My foodie horizons have been broadened immeasurably thanks to regular morning-cuppa-time reading of some delicious food blogs from Down Under. Thanks to these sincere food chroniclers, words like churros, ribs, hotpot, dukah, crackling, mado, ube and many, many more have entered my culinary lexicon.
So when I heard (thanks, M for the update!) that Mumbaikars could sample churros right in the heart of Mumbai's gourmet district( Bandra West) I was excited and couldn't wait to try them. All it needed was a free Saturday evening and the company of a food-loving BFF and we were set!
Churros, as Wikipedia will tell you, 'are fried-dough pastry-based snacks, that originated in Spain( ...)normally eaten for breakfast dipped in hot chocolate.' Fried Dough. Two words with such promise in them! The promise of crisp crunchy exterior and a toothsome centre. Of a vision in golden brown. Of buttery crumbs that leave a trail on your lips. AND all this coupled with melted chocolate!! The best just got better, in my opinion! :D
The Mumbai franchise outlet of Australian chain Chocolateria San Churro, located bang opposite Red Box Cafe on Bandra's Waterfield Road brings these delights to Mumbaikars.
The restaurant, or self-named chocolateria, has a couple of tables, the main service counter with chiller cabinets below it, and a menu-wall behind it on the ground floor. A dangerous staircase (narrow steps, barely wide enough to take a size 6 shoe!) takes you to the first floor, which is surprisingly roomy. It is one BIG room with no pillars or nooks or corners to break the expanse of space. The far wall is floor-to-ceiling glass, and one entire length of the room is lined with a VERY comfortable, VERY wide (you can easily sit cross-legged on it) chocolate-brown leather banquette. The floor is wood, the tables are simple square ones, the chairs are leather tub chairs, and the walls are cream painted over with dark brown murals - marshmallows, Easter Eggs, and a curling flower-and-leaf motif. A row of Spanish tiles - dark blue and cream - runs through the centre of each wall. The decor is pleasantly different from most cafes. The vibe is easy, especially due to the two MAMMOTH flat screen TVs mounted on the walls, tuned to live cricket matches.
My BFF (lets call her C) was ravenous so we quickly ordered the Churros Medio (6 churros with 2 small pots of molten chocolate - you can choose between milk, dark and white) and the Mushroom Vol Au Vent. The Vol Au Vent was not listed on the menu - the menu only lists variants of the churros, chocolate fondue, shakes and ice cream desserts. For the rest of the stuff (pies, quiches, sandwiches, dessert cakes, cookies, brownies, marshmallows and cheesecake) you need to head down to the chiller cabinet on the ground floor and choose what you like.
The Vol Au Vent came first - nice flaky puff pastry encasing a creamy generously-proportioned glob of chopped mushrooms cooked in white sauce with sage. Delicious! It would have been perfect had the base of the pie not been chewy and difficult to cut into.
Our churros came next - a vision of beauty on a long rectangular plate, flanked with the 2 pots of dipping chocolate.
Unfortunately, they came spruiked with icing sugar (no problem with that) and ground cinnamon (Blasphemy! I cannot stand any CONTAMINATION to interfere with the pure chocolate taste!) What's more, the chocolate (we'd asked for dark in one pot and milk in the other) also came laced with mint (creme de menthe, maybe). The mint flavour was light, but the damage was done. :(
That slight apart, the churros were great - crispy, crunchy, beautifully golden with delicate spikes that had been fried to brown tips. And they retained their crispy-yet-chewy texture even after being swathed in the voluptuous molten chocolate. Yet there was something missing - the rich, buttery taste of good pastry, maybe?
Our next round of food, unfortunately did not live up to to the expectation set by the Vol Au Vent. C's potato sandwich (yes, there is an abomination like that in existence!) was too salty, my chicken salami quiche was nice but too, too heavy (I had to doggy-bag more than half it) and the New York cheesecake was dry and stodgy with a nondescript base.
The damage (yes, that IS the right word!) came to approx INR 900. So, CSC is by no means reasonably priced, and for such a pricey place, the service was almost comically distracted. Yet, its a nice place to hang out, sample the churros, and enjoy the vibe.
Chocolateria San Churro
Silver Pearl
Waterfield Road
Bandra W
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