Fab Cafe in Vasant Kunj is trying to give a hearty twist to everyday Indian food, says Muskaan Sharma
Sitting atop the FabIndia building in Vasant Kunj, Fab Cafe is a modern oasis in the scorching heat of the Delhi summer. With large windows and an abundance of indoor plants, the cafe resonates a fresh and soothing vibe. The ambience is completed by the muted grey and blue of the walls and the simple wooden furniture. The Indian classical instrumental music fills the atmosphere with a mild yet infused tranquility.
When we decided to check it out, its manager Rebekah Blank described the menu as “healthy Indian.”
Explaining further, she said that the focus of the cafe is to provide food aligning with the Indian palate but using ingredients that are way healthier and nutritious. looking at the menu we found this to be true as listed under each dish were the vitamins and nutrients one serving of each contained. With popular Indian dishes like tikki chaat, samosa and papdi chaat making an appearance as appetisers on the menu, we were apprehensive about the healthy aspect of the food served.
Waving these doubts aside, we were served with a tri-grain papdi chaat medley topped with yogurt and sweet saunth syrup finished off with pomegranate seeds and sprouts for dressing. The papdis of the unusual greyish tint looked almost unappetising at first but after taking a bite ,the flavour of these jowar, bajra and buckwheat combined discs resonated the essence of the original.
Following the chaat, we were introduced to sprout-filled golgappas. Packed with sprouts for extra nutrition and served with mint, pineapple and pomegranate water, they did not charm us. The three flavoured waters failed to alleviate the taste of the golgappas but as a healthy and hygienic alternative, one may choose these over the usual potato filled golgappas.
Tirath Singh, the head chef at Fab Cafe extended his views about the food habits. “We do not use grains like jowar and bajra in our daily food today like we used to before. Post the green revolution, the focus shifted to mass-produced food and the understanding of food and habits changed. Our aim is to create what is relevant to the Indian palate but with a modern appeal. For this we gathered ideas from all over the world to make healthy food all-inclusive. We have food here catering to vegans, vegetarians and non-vegetarians while keeping alive the Indian essence
of it”
The seamless service then led us to taste one of its popular breakfast dishes, the stuffed quinoa parantha. Served with cashew cheese dip and homemade sweet and tangy pickles, the paranthas were made out of a 100 per cent quinoa flour. While the stuffing of the paranthas bought little relief to the taste buds, the good old homemade pickle helped add a tangy twist to the flavour palate that otherwise remained subdued. Although the cashew cheese can be a great vegan alternative to a regular cheesy dipping sauce, it did not appeal to a non vegan palate.
As we waited for our main course to arrive, a section to the left labeled ‘vegetables and fruits for sale’ caught our eye. Informing us about the idea behind it, Blank said, “The concept behind the cafe is to inculcate the use of healthier ingredients into the same food habits. This stall sells locally grown organic food for our customers to buy and use to cook dishes that are pure and mechanically unrefined for their family and friends”.
For the main course, we were served kathal quinoa biryani with a side of fresh yogurt,a gravy of blended roasted nuts and onion rings. Fit to be a fulfilling main course, the dish reflected the spicy richness of a traditional biryani and worked well with the fresh yogurt. The texture was coarse as the fine bits of nuts lent heft to the dish.
The desserts remained the best part of the entire experience and had some extremely innovative dishes. The traditional kulfi that contains cream and sugar was replaced by an anjeer and date kulfi that was cream and sugar free and derived its sweetness entirely from the fruits used. The texture of the kulfi was grainy but the subtle natural sweetness of the dates made it crunchy cool.
Another effort of using traditional Indian ingredients was the masala chai ice-cream. A sugar-free ice-cream made by using jaggery and masala chai ingredients, it succeeded in its fusion attempt. The strong spices of the chai mixture were silky against the ice-cream base and flavourful without being too overpowering.
To round off our food journey, we were served with a tall glass of sugarcane juice and chilled aam panna to take on sun yet again.