Cha Bar- the pocket friendly tea-lounge on Park St

For a long, long time, I was practically fed up with Park St. No, not with the foodscape, but mostly with the tea lounge/ cafe scenario. Either there were places like CCD, Flury’s- which are good, but definitely overpriced and mostly comprising of varieties of coffee- definitely somewhere depriving the city tea lovers. Now this time, when I was invited to Cha Bar (inside Oxford book store, park hotel premises) along with Kolkata Food Bloggers, I was surprised, as well as excited.

How to go and when to go:

This place is impossible to miss. Oxford Bookstore is in the park hotel premises, on the main road and Cha Bar is on its first floor. Its in operation from 11 AM till 9 PM, hence one need not hurry.

And the scenario inside:

When we entered the premises, as we have for numerous times, the place is a book lover’s paradise. An entire floor covering books and only books. The first floor, on the other hand, is dedicated to tea and food to go with. When one enters from the first time, the interior will stun him for sure. The walls are done in red and white and is designed with lots of interesting graffiti concerning the tea-tasting culture….

Apart from at least 40 varieties , maybe even more, of tea (Cha bar menu), they make a good variety of sandwiches and they’ve recently launched the famed fish and chips (only @130/-). The tea varieties are priced mostly within the price range of 60 -120/- and sandwiches (two thick slices with chips and dip) and priced around 120/-.

Moroccon mint tea

Roast chicken and mayo sandwich

Egg and kasundi sandwich

Cheese and tomato sandwich

Sandwiches were great and fish and chips was really, really thinly coated (as it should be) and consisted of a pretty thick basa fillet. I am not such an authority to comment about tea, as I’m frankly not a tea-connoisseur, but the menu line-up seemed to interest my fellow tea-enthusiasts much.

All in all, its a nice experience and if one goes there, the pocket pinch for two, should not be more than 200/- per head…. And the best part, they let you sit and enjoy the ambiance for long (basically they don’t kick you out once the meal is finished). So, what better than to relax on a autumn afternoon sipping a cup of finely prepared tea and letting the busy world pass by. I would suggest, go for it, as I am becoming a regular there…..

Bon apetite !!!

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I can be reached at 9903528225 / indrajit.lahiri@ymail.com.