible common spell.
When you see the board outside that says ‘home cooked meals’; you wouldn’t dream it to be so close to reality. In the din that exists at the restaurant, the place only grows on you. And, perhaps that explains why students and working professionals find it alluring day after day.
‘Limited edition’
The fare is Punjabi and ‘limited edition’ too. “We don’t believe in serving ‘restauranty’ food. When I say home-cooked, I mean every word of it,” says Tina, joined by her husband Sanjeev. Though vegetarian food and eggs dominate the menu, Tina has recently accommodated some meat items.
The food here is simple, and everything is made by Tina -- a mother of two. “When you eat at home, you are not spoilt for choices. You have rotis, simple dal, a curry and curds or raitha. Of course, some rice, depending on your requirements. That’s how we do at the Cafe,” she says. Menu includes phulkas, paranthas, egg, paneer, curries, coffee, chai, cool drinks et al. The most expensive dish here costs ` 75 and rates hover between ` 25 and 30 on a normal day. What essentially started as a take away place for students and foreigners (that explains the katori with sample food items) about 12 years ago, took shape of a Cafe since three years.
From then on, the place has only grown for better -- in terms of space and its patrons. “We do not call them our customers; because they are the very reason for Cafe to be so popular today. Everyone is a friend, and fills in for us at counter, when we are busy,” says Tina. Well, that reveals another dimension to the ‘home’ term here!
