Kolkata, Dec 18: With football-crazy Kolkata, along with the rest of the world, eagerly waiting for the World Cup final on Sunday evening, cafés in the metropolis have decked up to screen the match to patrons who can enjoy it while having their favourite food and beverages.
Café Kolkata-32, a new but already popular hangout zone in the Bijoygarh-Golf Green area in the southern part of the city, have decorated the establishment with photographs of Lionel Messi, Christiano Ronaldo, Julian Alvarez, Kylian Mbappe, Olivier Giroud along with all-time greats such as Diego Maradona.
The café expects a section of patrons to stay back till the end of the match and has put seats and tables in front of a large screen.
“Food and beverages will be served as usual during the screening of the match and World Cup décor will be an added attraction,” Rangan Chakraborty, one of the owners, told PTI.
The establishment has decorated its entrance and interiors with the flags of the participating nations, including the blue-white stripes of Argentina and blue-white-red of France, the finalists.
He said there was a floating audience during the group stage, with people enjoying the match till they finished their sandwiches or burgers but since the semis, the café turned into a mini-stadium, with patrons watching matches till the end, with occasional cheers for goals and sighs for misses.
Kamalika Ghosh Banik, the owner of 4 Coins café in the Lake Gardens area, said that the establishment has earmarked an area for watching the match and savour food at the same time.
“The semi-finals witnessed a packed room with around 30 people cheering for their favourite teams. We had screened the first of the two matches every day in the semis.
Today, we will keep our café open till the final whistle blows so that patrons can enjoy our Darjeeling first flush, cappuccino, cookies and cheese omelette,” she said.
Sulagna Dey, a PR professional living in Ranikuthi area, came to Café Kolkata-32 to have breakfast in the morning.
“Yes, I will come again with four friends at 8.30 pm to root for Messi,” she said Chinaatherium in Lake Gardens area has adorned its entrance with flags of different footballing nations including India and interiors with jerseys and photographs of the football stars and made necessary arrangements for screening like in previous rounds during which a packed hall was witnessed.
“You can view the game on a wall-mounted television while munching on chicken Manchurian with prawn fried rice,” a spokesperson of the café said. (PTI)
