Oktoberfest- JW Cafe at JW Sahar

 The number of restaurants/cafes/hotels blooming in the busy city of Mumbai is directly proportional to the number of food festivals each of them organize in their venues.

Personally, food festivals are the best way to explore a particular country's culture. One such opportunity had come knocking on my door when Mohit, Jahan and Roshan (Team FatToxicBawarchi) invited me over to be their guest and enjoy the Oktoberfest at JW Cafe, JW Sahar, 

Though the meet was scheduled on a bank holiday, I did not have a bank holiday. Coming tired from work, I still decided to go all the way till Andheri as it was the first time I visited this place. I had read so much about JW Cafe's Big Fat Sunday Brunch, their Alaskan Crabs and the city's best waffles that I thought it would be worth it going all the way till there for the Oktoberfest. 

Beautiful, massive property. Amazing lights and counters and varieties of food counters from Indian to Thai to German to Waffle counter, Sushi Counter, Dessert Counter. But missed my pasta counter. Variety of options for vegetarians too. 

Now when I hear about Oktoberfest, I think of  "Beer", "Sausages", "German" and "Bavarian" (Food comes first because I am always thinking of food in my sub conscious mind.) Wikipedia gives me information and knowledge that it is the largest beer festival in the world that takes place in "Theresienwiese" in centre of Munich and begins from last week of September till around mid-October. Also, 3rd October is marked as day of celebration when East and West Germany united as one country.

I was prepared to go and eat platters of sausages and stuff my stomach. Unfortunately, with my working pattern, I cannot eat a lot at night but I tried to do justice with the huge appetite that I have.

To start the evening, a refreshing cool mocktail was served being "Mango Basil Cooler" which was refreshing and sweet. But the Parsi in me wanted beer for the night.

Mango Basil Cooler Mocktail

I tried varieties of sausages, both in pork and chicken. Bratwurst, Weiss Wester, Noremberg are the few names I can remember along with skinless chicken, skinless chilly and cheese sausages. The Sausage Platter served to us was an absolute delight. The sausages were grilled to perfection, very soft and juicy. Its really hard to choose an absolute favourite because all sausages were deliciously amazing. To be honest, I couldn't make out a lot of difference in the taste. My absolute favourite was skinless chilly because boy, that sausage had a good hint of chilly/spiciness in it.

Beer and Sausages, German Style

The chicken schnitzel were also well prepared. Unlike other places where schnitzels are served, they were not hard to break. The chicken was also tender. My absolute favourite was the German Potato Salad and Sausage Salad as well.

Main course

Sushis

I didn't wanted to eat a lot that night. But I did end my meal with a dessert, that being Mumbai's best waffles drizzled in chocolate sauce and Nutella. The only sad part was that there was no vanilla ice cream to accompany with my waffles.The waffles were really warm, not too crisp and not too soft and well prepared and I couldn't have asked for a perfect end to the meal.

Waffles in chocolate sauce with side of Nutella

We ended the evening with lots of laughter and crazy pictures with the selfie stick. I have already saved up half of my money to come visit here with an entirely empty stomach for a heavy Sunday brunch and mainly to try variety of dishes in one plate on one late morning/afternoon.

Price for Brunch: Rs. 2,500/- (inclusive of taxes)      

Review on Sweetish House Mafia

Don't you worry, Don't you worry, child! See heaven's got a plan for you. Don't you worry, don't you worry now, Yeaaahhh! - Swedish House Mafia.

Don't you worry, Don't you worry, child! See we got some yummy cookies for you. Don't you worry, don't you worry now, Yeaahhhh!- Sweetish House Mafia.  

EDM lovers love Swedish House Mafia and Cookie Lovers love Sweetish House Mafia! And I am a lover of both. Oh yea baby! :D 

Zoran and I had a happy tummy eating yumm yumm Thai Food at O:h Cha. For dessert, we decided to go to the neighbour and a month-old newly opened store named Sweetish House Mafia. They have recently opened up this store but couldn't go earlier as I was super busy with the internship. But better late than never! And this was one of the best opportunity too.

Most of you'll must be aware, Sweetish House Mafia was the only brand/venture that never had a store earlier and they made, supplied and sold cookies through a Sweetish House Mafia Tata Nano at various parts of Bombay.  Yes, through a vehicle! And inside that Nano, they had yummy cookies treats for the hungry jantas!

Once in 2 weeks, these guys used to post a tweet, "5 PM at Cuffe Parade for some Nutella Sea Salt Cookies." That way that Nano used to come very frequently post 5 pm or at times even 9 PM with yummy cookies and jars at mostly Cuffe Parade, Altamount Road, Lower Parel, Carter Road and Andheri.

I remember working tirelessly under an advocate last year at Cuffe Parade and it was a bliss to see that van at 9 PM near WTC and I decided to have the cookies. I went and bought the cookie and my look changed from being drowsy to being super excited. I had never tasted such awesome cookies in my life ever. Selling the cookies from a Nano to a store has rather been quite sweet for SHM this year. Even I was quite glad to know they finally opened up a store in Lower Parel (close to home:P)
Next outlet at Bandra, maybe? :D

When I entered the store, the blue and white walls, sight of the cookies and the aroma of Nutella greeted and welcomed me and took over my mind and well, my mind just stopped thinking for the moment. The aroma of Nutella specially, got me to some other world, a world where I could just see, feel, smell and eat Nutella. There should be a planet named Nutella. Period. The shop is small and quaint but cute.

The store. (Picture courtesy: SHM Fb Page)

I wanted to meet the Nutella Sea Salt Cookies (Rs. 125/-) but they were over by the time we visited there. So I was a tad disappointed till the lady there told me that we can get it if we wait for 15-20 minutes as they were in the oven and Zoran and I were more than happy to wait. :D

Finally the cookies arrived and I just couldn't stop staring at them like a creepy guy can't stop staring at a pretty girl. Eyes widened looking at those cookies. The color, the texture, the NUTELLA! I almost looked like that love struck (heart in the eyes) wala Whatsapp smiley. :P

We were lucky to have these cookies served to us fresh from the oven. Freshness, softness, richness, yumness and melt in the mouth describes these cookies the best. The sea salt and nutella in the cookie blended as well as how two people with similar taste and liking bond quickly with each other.

Look! NUTELLA! :D 

This cookie is the rockstar of Sweetish House Mafia. If at all you are told to wait for the cookies, please do wait because every bite is worth the richness and melt of Nutella you will feel in your mouth. And you guys don't need any other reason to wait when Nutella is the reason itself. :D

I also wanted to try the Nutella Milkshake but they ran out of stock. So we settled for the Cold Coffee. (Rs. 100/-). The coffee tasted really well, main reason being they did not use the local milk. They used "Proud of the Cow" milk brand. No wonder the coffee tasted a bit different from what we normally have at our coffee shops.

SHM's Cold Coffee

I think I have praised enough now! Though I honestly still feel they should carry on the trend of using their Nano and delivering the cookies because this is how Sweetish House Mafia was recognised as. Otherwise Todi mills and Dadar Parsi Colony is just not that far. :P

Next on try is Double Chocolate Chip, Batman Cookies and Nutella Milkshake.

Rating: 5/5
Address: New Mahalaxmi Silk Mill Pvt Ltd. Premises, Mathurdas (Todi) Mills Compound, Near OML Studio, N.M.Joshi Marg, Lower Parel (West)  [very close to Cafe Zoe]
Price for 2: Rs. 300/- (you can't have just one cookie men!:P)

Cha Cha at O:h Cha Kitchen and Bar

O:h Cha was one place which I had added in my wishlist on Zomato. But we all live in a very small world and I happened to be friends with Mr. Sanat Patel, the owner of O:h Cha through a common friend and he was really generous to call me over for lunch at O:h Cha. I thank him once again for inviting me and making the efforts to make me feel all comfortable at the restaurant.

My lunch companion for this meal was Zoran, one of new and already a close friend of mine and I am glad he accompanied me for the meal. 

Tucked inside Mathurdas (Todi) Mills, a little ahead of Blue Frog, I got little excited to try out this place (though I had heard mixed reviews about it) and a new cuisine. I am not a huge fan of Thai food but after the pleasant experience at O:h Cha, my views have changed. Do pay attention once you enter the mill, the place can be quite a miss even though a board has been put outside. 

Also O:h Cha is not a multi-cuisine restaurant and I can easily say that it is the most authentic Thai restaurant in the city. 

When I entered the restaurant, the huge cane look-a-like hanging lanterns (lamps) all over the ceiling  caught my attention for quite a lot of time. Every restaurant has a different kind of ambience and lightning but O:h Cha having something like that was an exception. Also I really liked the lovely glass painting done. It actually looked like a dragon :P and it got me back to the whole Game of Thrones mode and thinking about House Targaryen  (I am so addicted that I just relate GoT with everything.) 

So thumbs up to the warm and yet very classy ambience. 

Pretty, aren't they?

Hello Drogon!

We opted for the new pre-set Express lunch menu which is available every Monday to Friday for Rs. 599/- inclusive of taxes, which is a fair price for the menu options available. 

Now this Express menu lunch has 2 combinations: The Dim Sum Combination and The Curry Combination, for both vegetarian and non-vegetarian. 

I opted for the Curry Combo whereas Zoran opted for the Dim Sum Combo, so in that way we got to enjoy both the set combo menus. Which one is more preferable is what you would like to know. Chalo, we'll find out. 

The soups from both the combos were served first. I opted for the Tom Kha with Prawns from the Curry Combo and Zoran opted for the Tom Yum with Chicken. We were too hungry so Zoran already attacked his soup while I managed to click a picture of my soup. Both the soups were really flavourful, though mine was on a slightly sweeter side and his on a spicier side. I love spicy food very much. So if you are opting for the dimsum combo and like spicy food more, do go for the Tom Yum with Chicken or Prawns else settle for the Tom Kha soup. 

Tom Kha Soup (Prawns)

Then came the Thai Spicy raw Papaya Salad (Curry Combo) and a basket of 4 assorted pieces of  Prawn Dimsums. (Dimsum Combo) The dimsum was really delicious. I just took a huge bite and all I could taste was just chunks of prawns. 

Tip: Accompany it with the spicy sauce to get more spicy and tangy flavour. 

Prawn Dimsum

Thai Spicy Raw Papaya Salad

I don't like papayas at all nor I am really a salad eater. I wonder what it would be like but when the Papaya salad was served, it came as a huge surprise. The flavours were so authentic and delightful, I actually forgot about the existence of the taste of the papaya! I am no good cook and my brother is a chef and he always tells me that it's quite a task to get these fancy dishes correctly done. I wouldn't say I like papayas now! But that salad was a spot on hit with such refreshing flavours. 

Here, What I was a little dissatisfied about is that they are serving the vegetarian salad in the non-veg section as well as the vegetarian one. Maybe a good flavour of chicken in the salad would be a great addition, Not that I really was missing chicken, But Non-Veg Combo and a Veg Salad! Not happening.

Thai Red Curry with Chicken and Steamed Jasmine Rice

Stir Fried Chicken with Egg Fried Rice

Now coming to the mains, I had called for the Thai Red Chicken Curry with Steamed Jasmine Rice whereas Zoran called for Stir Fried Chicken with Cashewnuts and Egg Fried Rice. 

The Thai Red Curry was a bomb. It was exactly the way I wanted it, however I was expecting it to be more spicy. I think the chefs are working on reducing the amount of spiciness in their dishes as having too much spicy food is not everyone's cup of tea. But no complaints, I really enjoyed my Thai Curry. Go for it if you are a fan. 

We always love what we see in the plates (rather bowl here) of others and that was so the case with me. :P This minced chicken was well induced with spices, flavours, chicken and vegetables. Those who are not curry fans must go for this. Its dry and the dish accompanied well with the rice. Also it was spicy. (Main reason for me liking this dish!) 

If I am asked, which one I liked more, I would go for the dimsum combo over the curry combo even though I tried the curry combo myself and the curry combo was as good as the dimsum one. Main reason to love the dimsum combo is because of the SPICINESS! 

This set lunch express menu is quite a good deal for Rs. 599/- (inclusive of taxes) as it ranges from soups, salads and mains. Also I think they should have included the dessert too in the combo meal, atleast a gooey chocolate cake, both for veg and non veg and both the combos. A set menu meal without a dessert is as incomplete as a Parsi without his love for eedas in everything.

Overall, O:h Cha is a nice, vibrant and lovely restaurant to catch up for lunch or office get together or to come for a date in the evening. If you are coming for a date, the presence of those lanterns will just be magical. Thank You O:h Cha for making me love Thai food a bit more. I will surely make another visit, been hearing a lot about this beef starter. Must have it soon again. 

Address: Unit 1, New Mahalaxmi Silk Mills Premises, Mathurdas Mills Compound, Lower Parel,                       Mumbai.
Telephone No: +91 22 66334455 / 24939310

Meal for 2: around Rs. 2500/- 

Getting Treated at Terttulia.

July, August, September and December are technically birthday months for me. So many Cancerians, Leos, Virgos and Sagittarius around me. Everytime I see its 12 AM, I check whose birthday is it today. And surprisingly, its someone's birthday or the other.

So it was one of my newly made friend's birthday on September 5 and the very next day, being a Saturday. I got a message for him wanting to catch up and treat. Now the venue was totally undecided and it was between Home Chef Cafe (read here about it) and Terttulia. So after debating and confusing each other, we settled for Terttulia. 

Terttulia was launched in Mumbai 3 days after my birthday and this was the best opportunity for me to go and check out the place too. Terttulia is apparently one of Pune's most iconic restaurant known for a chilled, relaxed atmosphere and karari rotis and pizzas and one of those talked about restaurants when it launched in Mumbai as it had the hype and reputation to live upto which was created by outpost in Pune.

 Thank God for them not choosing Andheri, Bandra or SoBo as most of the new restaurants are cropping up there. Located on central part of the city at Shivaji Park, having a place like Terttulia was much needed as the area is covered mostly with CCD's, Baristas, Naturals, Gelatos,etc. and has fewer fine dine restaurants like Tumnak Thai. Also closer to the sea view. 

Unfortunately I couldn't check out the inner view of the restaurant as we were sitting on the other side of the restaurant which was probably a more relaxed, brunchy setting with high wooden furnitures, brick walls and a bar in the centre. It is perfect for an ideal date spot, but being a Saturday, the restaurant was almost full and noisy.

The menu covers varieties of salads, appetizers and tapas, their famous pizzas, pasta, mains and desserts. Since I already had to go elsewhere in the evening, I didn't really settle for the drinks and tapas and jumped directly to main course and desserts. 

I called for the Roast Chicken with Mashed Potatoes and Gravy. It was decently cooked, I'd say because I had a hard time cutting the chicken from some parts, specially towards the bones. The gravy was perfect and the mash potato was quite bland and required more seasoning. 

Roast Chicken with Mash Potatoes

I tried the Creme Brule Cheesecake on recommendation of Roxanne (The Tiny Taster) and Zenia (Branded Bawi) and I would like to thank you guys for it. I am a big cheesecake fan and this one was chummeshwari. Perfectly burnt and super thin crust on the top of cheesecake along with little caramel on the side with a soft biscuit base. It was delicious. The burnt crust gave a very burnt sweet flavour to the cheesecake.    

Creme Brulee Cheesecake

My friend on the other hand is a sweet tooth and had a Chocolate Brownie Cheesecake for desserts accompanied with Vanilla Ice cream. It was quite good. Desserts are spot on here! 

Chocolate Brownie Cheesecake

The desseerts made up for the wonderful meal I had here. I shall definitely visit soon here again for the karari rotis, pizzas and chocolate mud pie cake. 

Meal for 2: Rs. 2000/- exclusive of taxes

Address: Ground Floor, Hotel Parkway, Near Natural Ice Cream, Ranade Road Extension, Shivaji Park, Dadar (West).
Phone: 022 6002 0202

A Wonderful Evening Meet At Glorious Gaylord.

When I got an invite mail from Sameer (FBAI) for a cute meet up and a bloggers meet, a huge smile came on my face seeing it was at GAYLORD RESTAURANT. Being a student of Jai Hind College, which is just a lane away from this pretty restaurant, memories were re-visited because Gaylord has been a major chill out adda for me. I have lived on their amazing pastries during my Jai Hind

Gaylord Restaurant is one of the oldest restaurant in the city, started around in the year 1956 in Mumbai, serving exquisite North Indian, Mughlai and Continental cuisine with a priceless reputation. No matter how many new restaurants crop up in various parts of the city, Gaylord will be one of those restaurants which one would love to come over and over again.

When I visited Gaylord (now 23 years old) was the same feeling of me visiting Gaylord when I was 18,19,20 years old. Though I've been to Gaylord many times during college, Not much has really changed from then till now. Same garden cafeteria with wooden trellis, old world vintage iron chairs, same old corner coffee tables and pretty chandeliers, same menu, same taste in food, which makes one to come here and have the same amazing feeling of dining here over and over again.

We also had the opportunity to meet Mr. Noel D'souza who has been heading the operations of Gaylord Restaurant and Bakery for last 26 years telling us about the history of the restaurant and successfully setting up restaurant franchaise in Surat, Baroda and Goa.

The flavor of Indian and Continental cuisine at the Gaylord Restaurant is a melting pot of various ethnic cuisines. A culinary pit-stop in the heart of South Mumbai, one can indulge in the delicately prepared North Indian, Mughali created for the Maharajas and Nawabs. From succulent Kebabs to aromatic Curries, Lamb Stroganoff, and Chicken a La Keiv, one can pamper themselves in the best Indian and European gourmet traditions.

There was already a menu reading for us ranging from French Onion Soup to Aloo Bharwari to Prawn Cocktail Salad and Paneer tikka masala and very awesome and my personal favourite, Caramel Custard.

The menu

I had called for a glass of Minty Mocktail while we were listening to Mr. Noel and chatting with the foodie friends and also waiting for the yummy appetizers.

Minty Mocktail

My favourites were Bharwari Aloo, that is tiny potatoes and Fish Tikka.
The Lahori Fish Tikka was a perfect flavour filled fish with spices and masalas.T
Chicken Kebabs tasted like the normal chicken cutlets we Parsis eat, but nevertheless, was juicy and flavourful.
Kesari Paneer was fairly average as the taste of kesar was quite strong.

Aloo Bhanwari

Chicken Kebabs

Kesari Paneer

Lahori Fish Tikka

I am not a salad person but no harm in trying something new! The Prawn Cocktail Salad was served to us. When I first saw it, I saw more of cream and half cut boiled eggs. It was pretty decent. Just felt the taste of the cream overpowered the tiny prawns inside the salad.

Prawn Cocktail

Next in line was the French Onion Soup. It was more of a comfort, cold night meal than anything. Really enjoyed the egg yolk in it though.

French Onion Soup

We took a tour of the bakery before we could proceed with the main course. My visit here wasn't for the first time.Comingto Gaylord bakery is a must if you are there as it is a host of exotic cakes and breads, desserts, chocolates, pastries, muffins, fresh cream confections, now macrons too and custom made cakes for various occasions. The bakery totally enchants the visitors with the rich aromas of coffee, breads and cakes wafting in the air. We also had a chance to meet Mr. A.N..Malhotra, 87 years old CEO and former partner of Gaylord. Such a sweet man. ^.^

*lovestruck*

Now coming to the mains. Though I was almost full since I also had a heavy lunch that day, I still managed to eat some of the dishes. It was a mix of European and Mughlai dishes.

The Pomfret Meuniere was batter fish with lemon butter sauce. Though it was decent and upto the mark, I personally feel the tartar sauce along with it would have done more justice to the dish. I also liked the fried golden colour in the dish.
The Roast Chicken Bacon was a traditional European meal. Chicken was well cooked and soft but bacon was hard to chew.

Pomfret Meuniere

Roast Chicken Bacon

I am not a very big fan of Mughlai food but I thought it would be unjust on my part to not try out the same. The Kheema Nalli Ghos was a mixture of mutton and kheemo. I am not a very big mutton fan as such and cannot eat both kheemo and minced mutton together, but it is a delight for mutton lovers.

The Murgh Makhani was nothing but butter chicken. Creamy gravy on a sweet side and tasted exactly similar to my brother's hand made butter chicken which I had 2 days before this event.

I skipped the Lasooni Palak as I only had place for desserts.

Kheema Nalli Ghosht

Murgh Makhni. More like my brother's butter chicken

Though my stomach could have blasted that night any moment, I still managed to eat the desserts and went for the Raspberry Crunch Mousse. What I really liked about it is the biscuit base as I always love in most of desserts like cheesecakes with raspberry taste coupled with the chocolate
. Liked it, but not as much as the Caramel Custard. The Chocolate Mousse was also amazingly chocolaty. Enjoyed it a lot but the best was kept for the last.

Raspberry Crunch Mousse

Chocolate Mousse

This best for last was their caramel custard! It is very difficult to find a good place for an amazing Caramel Custard. Though I felt my hunt for a perfect one ended at Cafe Mililtary, I was surprised to see and taste the one at Gaylord. Typical Parsi Caramel Custard, Perfectly wobbly and was melt in mouth. And so I can now say that apart from Cafe Military serving a small Caramel Custard, my new spot for Caramel Custard craving is surely at Gaylord.

Yummy caramel custard.

Whatteh happy evening it was with fun, friends, food and even a better hospitality.
 I'd personally like to thank Mr, Malhotra, Mr. D'souza, Criesse Communications and staff of Gaylord and ofcourse FBAI for this event.

Group picture

Gaylord, with its legendary cuisine and impeccable service, is a rare priceless combination, which has firmly established itself as a favourite through generations. I am surely making a come back on an auspicious occasion and gorging on all the amazing meals and staying in the bakery and reminiscing my Jai Hind days all over again. Also next on the list to eat shall be the Chicken a La Kiev.

Picture Courtesy: Criesse Communications. Thank You very much. :)

*dreams of chocolate truffle pastry*

Hungry Paralegal at The Tea Pot Cafe.

Having lunch outside on daily basis becomes really expensive for a person specially if you are trainee. At times, even if I take my dabba, I still feel so hungry that I have to eat something from outside. But don't you love it when you learn to manage your pocket money and end up saving a good amount of money? Yes. That was so the case with me. So one fine day at work, my co-intern and I decided to go to Tea Pot Cafe for lunch. I had heard a lot about this place earlier but had no chance to visit. But now since I work just 2 lanes away from this place, I shall be having more frequent visits here.

So when I told my co-intern about this place, we immediatley Zomato'd it checking out the dishes and to my surprise, it wasn't as expensive as I thought of it to be. So we decided to bounce there. My co-intern called 2 of his other friends too and it was a small lawyers table out here. 

Situated and snuggled in the busy by-lane of Fort, The Tea Pot Cafe is a simple, quaint little Bawa place with comfortable sofas and living room ambience where the focus is on simple pleasures of life by chilling and relaxing and having some great savouries. You cannot spot this place even if you are passing by from this lane and can be quite a miss if you do not know Fort area and their twisting and tangling by lanes in and out. But when you find it, its as good as you finding a dry shelter in the heavy rains!

Upper view of Cafe

The Big Pot, Desserts and apru Asho Farohar!

Do say hi to Delna Palia, the owner of this cute Bawa joint and surprisingly also wanting to practice law. She will come to you personally and help you out with your menu and your particular cravings. The items on their menu has a Parsi touch to it. Apart from Parsi meals, this is one bawa joint where you will also find burgers, pasta, subs, sandwiches, soups, main dishes like stroganoff, baked dish, paparika chicken and mash potatoes, drinks and desserts, unlike the other traditional Parsi joints like Kayani who serve only typical Parsi dishes. 

Since I had a pasta craving, I called for the Tomato Arabietta. (Rs.175/-) A yummy penne pasta covered in red-orangy arabietta sauce and chicken. It was a decent satisfying meal for me as I enjoy pasta the way I enjoy eggs at any given part of the day. 

Tomato Arabietta 

My co-intern called for the Stroganoff (Rs. 180/-) which, to me, looked like white rice with cheesy white gravy filled with veggies. However, I felt the quantity was quite sufficient since we both are thin people but super heavy eaters.

Stroganoff

The Baked dish (Rs. 170-180) was really an amazing one, very cheesy and filling. I am sure if I would have called for this, I would be napping in office for 2 hours which I cannot afford to do so. It was so tasty! I highly recommend this dish as its quite satisfying for mind and soul and something which is completely enjoyable.

Sexy Baked Dish.

We ended our one hour lunch break with this satisfying Chocolate Mousse (Rs. 60/-) which is by far and easily one of the best chocolate mousse I've tasted in town. The mousse is served in sufficient quantity in a cute glass. Delna also recommended us to have our mousse with rum next time we come here. So I'd really want to try that out.

Chocolate Mousse

Though however, this was my first time here, I shall surely be making quite a few visits here again. Their eggs all day menu is by far one of the most amazing ones as they serve akuri, omlette, papeta par idu all day long. Its a mixture of egg dishes both Parsi and English style and also for their bacon and egg cheese burger, waffles and soups.

The term "hidden gems" was perhaps coined to describe places like this joint as food like burgers and waffles are under Rs. 100/-. There are no frills here. It is very much a homely, friendly ambience feel with great food being easy on your pockets.  Just come here with friends, or settle with a book or come and do timepass and play UNO here, its all so chilled out because the cafe gives you that sort of vibe. 

Also Delna is so sweet and very welcoming. The first time I spotted the place and passed from there while I was on my way to Hotel Deluxe, she almost waved me out calling me to come inside the cafe and my co-intern was telling me that "my friend" is calling me and I told him, "I don't know her!" :P but now I do. 

Also did I forget to mention you guys, they have free Wi-Fi too that will not require you to bang your heads out with the connection.  

Price range of dishes: Rs.70/- to Rs. 200/-

Lunch for 4: Rs. 850/- 

Address: 15A, Homi Modi Street, Bunsilal Mansion Building, Opposite Andhara Bank, Fort, Mumbai 400 001. 

(one building after Central bank and Tata Main Office- Bombay House)

Telephone No: 2265 4030 / 2265 1338 (Home Delivery in Fort only) 

Open on: Monday to Saturday, 9 a.m. to 6 p.m.) 

Enjoy! 

Sunday Brunch at D'Bell, Lower Parel

Last few weekends have been so much fun for me. And the last to last weekend was equally as much fun as it could be for me. Saturday night witnessed an epic stayover at my cousin's place where we converted an empty house in a club and danced the whole night out whereas Sunday was a fun filled morning eating breakfast at McDonalds with them and then a brunch with Zenia aka Branded Bawi at D'Bell. Ah! I don't think the weekend could have been any better for me!

Sundays are the most laziest days for me. I practically spend Sundays covering up on my lost sleep usually. But this Sunday was even more fun considering I was with my sister like friend Zenia, chilling and spending a good Sunday with her over food, fun and talks since we both share so much in common.

Situated inside the One IndiaBulls Centre, reaching to D'Bell was actually a task. Walking from the gate to the never ending parking lot in high heels and then waiting forever for an escalator.Phew! Was quite a task for me considering being in heels that too. But well finally was at Destination D'Bell.

The interiors are pretty cute. Walls had amazing movie and artists posters, book shelves and blackboard but the best part I liked was the guy there singing all my old yet favourite songs.

Blackboard

 After selecting and settling down on a table, Zee and myself took a small round of the place and check out the brunch menu and the live egg and pasta counter. We started off with the salads which ranged from vegeterian to chicken to seafood. I decided to eat the seafood salad which consisted of lot of shrimps and calamari with the greens. The boiled egg salad was also very pretty. I personally loved the shape of the yellow they did.

Love the shape of the yoke

Salad counter

Starters consisted of fish cake, rather fish fingers in the tartar sauce, Chicken Wings for the non vegeterians. Nothing different about the taste as such but anyway they were very decent and delicious.

Fish Fingers

Chicken Wings 

The veg starters consisted of Mushrooms on the Toast and Jack Potatoes. The Jack Potatoes were personally my favourite among the starter. While eating was just wondering how this dish would taste with the chicken. As far as for Mushrooms on Toast, they were pretty average. I am not a fan of mushrooms anyway. But Jack Potatoes were the star of the brunch.

Mushrooms on Toast

Jack Potatoes

We then headed to try out some dishes from the brunch menu but just tried the Kung Pao Potatoes and the Basa. I remember the times I go to 5spice and order Kung Pao Chicken or Kung Pao Potatoes but this one was just like deep fried chilli potatoes, totally different than what I expected to be. Not complaining that they weren't yummy though.
The Basa in fact, was really delicious. Soft fish meat with good amount of spices. Something that I really enjoyed eating much in abundance. And Basa is my favourite.

Basa

Kung Pao Potatoes

From the live egg counter, we called for Egg White Masala Omlette. The spiciness of the omlette reminded me so much of the omlette at Globe Hotel in Udwada (with the yellow of course there). Excessive chillis but again not complaining, I love spicy food.
From the pasta counter, we called for Penne Pasta prepared in Red sauce with Mushrooms. Pasta are totally my comfort meal specially when its Penne and Red sauce. Again, a decent meal.

Live Pasta Counter

Live Egg Counter

Egg White Masala Omlette

Penne Pasta <3>

I was looking forward to desserts but now I think I should have probably tried on some more vegeterian items from the brunch menu or eat more pasta from the pasta live counter or eat more basa.
The desserts weren't at all upto the mark. The Kiwi mousse was extremely bitter, Tiramisu lacked the taste of coffee in it and the chocolate mousse had over dose of chocolate syrup inside it. That could be worked on.

Kiwi Mousse

                                               

Tiramisu

Chocolate Mousse

 But however, the food wasn't that bad at all, desserts can be skipped most likely. It was a non-alcoholic brunch so the choice to come here may vary. Eat more from the eggs, pasta and salad counter and you would be full. Enjoy some good live music!

I personally enjoyed this brunch quite a lot, specially with the company of a person like Zenia. I enjoyed this little brunch date with my sister like blogger friend and ended the fun brunch by walking more inside the building from door to door passing through various other restaurants and tiny joints which were shut in order to exit.

Yaar end mei selfie toh banta hai boss! 

                                             
Address: D'Bell, Tower 2A, Lobby Level, One IndiaBulls Finance Centre, Jupiter Mills Compound, Senapati Bapat Marg, Lower Parel West, Mumbai 400 013 (First Indiabulls Building coming from Pheonix Mills)
Cost for brunch: Rs, 699/- + taxes per head (non-alcoholic)