It’s a dull evening and as you pass by the jammed MG road, to Delhi, leaving the MNC city Gurgaon, you come across an oasis named COCOA. A crimson hued palm tree attracts you and you are urged to pull up your car to have a closer look. The glass wall lets you peek in and what you see inside is just so inviting that you couldn’t stop yourself but to get inside.

A warm smile welcomes you. He is Shailesh Poddar – a tall, warm hearted, cheerful man with his head shaven for the occasion. The occasion…yes. It was the inaugural day at COCOA. Shailesh, incidentally is the owner of the COCOA too. He ushers you to a comfy cane sofa, cushioned properly and his smile suggests that he has won half the battle, already.

Now something about COCOA. Shailesh tells you without any hesitation that it is a much Americanized concept, which he is trying to initiate in India. COCOA is a coffee shop with a difference. In fact calling it a coffee shop would be belittling it. COCOA promises to serve fresh chocolates, cakes, pastries, bread (and believe me, you got to see what shapes bread can assume at COCOA). Moreover, it’s a move from cheesy pizzas, which was the only option for us to have a quick bite.

At COCOA, you get pancakes, sandwiches, range of pastries etc. with hot streaming coffee – all day. So now a quick byte doesn’t always mean a pizza which leaves a sense of guilt for you have violated the rules of diet regimen.

The ambience at COCOA lets you spend couple of hours here and Shailesh wouldn’t mind that, as he wants to promote this place as a place for breakfast meetings or meeting of coffee mugs at evening, which lets you cling the deals with your clients.

For those who are die hard coffee fans and want to spend their evenings with friends on a coffee, Shailesh has plans for them. He is planning to get a pool table soon (which he says is on its way to COCOA). So a game of pool between friends with brewing coffee mug – hmm…nothing like it.

Now your evenings are never going to get as boring as the near by pizza place. Just get down to COCOA, taste those delicious exotic Belgian chocolates (COCOA has all the chocolates and coffee flying down from Belgium), with an ambience suited to your fresh mornings and romantic evenings.

COCOA says Breakfast all day.

Just drop in and check COCOA out, guys.

Cheers.