7th Heaven, Amritsar: A Family Affair, Baked Fresh
In a three-storey building in Amritsar, one family runs a café, a baking school and a second act for almost everyone involved.
I have been coming to Amritsar for years, and I rarely leave without discovering somewhere new. The city always seems to have one more restaurant, café or bakery waiting to be found. On my most recent weekend there, it was 7th Heaven in Ranjit Avenue that drew me in, and it was the room that stopped me first.
7th Heaven is a familiar name across India, one of the country’s largest bakery chains, but this outlet feels entirely its own. It occupies the ground floor of a three-storey building, and it is a handsome space. Burgundy and cream set the tone, softened by warm wood and small flashes of gold. Graceful arches, a checkerboard floor and deep upholstered seating recall the cafés of Europe, yet nothing about it feels stiff. It is the kind of place where you settle in for one coffee and stay for a second.
The People Behind the Counter
I was welcomed by Rahul and his son, Tushar, and a little later Rahul introduced me to his wife, Neelam. What began as a polite exchange soon became a long and easy conversation.
Rahul recently retired as an Assistant Commissioner in the tax department. After decades of government service, he could have settled into a quiet life at home. Instead, he chose the café. These days he is there greeting guests and keeping a watchful eye on the running of things. It is a world away from his old desk, and he clearly relishes the change.
It was Neelam, herself a government officer, who nudged him towards it. She never wanted retirement to mean sitting at home. She wanted him active, meeting people and still doing something with his days.
Tushar had the same support, this time from both his parents. An engineering graduate, he had a job offer in hand after completing his degree, and he turned it down. Cafés and baking had caught his imagination, and he wanted to build a business of his own. They encouraged him to follow what he really wanted to do, and several years on, he has a good deal of experience in the trade behind him.
Neelam loves what the business has brought into all their lives: new people, unfamiliar situations and the chance to keep learning. “You learn something new every day,” she told me.
The couple spoke just as warmly of their younger son, Hardik, also an engineer, who is now based in Kuwait. Two sons with engineering degrees have taken two very different paths, and both have their parents’ blessing.
Three Floors, One Family
The family’s story continues one floor up. Tushar’s wife, Sherry, an educationist, has always loved to bake. Rather than keep it a private pleasure, she turned it into Amourea, a baking school where she now teaches classes of her own.
Amourea shares the café’s palette of burgundy, ivory, wood and gold, but the mood is different. This is a room for learning, where students spend an afternoon at the counter and leave with something they have made with their own hands. For anyone in Amritsar who has ever wanted to learn to bake, it is a lovely place to begin.
At the very top sits the kitchen, supplying the café below. Café, classroom, kitchen: three floors, one family, with everyone in their place.
What’s in a Name
I asked Tushar about the name, and his answer was simple: “The cakes are made fresh in seven minutes.” It is the promise 7th Heaven is known for, and here it is taken at its word.
The menu is entirely vegetarian and runs well beyond cakes and desserts, through pizzas, waffles, burgers, brownies, sandwiches, savouries and hot coffee. I kept things simple with a coffee and a couple of grilled sandwiches, one of them a corn sandwich, the kind of unfussy, comforting food that suits a long conversation. The real treat came at the end: a plate of handmade cookies baked by Sherry herself, a small taste of what goes on in the classroom upstairs. Good as it all was, by then I found myself far more interested in the people than in the pastry case.
A Choice, Not an Obligation
What I liked most about 7th Heaven is that each person has found their own place within it, and none of them is there out of obligation.
A father who wasn’t ready to stop working, a son who wanted to build something, a daughter-in-law who wanted to bake and teach, and a mother who told them all to go ahead.
I walked into 7th Heaven because of how it looked. I walked out thinking about the family behind it, and that, more than any cake, is why I would go back.
7th Heaven, Ranjit Avenue
419-A, Gumtala Sub Urban, A-Block Market, Ranjit Avenue, near the park, opposite Ashoki Kulche Wala, Amritsar, Punjab 143001
Open daily, 9 am to 10:30 pm
Pure vegetarian
