Cakes & Shakes - Wengers and Keventers

First lemme start off with Wengers - The Pastry Shop: Imagine a pastry factory, not your regular pastry shop when you think of Wengers, 'cuz that's the first feeling you will get when you walk in, feast your eyes and salivate on 45 types of pastries, a dozen varieties of cakes, handmade chocolates, quick bites and breads, confused with what to eat, trust me, you will not be the only one who thinks, I wish i could eat it all. The Store has a regal feel to it and still exudes the classic old world charm of Lutyen's Delhi, from the twin Doormen pull apart the door for you, to the staff dressed in identical white coats, the place seems from the bygone era. Wengers was established in the Raj Era by a Swiss couple, sometime later they sold the shop to its Indian manager, whose family has been running the store since then. The shop is especially decked up for festivals like Christmas, Easter and Valentine's Day with their trademark plum cakes, Easter eggs and heart shaped pastries being sought after by revelers. Throughout the year, the shop keeps innovating and coming up with new pastries, and most work. I have probably tried out every pastry there and around 80 % of them were delicious, some of my favorite ones are Tiramisu - The coffee and cream tango perfectly giving and great aftertaste, Doughnut - Just perfect, chocolatey and hard outside and soft and spongy inside, Mille Feuillet - A wonderful hard crust pastry.....the list goes on, the only thing i haven't liked is the fruit bar, it seemed chewy and pretty tasteless, trust me one can safely pick up whatever catches the eye here and not be disappointed. Now moving onto their cakes, they are best tried out with a group of friends or obviously on occasions, the butterscotch and but you must try their Plum Cakes on Christmas, they are simply amazing, I finished one all by myself, just couldn't stop eating it. The superstar of the snacks menu is the Shammi Kebab, fried and seasoned just right it's delicious, the quiches and baguettes are good too, I haven't tried out the others yet. Wengers makes some good handmade chocolates and cookies, which although a bit expensive make for perfect gifts to family and friends, but I've eaten better chocolates at Chocolatiers in CR Park. If you have never tried out fresh oven baked gourmet breads, forever satisfied with those Plastic packed, square cut ones which you smear with butter and jam before gobbling up mindlessly then this is the place to start. Choose from around 8 varieties of breads some of which are spiced, embedded with dried veggies and some sweets breads, my favorite is the Olive and Sun Dried tomatoes Foccacia, it makes for the most delicious midnight hunger killer, just eat it straight out of the fridge, health freaks will like multi grain and farmhouse bread, the best part is that all these are a steal for around 25 to 30 bucks. Most pastries are between 30 to 40 bucks and cakes start from around 200 bucks. Guess what goes best with a nice, sweet n' gooey pastry........a big, frothy and chilled bottle of milkshake. Although there are many branches of Keventers in the city, but the Connaught Place one always remains the most crowded, being a haven for thirsty CP dwellers and of course it makes the perfect complement for next door Wengers. Post noon time and especially when CP is crowded, the place is qued up, with the line of humans stretching well into the road. The shop is generally manned by a middle aged guy who (I think) has super quick hands – he takes your money, opens up his drawer, hands out your change – all in 5 seconds, flat and he does all this amidst the chaos of people shouting “ek butterscotch, do vanilla…..”. The menu includes milkshakes, ice creams and ice cream shakes all in the flavors of butterscotch, vanilla, chocolate, strawberry, coffee and pineapple. Keventers also has Sugar free shakes and Cassata slice. Something I found out from personal experience is that you can also have custom made ice cream shakes like strawberry milkshake with a slice of chocolate ice cream, and that too for the same price as a regular ice cream shake, just tell the guy at the counter exactly what you want.

Snacks available are limited to chips, patties, pizza sandwich, bread pakora and veg seekh kebab roll, I personally have never bothered with them, especially with Wengers next door, but they’ll do just fine if you need something cheap and filling.
Prices : Ice creams and Shakes are for Rs 25, while ice cream shakes come for 45 bucks, all snacks are under 30 bucks.
Location : Just ask anyone in CP.
Wengers also has a nice website, where you can order your stuff.
http://wengerspastry.com/