Love Dovey at Le Mangii, Lower Parel

February, month of love for all the people who are in love while there are singles like me who literally dislike that entire "Valentine Week" (Propose Day, Rose Day, Kiss Day, etc) This day sucks for singles! So much that their cupids also filed for unemployment! All my friends are double and I was the only single with no plans. But Mr. Sameer Malkani (Food Bloggers Association of India) had a fabulous way of getting us all together, single, in a relation and married, and invited all the foodies at Le Mangii, Lower Parel for a nice pre-Valentines bash at Le Mangii which has just launched their new outlet at Lower Parel, Kamala Mills. As mentioned, all my friends are double and had plans, I managed to get a Valentine for myself too! Lovely Ekta Nair, my twitter friend, who is a major foodie.

It was absolutely kind of Sameer to invite us at Le Mangii for double celebration- opening their new outlet at Lower Parel and all of us getting together and celebrating Valentine's Day. This was one event where more than 30 food bloggers along with their partners were in the house and the strength was almost like a closed joint family. I will be honest to say that I was more excited to meet all my blogger friends than eating food.

Entry at Kamala Mills

As soon as I entered the place, it was filled with lot of romance, party vibes as I witnessed some beautiful bricked walls with heart-shaped balloons. I knew it was going to be a grand night, romantic for those who were with their partners and otherwise also. The lightings were also beautiful. The almost 30 feet high ceiling, if opened, would look like a big terrace with a long island bar in the centre and seats on the other 3 sides. Now imagine an open terrace party! When normally one goes to any bar in other restaurants, the bar is at one corner and the seats on the other side. Le Mangii is quite different in this context of having a bar in the centre and a long one. The bar is a treat to the eyes with the exquisite wines and drinks. Personally, Ekta and I loved sitting here and cocktails were flowing for all of us from the bar.

The Long Island bar. Love it!

Balloons everywhere

Le Mangii specializes in mostly Italian food, specially their Pizzas. Fire-wood thin crust pizzas is unique about their pizzas. All the pizzas were delicious and scrumptious. I am normally not a huge fan of thin crust pizzas. But as a happy foodie, I love eating with whatever is served with love. When the pizzas were served, it just couldn't get any thinner. In pizzas, I had

1. Spinach and Mushroom Pizza 
2. Classic Pepperoni Pizza 
3. Pork Salami and Mushroom Pizza with Black Olives. 
As mentioned, it is prepared on firewood. So pizzas are a must try.

Spinach and Mushroom Pizza

Pepperoni Pizza

My favourite among the starters were the Chicken Skewers with Remoulade sauce. Poppy seed crusted, tender chicken and served hot too. This is a must have if you are visiting Le Mangii anytime soon. Best piece of meat I had there.
 Another not to be missed appetizer would be the Prawns and Calamari Fritters. They were nice, spicy, zingy, addictive and Ekta and myself could not just stop munching this.
The Gnoochi in Pesto Sauce and Prawns with Pineapple were also really delicious. The little pops (can't remember the name of the dish) was also very nice.

Chicken Skewers

Gnoochi in Pesto Sauce

Pops (Don't remember the name exactly)

Prawns and Calamari Fritters

Sadly the Grilled Halloumi Cheese and their Signature Ice Tea was not upto the mark according to me. I just didn't like the taste and the ice tea was extremely bitter and not being much of a drinker, I opted for my regular Red Sangria.

Grilled Halloumi

Red Sangria

While the eating-drinking-chatting-meeting bloggers continued, we were made to play a small game which include writing a cheesy ghatti line including the words "Pizza, Pasta and Cheese." As much as I love food, I also love theatre and I love watching stand up comedy. Nothing was as awesome than having a stand up comedian (PiratedSardar) in the house who made us all laugh with the Punjabi jokes, girls jokes and Facebook jokes. OMG! I still can't get over the way he posed as a girl for facebook picture and "SUPA LYK!"

Sadly, I couldn't try the main course and desserts and had to leave early. But I did manage to take a bite of the Saffron Rissotto. The rissotto was good that way. Very cheesy, but there was no taste or even the fragrance of saffron whatsoever in the dish. The Margheritta pizza was decent enough too. But I did hear good reviews from people who ordered steak and chicken dishes. Next time for sure. :)

Margheritta Pizza

Saffron Rissotto 

The staff was very nice and polite. Though I didn't get to taste some starters even when I called for it, I would suggest that it would be much better if lot of starters are served in a tray on each table instead of the waiter going around the entire house serving, as the crowd that day was big enough and not everyone got everything. Also the wi-fi wasn't working neither was the packet data. The place did have network issues.

Lot of Italian chains are coming up but Le Mangii is definitely to try for their comfortable ambience and their lovely bar. To me, honestly, I felt it more like a bar and I genuinely love their bar. Food was good but it could have been far better than what I expected and I'm sure they will improve much better in their food quality. A meal for 2 would ideally cost around Rs. 2000 (assuming taxes not included) but the ambience and their pizzas are worth going for because the place has a potential to turn to a lounge in the night because it is very jazzy.

Loved meeting all my blogger friends in this event. Big shout out to Sameer and Saloni for organizing this lovely event and getting us all together, posing happily for pictures and having great conversations with all my foodie friends. Glad to be a part of FBAI. :) and also Prashant Chaudhari, owner of Le Mangii for making us feel at home. A home with a huge bar. :P
I also thank Ekta for accompanying me at the last minute. I genuinely loved spending time with my Valentine and hope that everytime we all meet, its always like a big, grand celebration.

Picture courtesy: Ekta.