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Hyderabad’s cafe culture is bustling. New cafes are cropping up regularly catering to different needs of the customers. From Instagram-worthy cafes to speciality coffee places, quite a few cafes have opened in the last few months. One of them that I recently visited was Roast CCX – probably the biggest cafe in Hyderabad. Though it opened some time back, I only visited it last week and explored the massive cafe.
If you’re a regular follower of the blog (or @Atulmaharaj on Instagram) you know that I’m a commoner at Roast 24 x 7 in Gachibowli which has been one of my go-to places for quite some time. So when Roast CCX opened, there was a buzz in the air.
This blog post is going to be my review of Roast CCX. This was an outing with friends so I went in as a paying customer.
Hyderabad’s Biggest Cafe – Roast CCX
Every Hyderabadi would agree that most of the newer additions to the city’s food landscape are South Indian and Asian eateries along with Cafes. While most of them are on similar lines of each other in the segment, a few stand out. For instance, Aidu differentiates itself from the rest of the South Indian eateries. Similarly, Roast CCX is not just any other cafe in Hyderabad.
Located bang across Roastery Coffee House in Banjara Hills, Roast Coffee Culinary Experience (Yep that’s the expanded version of CCX) is spread across a massive area of 60,000 square feet and can accommodate 500 people at one ago. The multi-storey cafe is one of its kind with each level having some special to cater to different customers.
Multi-storey coffee haven
The ground floor is where the action is. There’s a small merchandise section as you enter the cafe and then your eyes will fixate at the massive counter. This is characteristic of Roast, you’ll notice that at Roast 24 x 7 as well. The counter has an array of bakes, pastries, and everything sweet and savoury. In terms of seating, there are seating options on the outside as well as inside. While there are fans and water sprays outside, considering the heat at the moment in Hyderabad, I chose to sit inside.
On the next floor, they have a private kitchen area that is available for rent. A 20-seater private dining area where you can either hire chefs or bring your chefs for a private intimate dinner. This is paired with a private theatre with state-of-the-art AV systems. I was told that you can rent the latest movies and watch them at the same time as they are released in theatres.
There’s another floor that is the baking area which can serve all the Roast outlets in the city. From Croissant making stations to cake baking and designing. The facility has some of the most advanced and state-of-the-art equipment that helps Roast serve delicious treats.
But the highlight for me is the coffee experience station along with the FREE cafe tour. I believe that with coffee, everyone’s understanding is quite limited and hence teaching people about coffee is crucial. Roast CCX realised this and has a uniquely crafted coffee tour where you’re taken around the entire facility and taught about coffee which you wouldn’t have known otherwise.
You learn about the coffee brewing process, you get to view some of the state-of-the-art equipment that helps brew your favourite coffee. They are also planning specially curated coffee experiences and workshops in the future.
Coffee & Food Review of Roast CCX
As I mentioned earlier, I was here with my college friends and that meant that I was going to spend a considerable time there. While I was asked to leave one time at Roast 24 x 7 because of the crowd, I was hoping that it wouldn’t happen here. And glad it didn’t. We spent close to 7 hours at the Roast CCX, starting from noon and staying up until 7 in the evening. We chatted about everything that was happening in each other’s lives and also did a virtual recap of my Europe Trip.
Delectable Food (As Always)
I’ve always been a fan of food served at Roast, especially after my parents ordered Aloo Paratha at Roast 24 x 7. My regular order here was the Caesar Salad along with a Cafe Cola or a Tender Coconut cold brew. Since I was here with friends, we ordered quite a bit of food.
We ordered a plate of Thepla (yes!), Cold Mezze Platter, Korean Bun, Pain au Chocolat, Pasta and French fries. Thepla was nice but for just 2 pieces, it was expensive. The cold mezze platter was pretty good, the hummus and baba ghanoush were pretty good. Pastas at Roast has always been on point, and this time too it was on point. It was my first time trying a Korean Bun and I quite liked it. Overall, everything we ate was pretty good.
Coffees That Are A Class Apart
Being a cold brew fan, the first order that I placed was for the Cold Brew Sampler, yes they have a sampler. They served it with 3 shot glasses of base brews and 6 of the flavoured brews that are available. I don’t call myself a coffee connoisseur, but I did like the Wine Barrel Aged cold brew the best followed by fermented Pineapple.
In terms of the flavoured cold brews, I relished the Ginger Nitro Cold Brew the most. It has quite a strong flavour of ginger that I loved. The next variant that I relished was the Coffee Lemonade. I also ordered a couple of each of these as well.
We also tried the Old 7 Boba Coffee and it was out of the world. It isn’t something that I’d order but my friend ordered and it was pretty good! The boba was chewy and pretty good. There were also a couple of refreshing mocktails including Basil Berry Cooler and a Mango based drink. In terms of hot beverages, we ordered a Lotus Biscoff Latte and it was pretty good. The subtle hint of lotus biscoff in it was pretty good.
Heavenly Desserts
We decided to take the cafe tour before getting into the desserts. However, since we had so much food already, we didn’t have a lot of desserts. There was quite a variety of desserts on offer including some seasonal Mango based delicacies. Frankly, we were confused about what to order, so we took the help of the lady at the counter and ordered a Raspberry Gelato, a Mango and a Chocolate pastry. (I don’t remember the names) I loved the Mango one as it wasn’t too sweet and the flavour was pretty nice too.
Roast CCX Worth A Visit
If distance wasn’t a concern for me, then Roast CCX would surely have become my go-to work from cafe in Hyderabad. It has got everything that a cafe needs for you to work – good food, great coffee, great ambience and a good wifi. While I wasn’t working from here, the wifi was pretty decent and I’m sure one can plan and work from here.
We did order quite a lot of things as you saw and the bill was around Rs 5000 for 3 people. They did give me a 10% blogger discount. I feel that’s good enough considering the items we had, the quality of each dish (excluding thepla) we ordered and the time we spent here.
Overall, it’s quite a good place to hang out, meet with friends, work a little (if you want to) and enjoy some delicious food and coffee. I’m sure it has pulled away a sizeable crowd from Roastery but I’m sure both eateries have their loyal fans. What do you think? Let me know in the comments below, tweet to me at @Atulmaharaj, DM @Atulmaharaj on Instagram or Get In Touch.
