Before you can even find your table, you are enamored by the ambience of
the restaurant 015’ Cafe at Seven Bungalows, Versova.
The murals speak in graphics of food recipes under sauces, snacks and
drinks. Different musical instruments, mainly guitars, harmonium, tablas adorn
the shelves. Rustic bricks behind the photo frames on the walls glitter under spotlights.
Long wooden community tables occupy the center of the room running
parallel to bar, for smaller groups there are 4-seater tables randomly placed
around and for more privacy there are two more tables behind the room shaped as
telephone booth.
Smoking is not allowed in the restaurant, not even in the service-room,
however, there is a enclosed glass room outside the restaurant where you can
smoke away till you drop dead. Two large Televisions and loud music in the
background is reason enough to dine in silence because conversation is
impossible.
So, the next possible thing to do is to enjoy the meals.
Reasonably priced, the cuisine is international with Asian, European and
American. The portion is good enough. Just salads with chicken or prawn
skewers and a glass of cocktail can make a satisfying meal.
Menu card clearly explains in detail the dish so that you know what to
expect. For example, ‘Chicken Potli Kebab’ is chicken drumsticks stuffed with
mutton mince marinated in Indian spices, cooked in tandoor, served with mint
chutney (for the price of Rs256)
Food is exceptionally good. I shared the table with six other food
bloggers and we decided to share each dish so that we were able to taste many
of the dishes. To start with, drinks were the winner. Each one of us ordered
different drinks and we got to taste many drinks but the winner was Minty Rita,
an attractive looking green drink with dust of salt at the rim, (sister of
Margarita) and as the name suggest, taste was ‘Minty’ and sweet. All the Chicken
dishes were soft, melt-in-the-mouth with well-balanced spices. However lamb was
let down, chewy and a bit raw, we were glad that we were sharing just a bite, so
there was no wastage. I was unhappy with Spanish Paella too; neither the taste
nor the presentation was appetizing.
During my travels abroad, I have noticed that if you request for chili sauce as an accompaniment with your food, the worried chef might come to your table and inquire about the quality of the food. It is considered rude to kill the original taste of the food by extra serving of chili sauce. But here, in India, even when the food is tasty in its original form, just Tobasco or chili flakes may not suffice. Indian palate is used to spicy foods and not having an in-house chili sauce to go with meals is a let down.
Overall, it was a satisfying meal with great company of good friends. My
sincere thanks to Sameer Malkani for the invite and thanks to food bloggers who
shared the table with me
Thank you Purvi, Joel and Yeshi for being there and a special thanks to my friend Monika Pant,
who shared her evening with me
 |
| image source |
Had a wonderful evening.
