The newest eating joint in the tricity, a fine dining concept cafe called Back To Source, with the tagline ‘cafe well-being’, is all about crafting food and beverages in the old fashioned slow-cooking and healthy style, retaining the flavours and aroma of the ingredients and their vital nutrients while serving that mesmerising taste. No pressure cookers, no aluminium utensils, no pesticides use ingredients, no harmful preservatives and no aerated drinks. It’s handis (traditional earthern pots), cold pressed oils, desi khaand and single source desi cow milk products all the way.
The cafe, which surprisingly opened to customers at the height of the Covid-19 pandemic opposite Taj Hotel on the one side and TDI Jagat Mall on the other in Sector 17 mid July, has already started attracting a fair clientele and creating a word-of-mouth buzz around it. From this week it has also started delivering through local food delivery startup foodclub.
Apart from Back To Source’s elaborate food menu for lunch/dinner and all day dining, its signature coffee blends – Buma Devi, Kaveri Espresso and Neri Malai – with certified coffee beans from the fields of Kerala and Tamil Nadu and uniquely roasted by Marc’s Coffees, Auroville, are a winner. The bakes, including breads like sourdough, focaccia and ciabatta, muffins, twists and biscuits are no less enticing.
Inviting LifeInChandigarh.com to get a feel of the environment, food, beverages and bakes, the service and the safety measures, its promoter Munish shares “I had been majorly into the packaging business, but past few years I had also taken to cooking as a passionate hobby, which turned into a dream of one day opening a food joint which should not be strictly driven by commercialism and conveniences, but by passion of serving safe, healthy and delicious food, beverages and bakes. Thus the seed of Back To Source was sown.
“After initial planning, we got down to work around June 2019 when we chose this property to open shop. The underlying idea was to go back to traditional and healthy ways of cooking with pesticide-free ingredients largely sourced straight from farmers. I and my wife Puja have created the entire menu and recipes. I am the hands-on chef, overseeing the food and beverages section, while my wife is looking after the bakery,” Munish explains.
Adds Deepak Gupta, who is supplying the milk and other dairy products to the fine dining concept cafe from his single source mode dairy farm Himalayan Creamery in Nabha, “It is a very difficult proposition to marry a cafe with fine dining, but I think Munish and Puja have done a wonderful blending job. Another appreciable think is their openness about sharing the entire supply chain for all the ingredients sourced from multiple suppliers, which is a welcome departure from the established secretive practices in the business.”
A tiny signboard fixed to the facade of the first floor balcony is all the indication there is for a visitor that he/she has arrived. Past a swinging door, a guest is instantly impressed with an all wood staircase, a rarity these days (there’s an elevator too).
Enter the cafe, and after a swift regulatory safety protocol, the first thing which catches your eye, and immediately relaxes you, is a fair dose of greenery provided by thick leafy potted plants. The cafe is spacious, the decor simple yet elegant. Traditional wooden tables with wood-cane chairs are spaced out. The narrow but high glass windows on two sides, typical of the original Le Corbusier architecture, ensure abundance of natural light.
A spacious coffee bar serves you a wide range of signature coffee blends and other beverages. For the outdoor lovers, there is enough room on the wide balconies with tables laid out on two sides of the cafe.
All set for an enjoyable visit!
Munish stresses, “We have consciously resolved to distance ourselves from the mode trend of convenience in the food supply chain to maximise profitability, wherein pesticides are used to grow food products, which are then packed with preservatives and chemicals for a boosted shelf life. At Back To Source, we are very particular about sourcing ingredients for our fine dining concept cafe directly from producers who are consciously not using harmful chemicals.
“Our kitchens and processes are inspired by age-old traditions of preparing a meal with a deep sense of compassion, a meal that is flavourful, wholesome and good for the body as well as the soul.”
The cafe is making serious efforts to stay plastic-free and chemical-free in sourcing, packaging and storing. “Even the decorative lamps in the cafe are all made from sustainable materials and have been sourced specially from Oorjaa. Instead of chemicals, we have used pure linseed oil to polish our wooden furniture,” Munish shares proudly.
Among other healthy ingredients, the desi ghee used in the cafe is produced from single source desi cow’s milk using the age old bilona method which promotes healthy fat in the ghee. Desi khaand instead of refined sugar, cold pressed groundnut, sesame, mustard and coconut oils and not refined oils and stone ground flour in place of industrially ground flour are among the other health promoting ingredients being used despite these adding substantially to the costs.
The many signature non-veg dishes Munish lists out include mutton beetroot kosha, goat meat slow cooked in two stages; Afghani butter chicken, slow cooked in blend of cream masala with cold pressed mustard or groundnut oil; and mutton biryani, again slow cooked in two stages the yakhani way so that every grain of rice has that creamy taste of mutton.
Being a vegetarian, I just loved the paneer masala and the standout makhani dal made using the naturally creamy urad dal sourced from Tehri Garhwal which does not require use of cream or milk. The black wheat lachha parantha, which I tried for the first time in my life, was simply amazing. My lunch would have been incomplete without the super delicious signature gulab jamun, made from in-house khoya skimmed from single source desi cow milk, mixed with cottage cheese and all-purpose flour, fried in pure clarified butter and dipped overnight in sugar syrup.
Among other preparations, which Munish strongly recommends, are crispy bhindi, vada pav and grilled chicken wings. Authentic sourdough breads and focaccia and ciabatta white and brown breads from Puja’s oven are also a must try.
From the coffee bar, apart from the signature coffee blends – Buma Devi, Kaveri Espresso and Neri Malai – Kombucha tea, is another showcase. It’s a fermented, lightly effervescent, sweetened black or green tea drink commonly consumed for its supposed health benefits.
If there is one thing which Back To Source does not satisfy, it is the craving for aerated drinks. For the rest, the new cafe appears to tick all the boxes. Check it out!
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