Three teenaged boys are sharing space on two beanbags. The youngest in the centre is egging the other two to hit this way, make that move…they are just too absorbed in this wrestling match on the PS3. Meanwhile a young mum walks in with her young son. The kid is immediately hooked to a motorbike stunt track on the XBox, while the mother settles down for some cold coffee and a chat with her friend at the adjoining café.
Cafee Funny Bunny may be an unlikely name for a café which also doubles as a gaming joint. But the place seems to have fired the imagination of the bustling Malleswaram neighbourhood – there are kids in school uniform milling around after school hours!
There’s another hook – small pizzas called ‘Lilly-Putianos’ that school and college goers can afford and share – the most basic of pizzas starts at 40 bucks.
Mahesh Surasgar, 26, and one of the partners who started the café, says Malleswaram badly needed a place like this. He knows, because during his student days when he went gaming with his friends, a mall was the only option they had. It would be expensive and the food on offer wasn’t what he wanted.
Cafee Funny Bunny has now turned into this cool hangout for school and college students, as well as office meetings on weekdays, and a weekend hangout for couples and families. “While the kids play upstairs, the parents sit down to eat, or eat upstairs while watching over the kids,” says Mahesh. Eat and play, and play and eat, is the mantra. “After playing motion-sensor boxing for an hour, you’ll surely get hungry,” he says.
There are gaming consoles with wall-mounted TVs, and motion-sensor games on offer include table tennis, bowling, athletics. There’s also a foosball table and a mini air-hockey table for the younger lot.
Their cheesy appetizers are a mouthful, with the golden pearl and paneer cheese nuggets being hot favourites – who can say no to deep-fried cheese, peppered with spices and with hints of basil, all crispy on the outside and oozing gooey goodness on the inside? For those who like their bread, there’s always good old bruschetta with morsels of tomato, shreddings of sweet basil, a dash of olive oil…and cheese! At Cafée Funny Bunny, there’s no escaping cheese. Even the Lily-Putiano pizzas are surprisingly homey and cheesy with generous amounts of toppings for the kind of pricing.
There are milkshakes, coffees, sandwiches, burgers and pasta, the all-essential French fries and Coke, and homemade chocolates as well, to keep you company. “Our idea is eat, drink, play,” stresses Mahesh. “We don’t charge kids on a per head basis. So a lot of them come together, pay up for an hour, and split the gaming cost between themselves, and take turns at the play stations. In the last two months we’ve been open, we already have ‘regular’ customers who call and book their gaming slots in advance,” says an extremely pleased Mahesh. It also helps that there are now regular gaming contests also being held for them.
Gaming charges range from Rs. 20 for 15 minutes to Rs. 60 for an hour. The food ranges from Rs. 40 to Rs. 250.
Cafee Funny Bunny is at #29, 1 Main, Temple Road, Malleswaram. Call 42052223/8746066644.
