If time is money, pay for it. But eat your food for free, and at leisure, while watching TV or playing board games. And no, mum’s not going to scold you for not cleaning up after yourself in the kitchen when you made that sloppy sandwich. That is because you’ll be doing this at Bengaluru’s latest bistro.
The Minute Bistro, started by Enayet Ansari and his friend Nikhil Kamath, is the latest experiment in Bengaluru that seems to embrace anything with open arms. “I wanted this to be a home-outside-your-home kind of place…only you are paying some rent to spend time there,” is how Enayet explains the concept of the café in Kasturi Nagar. You pay Rs. 5 for every minute spent there.
While such cafes are there in Russia, and more recently in London, it might be a whole different ballgame altogether in Bengaluru. Enayet admits that the few-days-old café is at its nascent and experimental stage. Enayet is tempting you not just with a 55-inch TV, but free WIFI, a Playstation, books and magazines, over 15 board games, and a green, happy atmosphere on this fourth floor terrace café. Like home, whoever gets to the TV first, gets the remote. The idea, says Enayet, is to slow down for a minute and celebrate the little joys in life, and create a “bubble” for all to enjoy these simple pleasures.
Enayet brought in second hand furniture from France, he painted a lot of the furniture and the walls too, he says. “My partner’s mother, Revathi Kamath, is one of India’s best landscape designers. She designed our interiors — we have guttered pipes on our walls with coco-peat and drip irrigation from which hanging plants grow out. It gives the feel of sitting in a garden. We also do rain water harvesting.”
“I’m only trying to think and do something different from what others are doing now,” he says when asked “why this”? Enayet, 32, details his life very quickly “I’m from Kolkata, and studied BSc in Genetics at M.S. Ramaiah College in Bengaluru, went on to work in Dubai, and later became an event manager and photographer in Bengaluru.”
He tried his hand at running a restaurant called Hanging Gardens and faced a lot of the challenges that went with it, including cooks who didn’t turn up at work. “So at The Minute Bistro I’ve kept cooking to the minimum. I have a good baker on board who makes three kinds of breads and cookies for me. I’ve otherwise got Do-it-yourself kind of food on the menu — there are vegetables, fruits and a chopping board. There’s a sandwich toaster so please help yourself and make your sandwich. I have two young men who will make sure everything is cleaned up and refilled.” Dips, breakfast cereal, milk, tea and coffee, and desserts are also on the menu. There is also mixture!
He has just introduced a “premium” only-for-breakfast menu of eggs of the day (Chef’s special) with herb roasted potato and mini chicken sausages between 7.30 a.m. and 10.30 a.m at a premium price of Rs. 8 per minute. Students and corporates looking to do meetings are favouring his place as of now, he says. “We provide a conducive working space for people running start-ups and a venue to meet like-minded individuals.”
For details see www.theminutebistro.com or call 9916173613
