Gurugram’s new coffee and gelato spot looks straight out of a K-drama

If you have visited Gurugram, it’s not hard to infer that the city is basically a big lineup of cafés and malls on loop, especially around familiar stretches such as Golf Course Road and the Mehrauli-Gurgaon Road. And as a Gurugram resident for over two decades now, I’ve done my share of coffee runs at pretty much every place here. And though most of them pass the Instagram vibe check, hardly any of them have a drool-inducing assemblage of house-baked items on their menu.

At least not till until chef Vanshika Bhatia opened Gram Street Coffee. Bhatia picked Arjun Marg—one of Gurugram’s older, slightly under-the-radar neighbourhoods—as the venue for her newest venture, and made it abundantly clear that she wasn’t gunning to be one of the brick-walled industrial places made common by third-wave coffee spots.

Instead, her 10-seater glass-fronted café is painted in hard-to-miss soft pops of lilac and looks straight out of a K-drama—compact, polished, with chrome cutting through the pastel. One corner is lined with merch, featuring tumblers to sunglasses, while the other is where the real action is—bakes on display, a Carpigiani gelato machine, and a coffee counter. She has created a bright new spot where you can come by for small batch gelato, fresh bakes and high-quality coffee, without your laptop.

In 2021, Bhatia started her niche, pie-led Petite Pie Shop that became a local hit, and by 2022, she had launched her plant-based kitchen OMO with Bright Hospitality. With Gram Street Coffee, she is ready for a wider crowd. Within the week of its opening, the space has been attracting 20-somethings grabbing a post-workout matcha (the area boasts of three well-known gyms), women stopping by for a quick cappuccino, and families hovering around the gelato counter. And Bhatia stresses that the space is designed for exactly this kind of movement.

The tables are intentionally smaller than usual and placed close to each other, yet they don’t feel crammed. The concept, Bhatia explains, is a more elevated QSR. “We don’t want people to open their laptops and turn this into a workstation,” she adds. “There’s just enough space to eat or drink, and that’s the point.”

It opens early too—at 8 am—tapping into that first-coffee, quick-breakfast crowd, with lighter options like granola bowls sitting comfortably alongside the rest of the menu built around bakes, sandos, salads, and gelato.

The attention at Gram (shorthand for Gurugram), however, is on the coffee and gelato. On offer are three house blends sourced from different parts of the country: Concrete, an 85 per cent Arabica and 15 per cent Robusta blend from Karnataka; Commute, a medium roast from Andhra Pradesh; and Community, a 100 per cent Arabica from Nagaland with light citrus notes—all roasted and ground in-house. The names are a nod to the city’s constant construction, its endless commutes, and the pockets of community that hold it together.

The drinks menu features several options incorporating their housemade gelato. For instance, the Smoky Mocha is built around their in-house smoked chocolate gelato. I order the Croissant Gelato Latte, which is less an iced coffee and more a dessert in disguise, and blends a serving of their caramel croissant gelato. The small shard of double-baked croissant on top adds just enough crunch to cut through the creaminess. Buzzy pairings like a Dubai-style cappuccino with pistachio make an appearance on their menu. In fact, their Foamy Cold Brew series in chocolate, pistachio, strawberry, and blueberry flavours is already a rage on social media.

In Delhi, you can truly judge a coffee place by its cold coffee and their Twisted Classic Cold Coffee passes the test. Blended with coffee gelato and topped with ice cubes made of frozen Americano, it slowly intensifies as the ice melts. For non-caffeinated options, there’s Dirty Coconut Coke—coconut milk topped with Coke—which Bhatia admits is a bit of a wildcard, but seems to be a hit with the younger audience. The menu also includes a Petite Pie Shop bestseller--the rich and creamy Campfire Hot Chocolate with toasted marshmallows.

It’s true, a lot of the menu at Gram is cold, sugary, and fruit-flavoured, but you don’t need to love a sugar high to enjoy a drink here. Gram has a dedicated matcha section that is powered by the powder Bhatia sources from Japan. The matcha affogato—matcha folded into the vanilla gelato— stands out for the way it balances sweetness with a slight edge. The G-street matcha, a cold matcha with tender coconut water, is light and refreshing, without the lingering grassy notes. The vanilla iced matcha latte is softer, almost milkshake-like, while the blue matcha—a blend of blue spirulina and matcha—sits in a more feel-good, better-for-you space without overplaying it.

But really, the gelato bar is the real mood. In a city where gelato is everywhere but rarely makes a mark, this feels like a more deliberate attempt. “A good gelato should clean your palate, not sit on it,” Bhatia explains. Her machines, sourced from Bologna-based Carpigiani, churn fresh batches in under 15 minutes, which are lighter, smoother, without that heavy aftertaste. “It’s also the temperature that makes a huge difference, it’s -18 for overnight storage and -12 to 14 when you are serving it. It requires a whole lot of precision and math,” she adds.

The flavours follow the same split as the rest of the menu. If you want something sweet, the smoked chocolate, chocolate hazelnut, and caramelised croissant are easy picks. But the health-focussed will gravitate towards the frozen yoghurt, topped with granola and poached pear, which is subtler and more restrained. There are also sugar-free variants using erythritol, maltitol, and stevia, along with sorbets like mango and sage that keep things clean and refreshing.

Beyond the coffee and gelato menu, you've got almost 40 food items. I tried the laminated baked puffs—the Aspara-go-go with asparagus and béchamel, and the K-spice Shroom with gochujang and mushroom—each neatly layered to bite into. The Cream of Chicken croissant, with grilled chicken in a creamy Mornay sauce, is filling without tipping into excess.

Salads and sandos, made with ciabatta or Japanese milk bread, form the more substantial part of the food menu. The eggplant parm and jerk chicken sandos pair well with the coffee. There’s also a section of small bites served in cups, like the chowpatty knots—her take on twisted garlic bread, tossed in thecha masala and paired with a cheesy dip.

At Gram Street, you may walk in for a quick coffee and end up lingering over a gelato. And with that Bhatia brings on a new wave: A wave that promises good coffee with a scoop of gelato on the side.

Address: Block F, Phase 1, DLF, 16, Arjun Marg, Block C, Sector 26A, Gurugram, Haryana

Timings: 8 am to 10:30 pm

Meal for two: ₹1,000 + taxes