The veg fusion
A midst the hustle and bustle of a very populated South Mumbai locality, is an all-vegetarian café that tries it’s best to bring in variety to the area with a fusion menu. It is a risky choice to have a pure vegetarian café in a cosmopolitan area, but it seems to be popular with the youth.
The Bogeto café which gained massive popularity with the college crowd in Matunga, has now it has bought its fusion food on the cusp of Gilder Lane and Lamington Road in Mumbai central. It is a 70-seater space with chequered fabric sofas, wicker chairs and walls potted with faux plants. Before we dove into our supper, we started with shakes and drinks as refreshments. The Basil Melon a.k.a a mojito (Rs 175), was light and refreshing. Even the Plain Janes a.k.a fruit milkshakes (Rs 210) were light and thick making it a perfect start to our meal.
‘Dips’ at the start
We started our meal with the Jalapeño and three cheese poppers (Rs 220), which is a mix of cheese, green jalapeños, mozzarella, cheddar and parmesan with a sweet and spicy dip. The poppers were cheesy with a hint of spice from the jalapeño, but the sauce was not tangy enough to entice our pallet. We then moved on to the Falafel Platter (Rs 210), which is falafel served with dips, pickled veggies and pita. Alas, the dips were not very spicy and the humus was extremely bland which made the whole dish not very appealing. Although, the pickled veggies were the only saving grace to the whole dish. The Breaded Onion Rings along with dips (Rs 210) was very chewy and bland, and the dips were a disappointment again. But the Crinkel Fries (Rs 199) were nice and crispy, though a tad bit salty.
A few hiccups
Disappointed with the starters, we decided to skip the salads, soups and sandwiches. We moved on to Super Duper (Rs 295) sizzler which had cottage cheese in skewers on a bed of rice and noodles served with stir fried veggies, potato wedges and creamed corn. The combination of rice and sauce was refreshing and had a nice tangy flavour to it. The noodles were soft, but the cottage cheese and the vegetables were a let-down as they were extremely under cooked. Next we tried the Hara Bara Kebab Burger (Rs 230) which consisted of the hara bara patty, chutney mayo and pickled onion salad. It was chewy, bland and very dry. On to the main course we decided on the penne Pasta Bowl (Rs 325) in pink sauce. The penne pasta was soft and fluffy, and the pink sauce was tangy and flavoursome. Although, the pasta had too much olive oil (for those who are health conscious), it was not very heavy. The bread accompanied with the pasta was soft and buttery.
Soothes with chocolate
We ended the meal with a slice of Go Mad With Chocolate (Rs 325) cake with Belgian mousse, gooey chocolate, ganache oreo cookie crumble, pretzels and nougat. The cake was a perfect balance of chocolate and bread, making it not too soft, nor to dry. The ice-cream stick on top of the cake was appealing to the eyes and the pallet. Also, the Rocky Road (Rs 250) waffles topped with cream, marsh mellows, nuts and chocolate ice-cream also did not disappoint. The waffle was soft and crunchy and tasted much better with the ice-cream.
Boon or not?
While the ambiance is refreshing, the menu seems more like your round the corner fusion. Moreover, price of the dishes was not proportional to the quantity, especially since the café has a massive popularity among the college crowd. Though the all-vegetarian cafe, which has a smaller outlet with a limited menu in Matunga, offers more fusion varieties in appetisers, soups, sandwiches and burgers, stir-fries, pizza and mains here, they failed to impress in their fusion avatar. Also, we were perplexed to find Rajma Chawal (275) in café’s main course. But the separate Jain menu, and no alcohol is a boon to the majority Gujarati and Jain’s residing the area.
With a few hits and more misses, the new all-vegetarian café in South Mumbai doesn’t entice the pallet, but it seems to find its space among the youth, says NIKITA WADHAWAN