The newly-opened Summerhouse Cafe at Aurobindo Place Market may not boast of an extensive menu or swanky interiors but it has managed to win the hearts of youngsters with its comfort food, says Divya Kaushik
It is difficult to guess what will be new about the place that chooses its name as Summerhouse Café, the most common title across the world for food joints. But while we were at this newly opened café at Aurobindo Place Market, we realised that the name justifies its concept completely. The space that is divided wisely into different sections with outdoor and terrace seating was fully packed on a weekday.
As the live band, comprising only the drummer and singer, started to pack up after completing Yellow by Coldplay, we were informed that a group of “extremely funny men” will take over the stage and will leave the guests in splits. Fortunately for us, it was the day for a comedy show in the restaurant. The staff told us that such events are regular at Summerhouse Café and it is thanks to these events that the place has easily earned its share of fame. It is understandably difficult for any new outlet, just in the vicinity of Hauz Khas Village, the area we know for all kind of food joints, to make its presence felt in the meager duration of five months. But Summerhouse Café seems to be doing pretty well. Apart from an interesting line up of events, the credit for its popularity also goes to its menu that’s not fancy. It is not extensive either. The menu lists popular comfort food from all across the globe and no fancy names are used here to describe the dishes. “The concept of this restaurant is to provide a comfortable setting to our guests. Even the menu is designed around the same concept. It has dishes picked up from all over the globe but none of them is such that you need a person to describe what it is,” says Achint Kapil, owner of the café.
The menu is a palatable mix of platters, meats, baked potatoes, burgers, traditional Mexican delicacies, mezze and Italian pasta, ravioli and lasagna. There is harissa grilled cottage cheese and leek skewer, chilli and lime grilled summer vegetable skewer, tomato pesto bruschetta, crumb fried smoked cheese bites, nachos and salsa platter, meatballs (chicken, lamb), buffalo chilli fries (chicken) and sizzled red chicken. We went with the safe choice, grilled summer vegetable skewer and mezze platter. The latter was perfect in every sense but the vegetable skewer lacked its smoky flavour. One can also choose from the canopy platters. There is vegetable canopy platter with bocconcini and tomato, black and green olive tapenade, chicken, seafood platter. The dishes listed in the main course include spicy vegetable stuffed bell peppers, which is a perfect mix of zucchini and bell peppers tossed in creamy pesto sauce, stuffed in a bell pepper and roasted till perfection and served with garlic bread and seasonal veggies. There is also crusted cottage cheese steak with chunky tomato sauce, traditional meat loaf with BBQ sauce and hot BBQ ranch beans and Summerhouse chilli with batter fried onion rings and rice. American fried chicken marinated in Jamaican jerk carination, deep fried till golden brown and served with French fries and spicy sausage rice is pretty popular here. You can also order your all-time favourites from Italian cuisine or from the section of sandwiches, burgers, hot dogs and wraps. We suggest you go for tiramisu as dessert.
One thing that is a must mention about this place is that it’s value for money. The portions served are big at a reasonable price.