Restaurant review | Delhi’s new Jamie Oliver Kitchen Café, a partnership with Fabindia, offers freshly-cooked, seasonal produce

Jamie Oliver Kitchen Café, Vasant Kunj, Delhi. (Photo: Susmita Saha)

Before I sweep in through the doors of the Fabindia building in Delhi’s Vasant Kunj, I stand in the wilting heat of September for a moment. The spanking new Jamie Oliver Kitchen Café signage shines brightly against the old façade of a retail store that once gave us the clothes to grow young in. The new café venture from Dolomite Restaurants is a partnership with Fabindia, with its first three outposts tucked inside the retail giant’s stores in Gurugram, Vasant Kunj and Noida.

Looking over the expanse of the Qutab Institutional Area, the windows of the Vasant Kunj café are brush strokes of green and brown, a newly-minted food space resting against ancient mountains. In September, when the sun never seems to set in the city, a mini-library at the entrance showcases a galaxy of titles by the British celebrity chef, the café’s namesake. Booker-winning author Geetanjali Shree’s novel The Roof Beneath Their Feet (2013), also peaks out from one corner, asking browsers to discover friendships forged in a complex space known as the Indian roof.

Jamie Oliver Kitchen Café interiors with a mini-library and handwoven textiles. (Photo: Susmita Saha)

Inside the café, artworks — exuberant pops of colour in a whirlwind celebration of nature — remind you of Henri Matisse’s Cut-Outs series. The upholstery, Fabindia’s signature weaves and prints, transports you to the studios of Indian artisans. “We would love to see everyone here, children after schoolwork, young people doing their programming and even grandmothers,” says Jasper Reid, CEO of Dolomite. To that end, the brand is doing its best to put freshly cooked, seasonal produce on the menu.

Sunshine Bowl at Jamie Oliver Kitchen Café. (Photo: Susmita Saha)

Smashed Avocado Toast at Jamie Oliver Kitchen Café. (Photo: Susmita Saha)

So, the Sunshine Bowl has juicy tropical fruit chunks fanned out on your plate with ribbons of wild rocket, cucumber, radish and green apple, crowned with a thatch of peanuts and fried tofu. Another café favourite is also the star of the show here — the smashed avocado toast on sourdough bread with a tumble of mixed seeds and a quenelle of tomato chutney, bright as sunshine. For a heftier meal, this dish can be paired with either grilled cottage cheese, choice of eggs or even thick strips of bacon, burnished and sweet from the fat caramelisation.

Reid is aware that most big-ticket café chains offer pre-cooked food that seem efficient from the supply chain perspective but is not nutritious for the consumer. At the Jamie Oliver Kitchen Café, the focus is, therefore, on freshly-made dishes. In fact, even the takeaway menu has a chicken burger that comes with the protein patty enveloped in a thicket of veggies and fruit, including grilled pineapple.

Greek Salad at Jamie Oliver Kitchen Café.

Always follow the kids if you are ordering at this café. There is a sizeable attendance of toddlers as it sits next to the Tugbug Children’s Center, an indoor play area, packed to the brim with kid lit by Indian authors, a maker’s space, pottery wheel, a sandbox and heaps of wooden toys. To cater to its young visitors, there’s a separate kids’ menu focussing on wholesome and seasonal produce. “My idea is not to scour the world for the best imported ingredients while planning this menu. I am only mindful of sourcing food that is fresh, local and full of nutrients,” says chef Pankaj Nawariya.

Corn chickpea burger at Jamie Oliver Kitchen Café.

There’s the Veggie Burger — a green peas and sweet corn patty — served with tomato, lettuce and yoghurt. The fibre-rich affair is served with baked sweet potato wedges. For dessert, Banana Lollies are a study in lushness, where frozen bananas come in wrappers of chocolate and nuts.

Reid lets me know that the menus are based on nutritional balance and integrity: “We want to serve food that’s healthy and good for the environment. Child obesity is a problem in all countries around the globe and it is directly linked to processed food and sugar. So, we are determined not to make a compromise with our menu.”

Madagascar Chocolate Ice Cream at Jamie Oliver Kitchen Café. (Photo: Susmita Saha)

Adults, too, are advised not to skip desserts at the Jamie Oliver Kitchen Café, even if they have to let go of an entrée or two. The Madagascar chocolate ice cream is a thoughtfully executed choreography of texture and flavour. It is also a promise of childhood for all generations of patrons that the café aspires to have.