In the heart of Connaught Place, New Delhi, is a café that has seriously upped the café game for all the players in the city, it is The Cafe Public Connection – one of the coolest places in the city for an evening out.
This place has it all sorted for the ultimate lounging experience. It boasts of a large area, about 8500 square feet, spread on two floors, parts of which you can reserve for a private party. And while we are on the topic of space and location, we have to talk about the ambience and the décor of this place, which is, simply beautiful. The place has a dungeon feel to it, with brick walls filled with interesting installations and artwork like bridges and world maps, and low lighting, but it doesn’t make you feel claustrophobic like other lounges, it’s just really relaxed, which is why we recommend this place for your night time dos.
The coolest feature that blows our minds about the café though, and ranks it high on our must visit places, is their themed private dining rooms (which we recommend you book reservations for beforehand because they are popular). These themes range from retro to sports to Bollywood, all within the main space, which means that each time you step into the same café, you can have a whole new experience.
Public Connection serves alcohol and their bar, which is located in the middle of the café, is both beautiful to look at and extremely well functioning, with an extremely talented bartender Rohit Ray who made me taste his newly invented cocktails – Long Island Watermelon Ice Tea (the name says it all) I loved it! Spice Up Your Connection (a mix of mango, green chilli, cardamom and vodka) frankly speaking it was a little more spicy than I was expecting it to be so couldn’t take more than a sip. Next was the Kafir Mafia (Mix of kafir lime, vodka, pomegranate juice) which I really liked, next up was The Pinetini, which was a simple smooth blend of pineapple and cardamom. Cocktail is something which people love and enjoy when out with friends and these are the favourites amongst the ladies.
Their menu is also extremely diverse, and you get quite a few things here, from your regular Paneer Tikkas to Mediterranean style kebabs which all taste really good. They’re also quite known for their dimsums and their finger foods, which are from all over the globe and we started with Chicken Popcorn with Barbecue Sauce, which was recommended by the chef to have it with hand instead of a fork, to have a proper taste and feel of having popcorn. Next I had was Veg Tacos (Filled with cheese,onions,capsicum,tomatoes,beans,cheddar cheese topped with lettuce and bhel in a corn tortilla.) the filling was quite heavy and creamy. Next on the table were Papadam Dahi Kabab (Lijjat Papad crust and served with mint, coriander sauce) and Chicken Mashew, the chicken was mouth melting.
Their pricing is quite decent too, at Rs. 1250 for two, which makes it perfect for that weekend treat. Head to Cafe Public Connection, if you haven’t been there already and be prepared to not be able to decide where to sit as each table has a different story to tell. We’re pretty sure this is one place you will return to, weekend after weekend.