If one is an interesting single available guy like me, read loser, it is not often that one has to wait for someone in a restaurant. One generally ends up going there with their friends. The concept of sitting somewhere waiting for someone does not arise. Unless one of your friends turns out to be a complete idiot and ends up making you wait an hour for him.

During this time, one plays with ones cell phone, waits, sends messages, makes the odd phone call, waits, orders coffee, looks at the smoke rising from the group on the next table, waits. But most of all – contemplates an ash tray. Square in shape. Wooden as well as metallic. Soft wooden corners and harsh metallic points. And then your idiot friend shows up.

The moral of the story? Costa Coffee has this absolutely wonderful baked cheesecake that is just divine. It is so completely divine that if you listen intently while eating it you can hear Mehdi Hassan signing in Darbari with absolute abandon. How can a western dish evoke this response you ask me? Well, I don’t know.

Of course that stops as soon as you get the bill and end up paying 10% of your bonus for one completely acceptable meal. But it is worth it, every cheesecake bite worth it.

Why the topic? They have nice ash trays and one can smoke on the premises.