Tea Villa, Mumbai

TEA VILLA, Vile Parle

This was a spot decided by me over-night, and the first time that I have actually explored Vile Parle. A friend who had landed from Ahmedabad, and was flying to Singapore the same day on a Leisure Trip (Jealous much!). The hotel he was booked in was located in Vile Parle and hence I was given the task of finding a place in the vicinity. In addition, I am not one of those easy-breezy girls who will be happy being seated in a local coffee shop with a friend, I would want to make the most of it by also making sure I visit a new place if possible. I realize I am probably a little high-maintenance, but I also realize that I do it all by myself and am not mooching off any one. So you don't get to complain except for my friend on this particular day who decided to pick the bill up. (In my defence, I offered to pay!) 

After going through several places and the many different options they presented, I couldn't fathom going anywhere else except for this one. There are several reasons for this, from the extensive menu they have including almost everything you can think of having under one little roof. Then the presentation that you could see of the many dishes from their listing on Zomato, is enough to get your mouth watering, to the ambiance you presume the place to have which gives the cozy enough environment for you to just go on talking leaving your worries behind, letting two friends unwind. Yes, a place can be all that and more, its all in the ambiance and I have to say this place is exactly that. 

If I were to talk to you about the service, I do not know if it was just the day or the timing, or something else, but for some reason I can't tell you that the service was good or bad. This is because the servers though attentive were forgetful. Both the times we placed our orders we had to wait for quite a while and I am sure that they had forgotten that we had placed an order at all, till we asked for whatever happened to it. This is because people coming in after us were being served, while we spent our time catching up on whereabouts. I would not give them negative points for two reasons, I had met a friend after a long time and so we did a lot of talking and time was not of essence. Second, the servers seemed young and naive in that "shucks!I forgot way and you couldn't hold a grudge because of that. Never, the less, I would say pull up your socks. Not every day would be such. On any other occasion, I would have created quiet the ruckus.

Generally, I order at least 3-4 items, but on this particular day I ordered just two, reason being I had plans for the evening as well, and I know very well that if It being almost 12 pm, if I have a very heavy brunch, I will not feel up to eating in the evening, and my plan included to hog in the evening :P. Another reason which I didn't mention before for choosing this place was that my friends is a vegetarian, so I had made it easy by choosing a place that served veg instead of going through the hassles of vegetarian and non-vegetarian. The first dish we ordered on the day was classic cheese fondue. This was something that I had been craving for quite a while, but the one or two other occasions I could have had this, the option available was only in veg and my companions on the day were not keen on having veg fondue. Me? Its cheese. I do-not care if its in veg and non-veg. BECAUSE ITS ALL ABOUT THE CHEESE!! You get the point, and so on this day, I didn't care and just went for it. Every time I have had fondue, I have realized cheese can taste so different in every place. Here it was too, I am not good at defining that this is what it tasted like exactly, I can tell you it had a hint of pepper in it, and that it was delish as it should be, but other than that I can't differentiate, or rather I still have not learn how to put it in words. I had ordered for iced tea while my friend had ordered for a frappe. I had chosen Iced Tea because when you order a frappe or something along similar lines, then it can fill you up. Moreover, generally with meals I prefer having something aerated or anything that falls into this family as it compliments the meal more and satiates your thirst. The iced tea served in the fancy mason jars (Why does every outlet have masor jars now?!! It takes away from the luxury of bring served in one, now that everyone's doing it!) Next we had ordered for Banana Caramel Waffles. I happen to love waffles and I also love Caramel more than chocolate, so this was the ideal choice for me and it did not disappoint! Though it was served in its own sweet time as they had forgotten we had ordered, when served the sweetness of it washed down any grudges that we had beheld till the time and all I could think of was, WOW! WOW! and a little more WOW! :D

I am not done with this place, this place is on my list to re-visit as soon as soon can be, thanks to their extensive menu which is very tempting. What I am probably trying to say here is that - You can't just have one or rather you can't just be here once! :D

WHAT WE HAD - Cheese Fondue (Cheese = Love)

                           Banana Caramel Waffle ( Love at first bite!)

                           Oreo Shake (Never can go wrong with Oreo)

                           Peach Iced Tea (The Classic!)

DAMAGES - Rs 800/- Approx

WHERE - Tea Villa Cafe, Pardhy House, Opp. Jain Temple, Junction of MG Road & Hanuman Road, Vile Parle (e) - MUMBAI