NH 58 has a three-month-old quickstop off Ghaziabad called loca la Zona which serves imaginative twists on fast food and offers the concept of ‘suspended coffee'. Shana Maria Verghis tried their grub
The concept of buying an overpriced java for someone strapped for cash, is the latest buzz on social media, with several chains cashing in. Apparently the idea was contemporised through the caffe sospeso movement, or ‘suspended coffee’ movement, which is a throwback to an idea that rumour has it, floated during World War II, when people were low on funds.
As Kamlaksh KN of the loca la Zona, which uses this idea explained, “Say 10 guests visit a cafe. Four of you buy a ‘suspended coffee’. That means they are paying for something out of their own pockets, for someone else who might walk in, short on funds,” and thirsting for say a cafe latte. loca la Zona shares a wall with Santosh Medical College, which is across the road from this cafe in Pratap Vihar. A place that mostly houses families and small businesses. “The families are not into our kind of food,” said Kamlaksh, also an F&B consultant. He has been a bartender and also partnered with other restaurants. His menu mostly consists quick-eats like burgers, plus some entrees, dessert and non-alcoholic beverages. They have quirky names, like the bum burger, which is apparently served in a nappy, because it gets squishy when you are having a go.
The ‘dog’s have six-inch franks and their thirst quenchers include a pretty pinky-red jelly cooler, which is made of cherry jelly and lemon juice, as well as the Tamarita. This is a brain freezer loaded with ice, that is supposed to make you go numb when you sip it.
This followed with some yummy ‘Titties Bitties’, like the cheese poppers, made of two kinds of cheese and served as croquettes. Plus there are the stuffed mushroom dickheads full of spinach, cheese and mushroom. The steak and grill section is also brief, with cottage cheese Peeli Peeli and Veg Cordon Bleu. Fancy names for a place which is probably hosting college kids with limited fund pocket money, (but hostel food can make you desperate). And its is also targetting people who moved to Ghaziabad from Delhi and want eateries that are fun+modern at night. This kind is rare in this location. In fact, when you approach the place at night, you take a detour off the NH58, down one lane that is unlit. So its a relief to enter loca... The interiors are brightly decorated, in sunny pastels, with posters advocating against rape.
Kamlaksh, who plays tabla, hopes to get musician friends over. One of the reasons he opened here, is because he doesn’t pay rent. As we ordered Spenish Chica Peeli Peeli, which was chicken breast stuffed with spinach, drowned in a sauce that was a mixture of condiments and spices, we realised that you can’t judge the place on the scale of usual Delhi middle-range places, because the clientele here is just shaping up.
At least it could offer a change to the landscape of the area which is slowly upgrading. Kamlaksh has wisely decided to use easily available ingredients — tomato sauce, milkshakes, cobbled some silly names with urban ideas, and kept costs well in mind. He wants to start three more places on the same lines, without posh-vosh and frillery-thrillery.
We ended the meal dipping slices of thin, crusty pizza coated in chocolate into whipped cream and ice-cream. This is share-with-dost food, and ideas on the menu also seem like that.