It’s steeped in an off-white tea pot of near-boiling water. The whiff of sweet-scented, flower-based infusion of chrysanthemum tea escapes the lid that’s been left open to cool down the aromatic mixture. If you want to savour this cool-natured flower drink to the fullest, accompany it with Spicy Prawns. When the softness of tea is cut by the sharpness of prawns, the palate receives a well rounded high. Rahul Sayal, the founder of Dimcha, which offers the same, swears by it. It’s one of the favourites at his newly launched place.
As the tables start to get filled 9 pm onwards, the inquisitive expressions on the faces of many first-timers and others corroborate their curiosity. It’s not a concept that’s been explored much and perhaps that’s why you could try it. A Chinese tradition that started of for those who, travelling along the Silk Road and needing a break, found resting ground in teahouses that lined along the route. Here, bite-sized snacks were offered too since it was learnt that tea helped digestion. “People needed to be exposed to something different, and I believed that this exquisite concept had great potential,” says Sayal. As soon as you seat yourself in this graffiti-infused restaurant, the first thing you should do is choose from the selection of teas—tisane, jasmine, rose, opening flower teas and more—and then order the little bites, such as Kenya Bean, Chicken Hoisin, Black Pepper Duck and Green Chilli Lamb. If you choose to spend time at the restaurant, the culinary voyage will take you through Thailand, Malaysia and China. Soaked in a generous mix of sichuan peppers, star anise, black pepper, cinnamon sticks and fennel seeds—pride ingredients of the cuisines served at the cafe—Dimcha brings you other great stand-alone dishes as well such as French Bean and Tofu Salad, Khao Suey Soup, Minced Chicken in Holy Basil Sauce Bowl Meal and more. Enjoy all this sitting at the restaurant’s terrace with chic wooden benches, minimalistically designed square, metal folding beige-coloured chairs, white lilies as centre table decorations and the open sky. Sayal personally likes his meal after a game of rigorous tennis. After a short escape to his farmhouse with friends, the game, that he says is his stress-buster and the greatest energiser, is somewhat like a drug that he cannot stay without, and the thing he enjoys most after an exhausting session is Asian food at Dimcha. This is one of the perks he enjoys owning a restaurant. The other side of the same coin doesn’t look half as exciting. It involves a lot of work and a fair amount of timekeeping. At the end of the day, however, it all seems worth it to him.