Café Basilico – Bistro and Deli

It was the second day of our reunion gala, and as usual we were stuck in Bandra. We were more than tired of our usual hangouts (Mocha, Red Box, China Gate etc.). The day before we had gone to Phoenix Mills to celebrate a birthday and we ended up eating at Bombay Blues and buying clothes from U.C.B. Today I was treating for my birthday after six whole months. We thought of going to Noodle bar but it didn’t feel all that exciting. Then we crossed Papa Pancho and I remembered the day when after a horrible Pace exam we had decided to drown our sorrows by blowing cash. We decided to go to Basilico, not a very wise decision because we had to leave after looking at the menu card. When I said we were going to blow cash I meant the cash we had on us. So we got out all red faced, while the waiters eyed us like we were filth. But I always meant to go back there, so we had made our decision. It was going to be Basilico again after two whole years.

We got their by one which was a wee bit early for lunch. But we got really nice tables, far from the kitchen but still visible to the waiters. The décor was mostly organic green and woody, low lighting and loud conversations and slow music. We were five of us and all of us believe in experimenting .We had pretty much had it with pastas but we still wanted Italian food. This restaurant serves mostly a mix of Italian , Moroccan and American food. We quickly decided on the appetizers- Fresh tomato and basil bruschetta ( Rs.260/-) which was basically French baguette topped with fresh cherry tomatoes , basil ,cheddar tossed in garlic paprika. The tomatoes were fresh and the bread was well done but the portions were really tiny. The service was at snails pace so we decided to order the entrees and desserts together. By now the place was filled. It was surprising , being a Wednesday afternoon and we even managed to do a little celebrity spotting.

As entrees we ordered a creamy mushroom risotto ( Rs.350/-) which was a basic risotto served with fresh mushrooms, speed gazpacho salsa (yum!!) fresh oregano and extra virgin olive oil. The portions disappointed us again but it made up on the flavour. We also had a spinach and cottage cheese ravioli in white sauce ( Rs.400/-) which is a pasta stuffed with spinach and cottage cheese. I liked the filling but the white sauce did not impress me much. We also had an open rustic lasagne ( Rs.400/-). This was different from a basic lasagne because it had a nice assortment of grilled vegetables and just the right kind of basil pesto to go with it. To complete it we ordered a penne paprika ( Rs.350/-) ,since we just had to have a pasta, which was apparently supposed to be penne with broccoli in a rich paprika cream sauce but tasted more like an arabiata. Even though it tasted good but it was not exactly what we had in mind. The garlic bread kept coming (Rs.100 each).

But the meal was not over yet. The most important part was still to come. Dessert!!. We ordered a gooey chocolate cake( Rs.250/-). It was the star of the lunch. A beautiful chocolate cake with rich chocolate sauce dripping from it. We also had a fresh blueberry cheesecake (Rs.250/-)which was pretty good, but I have had better. We also had an apple pie(Rs.250/-), which I did not like one bit. It had too much cinnamon which completely drowned the apple flavour. We would have ordered drinks but the drink menu only had canned juices and soft drinks ,so we decided to skip it.

Overall we had a nice time catching up on all the gossip ,eating good food and listening to horrible music. It’s a nice place to see and be seen ,but make sure your pockets are full. A meal for two would cost around Rs.1500/- without the drinks.