In line with the famous quote attributed to Marie-Antoinette, "Let them have cake," is exactly what we did one Wednesday morning, when we found ourselves in front of the locked doors of Huf Cafe. Locked? Yes, they were closed but since we refused to budge, with our noses pressed to the glass, they had to open the cafe.
The Huf Cafe, we were told is not owned by Glitz, though the small space is plonked right next to the Glitz' in their carpark. At first glance, it looks like a coffee shop with lotsa dainty cupcakes and a kaleidoscope of colourful sweets displayed on their counter. At second glance, that's exactly what it is – a cakey-coffee shop with other sweets like brownies and marshmallows.
Food
We ordered a Chocolate Fudge Cake, Ribbon Cake, a Chocolate and Mint Block, and a Raspberry Cheese Cake. For drinks, we ordered fresh Ginger and Narang juice.
First off, meet the Ribbon Cake. The Ribbon cake (Rs. 150) was the first cake that caught my eye, only because it was pretty and pretty big as all their slices of cake are. But one bite into this, you need to glug your juice because, without a little help from something liquidy, this little beaut can easily get lodged in your throat for a long while before it decides to go down.
I have hope that in its heyday, it was a good piece of moist ribbon cake. What it is, it is aesthetically pleasing, like something I may have found at the March the Hare's tea party. In its prime, I imagine the cake was soft and fluffy with the right balance of icing.
Next in line was the Chocolate Fudge Cake (Rs. 420). Huf Cafe, I must say, are quite generous with their sizes. A definite yay for those people who like their cake – and like 'em big. It is definitely not a sliver or a square which is how your average pastry shop will sell their pieces of cake. Unfortunately, this too was a tad on the dry side. Even though it was dry – this has potential, the making and the marking, to be a good chocolate fudge cake. Apologies for the bad photograph, the slice of cake is a lot prettier in reality.
And then to ease our disappointment, we also nibbled on this chocolate-mint bar (Rs. 250). Which was by far, more promising than the last two dry slices of cake and lived up to its name by being both chocolatey and minty. No disappointment there. Nothing exceptional there either.
I have saved the best for last. We also ordered this supposed Raspberry Cheese Cake (Rs. 480), which they did not have a slice of – but the same cake was sold in a cup – like a dessert cup. Though they said cake, I'm sure it was a sort of a pudding pretending to be cake. With a thin layer of jammy substance as its first layer, on top of a thick layer of fluffy cream cheese and at the very bottom another thin layer of biscuit as a base.
All was not lost in the end. The Raspberry cheesecake was our jackpot when all other cakes and a no show of coffees had failed. The bad news is, in my excitement, I forgot to take a photograph. But you can't miss it, it comes in one of those transparent plastic dessert cups that looks like your typical hospital food – but looks can be deceiving. I might just go back there to buy only that.
Drinks
The morning we went, since it was locked when we showed up at the Huf Cafe's doorstep, it was no surprise to find that there was no one available to make us a latte or the host of coffee drinks that were displayed on their chalkboard. Because of this reason, we had to resign ourselves to a fresh Narang and Ginger juice which was quite refreshing in itself, but overall no biggy to write home about.
Service & Ambience
The Huf Cafe is a tiny space, with warm lighting. We think 5 people and more would be a crowd. So do limit those numbers. Service was very pleasant and the guy who stepped in was accommodating and fast to serve up – though we were the only two people there.
Conclusion
Since Huf Cafe is a cake and coffee shop, there is lots of room for improvement, because it would be safe to assume most people like their cake moist and along with that some coffee too.
