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  Life   Food  11 Jan 2019  A dessert lover's guide to seven days of sweetness in Mumbai

A dessert lover's guide to seven days of sweetness in Mumbai

THE ASIAN AGE. | ROSHNI VATNANI
Published : Jan 12, 2019, 12:05 am IST
Updated : Jan 12, 2019, 12:05 am IST

So here is a handy dandy guide to seven Mumbai days of sweetness and no running with the bulls.

From a melt-in-your-mouth brownie to a bowl of nutty payasam, satiate your sweet tooth whenever the craving strikes.
 From a melt-in-your-mouth brownie to a bowl of nutty payasam, satiate your sweet tooth whenever the craving strikes.

I have long since suspected that a sugar rush is significantly better than an adrenaline rush. Admittedly, this epiphany arrived after zero attempts at an adrenaline rush, so the data is possibly skewed. Still, I have eaten dessert every single day of the week while actively avoiding bungee jumping and skydiving. So here is a handy dandy guide to seven Mumbai days of sweetness and no running with the bulls.

Banana Leaf, 7 Bungalows, Andheri West for Post-Lunch Sunday
Come here for the dosa, stay for the payasam. Served warm in a tiny silver bowl, accompanied with a side order of filter coffee, the texture is dreamy and a little bit nutty. It may be the best way to contemplate Sunday anxiety and whether people who use cutlery to eat their dosas are the real monsters we should be afraid of.

Sweetish House Mafia, Bandra for Just Before Midnight on Monday
Cookies are really the perfect dessert – their size making it acceptable to eat your way through a box with minimal regret. Sweetish House Mafia’s cookies have simple flavours, crusty edges, soft centres and chocolate chips melting into your hands. They’re not overly buttery and barely hold it together when heated (but then, who does, really?). Buy the cookie slab for when you want to eat like no one is watching.

Sangeeta Sweets Peddar Road for Mid-Day Tuesday Snack
Sangeeta’s is an institution. Every time I have driven through town, I have come back with more than a few boxes of peda from Sangeeta’s. Their hue, somewhere between soaked saffron and custard, is impossibly warm, fuzzy and irresistible. We have it often and always during teatime, because calories don’t count during tea.
Sangeeta Sweets, Shop 26, Vellard View, Peddar Road, Mumbai 400 026.

Muffins at Bombay Baking Co, JW Marriott, Juhu for Hump Day Breakfast Meeting
Coffee is the only reason to wake up in the morning, but the muffins at Bombay Baking Co are wonderfully old school and make a nice accompaniment to your java. The ratios are just right – enough cake to conceal the fruit and enough fruit to conceal the nutrition. I mean, what is bran and why would it be in my muffin? I love the golden, gleaming crumb that conceals a plum muffin top. I buy the blueberry muffin and a pot of French Press and wonder how I’d do as Gilmore Girl.
Bombay Baking Company, JW Marriot, Juhu Tara Road, Mumbai 400 049.

Chocolate Praline Cake, Ellipsis Bakery, Bandra for Everything Sucks Thursday
Sometimes, the week goes on for too long and my distaste must be met with cake. Depending on the day, my tastes range from anything-will-do to must-have-flavour-and-unicorn-tears. This is somewhere in between. Praline and chocolate is a classic pairing that for a reason was suddenly passé. Now, Ellipsis Bakery is making it cool again and at 10 p.m. on a Thursday night, I am grateful.

Raspberry Ripple, The Right Place, Warden Road for Casual Friday
The Right Place on Warden Road is normally my go-to for sandwiches, but they also do the best soft serves outside of McDonalds (If you are suddenly questioning my tastes in food, it’s a little too late). Their raspberry ripple is creamy with actual raspberry flavouring! The best part is that the guy behind the counter serves up two generous scoops for the price of one.
Right Place, Shop No. 7, Building No. 63, Bhulabhai Desai Road, Mumbai 400 026. Phone: 022 2367 0885.

Pistachio Opera Cake, La Folie Lab, Bandra for Date Night Saturday
Pistachios are exotic to some, but to anyone who grew up with kheer loving family (and therefore has spent many days debating the humble pistachio’s place in kheer), it is anything but. At La Folie Lab, the ingredients are all dressed up – fine layers stacked with surgical precision, fresh raspberry cream in the middle, white chocolate vanilla cream on the top, adequate flavour in every bite. Very thrilling to me.

Tags: banana leaf