Mocha, Defence Colony

Got the blues? As long as you have coffee at Mocha, how bad could things be…?

Mocha is a quite happening coffee shop in Defence Colony where people come over to unwind with friends and spend a relaxed evening. Sprawling across two floors, the café is known for its great sampling of coffee, but the main attraction of Mocha is the flavoured hookahs!

As you climb up the staircase to the first floor of the café, you emerge into this buzzing atmosphere that greets you with loud retro and club music. The mellow lighting with interesting lamps in different shapes, sizes and shades is a visual treat. Mocha has got a warm and classy Mughal setting that offers a plush ambiance. The brightly coloured walls radiate exuberance, and the low seating arrangement with velvet and leather settees is appealing. Tables near the windows give a scenic view of the street outside.

Mocha Café serves a range of coffee and you can pick your flavour of freshly roasted and ground American, African, Italian or Indian coffee. We ordered a classic Irish coffee that was bursting with flavour, and the service was also prompt! Mocha’s well elaborated food section includes Italian cuisines like pasta, pizza, ravioli; salads, gourmet desserts, and divine shakes.

The aroma of delicious food excited my taste buds enough to try my hand at the Japanese Yakitori Wrap that came with a filling of coleslaw served with mayonnaise dip! We also ordered Chargrilled vegetables that were a colourful medley of veggies, served with penne pasta and white sauce. The Irish Bourbon Cream Shake with whipped cream on the top was a blissful accompaniment. When talking about the quality of food and drink preparations, Mocha stands out for its novelty. I would also vouch for the fabulous Chocolate Avalanche they’ve got. It is a bowl full of choc-fudge and truffles, along with brownies topped with scoops of chocolate ice-cream – truly a sinful appetite!

The hookah lounge on the second floor is equally interesting, and serves flavoured hookahs to the guests. The menu includes fruit-flavoured hookahs like apple, grape, and orange amongst others, we settled for the Casablanca Hookah.

The service was good and the staff was humble. The prices, however, were not very reasonable and it can be a little heavy on the pocket. Overall, it was a good experience. Mocha in Defence Colony has something about it that will undeniably keep you coming back for more!

All Things Yummy!!!!!

I always went to the Big Chill Café in Khan Market for its feisty Italian food but I got tired of cramped space and long waiting queues so I decided to check out their DLF Place, Saket branch. It has more space unlike the one in Khan Market, so waiting lines are not so long.

I found this outlet of Big Chill as a quintessential ‘Italian’ eatery - a cuisine discovered only to be relished.

Ambiance

It is always a visual treat just entering the restaurant. The ambiance is chilled and cosy with a lovely memorabilia on the walls of classic Hollywood movies of the seventies like Casablanca, Godfather, and Hitchcock’s Psycho. The interiors are done up in subtle colours and tasteful décor, which adds more appeal to the restaurant.

Menu

Big Chill owes its popularity to the menu, which is HUGE and appears like a telephone directory of Italian, Continental, and some Lebanese cuisines. Featuring Audrey Hepburn in Breakfast at Tiffany’s on the front page, the menu continues the theme with colourful images of movies spread throughout the pages. There are countless food and beverage options. Fresh salads, hot soups, wholesome pastas, cheesy pizzas, scrumptious cakes, thick shakes – the menu is enormous.

Food

If you want to enjoy Italian food par excellence, Big Chill is the place to be! The restaurant offers a huge variety of authentic Italian cuisines apart from appetizing desserts and shakes – the food is simply beautiful.

We started with the Baked Penne Pasta with mozzarella cheese in red sauce. The melted cheese covering the pasta made the dish downright sinful. The spicy tomato sauce with various herbs gave an exceptional flavour to the pasta while the aroma played its role as an appetizer. The Greek Salad with its fresh veggies was heavy on the dressing which was just perfect for our palette.

For the main course there was the Pesto Spinach Chicken Lasagne – a blissful delight for Chicken lovers! The Four Seasons Pizza has always been one of my favourites here, so we ordered that too. I like how every food at Big Chill has a real depth of flavour. In fact, the restaurant being perennially crowded is a testament to the quality of food they serve.

Desserts

Big Chill offers some really amazing desserts and I couldn’t resist my temptation of devouring the Mississippi Mud Pie. Each layer was delicious and included peanut butter, Oreos, chocolate sauce and hazel nut and topped with ice cream! For a chocolate lover like me – it was like attaining nirvana! Their Blueberry and New York cheesecakes are a must try and perhaps one of the finest in the city. The shakes on the Big Chill menu are luscious, thick and rich, and a meal in itself. We settled for the highly acclaimed Belgian Choco Shake.

Service

The staff is usually courteous, and manages to surprise me with their service and efficiency in spite of being extremely occupied. The starters came fast but service did take some time for the main dishes, however, the waiting period wasn't a deterrent for the wholesome meal at Big Chill.

Value for Money

Big Chill is just right place to go with friends though the prices are a little hard on the pocket but the food quality and portion size is complete value for money.

Overall

My experience at Big Chill has been consistently good. However, the place is almost always full and waiting for a table is quite expected – kindly book your tables well in advance before your taste buds are about to give up!

Overall, I must say, no matter what I order blindly at this place, Big Chill Café has never disappointed me. 

Italian Retreat: The Big Chill Cafe

Got a yen for Italian treats?

Then Big Chill Café in Delhi’s Khan Market is the place to be.

Serving authentic Italian food apart from mouth-watering desserts and shakes, Big Chill has an exquisite charm, and despite being expensive you are likely to drop by every few months to grab something exceptional.

Recalling my first rendezvous with the place that happened to be last year, there was a 30-45 minute wait outside the café before they could seat us – the rush outside was insane! After a long wait, the guard opened the green wooden door for me and my friend and guided us to a steep staircase.  We ascended the stairs to emerge into this buzzing restaurant.

The walls were bedecked with framed posters and relics of Hollywood movies like Casablanca, Godfather, and Hitchcock's Psycho to give a retro feel of the seventies. We spent a lovely time recollecting all the yesteryear’s classics that we had seen or were yet to see! The environment at the café was cosy, and the décor in mustard yellow and deep green attracted a fairly eclectic crowd.

Who knew the menu would be so extensive that it took us over 10 minutes just to read through all the choices that we had to pick from – wow! With colourful movie images and information running throughout the pages, the menu gave out a sense of novelty.

We started with the delicious Tomato Basil Soup, followed by Peri Peri Chicken Pasta as the main course. The pasta was a good preparation with fusilli and chunks of chicken cooked in spicy mouth-watering red sauce. It was served piping hot with a side order of the Greek salad, which was bursting with flavour and freshness….irresistible! The Ravioli with Butter and Sage was specifically sought after with scrumptious flavours that the ravioli filling and butter added to the whole dish.

Next, the desserts started doing the rounds and we were digging in the Mississippi Mud Pie. It is by far the best ice cream cake I have ever had and totally worth the calories. We also tried the Squidgy Chocolate Cake with ice cream. I liked how the cake was served warm and simply melted in my mouth. The chocolate filling and the soft cake served with freezing cold ice cream was purely…..sinful. We had heard that Big Chill offers some really luscious shakes and smoothies, and settled for the Chocolate Oreo one.

The service took time and I had to ask for the bill twice before I got it, but trust me, it was worth the wait. The food was extremely filling and the portions served were good enough for two people, but the highlight of the evening was definitely the Mississippi Mud Pie. The quality of the food, the knowledgeable staff, and the comforting ambiance was a complete value for money. The price may seem a little overrated though – surely taxes kill. Overall, it was a great evening, thanks to Big Chill Cafe for making my experience worthwhile. 

Well Done Abba

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