La Maison Rose/ La Caravelle, Pondicherry, India

Thanks to the blog Bozaround and an interview on it with Paula, the founder of Dents de Loup (super cute knitted children's toys available from various places online including Etsy), who moved to Pondicherry with her family from Ecuador (what an inspiring family making moves like that!), I learned that Paula recommended a simple coffee/ tea or dinner at La Caravelle, a restaurant tucked behind an amazing collective shop (which reminds me of a pocket sized version of Merci in Paris) called La Maison Rose. My oh my, does Paula have good taste!

The shop La Maison Rose, is like a mini bazaar, with four shops (I think) tucked into one old colonial era house. Everything is gorgeous. I loved seeing some products by Tse et Tse Associees, whose work I love. My wife nearly lost her mind every time we went to this place: she was in seventh heaven. 

We had lunch at La Caravelle twice and dinner once. The gazpacho soup is superb. And they make a killer cup of coffee. Apparently the restaurant and bar are owned by three French partners. The attention to detail at this place is stunning: every thing you look at is just beautiful: the colours, the furniture, the way they lay the tables and serve the food, the flowers, the chairs, even the brightly coloured woven tissue box in the bathrooms! You can just sit there for hours and feel giddy off how beautiful the mise en scene is. At one lunch, they were playing this beautiful piece of music, that totally synched with the 36 degrees heat and two strong coffees and my mood, so I asked the waiter what it was and he came back with a note saying it was 'Tere Bina' by A.R.Rahman with Chinmayee, from the Bollywood movie, Guru. Back in London, I downloaded the track and now when I play it, I'm transported straight back to that lunch at La Caravelle.