On my way to the Malviya Nagar Market I often pass by a little place that's irresistibly enticing for a tea lover like me. Naturally, the excitement level was quite high as a chance to visit the place finally presented itself this evening. The occasion- a free evening and a friend for company. All we needed was a nice pot of tea and the evening was bound to unfold into distant journeys through conversations.
The interior of the T'Pot didn't disappoint. The lampshades are down'turned metal bowls with perforations forming patterns of light and shadow. The seating arrangement is cozy without being cramped, there are guitars on walls and even a few books on a couple of bookshelves. There is even a corner with games! Being a big fan of board games who truly misses European bars where she has whiled away many an evening with a group of friends huddled around "The Settlers of Catan" or "Jeopardy," I must admit a little yelp of joy escaped my lips. This might just become my new favorite hangout, I think. The menu is on wooden block sand the food is served on similar blocks too. The colder drinks are served in mason jars and pots of tea come with the cutest teapot-shaped strainer and tiny bowls of lemon, honey and cinnamon. The menu is varied, from tacos to pasta, and the selection of teas is quite respectable too. Even for a tea snob like yours truly.
Unfortunately, this is where the evening starts to take a turn. Chocolate tea-sounds fascinating- let's order a pot! Although we ordered three dishes to eat, my friend and I are told that sharing tea is not allowed. Not the sort of attitude I'd expect at a place for tea, games and books, but OK. The Peach Iced tea, brewed overnight and with real fruit pulp says the menu, sounds lovely. And let's get a Pizza and some rice with Thai curry too. I have a problem with chilli and the waiter assures us that the food would be mild.
While waiting, I go to pick up a board game, when I realize that the selection is one between Ludo, Chinese checkers and two other games whose names now escape me. All with parts missing. We try to piece together enough pins for two people to play Chinese Checkers, but even that requires 7 bits of jugaad. Luckily, the food comes soon and we are distracted from the sadness that was our attempted game.
The pizza is, as promised, thin crust. At about 8 cms across it is surprisingly small, but it look and tastes beautiful, Except for the generous helping of chilli flakes in and on the Pizza. I'm not sure if the waiter is suffering from short term memory loss or the cook, but I resign myself to fate and quietly pick out as many of the flakes as I can. I surrender my belly and sinuses to the delicious fire that is my meal. The Thai curry is also, naturally, fiery. The chocolate tea is sadly bitter and the peach iced tea seems to have Aspertame-based peach syrup rather than traces of anything plant-based. We decide the food was pretty good, minus the chilli, so let's try the lasagna. That's unlikely to be spicy, but just to be safe, we make it as clear as we possible to our waiter that we want no chilli flakes in our food. Some 25 minutes and multiple queries later we notice our waiter about to serve us, take the food back and then three people working together to somehow "fix" the lasagna. They didn't quite succeed as when it gets to us, there is plenty of chilli baked into the crust. When I refuse to pick through my food again and ask for the bill, the waiter manages to placate me enough to wait for the food to be made again. The second version is definitely an improvement, but some flakes of fire mysteriously manage to sneak in nonetheless.
The T'Pot is trying too hard to be something for everybody and the result is a schizophrenic offering of food and activities, with a lack of finesse when it comes to delivery. It isn't clear if the T'Pot is a place for tea lovers to curl up with a good book, or a fancy restaurant for date night. The somewhat loud pop music and the Wimbledon-beaming TV don't help clarify matters. Apparently they have live music too sometimes. The ambiance is nice. The food, despite meager portioning and a chef who's heavy-handed with the chilly, is passable. But service leaves much to be desired. The problem seems to be all along the chain. The manager (I assume he was the manager) was in the house, but other than slight concern when I was taking pictures (none clear enough to put up here, alas) and hovering as we paid our bill, didn't seem very bothered about the turn of events. The T'pot looks enticing enough to get the curious walking through its doors, but I for one won't be coming back.
