Cafe OTB (Out of the Box), Rajpur, Dehradun

Tell me peeps, what kind of place do you prefer, while you are going to meet your friends after a long time? Of course, an interesting one? Isn’t it? It should have, live music, delicious food, comfy seating arrangements, outdoor/rooftop seating with an amazing view of Shiwalik range. Sounds dreamy? Well, OTB makes your dream come true.

A fantastic location. Isn't it?

OTB had been first set up in the NCR region, mainly in, Hauz Khas Village and Khan Market providing their customers with utmost luxury and yummy delicacies and now, they have set up their franchise in the city of love and fun, Dehradun. It is a boon for all the Doonites to enjoy a vibrant atmosphere in one of the well-known cafes of North India. With alternative music and comfortable seating, this place has won the hearts of many people in the town.

Interesting interiors.

It was a Sunday (thank God, not the cunning Monday!) and I was in Paonta (a small town located in Himachal Pradesh), brushing my teeth with sleepy eyes and a sad face for the end of a quirky vacation. The moment I packed my bags for Doon, I remembered that, one of my blogger friends is organising a bloggers’ meet and she expects me to be there. When its food, I can never say a “NO”. I hurried up with my belongings and rushed towards the bus stand to fetch the earliest bus going to Dehradun. I reached in less than an hour or so.

Here starts the journey of a wonderful food adventure. OTB is set up on Rajpur Road, one of the most prime locations in Dehradun. It is near to that of Silvercity Cinemas, so its easily traceable. The elevator takes you on the third floor of The Central Palm Hotel, which opens up the magnificent doors, written in bold, “OTB”.

Comfortable seating arrangement

We went busy with clicking numerous photographs of the luxurious and resplendent interiors of the café. We were mesmerized to see the outdoor seating facility. The infatuating view of Shiwalik Himalayas and a sip of Fruit punch (a mocktail which comprises pineapple juice, orange juice, mango juice, grenadine syrup and fresh cream) took me back to the year 2011, when I and my parents were trekking for Kedarnath. Ah! Memories replenished.

Haha! Lets have a glass of mocktail. What say?

The bloggers’ table seemed really interesting today. We started with Minestrone Soup. It is a classical Italian tomato broth with fresh vegetables. We also had Manchow soup and hot n sour soup as well.

Minestrone

These various kinds of soup were accompanied by a huge variety of snacks. Starting with Fish fingers, Barbeque chicken strips, nachos chat, continuing with dry chilly chicken, malai chicken tikka, honey chilly potato, salt n pepper and ending with grilled soya chops in hot salsa and lotus stem in honey chilly, all were fabulous. Among these, the barbeque chicken really enticed my tastebuds. Strips of chicken tossed in barbeque sauce and house salad inviting you to bite it and relish the experience. The honey chilly potato was too much chilly, and little sweet. For a honey chilly potato, it needs to maintain a perfect equilibrium of sweetness and chilly flavour. It could’ve been better. On the other hand, the chef special Grilled soya chops dipped in hot salsa is excellent. For a second, I stood perplexed staring at it in an anticipation mood, pondering whether its chicken or not. But no! It was soya and unbelievably similar in taste of a chicken. It was something really great. The nachos and lotus stem looked quite appealing, but fair in taste.

Honey chilly potato

Nachos

After having a glass of virgin mojito, we took our journey to an interesting level. We saw the waiters serving us the assorted non-veg pizza. But before we could divide it into pieces and start having a bite, we saw the waiters adding flavour of smoke or fire on that. Oh boy! The scene looks amazing. I have attached a video with this. Do view it and tell me your views about it. Hope you’ll enjoy seeing it.

A Lebanese platter strengthens my soul. I feel that essence of being a true foodie with a soul. Well, I believe that food, which looks good and tastes equally good, captures my heart at first. Café OTB’s Mezze platter was exactly like that. It consists of exotic pickled vegetables, accompanied with hummus tzatziki tabouli and generous pita bread. Each and every item tasted brilliantly well. Peeps, don’t just salivate! Haha, go and have a bite. You’ll love it for sure.

Lebanese Mezze platter

We moved on to the main course. It mainly comprised of Indian and Mughlai dishes like, Dal Makhni, Paneer Lababdar, Keema Pav, Mutton Rogan Josh and Mutton Pardah Biryani. Among all of these, I adored the showstopper of all the dishes. Mutton Pardah Biryani played the game of hide and seek, inside the cover of a Tandoori butter roti. The flavour was amazing with astonishing smell of Biryani and exotic spices adorned the judicious pieces of mutton. Wondering still, how it looked? Well, here it is! Have a look at this picture and I know, you can’t sit still. Sorry guys! Ahem ahem. You’ve to bear with it.

Mutton Pardah Biryani

We continued our main course with some oriental dishes like, Penne Pasta, Thai curry green, OTB Grilled chicken, Grilled fish in lemon butter sauce and Thai curry red. My personal favourite was, Penne Pasta which had ample of mixed sauce giving it a wonderful texture and a great taste. 

Penne Pasta

The respective Thai curries were served with steamed rice and salad. They taste conventional. I was a little disappointed with the grilled fish. Being a Bengali, I am very particular about the taste of the fish. Somehow, it didn’t live up to my expectations. The look was amazing, with a sexy texture and sizzling brown hue. It looked dreamy. But I really feel, the taste should improve. If a food looks good, it also has to taste good. That is the real identity of a perfect dish.

Grilled fish in lemon butter sauce

Mutton Rogan Josh

We ended our journey with a glass of brownie, topped with vanilla ice-cream and a mint leaf, digging into it, literally overjoyed with satisfaction of having good food with positive people around.

Brownie love

If you like my review, do visit this wondrous place and have a great time.

Follow my scintillating food adventure on Instagram @foodicted.fellow and happy munching.

Om nom nom nom!

@foodicted.fellow