― Oscar Wilde, The Importance of Being Earnest

In the heart of Pink City’s culinary hub, C-Scheme is a café that takes its inspiration from the famous Irish poet and playwright, Oscar Wilde and is aptly called ‘Café Earnest’. Right outside the entrance is a charming, little board that displays different quotes from Wilde’s popular comedy fiction, ‘The Importance of Being Earnest’. As one enters the café, an evocative portrait of Wilde is almost impossible to miss. The man behind this piece of art is also the brain, heart and soul behind Café Earnest. Skand wanted to study design and animation but because he could not get into his preferred college, he ended up studying English literature. He taught literature too for around a year and a half and realized it was not his cup of tea.

During the pandemic induced lockdown, Skand spent most of his time learning about specialty coffee and brewing it himself. This fascination with coffee led him to brew coffee and run the operations of a café in Vaishali Nagar for around two years. And for him, the next obvious step was moving to C-scheme and opening a space that is a reflection of his persona.  “C-Scheme is a historic place in becoming with a sort of a culinary revolution in place. I wanted to be a part of this culinary transformation of this city. Café Earnest is my way of bringing everything I like together under one roof.  I love making music, photography, art, literature, coffee and food and in this space I have tried to weave everything together.”

Culture, Community and Collaboration

Be it the art and the photographs on the wall, the books and antiques on the book shelf and even the music has either been created or chosen by Skand. “Being an artist myself, more than anything I wanted to create a community that perceives Café Earnest as a space for collaboration and participation. It is designed for anyone who loves a peaceful haven to enjoy music, art, literature, or even work, or to just sit back and relax”, shares Skand.

As a maiden step towards achieving this spirit of community and collaboration, Earnest recently started its own book club to meet fellow book lovers over coffee and books. “As the first exercise, each attendee brought a book they love and made a case for why it should be in the Earnest book shelf. The book that won the vote of majority was bought by the café and placed in the book shelf”, tells Skand. The book club now meets every Sunday.

 Cafés have also become popular co-working spaces for those who do not like working from home or an office. “At Earnest, co-working does not stop at plug points and wifi but also extends to the general vibe of the place which is designed to facilitate anything that requires calm and peace”, tells Skand. The café is also open for other artists to display their work.

Best of brews and eats

Earnest is also a great option for someone who likes to experiment and try different coffees from roasters across India. “We want to offer varieties of coffee and an array of roasting profiles from a host of different roasters. When it comes to food, the objective is to serve healthy, unadulterated and fresh food with a global appeal. We try to use everything prepared in-house. The most basic and classic dishes made using an authentic and traditional approach and not just to appeal to the local palate is our main idea”, elaborates Skand.

Must Try: Neapolitan pizzas, Rachel Salad, Chocolate brownies, Pumpkin hot bread, Brazilian lemonade, Lemon sparrow and specialty coffees. 

The post Of Coffee, Community and Collaborations | The story of Cafe Earnest appeared first on All About Jaipur.

Plant based barbecue menu

Now that increasingly more and more people are turning towards vegetarianism and veganism, an all-new plant-based barbecue menu is being introduced at the eatery. It is difficult to think of barbecue sans any meat or the quintessential paneer if you are a vegetarian. But only if you have not watched the Masterchef Australia finalist, Simon Toohey cook up a storm with only vegetables in the popular cookery reality show. It was this skill of Toohey’s coupled with his ethos of high food quality, sustainability and using local ingredients that inspired Arjun Kumar, the man behind Zolocrust, to invite Toohey to the Pink City and collaborate with him on designing a new barbecue menu for city’s foodies as well as hotel guests and train and support the staff at the eatery.

“I am a big fan of Masterchef Australia and while watching the show, I was highly impressed with Toohey’s skill of cooking with vegetables. It is easy to bring flavour with meat but pleasing palates with vegetables is where the challenge lies. The idea of collaborating with Chef Toohey is to give a fresh perspective to our culinary team and make vegetables a hero in our menu and enhance their flavours by using the elements of fire and smoke”, shares Arjun Kumar, while shedding light on the objective of this culinary collaboration.

Chef Toohey has been trying to stick to a plant-based diet for the last six years now. Ask him what challenges he faces in trying to cook sans animal and dairy products and he says: “It has been difficult to cook and especially bake without eggs and butter. Also, people generally think of a vegetarian dish as mushy and boring. But by using fire and smoke one can really enhance their flavours and elevate the dining experience”. Elaborating his experience of working with the team at Zolocrust, Chef Toohey, who is on a 10-day visit to the Pink City, says: “The ethos of the hotel which focuses on sustainability, minimal plastic usage and using ingredients that are grown locally is what attracted me to this collaboration. There is also a fully equipped poly house and kitchen garden in the hotel premises where most of the vegetables are grown .In these 10 days, I am trying to understand the local spices and ingredients, how they grow and change with seasons and how best to work with them to introduce new dishes.”

An array of vegan offerings

The Simon specials in the barbecue menu will include a plethora of interesting options for vegans. Some of these include Zucchini with Roasted Yeast Cream Chilli Oil, Char grilled beans with garlic and lemon, Barbecue red cabbage steak with cabbage cream and apple mustard, roasted beetroot with beetroot molasses and labney,  Roasted Pumpkin with black rice salad and pickled onion, among others.

Where: Zolocrust, Lobby Level, Hotel Clarks Amer, Jawahar Lal Nehru Marg, Jaipur
When: Open all day

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Taking a new avatar, the coffee shop was re-designed as a British vintage tea lounge serving authentic European food in 2014. With lounge rooms similar to living rooms in houses, the café was aptly renamed ‘Home Café’. And unlike the other everyday tea and coffee joints that are springing up in the city, this upscale café lives up to its claim of serving authentic European food.

The café also proves to be a boon in the light of the dearth of places serving breakfast in the city. Bringing to the fore unique dishes like Ramekin eggs and Truffle fungi eggs, Home Café by Mr. Beans is way ahead of other cafes in town when it comes to options for breakfast. ‘Ramekin Eggs’ essentially comprises of Mediterranean vegetables tossed in a tomato concasse topped with fried eggs. Served with toasted brown bread and boiled veggies, the dish is a great alternative to the mundane omelettes and scrambled eggs.

When it comes to Italian cuisine, Home Café by Mr. Beans serves not just routine pizzas and pastas but also entrees like Crostini and mains like Risotto and ravioli. Toasted bread usually served with cheese, vegetable or meat toppings, the crostini here is topped with distinctive combinations like Dutch Gouda cheese and homemade orange chilli jam. The bitter-sweet taste of this dish is like a match made in heaven. Another thing that makes this café stand out from the rest is the fact that the pasta served here is handcrafted ravioli and gnocchi rather than the monotonous spaghetti and penne. With varieties of cheese like Dutch Gouda, Brie, Feta on offer, apart from the usual mozzarella and parmesan generally served in Italian joints here, this cafe is a haven for cheese lovers.

Since there is always room for dessert, do not leave this place without trying their Belgian waffles — a dish they are well renowned for. Served with honey and cream, these scrumptious waffles are literally to die for! Not just they take your taste buds on a joyous ride but also look like they belong to paradise. However, be cautious as these waffles are highly addictive and will keep dragging you back to Home café!

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“Hey! Long time no see! Let’s catch up? Where should we meet? ”

“I need new clothes for work. Where can I get a good variety of brands?”

“I’m in the mood for a late night movie. Can you check where the latest English flick is running?”

“I wanna eat Chinese starters, Indian food for main course and an Italian dessert. Is there any place where I can get all three?

Five questions. One answer. World Trade Park!

From shopping to eating to watching a movie to tarot card reading, one can find everything under one roof here. The World Trade Park has been a matter of pride for the folks of the Pink City since 2012. In merely 4 years, the mall boasts of the biggest national as well as international brands and eateries.

Located in Malviya Nagar, the vibrant blue colour and the thick layer of silver highlight  gives the World Trade Park the look of an international estate and makes it nearly impossible for anyone to miss this magnificent building.

The mall has  has two wings:  North block and South block. While the North block is based on a golden theme, the   South block is based on a silver one. Both the wings have a unique hollow bridge like connection that hosts a wide array of restaurants and eateries.  An interesting feature of the World Trade Park’s architecture is its direct slab slide where you can directly land on the first floor which is an innovation in itself. World Trade Park also boasts of  separate areas for trade fair, convention and conferences, business centres, offices and display areas, hotels and clubs, cyber-friendly building, three screen multiplex,among others. As construction and manufacturing industry cyber security is a relevant topic presently, cyber-friendly buildings grab attention.

The North Block is especially built for the purpose of shopping.  It is almost always  flooded with shopaholics and brand freaks as a large number of  national and international brands have their outlets here which one usually does not find anywhere in Jaipur. Out of all the brands, Zara is the most favoured one here. Other popular brands that you can find here include Catwalk, Marks & Spencer,  Guess, Forever 21, Aldo, French Connection, Promod, among others.

Fantasy World of the Mega Mall takes the visitor on a worldwide tour where the visitor can visit different countries of the world.You can find here many antique decorative items.

One can also indulge here in services like tarot card reading and tattoo making.

The food court of World Trade Park offers you as many as 17 different types of cuisines such as  Thai, Chinese, Italian, Mexican, Indian, among others.  Eateries like Crazy Noodles, Kebabs and Curries, The Chocolate Room are quite popular here. Apart from this, the usual fast food chains like Domino’s, KFC, Dunkin Donuts etc can also be found here.

Tell us what you like about World Trade Park?

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Architecture

People from within and outside India visit Jawahar Kala Kendra for its unique and one of its kind architecture and needless to say, its greenery. Charles Correa’s friend had once said that it is indeed the “Best piece of art”. It is a “ Nomad’s place where the soul can be in peace”. The concept for the Jawahar Kala Kendra has been inspired by the NauGraha (9 Mandala). One of the squares is pivoted to recall the original city plan and also to create the entrance. The plan of Jaipur city based on the nine square yantra in which in one square is displaced and two central squares combined. 8m high walls, symbolic of the fortification wall along the Jaipur old city, define the square.Ground plan of the Nat-Mandir in Konark (left), corresponding to the division of the Yantra of the Nine Planets or Navagraha (right). The symbols of the Yantra are: square= Venus; bow= Mercury; snake=Ketu; triangle= Mats; Lotus = the sun, at the center; Sword= Rahu; crescent= the moon; circle= Jupiter; man= Saturn. Based on the mandala Sarvasva.

Library

If you are a book worm,  the JKK Library is certainly the best place to be in Jaipur.For more than two decades the JKK Library has provided Jaipur with an ample space for research and learning. The large two-storey library has in its collection over 14,000 reference books of various genres like art, culture, religion, architecture, literature, spirituality, among others. The newly renovated JKK library now features a General Section for adults and a  Junior Reading Room (JRR) with books and educational toys for children from age 4 to 14 years.The infrastructure at the library is being modernized with most of the books and the resource material under the process of digitalization. As many as 7,000 new books have been added to the General and the Children Section. Kids have no escape from the library as there are 3,000 variety of books available to them. The Kendra now also has a WiFi facility. The membership to the library is open. It is noteworthy that old books can also be donated at the JKK library.

Shilpgram

Another unique attraction of Jawahar Kala Kendra is the Shilpgram.  Literally meaning, the village of crafts, Shilpgram has witnessed numerous fairs, haat bazaars and festivals. The six huts representing Braj (Bharatpur), Hadoti (Kota), Tribal (Durgapur), Desert (Barmer and Bikaner), Shekhawati (Sikar) and Centre (Jaipur), are surely a crowd puller. The fairs and festivals held here bring to life various shades of colour and vibrancy.

Events

Renowned artistes from all over the world perform at Jawahar Kala Kendra. Be it performing arts like dance, music and theatre or visual arts such as paintings and photography, JKK is the hub of all kinds of art. Only recently, JKK  had organized a week long high quality performing arts festival, “Navras’’. The festival witnessed a mélange of cultural performances by way of contemporary dance, Sufi music, fusion music, classical instrumental, classical vocal and theatre from across India. Some of the most well known cultural and theatre programmes like ‘The Manganiyar Seduction’ (directed by Roysten Abel); ‘Sharira’ (choreographed by Chandralekha); William Shakespeare’s ‘Macbeth’ (directed by Ratan Thiyam). Similarly, JKK also presented India’s first and largest children’s literature festival ‘Bookaroo’ for the first time in Jaipur.  —  “Bookaro”. In the two day festival, a host of distinguished authors, poets, illustrators, and theatre artists made the experience unforgettable with their fascinating body of work. Among the authors and poets who participated in the festival were Wendy Cooling, Arefa Teshsin, Bina Kak and Jerry Pinto.

Every year,  JKK also organizes summer camps in  which various activities, seminars and workshops such as Dance, Music, Theater, and Photography, among others are held.

The Indian coffee house

To get your slurps and burps, you must the South-Indian cuisine like dosas, uttapam, idli and vada. And needless to say, you should not miss the coffee! The USP of this café is that it is affordable and also the view from the café is appealing enough to enlighten your day. The coffee house is a hub for the likes of city’s journalists, political leaders, poets and thinkers. Many of them have been coming for years together. Apart from the South Indian cuisine, one can also try the sandwiches, pakoras and noodles.

Any visitor will sure be mesmerized by the aura and charm of JKK. So do let us know what you like about Jawahar Kala Kendra?

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Occupied majorly by Punjabis, the area is undoubtedly a haven for food lovers. Since it is a locality popular among students and young professionals staying as paying guests, there are innumerable eating joints here serving a wide array of dishes. Take a look at some of the most popular and best places to eat:

Brewberrys Café:

If you’re looking for lip smacking snacks at reasonable prices then this is the place for you. Open till late at night, this café gives you a wide range to choose from – pizzas, sandwiches, pastas, burgers and not to forget the yummy desserts and drinks. So if you’re looking for a place to indulge in some late night coffee and snack with that someone special or to play a game of scrabble with your friends, go hit Brewberrys.

Thadi:

As the name suggests, the place is an apt depiction of a rural chai ki thadi. Known for its well designed interiors, the place has ample seating space. If you’re in a rush and need a quick bite like a plate of hot steaming maggi and masala chai, we suggest you try thadi. The place also has on offer a plethora of teas to choose from like – chocolate chai, gur chai, pudina chai, sauf chai, among others.

Marky Momos:

Open till 2 am, this is another great place to eat if you’re looking for a late night snack. The place serves mouth watering Chinese snacks from Momos to Honey Chilli Potato to Chilly Chicken, you name it…

Chawla Sweets:

Chawla Sweets has been a name synonymous with Raja Park since decades. If you’re in the mood to eat chaat and street food items like gol gappas, chole bhature, papdi chaat, raj kachori, etc., this place is a must try. Apart from the great taste that is a treat for your taste buds, brownie points for hygiene and quality of food.

Sunrise Bakers & Confectioners:

This bakery has a lot of branches in the Pink City but the one in Raja Park is probably one of the biggest. With yummy patties, hot dogs, foot longs, sandwiches and pastries on offer, Sunrise is an apt place for evening junkies.

Do tell us, which of these restaurants you have visited before?  And what’s your take on the best restaurants in Jaipur, have we included your favourite? 

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Located in Hathroi, Sky Lights offers a comprehensive dining experience with a wide array of eats and drinks. The cafe is divided between two decks — upper and lower. While one can enjoy the experience of a rooftop in the upper area, the lower one caters to one’s needs for an indoor setting.  The new venture provides a full event planning experience for special occasions as well.

Crepes, home made spinach and beetroot nachos, regional dishes like Vada Pav and Misal Pav, fresh fruit smoothies, among others are some of the special attractions of the café. Open from 7 am to 10.30 pm, the new eatery also has a special breakfast menu with health friendly dishes like sprouts and oats, he added.

Throwing light on the interior décor and architecture of the café, Mr. Arjun Kuchhal said that the café is designed in such a way so that it attracts people of all age groups. One can find here closed, semi open as well as fully open spaces. The menu also includes dishes of various cuisines like Indian, Continental, Italian, Mexican, etc.

The cafe also has on offer interesting books and games to give you company. Moreover, it is a great place if you want to just sit alone and read a book while sipping lipsmacking coffee. Or if you just want to ditch your monotonous work environment for a day and work from a cool ambience, come and avail the free WiFi facility at Skylights.

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What makes this restaurant unique is its ‘chef only’ concept. The bakery is run 24/7 by only chefs — right from taking orders to serving the dish to the customers, to cleaning and in fact, even dish-washing is all done by the chefs. Furthermore, unlike the other eateries, this new venture does not just have a live kitchen but the entire bakery including the dish washing area is visible to the guests.

From hot and cold soups and salads to pizzas and sandwiches to sumptuous desserts, Zolocrust offers you a wide array of eats to choose from. With around 20 chefs working here, this place also caters to the needs of those who prefer gluten free, vegan, eggless or even a dairy free diet. Apart from the vibrant and colorful ambience, what adds to the uniqueness of this place is the fact that the food is served here in a special kind of disposable crockery.

“The restaurant use the highest quality and freshest of raw materials, mostly grown within the hotel campus to prepare the delicacies. Moreover, we have used state of the art technology and equipment mostly imported from Germany, Switzerland and Spain to provide the best tools and working environment for the chefs.”, informed Mr. Arjun Kumar, who is the brainchild behind this exclusive idea.

Do let us know about your experience at Zolocrust!

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