Despite its misnomer of a name, The International Diner, newly opened in Delhi, is quite a charming cafe really. Sit by one of its large windows and you can watch the crowd of humanity sail past? streaked-haired GK-types shopping for groceries, dog food and discounted clothing material, young college girls window shopping, paunchy middle-aged men stopping by at the paan corner and aggressive Delhiites just honking madly in their swanky cars? But for them, and the fact that you may be sipping on some street-style lemonade?banta?as it is called, instead of frothy latte, you may as well have been on a Parisian roadside, or an Italian, or a Turkish one. The look and feel is quite the same and the food is strictly international, even if it is dominated by Mediterranean flavours, hummus and pita alternating with spaghetti aglio olio and lasagna not drowned in cheese. Casual bites, to be accompanied by a leisurely sheesha, for the young crowd that steadily streams in.

Cafes, of course, constitute the most visible change in F&B in India in the past one decade. Even in the 1990s, most of us would sit at home?possibly over hand-beaten instant coffee or strong south Indian filter versions ? lapping up the world of Friends, as presented in the popular sitcom. Central Perk was as much a central character as Rachel and Ross and many of us may still remember the envious twitchings we felt then when confronted by yet another evening the friends merrily spent just hanging out at their favourite caf?.

In India, on the other hand, such public spaces, where one negotiated friendships and solitude, business and leisure in equal measure were totally missing. We may have had our own traditional Irani chai shops of Mumbai and Pune, the canteens and Udupis of Chennai and Bangalore and government-run coffee homes always good for a post-work (that is, if there was any work to be done at all during the day) adda, but the chicer, western lifestyle as connoted by the cafes abroad was certainly missing. Besides, all our home-grown chai and coffee places were already doddering, overtaken by lounge bars, pubs and propah restaurants, if not McDonald?s. When people stepped out to any of these, they did so with the distinct intention of eating out. And that in even newly-liberalised India was a special occasion.

Circa 2010, and we see a distinct change not just in the restaurateuring business but in the entire lifestyle of young middle India. For the young, cosmopolitan soul, cafes are as much of a lifestyle statement as the mythic Central Perk in NYC. Step into a Barista ?the first one off the mark when it came to branded retail of cappuccino cuppas?and you are likely to find a joyous group humming, or screaming, to the strummings of a guitar. At Costa Coffee, you are equally likely to find busy executives tapping away on their laptops in a space that?s become their own personal office for the day. There will be those interviewing or being interviewed, others counting their shopping, selling jewellery, doing a fashion project or writing a book. And, of course, as Caf? Coffee Day showed us some time ago, any soothsayer, tarot or coffee bean reader who makes it his/her business to while away time at a caf? displays sharp acumen. In short, cafes have become far more than spaces to consume coffee (or tea) and a snack before heading home. Today, these are home, or at least fair substitutes. And while Indians may have always met socially over cups of chai or kapi?instead of aperitifs and cocktails, once again more recent phenomena?today, they are more and more inclined to do so in a commercial and chic set up. But the Indian caf? revolution has a distinct feature. In that uniquely Indian way, where we assimilate everything foreign?from religion to MTV?the construct of the French caf? too has gone desi. If you discount the big chains where all you find by way of snacks are dodgy croissants and cup cakes, indifferent sandwiches and only sometimes a nice gooey brownie, there is another new genre of the Indianised caf? where food?rather than drink?rules supreme. In an unabashedly foodie country, this is only appropriate.

The new, standalone cafes that have cropped up everywhere on our metroscape are going all out to woo their patrons with global bites. From tapas to tagine, khao suey to sushi, thin-crust pizzas to the ever popular Med mezzes, international cuisines suited to casual dining are being lapped up in casual caf? environs. In fact, it is not unusual today to even find contemporarised presentations of out hearty staples such as dal makhni-chicken tikkas-naan, all in a single platter, at a caf?. All this followed by a drag of flavoured sheesha smoke.

With boundaries between cafes and restaurants blurring, where are the latter headed, you may well ask. In India (as in the rest of the world), casual dining is certainly the trend of the moment. No one has the time to spend three long hours at a Michelin-starred place. And in India, with our new sophisticates, this seems to be particularly true. You only have to look around and see the success ratios of fine dines to cafes or casual diners, and you will understand the pulse of the market. Yes, we want interesting new experiences but we want these in a chilled out zone. And there is nothing better than the idea of a caf? to support this. Cheers to the cuppa!

?The writer is a food critic