In a nutshell:
A cafe conceptualised by one man & fully run by himself as a one man army (one lady to help) – we had some really unforgettable, artisanal, small batch, hand crafted meats, cooked just right, with great attention to detail.
Address & other details: cup e bong
Facebook: cup e bong
Instagram : cup e bong
Cuisine type : vegetarian & non vegetarian
Meal for 2: ₹500 onwards
Disclaimer: All restaurants / eateries reviewed by YUMMRAJ were visited by YUMMRAJ himself & he has paid for the full Bill & tips also. http://www.yummraj.com does not have even one featured / sponsored reviews. YUMMRAJ believes in going to a restaurant in anonymity, as a normal guest, experience everything & give a honest account of the same to you.
YUMMRAJ rates all the food items & then gives a final overall rating, which is a simple average of the individual item ratings. What the ratings stand for: 5 = Excellent, 4 = Very Good, 3 = Good, 2 = Fair, 1 = Disaster
Short description- in case u r in a hurry
As most of you know, team YUMMRAJ goes to any restaurant in anonymity, never meets the chef, lest a human bias creeps in. In case of cube bong, team YUMMRAJ went in anonymity but there was no option not to meet/talk/chat with Amit Halder – founder, designer, raw material sourcing head, marketing head, sous chef, executive chef, cook, bartender (non alcoholic) – all rolled into one. Huge respect.
A lot has been written & videos made of how Amit started a cafe from being a medical sales professional.
He started this business from scratch after he discontinued his job in medicine. He knew some cooking but picked up everything to do with running a cafe, on the go. In his late thirties. Hats off. It’s like creating a new career totally unrelated.
Here are a few links that were on Amit’s top of mind when we were chatting. Incidentally they are all in bengali.
Amit has a magical personality that slowly opened up as we started speaking.
There was initial restraint, measured sentences, leading to slightly eased conversations & finally a full blown adda – as if we know each other for years.
We had heard about him & his cafe from many people in kolkata earlier but experienced the magic for the first time last week. In delhi NCR no one except a few focussed 5 star restaurants serve meats as good (of course, at 4-5 times the price). मज़ा आ गया:)
As we reached the cafe, we saw an easel board with some ‘today’s menu’ written with chalk. Some colourful lightweight seats were neatly stacked on a side.
The first room that we entered after walking past the door was an open kitchen.
A second room on the left was an enclosure for seating a largish group
The room straight along the alley was the main dining/ cafe seating area, with multiple tables.
There was a bookshelf for people to browse from. I noticed a ludo & I think some other indoor games.
On the bright coloured wall, was a ‘hall of fame’ frame (if I might call it so) – Polaroid pics of celebrity & other important guests.
Loved the poster on the door of a super clean & very well maintained washroom – remembered a sentence from the book ‘kitchen confidential’ by Anthony Bourdain where he mentioned – you will get a sense of how hygienic the kitchen of a restaurant is, by visiting the guest washroom. If the washroom isn’t well maintained, most likely the kitchen is in a mess, coz cleanliness is an attitude & a way of life & work’.
Food was outstanding. Will go back here once again before heading back to gurugram this month.
Detailed description – in case u hv the time to njoy reading:
Icecream soda was really nice. Amit suggested this when I said I usually don’t order any drink unless the extra sugar is really offset by a great taste.
The ice cream soda was less fizz than my memory of Bijoli grill ice cream soda we had as a kid in kolkata. The taste balance was fabulous. The flavours were just right. Not too much. Not Loved it . Rate it 4.5/5
Home made ginger ale was mentioned in the menu. Many people write that & served from bottles – made at someone else’s home I guess.
Ginger ale at cube bong genuinely seemed to be home made. It had fresh juliennes of ginger, which packed a punch. The balance of sweet was perfect. Flavours of ginger were expressed very well. Rate it 4.25/5
The meat lovers platter named Darjeeling maharaja pork platter, was a revelation – fab bacon, meat loaf, cold cuts of two kinds, momos, sunny side up etc.
Bacon – hand cut (In-house) bacon was fried perfectly ensuring a burst of juices & flavours in the mouth, resulting from a very good fat to meat ratio, a fat cut & patience while frying. Have not had this level of fried bacon in india for years. Rate it 4.95/5.
Pork ham – pork ham was very good to taste. Would have been a very good add-on to a salad or a sandwich. Rate it 4.25/5
Pork salami was made in-house from scratch. Unlike in most other places, the non industrial methods used, probably led to a really enjoyable meat texture. Would have been a very good add-on to a salad or a sandwich. Rate it 4.25/5
Pork liver salami – this salami had liver as well, in addition to the meat. The liver added to flavour while the meat added to texture. The proportions were very good. Would have been a very good add-on to a salad or a sandwich. Rate it 4.5/5
Pork handmade sausages – after really long time we ate good artisanal, small batch, hand crafted sausages, cooked just right to retain the maximum juiciness & intensity of flavours. Bowled over. Rate it 4.95/5
Eggs Sunny side up – as good as it could get. Loved the runny yolk. Rate it 4.5/5
Pork dumplings – loved the filling. The outer cover was perfect in the middle but had more than optimum thickness in corners (folds). Rate the dumpling meat 4/5 & the cover 2.5/5. Overall rating averages to 3.75/5
Pork meat loaf was very good as well. Never had it so meaty & with real meat texture in india. Most that we have had so far was industrial paste – not lumpy, not irregular, too uniform, lacking character. We really enjoyed the one at cup e bong. Rate it 4/5
For dessert we had apple pie that looked like apple pattice (colloquial bengali pronunciation of patties). Taste – outstanding balance of salt (crust) & sweet & sour (filling). Texture – murder in microwave. Rate the taste 4.5/5. Rate the texture 2.5/5. Overall rating of apple pie averages out to 3.5/5. I am very confident that if you are in the cafe when the pie has been made fresh, you will love it. There is something outstanding about it.
Overall rating of food & beverages at cup e bong averages out to 4.4/5
Wud undoubtedly revisit.