Epicurean Gastronome: Can't live without caffeine? Love alcohol? How about the perfect combination?

I am more of a tea person than a coffee person. Yet some of my closest friends just can't get through the day without their dose of coffee. Alcohol - that surely is something I love relishing. So when we heard of this place that has their unique combination of Specialty Alcoholic Coffees we decided to try this place out - I am talking about the Link Cafe at Sheraton, Hyderabad. Once you enter the place is made up really well with designer lights and a band playing. We had a warm welcome from the team - Smitha and Lokanath among them. We started off with the salads. The first one was the Greek Feta Salad. This was a combination of Feta, cucumber, tomato, iceberg, onion and crushed black pepper. The feta was fresh and the salad was crunchy and went well together.

The next salad was the Nicoise (pronounced as Ni-swa). This is a typical French salad that had its origins in the city of Nice. They made it exactly how it is supposed to be - with tuna, egg, anchovy, potato, tomato and lettuce.

We finished off the salads with the Caesar Salad which was a combination of Romaine, parmesan, extra virgin olive oil, anchovy and black pepper. Since they had anchovy you definitely need an acquired taste for this if you have never tried anchovy before.

Once we were done with the salads we decided to try out their coffees - both the specialty alcoholic ones as well as the non-alcoholic ones. But since I had already mentioned that I am a tea person I started off by ordering the Masala Chai which was served with jeera cookies. The Masala Chai had a strong flavor of cinnamon which was indicative by the cinnamon stick that they placed in the middle. In case you order this be sure to ask for sugar incase that is how you like it as this doesn't have any sweetener.

And then came along the coffees. The first alcoholic coffee that we tried out was the Piper Coffee. This was a combination of Whisky, Coffee and honey topped with cream.

The next one was the Espresso Martini. This one was a combination of Vodka, Espresso, Kahlua and Sugar - a combination that you simply cannot resist.

The last one among the alcoholic coffees that we tried was the Top of the World. This one is meant for people who love strong coffees. This was a combination of Vodka, Espresso and Hazelnut.

We also tried one of the non-alcoholic coffees which was the Cobnut Coffee. This was a combination of coffee with coconut milk. This was topped off with coconut shredding as well.

Now it was time for starters. We started up with the Kothu Paratha - this is a very famous delicacy in Tamil Nadu which initially started in Salem. The parantha and the chicken get minced completely. I have lived in Chennai for almost a decade and hence have tried many versions of this dish but the one I tasted here was simply mesmerizing and reminded me of the Lays' ad - No one can eat just once.

Next was the Cocktail Dal Vada which essentially is the normal Dal Vaada. This was crunchy and fresh and went well with the chutney.

Next was the Prawn Koliwada where the prawns were marinated and deep fried and then served with mint and black pepper chutney. Although the prawns were slightly bland I would say they tasted well.

Then was the turn of the kebab platters. We started off with the Veg kebab Platter - this had paneer tikka, veg cutlets, corn cutlets and veg kebabs. The best of out these was the corn cutlet which was very flavorful.

Post that we tried the non-vegetarian kebab platter. This had mutton sheekh kebab, chicken tikka, chicken malai kebab, fish kebab and prawn kebabs. The mutton sheekh kebab was cooked really well with a good blend of spices. The fish kebab was soft while the prawn kebab was grilled.

The next section was the sandwiches where we started off with the Mumbai Masala toastie. This sandwich had toasted bread while the filling was beetroot, bell peppers, potato, mint chutney and onion.

Next we tried the Double Decker Sandwich - for this you can choose to either have the white bread or the brown bread. This is a 2 layered sandwich that is stuffed with lettuce, grilled chicken, bacon, ham, cheese and fried egg.

Finally we tried their signature Link Sandwich. The bread in this is masala Ciabatta. The stuffing was masala omlette, chicken malai and onion served with raisin chutney.

Next up were the Old Delhi Kathi Kebabs - we tried out both the Paneer Tikka as well as the Chicken Tikka. The base was lachha roomali paratha that was stuffed with Paneer/Chicken Tikka and sliced onion. This was served with curd and mint chutney. This I felt was too greasy.

Then we tried out the Baked Masala Maggi - this was loaded with cheddar cheese and was just the right taste. After all who doesn't like maggi.

It was then the turn of Pizzas. We started off with the Pepperoni Pizza. I felt the quantity if Pepperoni was quite less. All slices just had a single piece while a slice didn't have any at all. Hence you couldn't enjoy the Pepperoni flavor throughout.

Then we tried the Chicken Tikka Pizza. This was much better and had a constant flavor of shredded chicken tikka and fried onions and bell peppers.

We ended off with desserts which though are not listed on the menu. We started off with the salted caramel cheesecake. I didn't feel the salty taste and the caramel also had a very thin layer at the bottom so even that flavor wasn't strong enough.