The AJ Asian Cafe offers sushi (above), dimsums and Vietnamese paper rolls, Pic by Rashbehari Das; (below) pizzas baked in a stone oven are hotsellers at Gaurav Dhingra’s Intermezzo

How do you stay ahead of the pack in the food business? Restaurateur Saket Agarwal has an answer to that — be different. His new Aqua Java Asian Café in New Alipore serves up exotic Asian dishes — from piping hot dimsums to flimsy Vietnamese paper rolls. If that’s not enough, you could even nibble on the sushi that’s on offer.

It dawned on Agarwal a couple of years ago that he had to redefine his existing coffee shops. Last year, he travelled all the way to Turkey to ensure that his Kafe Istanbul, had got its Turkish theme right.

Today, apart from three regular cafes, he owns four theme cafés — Kafe Istanbul, Asian Café and two Mediterranean-themed Med Cafés. “The idea was to get rid of the monotony. And throwing in a few hookahs wasn’t enough,” he says.

Indian coffee shops have always stuck close to the Starbucks model with smart but basic interiors and lots of coffee on offer. Now, people like Agarwal are redefining how and where we drink our coffee. Even Barista, one of the early players, is experimenting with change. Says Vishal Kapoor, head, sales, Barista: “Coffee is just an excuse. People want to hang out. And if there’s food, music, and a lively ambience in store, it’s added value.”

So, smell the coffee and check out what’s brewing. It’s a complete experience combining good coffee with good music, fun surroundings, and even art and a host of other activities.

It all begins with the décor. Take a look at the new three-storey Mocha in Gurgaon. Each level has a theme. The ground floor has a colourful swing and a bookshop. The second floor is a place to lounge about in with comfortable low seats. The top floor is the hookah section.

(From top) At Mocha, you can lounge about with a hookah or have your coffee seated on a swing; at Brown Sugar, Puneet Gangwani has menu cards shaped like old LPs

Any New Age coffee shop owner will tell you that ambience is crucial. Madhushree Birla, owner of Market Café in Delhi’s smart Khan Market, knows it. She roped in an interior designer to give the joint a subtle minimalist look. Agarwal’s wife’s Nivedita had Kafe Istanbul done up in warm pinks and orange and dotted it with evil eyes and bead curtains.

For Puneet Gangwani, owner of Brown Sugar in Defence Colony Market in Delhi, the decor was the result of teamwork with his wife that saw them taking trips to the kabaadi bazaar to pick up old posters of pop stars, now neatly framed on the walls. There are also old record players and coloured pebbles for a quaint touch.

But it’s not just the look, these entrepreneurs have added more spice to the menu.

At Kafe Istanbul, on busy Loudon Street, one of the big treats is the Moroccan Crusty bread with pickled aubergine and chilly scallion, served with freshly-made hummus. The rice and Tajine (a slow-cooked Moroccan meat and vegetables dish) is a favourite with office-goers.

Mocha offers a wide range of gourmet coffee from places around the world like Jamaica, Hawaii and Brazil. It also has its signature Mocha coffee made with cookie crumble and choco-chip cookie doused with espresso and drizzled with chocolate sauce and steamed milk. Also, there are over 20 varieties of coffee shakes. For egg lovers, “World Omelettes” lets you choose different preparation of eggs.

Barista’s breakfast menu at their sub-brand Barista Crème is lavish. And it plans to have a live kitchen and chefs who can prepare food on order.

There are some places that play up the personal touch. At Café Turtle, owner Priyanka Malhotra serves home-made cake, salads and soups. “This is our real USP,” she says. The Saturday lunches on the terrace at Café Turtle in winters are a hit. “Now, we are starting cold soups for summer,” adds Priyanka.

Intermezzo, in Delhi’s Defence Colony, also boasts of a personal touch. Owner Gaurav Dhingra says guests love the home-made quiches, lasagna and pasta. But the real treat is the thin crust pizzas baked to perfection in a stone-oven that Dhingra specially imported.

Coffee shops are also now alternative venues for art exhibitions and book launches. The walls of Market Café are rarely bare. “We are booked six months in advance for art exhibitions,” says Birla, who charges Rs 2,000 for 15 days. Dhingra of Intermezzo has had two exhibitions at his café since it opened last November. “There will be more,” he says. Market Café occasionally conducts cooking and baking classes with expat chefs, and Mocha is all set to open a book and movie club.

On a different note, Barista experimented with a live band in Mumbai in late May. Depending on the response, the live music gigs will be replicated in other outlets in other cities. “We already have good coffee and a live band would only make things better,” says Kapoor. Clearly, there’s much more to coffee houses than just a steaming mug of coffee.

(Additional reporting by Angona Paul)