So, to start from where I’d left off in the previous post, it would be worthy to mention that I had visited my alma mater and spent a lot of time there. It was around four in the evening by the time I left and I was starving; so I asked myself ‘hey, which is the closest and best food joint around here?’ ; and the answer was a minute's walk away. CAFÉ REFUEL.
Here's a little note I'd mentally written to my hometown when I was in school : "Dear Kalimpong, you are a beautiful residential town and I like the fact that you offer great adventures, culture, cuisine etc, and I love you. All my friends love you. All my city friends love you. But Y YOU NO LET US TRY CUISINES FROM AROUND THE WORLD???" Yes, my dear readers, I am a big foodie and I've always been more than a little disappointed when eating tasty food meant being able to choose from only Chinese/ Thai/ Tibetan/Nepali/Bengali/ Mughlai/ Indian cuisine. I mean, how could pizzas and burgers suffice when my hunger for exploring western food was too much? Of course, I understood that it is a simple town and people are very simple too ..but..c'mon.... fooooooddddd!! I feel very ecstasic to be able to finally omit that mental note and replace it with : 'Cafe Refuel has taken an initiative to introduce Mexican and Spanish cuisine to the people of K'pong' :D :D :D Amongst the very few cafes in town, what sets CAFE REFUEL apart is the motorcycle theme that has adorned every inch of this place. It came into being in the year 2011 with a very basic two page cafe menu and has grown a lot since then. I had heard from a little bird that the owners of this place have had no previous experience in this business so I figured it would be interesting to ask them about the story behind the place while I was there to gorge. Mingma and Karenmoa are friends from college. They worked for six years in I.T (finance and content respectively) untill finally deciding that they've had enough with the computer life.
"We're influenced by a lot of movies and we enjoy food...that's why we opened the place. Most of the food we serve here are the ones that we enjoy and we like. We saved up for two years and that's how we started, " says the co-owner, Karenmoa.
The ambience of the cafe is very inviting. It has a foosball table, karaoke, guitar, and, magazines and board games nicely stacked up on one side. There's a little setting outside in the veranda for smokers and also for a lovely view.
"We learned most of the things off the internet. We took this place in 2009-2010 and spent a year constructing it... these tables, my friends and I made it ourselves. We bought drills and machines... we painted the scooters, we painted that bike...We stayed here, we slept here....we came with a very small budget..so we painted, weilded everything by ourselves " "So how did the biker theme come up?" "We both enjoy riding motorcycles."
Something that I found very interesting about this place is that the table kept outside in the veranda has been made from the steering wheel of an ambassador and the seats have been made of scooter tyres! Something even more interesting? Well, the guys made it all by themselves!!
Cafe Refuel offers mountain bikes on hire for reasonable rates. "We've taken people to Algarah, to Lava, to Pedong; and if it's a really short one, they can go to Durpin or Chhibo basti. People from the city really enjoy that. I too really enjoy that...plus, that's off road..there are a lot of villages."
They also hold gigs and acoustic shows whenever they can.
When asked about some notable moments they've had with their customers, they told me about the time when a Japanese actor had come to their cafe and installed a film set on the floor above their's to have his movie shot. His team would work upstairs and dine in the cafe. Also, the very accomplished Nepali filmmaker Tulsi Ghimirey was interviewed in the cafe. There weren't many cafes in Kalimpong before Cafe Refuel came around; infact, I doubt if there were any before this one opened. 'Cafe' was a term normally used to refer to internet cafes, so undertandably, Mingma and Karenmoa had a lot of people come in and ask for print out facilities and internet connections when they started out. "We also had a lot of people come in and ask for 'momos' and 'thukpas' in the beginning," they laughed. Now, here comes the highlight of the post : FOOD . Apart from the predictable but great cappuccino and sandwiches, Cafe Refuel's menu includes pinacoladas, smoothies, quepapas, quesadillas, burritos, salads and more. It is remarkable how the duo, who aren't professional chefs, make sure that the customers are served with lip-smacking dishes. Their hard work and passion clearly reflects through every delicious bite and sip one takes. I had 'Chicken Nachos' with homemade tortilla chips and an 'Ice Cold Danny' which is cold coffee with chocolate syrup topped with vanilla icecream. I loved 'em both!
I'm not really an apt food critic but I think it'd be safe to say that the nachos were excellent. The crispy and light tortillas topped with chicken, cheese, salsa and sour cream were a perfect blend of happiness and contentment in my mouth. The kidney beans and jalepenos added a slightly zesty and surprising element to the little food show. The coffee too, was very good. The owners intend on slowly adding more dimension and variety to the menu- including Nagamese and Italian dishes. I wish we had the privilege of trying out such cuisines here when we were in school; nevertheless, I am all set and thrilled about it now! So with this, I end my post and urge all you people from Kalimpong to chill at Cafe Refuel more often; and to the people who aren't here- please do visit this awesome place when you make a trip to this pretty town! I am surely going there again, and when I do, I'm gonna try their 'Eat Street' inspired 'Volcano Burger'. You can check out their website www.caferefuel.com; and don't forget to follow their page on facebook. Also, the owners are very amiable people. :)
Cheers!
