So when was the last time you went to a quiet book store, sipped on some good coffee and whiled away time leafing through your favourite authors? Do you feel something lacking in the sprawling book stores in the malls with their accessories,gadgets and DVDs sections along side the book racks?
Basically what I am trying to say that is if you miss the old world bookstores where you can spend hours tucked in a corner and take a break from your Blackberries, Tablets and their assorted applications, I think I know where you should be heading.
Located just opposite Flora Fountain is Kitab Khana, the newest and the delightful-est bookstore in town. Housed in the office neighbourhood this bookstore with its high wood-beamed ceiling immediately lures you with its ambience. The book collection is rich (though they did say “out of stock” to a couple of my queries but then again no book store should ever have all the books one wants to reads) and is not cluttered.
Just past the bookstore is the charming in-house cafe called Food For Thought with its equally charming host, Kapil Sanghi who greets every guest with a warm hello (that always earns brownie points from me). It has an old fashioned, spiralling, iron staircase running through it which makes you want to clamber on to it with your heap of books.
It was drizzling outside when I walked in with my friend and we ordered Hot Buttered Apple Tea and Hot Chocolate, both of which turned out to be very good. The food menu has sandwiches, salads, pastas and some light appetizers (all vegetarian) and some very sinful dessert options.
My ever-famished friend ordered Alfredo pasta which we liked and I nibbled on some crackers (baked just right) with Pesto sauce dip. After failing to exercise restrain I let go and indulged my sweet tooth. The Carrot Cake was rich and dense as was the Chocolate Mud-pie. the interesting-sounding Bhel sandwich we reserved for our next trip.
Kitab Khana is a fantastic find and lives up to my quixotic ideas of how a bookstore-and-cafe should be like. I am definitely going back there again.
What better way to escape the din on a lazy, rainy afternoon?