I have been seeing ads of Cafe Alchemy by its owner ever since they opened along with Imperial Kitchen restaurant… Cafe Alchemy is owned by the same people who owns the Imperial Kitchen restaurant… So, today, I happened to go along that route and so thought of checking out some of their sweets which were the focus of the ads… I heard recently that they have now opened a separate big outlet of Cafe Alchemy but this one where I went to is the original small outlet attached to the Imperial Kitchen restaurant, in Keston Road, Trivandrum…
I went there hoping to try their Ras malai… But unfortunately it was not available today… Hence, as a sample, went for their Coconut Burfi, what they call Anjir King and what they call as their Kaju Gulab… These are traditional Indian sweets usually made during celebrations like festivals and special occasions…
So, first was the Coconut Burfi… The Coconut Burfi is a traditional Indian Sweet made with fresh grated Coconut and Sugar syrup… Its made into bite sized pieces and there are quite a few versions of this, using various ground nuts as well and flavoured with certain spices like Saffron, Cinnamon, Cardamom, etc… The version here is more like candied grated coconut thats compressed into the cuboid shape… Some green colored toasted Coconut is sprinkled on top of each Burfi…
First of all, this Coconut Burfi felt to be incredibly soft and fluffy… It was mildly sweet with obviously packed with the flavour of coconut and along with it there seems to be some hint of Cardamom and a very slight hint of milk/cream as well, which I guess they used when cooking the Coconut… So, altogether a fairly good Burfi… What I am missing is some fragrance of ghee and I wish it was a bit more sweeter…
Next is the Anjir King… This is another traditional Indian sweet made with Cashew-nuts, Almonds, Pistachios, Dates and Dry Figs… Its spiced with Saffron as one of the layers… They usually build in such a way that there is ground saffron infused almond paste forms the center along with nuts and a piece of dried Fig… This followed by a layer of cashew-pista paste and then followed by a layer of ground dates and dried figs… Then the whole roll is coated with dry Khus-khus…
Each ingredient used is clearly visible as I bit into it… This one had a strong presence of Saffron in the center area and I felt that it along with the dates basically dominated the whole flavour profile… The sweetness was just right for my taste, hence not too sweet or not too less sweet…
Finally, last but not least, it was the Kaju Gulab… This is a sweet made entirely of ground cashew nuts and it seems to be their own recipe as I have never seen it before and by the looks of it, looks like there are multiple layers to it, hopefully having different flavours… And having the word “Gulab” in the name, I guess the pink portion is probably Rose flavoured…
Yep… My guess was correct as I found the pink portion to be tasting of Rose flavour… Other than this pink layer, there is Yellow layer and then green outer layer… Its very clear that food colors have been used here, but the Yellow layer did taste a bit of Saffron and the Green outer layer seemed to have a hint of Pista… This one was the sweetest among all three of them and for me personally, bordering on being too sweet… Anyways, this was also the one among the three that I liked the best…
Altogether, a promising venture indeed, but still when I compare these sweets with the ones I have had from places like Mumbai, its still miles away from it and hence the 3/5 rating… Hopefully, they can improve very soon…
