Recently, I heard about this new Swiss coffee shop named Kaffeehaus that opened in Vazhuthacaud, Trivandrum from a friend of mine and since a Swiss place is a first in Trivandrum, I decided to check it out and went there with another friend of mine… That time ended up being a bad day because the place had just opened and they were still getting their act together with the staff just learning to do what they do and to make matters worse, there were staffing shortages with people out sick… So, long story short, things didn’t go as well as I had hoped but considering the circumstances, I felt it to be unfair to write the place off and hence decided to try again later… This was about a couple of weeks ago and the revisit happened today and boy am I glad I took that decision to come back…
Kaffeehaus is a cosy little place located at M.P Appan Road in Vazhuthacaud (walkable distance from the junction i.e, Annie Mascarene Square)… I had the chance to speak with the owner of the place and got to know that she is running the place along with her brother who is a hospitality specialist and her sister-in-law who is actually a swiss native… They don’t have a fixed menu yet as they are still in the experimental phase… Hence, there is no menu card as such but there are a couple of blackboards on the wall where the menu is written by the owner on a daily basis… She also mentioned that they have chefs flown in from Switzerland to train their in-house chefs and hence they try their best to give the most authentic Swiss coffeeshop experience that they can and based on how their food tasted today, I don’t doubt that at all 🙂 As can be seen in the pics the decor of the place screams in celebration of everything Swiss… 🙂
So, among the options today, I had a Hühnchensalat, a Rösti and then their Jura… Along with those, I had a Lime Iced Tea to drink and by the end of meal, I felt like having one more iced tea and this time the waiter offered to get me the Peach Iced Tea instead which I accepted 🙂
The Hühnchensalat is basicalled a Grilled Chicken Salad… It came as shown in the pic consisting of shredded Grilled Chicken, Tomatoes, Carrots, Cucumber and Lettuce dressed with what I can guess is a lite mayo and vinegrette based dressing seasoned perfectly with salt and freshly crushed pepper and then topped with some chopped Parsley and some chopped Black Olives thrown in there… 🙂
The Vegetables were indeed crunchy and I could tell that they are indeed freshly cut and the whole thing tasted so wonderful that I must say that its by far the best Grilled Chicken Salad that I have ever had… I would definitely rate this as the best in Trivandrum and possibly one of the best in the country right now 🙂 Only complaint I have is that towards the bottom, I felt that it had too much of the dressing, and so, I guess a suggestion I can make is to reduce the amount of dressing used or toss the salad with minimum amount and then provide the extra on the side and it should be perfect… 🙂
Next was the one listed under Kaffeehaus specials as Rösti… When I asked about it, the waitress informed me that its a potato based savoury pancake topped with the cheese and vegetables or protein of my choice, with the choice being either Chicken or Bacon… Since I am not a fan of pork and just had all the vegetables I can eat for a day in the salad, I went for the Chicken option… So, turns out as can be seen in the pic, the pancake is basically a giant Potato Fritter (or think of it as a giant Hashbrown with onions in it) topped with the shredded grilled chicken and cheese, seasoned with freshly ground pepper and what I think is some smoked paprika powder… It is served on the plate with a sliced Olive and Parsely to the side (which I guess is intended as garnish)… 🙂
First of, the chicken tasted amazing with the cheese and the seasonings… However, what I missed in this is salt… I mean, it was perfect when I ate a small piece of the fritter with the cheese and chicken, but when I ran out of cheese, I had to put in the extra salt to be able to enjoy the fritter better… I guess its the Indian in me talking here, but I think it would be great idea if the potatoes were seasoned to begin with… It doesn’t have to be much, but could use some seasoning, at-least lightly… Or an alternate option would be to include more Cheese and Chicken in it, which is exactly what I would prefer… 😀 😛
For dessert, came the Jura… The Jura is basically a creamy Panna Cotta topped some Chocolate sauce and some Pomegranate as shown in the below pic… The Panna Cotta was slightly firm on the outside but incredibly airy and creamy inside… The Panna Cotta itself tasted of cream with a very slight hint of Vanilla… The amount of sweetness was just right for me… The chocolate sauce felt like it had a slight hint of Coffee as well… The Pomegranate gave a crunchy texture to it which along with the fruitiness of it made it to be quite a refreshing dessert to have for me… Infact I loved it so much that I simply couldn’t resist getting another one… 🙂
Regarding the Iced Teas, the owner had informed me earlier that what they serve is made completely from scratch in-house and is not made by using the pre-made mix like how most places usually do…
I first had their Lime Iced Tea that had a nice flavour of Green Lime and Mint with the right amount of sweetness, but unfortunately it tasted slightly bitter for me, I guess some of the Fibers / Zest went into it that usually causes bitterness… So, when I wanted some more to drink, I went for the Peach option when offered by the waiter…
The Peach Iced Tea however, was simply perfect… Great refreshing taste of Peach along with Mint with the Tea… In fact, I felt it to be best Iced Tea option in the city right now that I’ll definitely be getting in my future visits…
So, altogether a very promising place to eat and hangout and unique as well as I think this is the very first authentic Swiss Coffee Shop in the city… Based on what the owner told me, they are bringing in more Swiss dishes very soon… One thing I found missing in the menu is the cold brews of coffee which too is going to be available very soon as per the owner… So, I think Kaffeehaus is probably going to be a regular spot for me whenever I go towards the city… 🙂
