Challenge 1: Find a parking spot without getting towed/causing a traffic snarl. Challenge 2: Battle a queue that often spills onto the road. In fact, the serpentine queue works as great advertisement for Keventers, the new milkshake kiosk on Khader Nawaz Khan Road. It gets the attention of inquisitive/hungry passers-by. In my case, it was sheer FOMO (fear of missing out) that made me sheepishly get in line, after mocking people who had earnestly lined up despite a light drizzle.
I first saw the rush on a Saturday afternoon and then on a Tuesday evening. And now here I am, waiting behind trendy youngsters discussing Fenty Beauty and Virat Kohli. The ones that receive their drinks — pastel-hued milk-based concoctions in charming glass bottles, walk past with triumphant smiles, taking giant swigs of their milkshakes.
The best part is you get to take back these old-fashioned capped bottles as collectibles. Mine has ‘Happy Diwali’ printed on it. Now, they are all over Instagram. Some have even turned them into D-I-Y lamps with little fairy lights or candles in them.
“Keventers was started in 1925 by a Swiss named Edward Keventers. It was taken over by Delhi-based Ram Krishna Dalmia in the 1940s and it went on to become a very successful dairy,” says Sohrab Sitaram, CEO and director, Keventers, tracing the history of the brand. The new avatar of Keventers was introduced in 2014 with a single outlet in Delhi, he says. “Today, there are more than 170 outlets across Delhi NCR, Bengaluru, Mumbai, Pune and Kolkata. It is also present in Dubai and Nepal,” he adds.
It’s finally my turn at the counter, which is decorated with a vintage telephone, a typewriter and black-and-white photographs. In the 35 minutes it’s taken me to get to this point, I’ve memorised the 21 entries on the menu. It lists thick shakes — chocolate peanut butter, bubblegum, choco chip, chocolate hazelnut; fruity shakes — alphonso, strawberry, and classics such as cold coffee (they also have a sugar-free version), butterscotch, vanilla, strawberry... flavours that are reminiscent of our childhood in the 90s when it was de rigueur to order vanilla milkshake along with a meal.
Then came the tenure of the cold coffee and milkshakes almost lived their lives in the shadows. But the pretty glass bottles here make milkshakes cool again.
The strawberry shake lives up to its reputation of yore — overly sweet like melty strawberry ice cream. The peanut butter shake is a delight and tastes like a liquid version of a peanut chocolate.
The Oreo shake has potential, but the biscuit crumbs are soggy. The bubblegum milkshake, a hit with most, is thick, bubble gummy and strangely addictive. It helps that it looks like it belongs to a world filled with unicorns, happy elves and magical trees. It makes for a perfect Instagram click too.