Once bitten twice shy. After going through bad times at one of the pub at Vasant Vihar, I was in no mood to go through it again, and kept delaying my visit to Café Torque until I gave up to a very persistent PR person who religiously kept following up. I am so glad I visited.
Biker theme restaurants have suddenly caught the fancy of the city and there are quite a few which have come up recently. Having said that no one has given the interiors as much thought as Café Torque. From the name of the restaurants to the dishes name in menu, from bikes on display to the electrical fittings, from the bar stools or petrol fuel dispenser shaped taps to the way beer is served, everything has an attitude and everything has a theme without overpowering the basics that this is a place to chill and relax. However music can be a bit louder and instead of showing TLC, a sports channel perhaps will do more justice to entire theme.
The menu at Café Torque is surprisingly much more than a normal café/pub. The food is primarily American and Mediterranean and with cafe pricing and fine dine quality, menu by Chef Arun Chanda definitely excites. Do not miss on the Turkish style roasted chicken (375). The flavorful sumac and cumin mix with succulent and juicy roasted chicken, it is what best a chicken can be. Bacon wrapped chicken, interestingly called Chicken and Bacon Suspensions (345) served with pesto is a good beer accompaniment.
Roll Some (295) is a ricotta cheese and peppers filled in thin zucchini. We liked it, even more with the tobasco that we asked as our little experiment. However my favorite in vegetarian starters is the Two-Up (275), a combination of shitake and button mushroom tossed in garlic cream and served with parmesan lavash to provide a bite.
The ‘brotherhood thump’ Burger (345) has a 200 gms juicy lamb patty with nicely sauteed mushrooms but extra caramelised onion and bbq sauce makes it a little too sweet. Fish Teriyaki (545) is the only thing that seems out of place in a well developed menu. The basa fish does not lend any flavors to the otherwise bland dish in which the only flavors one gets is through the bird chilly nicely chopped and concealed in the sticky rice.
We end our maincourse with Indianised lamb chops (545). It not only uses Indian lamb but has Indian spice rub too, and am sure will be a hit with people appreciating strong Indian chatpata flavors accompanied with perfect potato mash.
While I end my meal with Baileys banana Trifle that has all the sinful elements – Double Cream, brownie crumble, caramelised banana and toffee sauce, I feel happy to have shed my inhibitions to try Café Torque.
Ratings (Out of 5)
Food: 4.0 | Ambience: 4.5 | Service: 4.0 | Overall: 4.0
Meal for Two: Rs. 1500 | Credit Cards: Yes | Alcohol: Yes | Timings: 12 noon to 11PM
Address: Café Torque, 4, Basant Lok Community Centre, PVR Priya Complex, Vasant Vihar, New Delhi | Telephone: 011-43115401
Disclaimer: This review was done on an invitation from the restaurant. Due judgment and care has been applied by the author to remain objective and unbiased in the review, but readers need to consider this review keeping this fact in mind.
