Vizag diaries part 1: Sampoorna coffee

A bunch of us had decided to visit Vizag for new year this time. Nothing big, just an impromptu 3 days affair. And as we all know, no trip to that wonderful seaside city is complete without a stopover at the famous Araku Valley nearby. We too had a night stop there at a really cute little resort and the next morning we woke up with an intent to return to the city via Borra Caves but absolutely no idea where to have our breakfast. We were all starving and desperately looking for food. Our driver took us to see an ethnic tribal museum and as we were roaming about trying to see what we could get for breakfast, we chanced upon a quiet little coffee shop tucked away in a little dent in the slope. It was barely visible from the main road and had it not been for my friends who pointed it out, we would have missed it.

The fun part was that it was named after me- Sampoorna Coffee. The name, along with the colonial look immediately drew us in. The place serves coffee, only coffee and nothing else. There was a whole range of lattes and cappuccinos and cold coffees. Although some of them went for the cold ones, I opted for a simple cappuccino, since I feel that the best way to taste coffee is hot, and simple. It was, as I expected, intense and really good. And the best thing was, it cost just 15 bucks. :) Then we saw a stash of chocolates on the counter. It said, 'coffee chocolates'. The whole place smelled so good, of fresh roasted coffee beans that I found it difficult to stop myself from buying a pack. It was a 10-blister pack and it cost 80 bucks. The chocolates looked something like this:

I immediately popped one into my mouth and the taste came in many layers. There was the smoothness of the chocolate with the occasional crunch of the ground and roasted coffee beans. The best thing about these were that the aroma of the coffee never overpowered the chocolate flavour. Both the flavours came together and complemented each other beautifully. You could actually discern the coffinness and the chocolatiness - both at the same time. After the first one, I immediately bought two more packs with the very noble intent of taking them home. It's another story how they could never find their way home despite my best intentions. 

I also bought two 200 grams packs of fresh roasted coffee- Peaberry and Arabica, both of whom still retain that impeccable aroma inspite of my carelessly keeping the packs open since then, and make for really flavourful and aromatic cuppas every now and then.As soon as we were back, I had a little tasting session in my hostel room and the girls loved it. The only problem is that you need to filter the coffee at the end to get rid of those little husk like granules that come with nature's best coffee beans. 

Now, this place also had a 'Sampoorna coffee gallery' where they had all sorts of ancient coffee making machines and exhibits telling us about the history of coffee and various variants of the brew across the world. The coolest thing about this gallery was that you had to buy a 15 rs ticket to get inside, and with it they gave a pack of 2 of those chocolates I was talking about earlier. Real value for money I must say..For those of you who might visit that region in near or far future, the address is:

Araku Valley Coffee House,

Near RTC Bus complex, Araku Valley - 531 149,

Vishakhapatanam Dist., AP

phone - 08936208089

email: arakuvalleycoffeehouse@gmail.com

For the really eager ones, you can actually call them/ mail them and find out whether they deliver it by post or not. But I must warn you, the chocolates are highly addictive.

P.S: Special thanks to Amu for suggesting I write this, and to Mayank for providing the much elusive pics.

Fried Ice cream and filter coffee at Madras Restaurant

Madras restaurant, also known as Madras Cafe is a quaint little eatery tucked into a little corner on Central Avenue in Kolkata. It is near the E-Mall and is just outside the Chandni Chowk Metro station. At first look it doesn't look anything impressive and usually people go there by recommendation. I had been a regular there since my early days of engineering because it is near Chandni Chowk(yes, there is a Chandni Chowk in Kolkata also), a haven for engineering students. My friend Abhay had first shown me the place and I was hooked ever since for its authentic South Indian food and the amazing filter coffee served there (point to be noted: not many places in the city serve filter coffee).

A couple of days before I had to come to Kgp for my admissions, I was in the area to buy some extensions and all and I decided to drop in for a quick bite. It was late afternoon and I didn't have my lunch. I noticed the new menu but wasn't expecting what I'd see in the deserts section. A new addition was 'Fried Ice-Cream'. I had read about it, heard about it, watched it on TLC(my favourite TV channel :D), but had never seen it in any city restaurant. So it came as a surprise to discover it in this little place, that too at such a reasonable price. Deciding to give it a shot, I ordered one with filter coffee (just to wait till it arrives). Looking around, I saw several other people discussing the new dish and ordering it. It was fun to watch their reactions.

Now, they serve the filter coffee the original way, with a little stainless steel tumbler and a bowl. For the uninitiated, you are supposed to pour the coffee back and forth in the two vessels in order to cool it and then have it. The good thing about Madras Cafe is the personalised attention they give to each customer. An attendant kept a tab on my coffee and as soon as I was halfway through, he came up to the table and asked me if I wanted the ice cream after the coffee. As I said yes, he went inside to get my order.

And then it came. A sizzling golden ball shaped dumpling with some red jam on the side, which later turned out to be strawberry jam. The sizzling exterior makes it hard to guess there is ice cream inside for first timers. As I cut in with a spoon, I saw the scoop of vanilla ice cream a little removed from the shell. I wanted to check out the shell alone and it reminded me of the dough made with the ready made gulab jamun mixes we get. Surprisingly, the ice cream was still intact with only very slight traces of softening. I took in a spoonful of the ice cream with the shell and the jam with it. The explosion of flavours and the textures on my palate was interesting. There was this cold, firm vanilla taste with the hot, crunchy dough and the strawberry flavour mixing with both. It felt good, very very good. It was time to dig in and it was gone before I even knew it. For 30 bucks (as far as I remember), it was an awesome experience. I haven't been to Chandni Chowk since July but I know for sure, if ever I am in the area, I'll stop by for another scoop.