Coast Café — Restaurant in Delhi

On a whirlwind tour of India after 31 years away…. I mean, this used to be the stuff of my baaaaaaad dreams for many years: I am visiting India, somehow get stuck there and can’t leave, and my home, family and work in NY are all falling apart…. I’d wake up disoriented relieved to be back in my bed on this side of the planet…!! …so This was a quick sprint around the whole subcontinent, to catch up with everyone I really wanted to see... and with a refreshing degree of success !!!! Yay!

Yikes: I don’t know about anyone else, but I don’t do these “after 31 years away” trips too often, and this one was a mindblower… Kolkata….? aaaaaah cwap !! I mean what’s with these name changes ? Can you really rename Calcutta, or any other place, and change history ? . .or what the people are ? At least they couldn’t (or didn’t ?) change Delhi’s name… And so… on my 3rd stop around my former homeland: much changed and much abused. Delhi has changed …But happy to find that in their hearts the folks are ALL the same... older, but undeniably and wonderfully, the same.

These 31 years have NOT been kind to Delhi. The former PM’s vision of making Delhi the “Paris of The East” (anyone remember Indira Gandhi’s megalomania ?) which could possibly have been eked out of Lutyens’ vision for a “New” Delhi, has undeniably suffered a huge blow from rampant, exponential overdevelopment and overpopulation, and is now a teeming 18+ million deep mire of smog, building sites, concrete rubble and overgrown trees… all sadly covered in brown dust. The wealthy have become wealthier, and escape this gloom by disappearing into their cocooned, private developments where they are safely screened away from reality. But it’s not ALL bad ~ Hauz Khas Village did not exist in it’s current, “chic” iteration in my day. It was mostly a poor-man’s colony in the middle of a neglected forest with a stagnant lake, and surrounded by better neighborhoods where these residents found daily work. It slowly became a go-to place when local artists and craftsmen moved in because it was all they could afford. Today, in the evenings and late into the early mornings, this place is just cooking… people throng here to window-shop, admire art and crafts, eat and otherwise hang out and be “cool”. And there are over twenty restaurants, “clubs” and galleries that seem to be pretty darn popular, kinetic, chaotic and exhilarating. There’s a lot going down here. Now THAT’s development …..aaaaaaaaaah, magical,...

Notwithstanding its location and potential for attracting a trendy, upmarket crowd, the Coast Cafe's characterization of a boutique destination for casual dining is a rather misleading one. I'd visited the place on a Thursday evening after work and walked in to what resembled a restaurant with a bunch of waiters spread across the floor. One was sitting by the stairwell listening to music, another was supposedly taking an order on the telephone, and a third was cleaning glasses at the bar. Neither felt necessary or important to welcome a patron or pay attention, least of all provide directions to a table for two people. Nonetheless, after making myself comfortable and waiting for a considerable amount of time to be catered to, I was compelled to call upon a waiter and request for a glass of water and a menu card. Both dishes (i.e., prawns in chili olive oil and a fish fry) arrived much after I drowned a glass of fresh orange and basil juice in spite of explicitly requesting the entire order to arrive together. As I was prepared to wrap up, leave, and pay the bill, one of the service staff requested me to climb a flight of stairs to the building's third floor to pay by debit card as "their machine was immovable". I would have been happy to leave a positive review with constructive feedback for the Coast Café to take note of and improve upon, but a brazen lack of any understanding of maintaining and upholding hospitality standards whatsoever would leave any customer with a lot to say albeit devoid of any confidence or trust in the management's...

There are few places when you enter there you just say

Wow

And once you have food you take a big burp and say

Awesome

That's how Coast Cafe is all about , you are silently welcome by Harish at 2nd floor who is not very expressive but when you will pull him for discussion he will tell you what's best to eat , when i said fish he suggested malabari fish and malabari paratha along with pink ginger drink along with green mint . Drinks were ok and can be improved but main course was awesome

I specially called Cyril their head chef and praised the quality of malabari fish he made for us , it was awesome , it was also serve with chutney of beetroot , tomato & gates and imli , beet root was the best one

Coming to ambience it's on 2nd and 3rd floor around sitting space of 80-90 people , couple of outdoor sitting for smokers , lots and lots of green plants around , they had given lift for elderlies and when I was there 70% was filled with international foodie , this has been around 5 year and my bad luck that I came today

Best of luck to owner and the entire team for creating such a warm ambience with lovely food , God bless you all , will certainly...