Cafe Bandra

Hello Foodies!

Hope you all are doing great! We have covered many cafes in the past, you can find the list here! Today’s review will be on a newly opened café with a name that says it all. Café Bandra is the latest project of Star Hospitality whose previous venture was ‘Bhaijaanz’. Apparently this café is a gastronomical tribute to Bandra by Star Hospitality. But did it live up to our expectations? Read on more to find out!

This café is situated in the by lanes of Pali Hill. It looks like a small café from the outside, but it is quite huge. There are different sections to this café. We sat in the first section. The décor is really nice with the Pintrest-y metal screw art work. The ambiance is good enough.

Let’s get to the food, the aspect of the café that disappointed us the most! Do keep a track of the goof ups they made!

Mocktails:

1.       Bubblelemonade: This mocktail is definitely a different mocktail. It has a mild bubblegum flavor which goes surprisingly well with the lemonade! It is a fun mocktail to have! We do recommend this drink!

2.       Cocolycious: A bit on the sweeter side, this mocktail is a burst of flavors in your mouth. It has the sweetness and tanginess of the lychees. You can also taste the subtle coconut flavor in the background. If the sugar is cut down a bit, this would have been a very nice drink!

Goof up #1: We wanted to try out their shakes. They only had vanilla, chocolate & strawberry shakes, but we called for Oreo &Nutella, they said they didn’t have them. Then we asked for Red Velvet and Tiramisu shakes, again the same response! For a café that started just some time back, this is a bad impression! But we let it go.

Goof up #2: Then the host bought us what he called ‘All izz Well’ mocktail when we clearly had ordered Hawaiian Delight. But upon tasting the mocktail, we knew that he got the name wrong. Our mocktail definitely had the banana taste to it and according to the menu description, Hawaiian Delight does have bananas in them!

3.       Hawaiian Delight: This mocktail is quite different. It has different layers of flavours to it. There’s the unmistakable banana pulp along with pineapple and others. The flavors are simple, recognizable but the banana kind of felt like ‘Kebab me haddi’! This mocktail would be perfect sans the banana! Oh, and this mocktail reminds us of sunsets!

4.       Cosmopolitan: This drink is eerily similar to Bubblelemonade. You won’t be able to distinguish between the same because they are served in the same glass; they have the same red tinge to it. The taste too is similar but not the same.

Starters:

Goof up #3: We called in for some of the dishes from “Clay Oven” section of their menu. But they said that they don’t have those currently. Again, the café has recently opened up and their clay oven items weren’t available.

1.       Stuffed Mushrooms: Now this kind of made up for their silly excuses. The stuffed mushrooms are awesome, probably the only star dish of the day! The mushrooms are lovely. They are batter fried which makes them even better!

Back: Coriander Relish Sweet Potatoes
Front: Stuffed Mushrooms

2.       Coriander relish sweet potatoes: Now the quantity is extremely stingy. You can see how miniature the size is of the potatoes in the pictures! They tasted mainly like green chutney. This is an average appetizer.

3.       Sriracha Prawns: Sriracha is a spicy sauce made with garlic and red chilli. We expected the spiciness from this dish as the description says. But it wasn't spicy. This was an average starter.

4.       Chicken Harissa Skewer: These skewers had very little chicken meat in them as you can see. But the starter looked good and tasted amazing too!

Mains:

Goof up #4: Classic Crepes was not available and so was Baby green ricotta Ravioli.

Goof up #5: We called for Fricassee De Indiana but it never arrived!

Goof up #6: We ordered Kaffir Scented Chicken but the host said it was Pollo ala Indiana instead! The host doesn’t know the name of the dishes!

Goof up #7: We ordered Chicken burger, but the server brings up Veg burger. We click pictures and after we are done, he quietly takes away the burger and serves it to another table! How insane is this? And we did not even get an explanation for this! Chalo theek hai, the goof up wasn’t that bad! But imagine if a pure vegetarian got a Non-Veg burger, what would that person do?

1.       What Man Burger: This burger is pretty huge and would surely make a real foodie smile! This was served with coleslaw, veggies and mustard sauce. The burger looked better than it tasted though. The patty was a bit bland. But we loved the veggies and mustard sauce!

2.       Four Cheeze Pizza: This was recommended by our host. We told him to add bell peppers, sundried tomatoes and the base is thin crust which provides a nice crunchy texture. The cheeses are good, but somehow it felt very bland having this on its own. Ketchup comes to the rescue here! This pizza can be skipped!

3.       Trio Fungi Risotto: This tasted good initially when it was a bit hot, but as it cools down, it becomes stickier. The portion looks small but it is very filling. The mushrooms were cooked to perfection. This dish also has truffle oil which compliments the creaminess of the dish. The dish tastes best when consumed while it is hot!

4.       Pollo ala Indiana: This was a rice based dish with white gravy. It also had shredded boiled chicken in it. It was again, an average dish.

Desserts:

Goof up #8: Tiramisu wasn’t available and so was the Fondue. What a surprise, especially if they just served these two desserts to the table next to us! This was ridiculous!

1.       Lava Cake: Undoubtedly the best lava cake we ever had! The best part is that they serve it with chocolate ice cream! You should definitely have a look at our video to see how gorgeously the lava flows out the cake. The cake is moist and doesn’t feel uncooked at all. This is a treat for all the chocolate lovers out there! A Must order indeed!

2.       Soil Pastry: Pro Tip: Have it warm. Again, this is what chocolate lover’s dreams are made up of! The texture of this pastry is smooth and it is extremely rich. We loved it. But don’t forget to share this with your company as this is quite a task to finish off single handedly!

Overall you can judge by the number of goof ups that this café certainly did not live up to our expectations. They did not bother to inform us about their Sheeshas as well. Half the food isn’t available. The host, although polite doesn’t know the name of the dishes well. They bring wrong food to the table and then take it back without explanation. The desserts were suddenly unavailable when the table next to us got served the same dessert. The food was okay, apart from a few dishes, nothing blew our mind! Café Bandra obviously didn’t give us great memories!

Food: 2.8 / 5

Ambiance: 3.5 / 5

Service: 3 / 5 [The person who made us mocktail and the one who was by the dessert counter were friendly and sweet to us.]

Overall Rating- 3 / 5 [Purely based on the above experience of Café Bandra]

2FoodFreaks recommend:

1.       Bubblelemonade

2.       Stuffed Mushrooms

3.       Lava Cake

4.       Soil Pastry

Bon Appetit!

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