Cafe Torque, Vasant Vihar, Delhi: More Than A Biker’s Lounge

Bar InteriorsOnce 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.

Wash Basin
Wash Basin

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.

Turkish style roasted chicken
Turkish style roasted chicken

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
Roll Some

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.

Brotherhood Burger
Brotherhood Burger

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.

 lamb chops
lamb chops

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.

pawansoni

Food Critic and a Marketing Wizz who had a high profile career with leading MNC’s like HSBC, GE Capital etc, Pawan Soni comes across as a quintessential corporate employee. He left behind his successful career as the Vice President of an MNC... all for his love for food. He a WSET Level II wine connoisseur and a foodie who loves to eat anything under the sun. Besides being a food and travel writer for various food forums and magazines, he is the Founder and CEO of Indian Food Freak. As one of the initial bloggers who started his blog over a decade ago, his website www.indianfoodfreak.com is currently one of the biggest food and travel blogs in the country. Pawan also conducts highly successful restaurant awards and recently concluded the 9th edition of The Big F restaurant awards. He has also won the best influencer awards in India by BBC Food Food Awards in 2018

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