Sweet rush of caffeine

Gokul prepares

If you can't start your day without a cup of coffee or are forever experimenting with different types of brews, there's a bit of heady news that will drive your mid-week blues away. Delhi's iconic wine and coffee bar, Perch, is bringing a new range of affogatos, crafted using single-origin and house blends, egg-less homemade ice creams, and a whole bar of garnishing options, over this weekend.

"No one orders coffee after 4 pm but affogato is a great way to flout that and order it in a dessert avatar. We will have five variants of a scoop of in-house ice cream and house-blend coffee combination, and toppings like honeycomb, granola, truffle oil, olive oil and sea salt for people to pick from. And since the affogatos seemed to fit right into the vibe and cuisine served at Allis at Soho House, it was the ideal space for the pop-up. The DIY garnish bar makes it more interactive," explains Vaibhav Singh, partner, when we meet him the afternoon before they go live.

The espresso and honeycomb ice cream

The three-day pop-up will include combinations beyond the traditional espresso and vanilla ice-cream combo, worked on by barista Gokul and executive chef Kartikeya Ratan. And you can treat it like coffee or a dessert - sip on it or scoop it out; the point is to experiment with flavours.

The first one we try is the espresso poured over honeycomb ice cream, their signature item, which we garnish with a sprinkling of sea salt, as recommended by Ratan. As the ice cream melts, we take a sip and are pleasantly surprised by how much a pinch of salt can impact the flavours of the concoction. It ensures that you can taste the honey that isn't too sweet. We make our way to the bottom of the glass fairly quickly, declaring it as our favourite. Next up, is the indulgent dark chocolate version, with espresso poured over dark chocolate and extra virgin olive oil ice cream. The olive oil in the ice cream gives a whole new level of texture to the dish - it's bitter and sweet. A drizzle of olive oil on top of it adds to the umami nature of the dish.

Dark chocolate affogato

The Vietnamese drip poured over bitter orange and condensed milk ice cream is a quirky and scrumptious affogato version of the Vietnamese coffee, which is made using a filter and condensed milk at the bottom, making it a sweet, dark coffee. "We serve it with the drip. Gokul pours really hot water over the dark roast before it starts dripping. We've taken the classic Vietnamese coffee and done a caramelised version of condensed milk with an ice cream that has orange, a good touch for dark roast," explains Ratan. We sip it and realise why we're told that it's recommended to those who prefer a dark, bitter concoction. This one is also not too sweet, and we don't even need to garnish it since the flavours are so complete, with a bitter punch of caffeine and orange aftertaste. There's also a vegan option with a cold brew poured over malted jaggery and coconut sorbet, which is light and more like a shake.

Kartikeya Ratan and Vaibhav Singh

On February 14 to 16
At The Allis, Soho House, 16, Juhu Tara Road, Santacruz West.
Cost Rs 250

(Left) Vietnamese coffee affogato and (right) the vegan variant. Pics/Sameer Syyed Abedi

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