Among the many things that I did while on this hiatus was finally visiting the {relatively} new vegetarian cafe doubled as a restaurant aka Zen Cafe. Now its an irony when you’re unable to visit a place that’s just two blocks away from your regular weekend hangout for five full months. Never mind.
On a Saturday, after visiting Address Home at Raghuvanshi Mills (love this place for their Home Decor) for revving up my room with bright cushions and delirious with hunger I finally decided to visit Zen Cafe for an early dinner.
Located at the mezzanine level of a furniture store, the cafe is surprisingly spacious (one thing that is pure luxury in Mumbai is space and it’s always a delight to visit a place like this) with chic accents (beige comfi sofas). Just as the name suggests, Zen Cafe is not the kind of place to go with a rowdy crowd, or when you want to have loud, political debates. Go to Zen Cafe with a loved one or two that you can share some quiet moments, easy chats or have a tete-e-tete. The place inspires calm, meaningful meetings {or chat} and copious amounts of food and drinks (Ohhh I mean the likes of tea, coffee, shakes). I can imagine coming to this place to unwind and calm down after a long day of work, just sit down, have a coffee, nibble some yummy food by myself or some good company.
The name Zen Cafe will trick you into believing that it has oriental cuisine [that was my initial assumption when I read its name on the hoardings] but its actually Italian and Mexican. A good selection of food for a cafe with decent options in the beverages section. Everything on the food menu is designed to share and the food comes in concise portions.
Hunger struck, we first ordered some drinks – a latte, Zen Smartini (rooibos tea shaken with hazelnut) and nutella shake. I was excited to try the smartini but could not relate to the drink as it had the strong aroma of a tea {the hot tea kinda notes in an iced tea, not too welcoming} with the hazelnut flavour lost somewhere. The nutella shake was yummy and filling; rare guilty pleasure when you are allowed some pampering with all that chocolate.
We started the meal with Kathi Roll that had a distinct pickle flavour that added a nice flavour and taste to the roll without being spicy.
We tried the grilled veg Quesadilla next, that again was a lookalike of the kathi roll; cheese and veggies stuffed in a flour tortilla that gave it a chapati vibe. Somewhat lackluster, nothing much to talk about. This was followed by Pizza Mediterano – thin crust with sundried tomatoes {my fav}, olives and capers and the classic Margherita. I loved the taste, flavour and crust of Mediterano. However Margherita, which is my favourite go to pizza, was a disappointment, the pizza lacked in salt and was rather bad. You can ask them to get rid of cheese to have your vegan version.
A Tomato Panini soon arrived and looked tempting. The bread of the panini was so soft that it melted in your mouth, and the sandwich had pesto sauce, which was a nice surprise. The portion was good enough to fill up an adult with a delectable taste.
To cleanse our palate and add a sweet touch we ordered Apple Cinnamon cake, which was an absolute delight.
I will not bore you with minute details of every item that was ordered, but my absolute favourite was the Pizza Mediterano, kathi rolls and the Apple Cinnamon Cake.
I’d love to come back to Zen Cafe with my book and spend an afternoon all on my own, sipping some tea, biting on the yummy pizza when I’d feel peckish, watching the calm and quiet {smiling at the people around}, going back to what I was reading and finish the day with a content feeling inside.
Zen Cafe
KSL House, Raghuvanshi Mills
(near Phoenix Mills)
Tulsi Pipe Road, Lower Parel
Mumbai
Open 11am-10pm (11pm on weekends)
