Making memories

Nazmus Sakib, Associate Producer of Channel 24, and his four friends have already established themselves in their chosen career but food was always their ultimate dream and after months of planning and investment of time, love and care, Café Memoire was born.

The name Café Memoire originated from a French word 'Me-moh-ah' which means making memories. Nazmus Sakib and has friends have been planning to enter the culinary industry since 2002, but with their own careers at stake, pursuing passion has been a little difficult but in the end it all worked out with the inauguration of Café Memoire on 1st July, 2016. Café Memoire is located in Uttara, far away from the major hubs of central city and they specialise in continental cuisine.

"Although everything on the menu is exceptional in individual ways, but if one had to mention special dishes I would ask them to try our sea food pasta," mentioned Sakib. The seafood pasta is quite popular in Café Memoire. It includes calamari, seasoned shrimp, 'macha' fish and, pasta itself with buttered dressing. The pasta is cooked to perfection and the buttered dressing goes with it, wholly enhancing the taste of the dish.

"One of our initial goals was to serve authentic continental food. However, while doing so we realised the demographic audience of our country is not quite ready for it yet. Hence small changes had to me made," added Sakib. Nonetheless, Café Memoire can be considered one of the best places to have steak if you prefer authentic food. Here, the meat is cooked to medium rare using only sea salt and black pepper without any additional sauce.

The décor of the Café is truly praiseworthy. The entire café has been divided into special section, with different interior design in each section. The interior has been done by Rayaan Samiul Huq of Studio Extension with creative ideas and thoughts of each owner clearly incorporated into the café. On entering the café, one would first come across the mocktail and coffee bar that offers an assortment of drinks ranging from Mojito to Lattes.

Further in lies the 'regular zone' with table and chairs made mainly for families. The 'executive zone' is catered for executives who liked to have outdoor meetings with clients outside the office. The executive zone contains a type of easy chairs suitable for office occasions.

The 'friend zone' is yet another unique addition of the café. It has no table or chairs, just a bunch of bean bags. Bean bags are comfortable and casual. It inspires a homely environment for the youngsters and makes them feel at ease when they carry out their hangouts there. The 'swing zone' which is the most renowned part of the café is made into a wooden swing cage especially for couples. It is one of the most beautiful features of the café and is almost always booked.

"Each and every detail of our café exists for a reason. Although sometimes it is hard to clarify them all to our guests nonetheless they are validated. For instance - most restaurants make a smoking zone as a small balcony open in the air. However, they ensure that their smoking zone is one of our most exclusive features of the café.

They used a large collection of lily plants in the smoking zone due to its high absorbance power. Lily plants produce a lot of oxygen and has the ability to absorb carbon, nitrogen and other toxic agents" said Sakib. This is only one of the many examples of how comprehensive the café is.

Café Memoire ensures not only good quality food and environment; rather a huge emphasis is put on their hospitality and service. On entering the café, each and every guest is offered a welcome drink and refreshing towel. One of the exceptional features of their café is the call bell service on each table. No servers or waiters will be seen in front of guests until called because the café tries to create a homely environment without the presence of pushy servers hovering over customers.

Once the call bell is pressed, a server would come instantly to that table to assist the guest.

The entire café is decorated with tungsten lamps ordered especially from China and Studio Extension did a wonderful job in creating excellent doodles on each wall. The entire décor of the café and their menu displays sophistication and passion.

Café Memoire is all about selling memories. They are in search of loyal customers to whom they can provide a timeless experience time and time again. 

Café Memoire is located at 1st Floor, House #55, Shah Makhdum Avenue, Sector 12, Uttara. Working hours are between 12 p.m. and 12 a.m. For more information, check their Facebook page: www.facebook.com/cafememoire.

Photo courtesy: Café Memoire