Wednesday, 21 September 2016

Havana Bar & Cafe, Mumbai

HAVANA BAR & CAFE, Colaba



Finding a place on a Saturday evening is a task in itself and after much deliberation we finalized on this. Th criteria for selection was that it should be happening enough but we shouldn't have to stand for hours (I am just not ready to do that!).

Is the place that happening? Not really. We were there till around midnight and I didn't really find the place to be what a Saturday night should ideally mean. The place is done spectacularly. I was especially taken with the interiors. They make really good back ground for photographs (Yes, I am one of those :P). The stair case leading to the main restaurant was surrounded by walls painted in hues of blue which is something else entirely. I am fond of the color blue, if you all are wondering. The main restaurant? Have you seen beauty and the beast? Well, you know when Belle enters the huge palace and it looks mysterious, inviting and a little bit scary as well? Not bad scary, the good scary, like where am I? This is what the place reminded me of. I find it more easy to describe while referring to something than just in plain words. Painting a picture by reference basically.

The service is just around average. Even though I wouldn't complain that we were not serviced or that the service was below par or even that we were not treated well. But it is little things that some times set you off. An example would be that for some peculiar reason everyone on our table felt that they wanted to get rid of us and give the table to some one else. I generally like service to be fast, but the service was just too fast that before we had even finished with our plates, we were asked if we are done with the dish. (Hold up a minute, please??!!) This didn't happen once but just again and again which irked us off a little bit. I get it that people who drink will be more profitable for you considering it is a Saturday night but otherwise you should just hand a sign board saying only if you order so many drinks will we be more welcoming towards you. We felt so rushed the entire time but even then we were firmly seated and just had the we are going to sit here till we want to vibe going on. Also, note that it wasn't like we weren't ordering. We were just having more food.

Well, obviously the next pointer in question is the food! For us non-vegetarians we ordered the non-veg sharing platter and the vegetarians opted for orange, gin and cubano berry marinated cottage skewers. The fanciest name on the menu many a times turns out to be the plainest dish on the menu. Word play helps sell it, I guess. This particular cottage cheese was just dressed with some sticky sweet sauce and had raw vegetables. The only reason why we ate it is because well we ordered it and didn't want it to go to waste. It is something that looks very fancy sitting on your table but is nothing more. The non-veg sharing platter is another story. Consisting of chicken & fish skewers, potatoes, nachos and wings is what you need on a Saturday Night with drinks in hand. Minus the drinks in our case. Next we had Spaghetti with herbs and feta cheese. It's good but not mind-blowing in any which way. We also had bruschetta of some sort which was just topped with raw tomatoes, cheese and some olives. I don't know about others but I prefer my bruschetta to be bakes like garlic breads generally is.The best dish on the day happened to be baked nachos with cheese. The portion is huge! Melted cheese is heaven and topped with salsa,olives and jalapenos makes quite the treat! This was the final dish ordered on the day and the goodness of it can simply be stated by the fact that we were almost full at this point and still devoured this like we haven't eaten at all on the day! For drinks, we had mostly rounds of iced teas around the table. The iced teas were okay enough. Lately, I have started to find that people can go wrong with iced teas as well. This one was just about okay. We also had ordered a glass of Sangria and I had a sip and once again I can say that I don't understand why people drink this stuff. :P

Would I end up here again? When they have a party scene going on a night, maybe. But solely for the food? Not, really. Combine that with the enthusiasm displayed for trying to get rid of us as soon as possible, probably not. Sometimes if your food is average but your service is spectacular, you might be pulled back for the warm welcome received. Here, not so much.

WHAT WE HAD - Non-Veg Sharing Platter (Yum!)
                           Cottage Cheese Skewers (Avoid!)
                           Spaghetti with Herb & Feta Cheese (Average)
                           Bruschetta (Okayish)
                           Baked Nachos with Cheese Sauce (Yummm..!!)
                           Sangria (No Comments)
                           Iced teas - 5 (Okayish)

DAMAGES - 25-30% Taxes on what ever amount you pay. (I have started to calculate Taxes because that's the pinch you really feel)

WHERE -  Havana Mumbai., The Gordon House Hotel, 5 Battery Street, Apollo Bunder, Colaba, Mumbai

Havana Café & Bar - The Gordon House Hotel Menu, Reviews, Photos, Location and Info - Zomato

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