IF you are a food lover who wants to relish a cup of globally branded coffee, or enjoy some non-veg barbeque stuff, or wanna have some fresh peppy vegetarian Chaat followed by some hygienically prepared Gole Gappas? Well, this place could be the right choice as it offers a variety of mouth-watering menu from leading fast food brands including Café Coffee Day and Go! Chaatzz.
 Aroma of steaming coffee beans in the backdrop of popular going Wanna be My Chamack Chaloo number welcome you as one troops into Café Coffee Day, at Sonawar, on road that connects the Boulevard with Majestic Gupkaar.
 At CCD, the tea and coffee variety is big enough to make you sip something new every time you drop in. But this is what many know since the café was thrown open over a year ago to become an instant hit.
 For now, Hotel Akbar Residency, which houses the multinational outlet, has much more to offer including Papri Chaat and Kaala Khatta from famed vegetarian fast food brand: Go! Chaatzz.

GOING PEPPY WITH GO! CHAATZZ
 For those who think that Kashmiri taste buds are inclined towards non-vegetarian stuff alone,  Go! Chaatzz is simply proving it wrong. “I used to come here for coffee or Tandoori Chicken, which had been my favourite but since the day I tasted Choola Patoora, I just relish it,” says Syed Iqbal Khan who prefers spending his evenings in the lawns of Hotel Akbar Residency, with his friends or family.
 On the table in the open skies, next to him, a family from Shahr-e-Khaas has come exclusively to relish Gole Gappas, a speciality with the Go Chaatz.
 “My kids always wanted to relish Gole Gappas. But I would avoid it every time fearing its quality,” says Gowhar Ali of Naid Kadal.
 “But for now,” he adds in the same breath, “I bring them here to enjoy this variety.”
 Interestingly, the price tag “isn’t too high” with the Go! Chaatzz variety. Six Gole Gappas along with assorted Imli Paani, Pudina Paani and of course Imli Pani, served in a disposable crate comes, at a price tag of less than Rs 50.
 “The best part of Go! Chaatzz variety is that the delicacies are served in disposable trays… at times we carry the lot along for a drive down the Boulevard,” says Dr Qazi Haroon, a paediatrician while asking for Paapri Chaat.
 Shailender Rawat, the outlet Manager says the food quality is standard across the country.
 “We have a strict quality control and every ingredient (expect for fresh vegetable used for garnishing) are imported from our head office,” he explains.
 Rawat says the business overwhelmingly picked up since the opening of the outlet around a month back. “Cost factor too seems to be playing a role because our price tag doesn’t exceed Rs 129 for a variety,” he adds.

THE CLIENTELE
 If the food court offers a variety, same looks true for the clientele which ranges, irrespective of status, anywhere from teenagers, collegians, couples, to businessmen, to senior officials like Inspector General of Police Kashmir Shiv Morari Sahai. But then this isn’t the end to the customer list. From sipping a cup of coffee to something vegetarian, Chief Minister Omer Abdullah has dined at the place, at-least twice. And each time, the Tech-Savvy CM didn’t miss to tweet his relishing moments on the Twitter.
 On the other hand political celebrities like Sajad Gani Lone too are seen chitchatting at the hangout.
 “But the best part of this ambience is that nobody intrudes into privacy of others. You can find couples or families sitting around, bureaucrats and politicians chitchatting their business… Still no one stares or interferes,” says a co-partner of the food court.
  “Every customer should feel comfortable and this is what this place has succeeded at”. “Nobody stares at you as has been a complaint with most other places,” he adds.

EVERGREEN TUJJI
 While mouth watering aroma coming out of the Tandoor attracts you towards the Solomon’s Barbeque, traditional mutton steak, locally called Tujji, sells distinct, next to it.
 “We had to introduce Tujji because customers were asking for it,” says the co-owner of the food court while sharing a yummy mutton steak with this correspondent.
 Tujji too comes from skilled hands. Javed Ahmed Bhat, known for his speciality at Makai Point on the Boulevard has been roped in for the food court gazebo.

FOOD COURT GENESIS
 Iqbal Tramboo, Joint Promoter of the food court, a first of its kind in the state, says the hangout evolved out of “public demand.”
 “One thing good is that we created it out of public demand and have been trying to fulfil it because they(customers) won’t come for the same menu again and again… Variety is the essence of life,” he says adding most of the clientele are locals.
 But then how did pure vegetarian fast food option pick up in the Valley known for non-veg lovers? “See we took it beyond routine Tandoori Roti and Dal and introduced a new concept where you have Veg Tikkas, Raps, Chaats… And the things picked up,” Tramboo replies.
 “Interestingly,” he says “with every new inclusion sales are going up.” “We had thought the sales would cut each other with the introduction of new varieties. But in reality sales picked up in totality meaning we have more of customers,” he says.

BUSINESS RISES WITH SUNSET
 It's sunset by the time one traverses the hangout in the heels of Sulaiman Hills. The lawns are glowing and more of families coming in. Every table makes for a choice menu. Some do self service, some make orders. But nobody stares at each others tables. Nor any tables overhear each other, as the music goes on in the air.
 But then there’s something, which almost everyone eyes at these days: earlier many would love chew Paan after meals, for now it’s Paan Ice Cream from Go! Chaatz as food lovers are fond of  it at the City’s first food court!

Lastupdate on : Mon, 10 Oct 2011 21:30:00 Makkah time
Lastupdate on : Mon, 10 Oct 2011 18:30:00 GMT
Lastupdate on : Tue, 11 Oct 2011 00:00:00 IST