Zen Cafe

Rest : Zen Cafe
Loc : Raghuvanshi Mills
Meal : Lunch 

The Zen Cafe is a quiet all vegetarian cafe in a furniture store in Raghuvanshi Mills with a fairly decent menu with something for everyone.

The Mezze platter was awesome, i dont care much for the basil hummus but everything else was terrific.

The tomato mozzarella panini was again just excellent. the side of mustard not so much but this one was a hit. 

The Giardino was a thin crust sun dried tomato, black olives and capers. very good.

The margarita too was good but not nearly as good as it looks. 

the chocolate brownie was good, would be well worth getting that scoop of ice cream with it. 

cafe mocha to wash it all down.

Overall, the place is quiet, secluded and out of the way. but they make up for that with a menu which has something for everyone and is executed fairly well. Their 575 lunch meal where one can order as many items as they wish is good value for money.

Service is a tad bit slow but no real complaints.

Food : 8/10
Service : 7/10
Damage : 575+ taxes 

Doolally

Rest : Doolally

Loc : Bandra, Near Lilavati Hospital

Doolally is a craft brewery from Pune and the hottest ticket in the city right now.  Since they opened last week, they have run out of beer twice. 

Their food menu is limited and with some usual suspcects but also some atypical dishes for a bars. Mushroom ragout with rice, my buddy @dharmeshg says the stew is terrific. 

The serve 3 beers, IPA, a wheat beet and one with oats. The fourth and easily my fav is their apple cider. Total win. A little gassier would have been preferable but it was good stuff. Its a good idea to get a little taster of all the brews and then order a pitcher which is good value for money if you intend to have more than 2 pints. 

The burger with hot sauce was wow. Crumbly, messy, saucy, fell apart at first bite but it was possibly the best ive had in a while. Everyone at our table got one post tasting mine. it was that good. 

Overall, the place is pleasant, young and by 830 it is heaving. Service is a little scatter brained but they mean well, i am sure it'll get sorted in a few weeks. 

Food : 8/10
Service : 7/10
Damage : 1200 for 3 pints and a burger. 

The Bombay Canteen

Rest : The Bombay Canteen 

Meal : Dinner

Loc : Kamala Mills

The Bombay Canteen is possibly the hottest dining ticket in the city right now, tables are extremely hard to get and are much sought after. It is Floyd Cardoz's India debut and is high on concept, of all the recent openings thus far, it is definetely the most innovative. From the register like menu, to the Rooh Afza bottles for water and of course the food.

The menu is rather limited and can best be descibed as India inspired, most dishes spin out of familar things but go their own way pretty quickly. They have a chotta and bada concept (some of it is pretty large) and they also have the chintu which float around and should be grabbed everytime they pass by. 

the boiled egg was a chintu with a filling of egg bhurji i reckon, delicious.

Fried lotus stems are so much better than regular chips, SO MUCH BETTER. Lotus stems should be on more menus i reckon.

cheese sticks. what is not to like ? 

the moong dal fritters, very good, tasty chutney but the chana kachumbar mix was diabolical. they need to put it on the menu as a separate listing all together. this was gone very very quickly. 

they do a selection of toasts, this was the spicy tomato bit with peanut salsa and home made paneer. Tad spicy and a little underwhelming but by no means bad. 

the eggs kejriwal were unlike any i have had but were terrific. easily one of the starts of the menu. def get them whilst there. 

the masala coke, was smaller than id like and had more masala than id like. could be improved. 

so the indian tacos were dissapointing, didnt go anywhere, too gimmicky. although i am told the non-veg taco was terrific. 

so this was my main, the baked cabbage and paneer kofta, the first serving was over salted so we sent it back. it came back somewhat fixed but not quite. i had it with a steamed garlic bun which was terrific and must be had. 

the old monk rum laden gulab jamun was terrific. a combination that works extremely well together. 

the guava pastry with mirchi ice cream was okay, i didnt find it to be that great but everyone else loved it. 

the falooda sundae with some skim milk. terrific. a falooda SUNDAE so simple yet so amazing. 

the ice cream sandwich was dissapointing all around. the bon bon and jim jam are great but need to perhaps switch the ice cream filling. 

the masala chai popsicles were exactly as weird as they sound. look like kulfi but taste just like frozen chai (not as bad as it sounds) my companions liked this more than i did. 

Overall, the space is pretty cool, the vibe is great and its heaving with people. So for now, its def going to be the place to go.

I was the sole vegetarian of the crew and i found the food to be okay, the menu is kinda eclectic and fairly limited. Its not traditional in any sense. I am told they will take another two months or so to add more veg options. So the place def does have potential, hope to check them out in a month or two.

Also, as @anaggh rightly pointed out, the menu is kinda limited therefore will have to change frequently otherwise one could go through it all in two visits and then it gets kinda boring.  the word is that the menu will change every couple of months.

The non-veg was voted to be amazing, so i guess meat eaters should not feel shy about ordering.

The desserts range from terrific to good to weird good. So no chance of making a mistake there.

Service was quick, prompt and friendly. Id say go for it.

Special thanks to @dharmeshg @qtfan and @anaggh for a great evening out, sorting out the table and eveything else.

Food : 7/10
Service : 8/10
Damage : 12000 for 4 w cocktails