The 30-seater vegetarian Cafe Organica is spread across the Solace lawns and the Rainbow store (next to Rosie’s Salon). It is open from 7am to 9pm.

What’s all the buzz about?

The city’s first organic cafe is here where you can get a cooked organic vegetarian meal.

What’s organic?

Organic is anything that is chemical- and pesticide-free. It could be food, clothes, cosmetics...

Who’s opened the cafe?

A company called Rainbow, which has a chain of organic shops around town — in Lansdowne, Salt Lake and now Sunny Park.

How does going organic help?

It’s healthier. “The number of cancer cases you read about nowadays is alarming. You want to eat healthier than ever before. Organic is one way you can start doing that. But it is expensive,” says nutritionist Hena Nafis, who stocks organic products at her clinic Nutrience, where “people buy things like seeds and nuts, in small quantities for personal consumption”.

How expensive is it?

The cafe owners have “tried their best” to keep the prices affordable. A thin-crust Margherita Pizza comes for Rs 240, Assorted Idlis for Rs 90 and Moroccan Chickpea Salad for Rs 150. “We want people to come try our organic food and not just a one-time try but time and again,” said Deven Doshi, one of the four partners, the others being Nisheet Agarwal, Hemen Doshi and Kamalika Bhattacharjee.

How do you know what you’re getting at the cafe is really organic?

Most of the products stocked at Cafe Organica are sourced by companies that are certified. Having said that, the organic industry in India is niche and people depend more on trust and word of mouth than certification, which is expensive for small-scale organic product growers.

“The cooked food served at the cafe is prepared from the products at the store — right from the organic vegetables down to the mozzarella and Cheddar cheese. Keeping the health factor in mind, the pizza bread is made from flours like ragi, soya, atta and jowar,” said chef Sinchan Mukherjee. “And because everything is prepared fresh, an order may take 25-30 minutes but it’s worth the wait,” he added.

Is the cafe open to all?

Yes. “Rainbow’s idea to open an organic cafe seemed to fit right in with the wellness that Solace offers,” said Nahida Khanum, who manages the 4 Sunny Park Day Spa & Wellness Centre that has “around 250 gym members and another 200 who come for activities like zumba, aqua aerobics and body balance”.