The Hudson Cafe, 2524, 1st Floor, Hudson Lane, Delhi University-GTB Nagar, New Delhi

NOTE : WHILE READING THE REVIEW CLICK ON THE IMAGES TO SCROLL THE GALLERY FILLED WITH HD PICTURES.

It so happened when I was at Daddy's Fast Food, West Patel Nagar (A small Bakery store near my home) The Owner of the store Mr. Arun Dureja , who is now a very good friend and know that I am a food blogger asked me randomly while I was buying some pastries that if I've ever visited GTB Nagar to which I replied to him that it is definitely among my checklist but not been there before. So, he suggested that if I ever visit GTB I should visit Hudson Café which is newly opened Café and serves good food with good ambiance and in fact is inexpensive too. Listening that, I was very excited to visit the place and planned a visit the next day. How I reached there? To whom I went with? How was the food and overall experience? Let's checkout!

Colorful Staris

The Review :

* LOCATION : Hudson Café is located in the bustling street of GTB Nagar which is very popular among café's who indeed serves great food options which are low on budget. The main idea of these Café's is to serve best and why low in budget as the main crowd are college going students. Reaching GTB is very easy as you just need to take a Metro from anywhere you want and head towards GTB Nagar Metro Station. When you've reached the station simply exit from Gate No. 4 and be on your left and keep walking just 2 to 3 minutes walk and you'll see beautiful & Colourful stairs going to the 1st floor entrance to Hudson Café.

VERDICT : Easy to locate & reach. From my place it took 20 minutes approximately to reach there and a charge of 12 Rupees (One Side) on metro. Quite convenient and definitely 5 out of 5 for the location for me, being the first timer in GTB I was able to locate them quite easily.

* AMBIANCE - As you enter as I mentioned above, very colourful and beautiful stairs welcome you all and wall was painted with buildings and The Hudson Cafe written on it. Once you enter through their main door you'll have a feeling that you're home. At least I felt the same way when I visited them, as the entrance is just like a normal entrance any residential area would have and when once you step inside your whole perception changes as the interiors were cleverly and brilliantly done as the place is not too much spacious but still was doing the magic. On the left wall you may see some funky poster's on the wall which are so good and colourful that I promise you won't resist yourself clicking a facebook profile pic with your friends on the right you'll see a bar counter where they only serve you non-alcoholic drinks (Mocktails) keeping in mind that they're running a student Cafè. Also the chairs and tables are done very new way as the chairs give you an antique look but we're painted with very bright colours. The ceiling has antique designed Big Dressing Mirrors in different shapes and not to forget the blood red colour chandelier that you may see beautifying the ceiling too. All in all it was creating very lively and good environment where you may like to spend time with friends for a lot of time and keep on chit-chatting whole day with them & yes not to forget about the music they were playing was fresh, next-gen, new n all sorts of club and English songs.

* VERDICT

Verdict : Quite colourful & bright interiors, place may be a bit small and everything is on the same floor but, the place is worth enough to spend time with friends as it somehow is successful giving a good ambiance with good vibe. For me if I would rate the ambiance it would be 4 out of 5 as the place is not as great as a fine dine but I've seen much spacious café's around Delhi/NCR.

View from my table

Red Chandelier on the ceiling

Mocktail Bar

Walls with the poster's

Beautiful hand painted THE HUDSON CAFE logo

Huge Mirrors on the ceiling

Seating area

Drinks :

* GREEN APPLE MOJITO MOCKTAIL : The drink as the name suggest has an apple base to it and the most good part was that it was not fizzy at all as compared to other places which serve apple mojito with sprite or aerated beverages. Instead it does had a coconut water base which was not even giving a new dimension to the drink plus moreover was healthy to have. The only thing that was bothering was the content of mint in it as if I would be served a drink called "mojito" I'll expect it to be damn chilled and refreshing. So, I thought the drink should have more mint and a bit of crushed ice to compete with the original apple mojito.

VERDICT : 4.5 Out of 5 STARS

GREEN APPLE MOJITO

* SEX ON THE BEACH MOCKTAIL : It was simple yet flavorful. Like Apple mojito this was also made in a coconut water instead of any aerated liquids and the main flavour was of cranberry juice in coconut water. Was very delicious, refreshing & a very nice option among drinks that were been served here. The thing that was only bothering was that y in my garnish I've got a mint leaf even though the whole of the drink has got nothing to do with mint when it comes to flavours.

Verdict : 4 STARS out of 5.

SEX ON THE BEACH

* FERRO ROCHER SHAKE : This shake was simply amazing and most tempting. Trust me that I and my cousin yashika was about to have a fight for the shake as it was looking so delicious and tempting that while I was clicking pictures to it my cousin stopped me and ordered me to stop clicking the pics as I might spoil the shake and as anyways we both were quite intolerable to have it and the first giant slurp of that shake says it all as one can really taste FERRO ROCHER CHOCOLATES with nuts & caramel to it. Quite a nutty flavour, very childish, very tasty and definitely most consumed!

VERDICT : 5 STARS out of 5 STARS

FERRO ROCHER SHAKE

Food :

* MAC & CHEESE ROLLS : This was something new to me when it comes to the innovation part. I mean, serving Mac & Cheese in a form of a fried crispy Rolls are quite worth a thought. But, what I not loved about the dish was that, if you say you're making Mac & Cheese for me I would really prefer Cheddar Cheese as I am in a habit to see my Mac & Cheese the same authentic way as some people say that doesn't matter how much amazing you make any dish but some originals, no one can replace the original taste. Same was the case with me. But, after speaking with the owner Mr. Dev Pankaj Dhingra I realised when he answered my query saying that this is basically a Café where he is focusing to serve good food and that too within the budget that fits to every students pocket. So, he doesn't mind introducing yellow cheddar to the dish but that would gradually increase the cost of the dish and that might not be affordable to the kids. Which was quite true on his part as I said in the beginning that GTB is only famous for café's and the college crowd.

VERDICT : For the taste it would be 4 out of 5 STARS

MAC N CHEESE ROLLS

* CHICKEN WINGS IN PERI PERI SAUCE - Let me tell you guys it was a true delight. The most amazing part which was holding the dish together was its PERI PERI sauce which was absolutely amazing. Why am I saying so, as I went to the Hudson with my cousin who is actually pure vegetarian. After the dish arrived she was so tempted to have the wings that she couldn't resist and tried the PERI PERI sauce which itself was a compliment to a non vegetarian dish by a pure vegetarian person & not only she had the gravy once Instead she was about to luck the plate and not only she but I too was in live with the sauce. Only thing that bothers me was that the wings were quite undercooked & a bit dry from inside with small pieces.

VERDICT : 4.5 Out of 5 STARS

CHICKEN WINGS IN PERI PERI SAUCE

* CHEESE BAKED NACHOS: The Nachos which were served to us were amazingly fresh as starting from the nachos and their in house made salsa topping were very fresh and their sour cream as a topping which was used to cut the dryness of nachos were simply fresh and good! Only problem was that I wasn't able to get that cheesy Ness is these cheese baked nachos as if I would read out the menu and see this dish I would definitely expect loads of cheese by going to the name but that cheesyness was missing according to me. But if I talk about overall taste it was definitely fresh and a delight to have.

VERDICT : 4.5 out of 5 STARS

CHEESE BAKED NACHOS

* PIZZA HALF N HALF: This is an option where you have an option to choose 2 different toppings divided into 2 equal halves so we decided one veg and one non veg topping. The vegetarian being VEGGIE ATTACK with tomato, onion, capsicum, mushroom & sweet corn toppings and the non vegetarian was PERI PERI CHICKEN with bell pepper & chicken marinated in peri peri spices. Frankly speaking both the pizzas were good. Nothing to be upset about. Quite filling and the good part I liked about both of them was that they both were wafer thin crust pizzas which were actually holding on all the toppings quite well and moreover was making sure that even after a longer wait time the pizza's do not get soggy.

VERDICT : 4.5 Out of 5 STARS

VEGGIE ATTACK PIZZA

PERI PERI CHICKEN PIZZA

* CLASSICAL FISH AND CHIPS : Fish n chips are now my staples and all time favourite whenever I visit a café or whenever I hear that a place is serving fish n chips I cannot hold back myself ordering one for myself too. So simply ordered one here too and in a similar classic manner I was served BASA Fish with fries and as and dip we were given tartar dip. I loved thin & crisp slices of BASA on my table but was not impressed with the chips as I was expecting wedges for the same but truly speaking the taste of the fish was actually making sure you won't complaint about the chips too. All in all an average taste but if you're a fish fan just like me you must try it for sure!

VERDICT : 4 STARS out of 5 STARS

CLASSICAL FISH AND CHIPS

* CHICKEN PERI PERI BREAST WITH CAJUN RICE : In the mains I selected peri peri chicken breast with cajun rice for multiple reason's (a) I still couldn't go over the taste of the peri peri chicken wings (b) I love boneless chicken a lot as compared to the one with the bone as it's easy to have in public places. [Frankly Speaking I really don't care what people say, how bad and messy I am when I eat chicken with bones.] Still. (c) This main was about to be served with rice and again to be very frank rice are my staple. It's just like if you've made not my favourite veggie you can simply add rice to it and I'll have it happily. This is how much I am crazy and obsessed with rice. And if I talk about the taste it was as similar to the wings but the main addition was cajun rice and ratatouille on the side of it which was lifting the whole dish as a complete main course and was definitely lifting the whole of the main course experience.

VERDICT : 4.5 STARS out of 5 STARS

CHICKEN PERI PERI BREAST WITH CAJUN RICE

* BAKED VEGGIE LASAGNE : Lasagna sheets layered in vegetables cooked in Bèchamel Sauce (Which is actually commonly known as white sauce and is made from roux{mixture of butter and flour} and milk. It is mother sauces of french cuisine.) And is baked to perfection. Simply amazing Lasagna I've ever had. Even loving non vegetarian dishes the most thus was one of the veg dishes that Hudson Café does serves has took my heart away. My cousin didn't liked it that mush but fir me it was some definitely to be tried if we do not compare it with your best lasagne experience.

VERDICT : 4.5 out of 5 STARS.

BAKED VEGGIE LASAGNE

*HUDSON PENNE VODKA : This was something that was directly the choice of the owner as this is only one dish where the alcohol is being used. Actually this is a basic pasta which is made with imported pomodoro tomatoes and topped with parmesan cheese flamed with vodka. To my suggestion that I gave the owner that they should try using the flavoured vodka to do a bit of an experiment with the flavours as I do was getting an essence of vodka in the pasta but if they would've used the flavoured vodka that might be more easy to figure out when it comes to taste and moreover it may give more dimension to the overall dish. Just as suggestion.

HUDSON PENNE VODKA

Desserts :

* BELGIAN CHOCOLATE CHEESECAKE & RED VELVET CHEESECAKE : Both of these desserts were not made in house so, would not like to rate them out of 5 instead would like to say, " The Desserts are always great if you have a sweet tooth doesn't matter where it comes from! "

BELGIAN CHOCOLATE CHEESECAKE

RED VELVET CHEESECAKE

FINAL VERDICT :

WITH MY COUSIN (Extreme Left) AND OWNER MR. DEV DHINGRA (On my right)

Overall a great place to be at with near n dear ones. Liked the food with good ambiance, loads of varieties to choose from when it comes to the menu, also well budgeted and we'll planned when it comes to space. If I've to come back here would definitely come back for fish n chips, Lasagna & PERI PERI CHICKEN dishes.

Final rating 4.5 STARS and please do bookmark it and visit at least once in your free time or plan with friends!