Food Review: From Morning till Dawn
Hybrid, at Janpath, operates as a cafe by day and a club at night- catering to a host of tastes.
Interiors of the two-storey restaurant, which can accommodate several hundreds at a time; (right) a prawn preparation served at Hybrid. (Source: Express photo by Ravi Kanojia)
Located just off the Janpath market, stretches out a steampunk fantasy; and we mean stretches. Hybrid is a gargantuan space, the brick walls crawling with clockwork all in motion, vintage gimcrack typewriters, rotary-dial telephones and other relics of earlier, more mechanical times, while the music is far more contemporaneous.
But the most striking feature is the space, which can accommodate several hundreds of its patrons on each of its two floors. Small wonder Hybrid doesn’t require much changing to transmute from a cafe to a nightclub, with distinct menus for each concept to soon be launched.
Much like the space, the transient menu caters to all tastes, hitting various culinary hotspots across the globe.
The initial cocktail menu features a lot of molecular elements including one inspired cocktail, the Nitro Orangtini, in which Vodka comes nitrogen-frozen in an ice cream texture.
We begin with a Bruschetta Board and a Chilgoza Tangri; the board comprises three members — fresh tomato and basil plastered with Parmesan, mushrooms and garlic (smothered in more cheese), and grilled vegetables cloisted with cream cheese. Three cheers for cheese, we say. And the other ingredients, of course.
The tangri comes with a stuffing of crushed pine nuts and mince, adding a sapid addition to the kebab itself, which is off the textbook tandoor taste and texture.
For our mains, we continue via Italy and end up in the United States. For the Chicken Ala Panna, we choose penne, which comes laminated in a glistening coating of cream and cheese, muddled with a vibrant basil pesto, the entire kedegree rife with chunks of chicken and genteel
mushrooms and a sprinkling of garlic flakes, all making for a highly toothsome melange.
The Porky Pork burger features a minced and piquantly peppered pork patty layered with crispy bacon, caramelised onions and pickles — the entire structure fortified by a thick, molten layer of cheese. We were too busy making pigs of ourselves to come up with an adroit analogy.
Needless to say, we can’t wait to return for the final transformation.
Meal for two: Rs 2,000 (including taxes and alcohol).
Address: 54, Tolstoy Lane, Janpath.
Contact: 33107916
Share
