Dumbbells and Drama

I walked into Le Pain Quotidien on a Thursday afternoon to grab a quick bite. A day that started at 5:00am all the way from Pune had me craving for a rich coffee and a quiche. I wanted to grab a bite at a peaceful place (the Andheri daredevil rickshaw rides were to blame I guess) which is why I chose this over Leopold/Mondegar/Social. As far as the ambiance settings are concerned, this was a good choice. Other than that, it was pretty meh. 



The wood paneled decor does give the restaurant a very homely, English countryside feel. Displaying breads on tables and counters along with the soft lighting definitely compliment the look. The music is a happy, chirpy number that does help lift up your spirits. Great job at keeping it old-school. 
Ambiance- 10/10

 


The service was such a disappointment! Nice guy, but he seemed a little too unsure of everything! Maybe it’s his bad luck that I couldn’t decide upon an easy dish 🙂 I wanted a quiche, which he wasn’t sure was available. When he figured that it was, I asked him not to add any mushrooms to it. After which he comes back to me saying the quiches cannot be made without mushrooms. Oops. I had to leave my table twice to go take a look at the counter. I guess I was pretty much off the whole craving part, and just wanted something to fill my stomach. Hence I settled in for the sun-dried tomatoes and chicken bread that was displayed at the counter.

The coffee order was a little comical, and I must take some time out to mention it. 
Me- what’s the best cold coffee preparation that you serve? 
Him- we serve the regular coffee, with ice….so it’s cold. You could go for the iced coffee. 

Ah well, thanks for the help. I was a little too tired to laugh, but I did order this special Iced Coffee. 

And ignoring a counter full of such drool worthy desserts it’s a tad bit too difficult for me, so it should come as no surprise that I ordered the Banana Caramel Cupcake (eggless) 

The coffee was brought to my table within 5 minutes (thank God for that) Nothing too special, and exactly what he had said- it was coffee, served cold. I would have preferred it a little stronger (I did mention this to him while placing the order) Overall, it was quite an average cold coffee I could have picked up from any other cafe. 

 

 

 

The Sundried Tomatoes and Chicken Bread was quite a disappointment. It got a little stringy and difficult to break after a while. I have tasted quite a lot of breads, and have found each to be quite different. I expected a distinct flavor…but this one was just…yeast. The local bakery makes tastier bread. The chicken filling combined with the olives did taste pretty pleasant (though if you do not like bland food, you might want to give this a miss.) I was looking out for a tangy flavour of tomatoes, but that was missing. Meh. I ended up leaving the corners (and that’s saying something cos I never leave the crusts) That’s mainly because the bread wasn’t tasty. 

 



The Banana Caramel Cupcake saved the day. BEST banana flavored cake I’ve ever eaten. Almost wanted to tweet, “BANANA CARAMEL CUPCAKE-I just died and went to heaven and came back for some more” but I was too busy enjoying it to bother reaching for my phone. The whipped cream is flavored with cinnamon, so extra brownie points for that. I’m salivating right now as I write this…*sigh* Could you guys deliver this to Pune? 

 



A little too expensive for something as basic as a quick bite, but I guess it works for Mumbai. I would want to come back here for a date maybe. Yeah, that’d be good. 

C’est La Vie for now. 

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