Chaiywaala- A Small Cafe at Koramangala with Great food

Last week, Saturday it was raining cats and dogs in Bangalore and we were sitting in office longing for a cup of kadak chai and Pakode . However, there are very few food joints at Koramangala who would deliver food to our office. But there is a small cosy place in Koramangala 5^thBlock that satiates your craving for kadak chai and crispy Pakode . I am talking about none other than Chaiywaala. Started by Mr Saksham and Dr Neha, Chaiywaala is a small café with great chai, pakode and many more Indian dishes with an innovative twist.

Also Read about the Asian Food Joints in Bangalore

We are regular customers of this place as it is located nearby our office. I along with a friend was having a conversation at the place when we were greeted by Neha and Saksham. We were talking over a cup of coffee with Chicken nuggets.

Saksham who had worked for over a decade in the IT industry in India and abroad is now working full time to try his hands on food and beverages business. In a couple of days, they are opening two more outlets at Kalyanagar and Ramaiya College. He further goes on to add there was a void in the market about great quality and North Indian pakoda.

As a customer, Saksham had a very bad experience and he wanted the same thing to not happen with others. This made him keep Chaiywaala customer centric and a lot of focus is given to keep the quality of the food very high. As a regular customer, I can vouch for this. Even the deep fried pakoras don’t leave oil. Neha says that she personally ensures the quality of oil that we use at home is used for cooking as well. They believe as long as the quality of the food is great, people will keep coming to Chaiywaala, which is very true.

The ambience of this place is not something that you get to see everywhere. Neha candidly talks about how they used props from a recycling store and recreated this awesome ambience. The whole place is designed by her niece Pratha Kapoor. The place has walls that are coloured with bright paint and polka dots. The props that they used for decoration are the cycle tyres and decorated it with lighting. Even to go with the theme they also used old tea kettles hanging from the ceiling painted with bright yellow and red colour.

I asked them what difficulties did they face to start this place and what are the difficulties that they face in day to day operations. Neha was very honest in answering this. She accepted the fact that they are new to this business. Being into different professions it was a real challenge to start a food business, but being passionate about food had made things enjoyable for them. The staffs at Chaiywaala are new and they need to be trained, which Saksham and Neha are doing right now to ensure hassle free customer experience. Neha says right now they are focusing only on the quality of the food and service as a marketing strategy

Some of the dishes that we always have are their poha, different varieties of sandwiches with corn cheese sandwich being my favourite. Neha has her own recommendations. According to her she always suggests her customers try Pizza Pakoda which is the twist that she had given to the dish. The mushroom cheese ball in which mozzarella cheese is used is also something that you should definitely try. One thing that is clear from their venture is goodwill, passion and the willingness to do something always out beats experience. Best wishes from team High Ape for her existing and upcoming outlets