Downtown is one nice little up street cafe. Located right on the intersecting Besant Nagar road in a 2 storey duplex, this one ticks all the right boxes from what you would expect normally at a cafe. There is a nice easy feel about the place and the food is great with a plethora of options in store. This is one place where you can yak yak leisurely to your heart's content with fellow like minded companions.
The ambiance is done up based on a lot of wood work and the decor is simple with brown wooden furniture. There is some comforting music playing at the background and the yellow cubicle bulbs gives it a gloomy touch. It's not hard to configure that this cafe points towards the right direction when you are especially looking to chill and relax with some beverages and nic-nacs for company.
The color palette is done up tastefully with a lot of cream and fabric making it look elegant and professional. There is nothing over the top and they haven't done anything extra to elevate on the kitsch factor. They have kept the surrounding minimal which works well here.
We were invited for an 'On the House' meal where we got to savor a host of stuff from their attic. We were a big crowd and happily ensconced to the top floor and as we were the only one's there, turned out to be a double whammy. We had a shot at their different coolers, beverages. smoothies and milkshakes of which many of them stuck the right chord. The shakes were very thick and large in size and will surely make you feel heavy. After the dosage of drinks, it was the turn of the Waldorf Salad comprising predominantly of apple chunks laced with a tad of walnuts and capsicum and glazed with honey. It had a creamy tangy taste to it. Next was the turn of the Quesadillas which resembled triangular chappathies stuffed with veggies. The filling was to the brim with an assortment of vegetables and it tasted good. Then marked the arrival of the much raved about Rice balls. They were in the form of cutlets and had the perfect combination of being crispy on the outside and cheesy on the inside. Was unique in taste and surely one of their signature specialties. The only blip was the accompaniment sauce was a little wee bit on the quantity front.
Once the starters were done, we moved onto the main course where we first got to have a bite into their boxed panneer burgers. The burger was simple with big square chunk of cottage cheese interspersed inside the bun along with your usual lettuce and tomatoes. It wasn't outstanding but nevertheless tasted fairly decent. The pizza was nicely made with lots of cheese intermingled with a few exotic veggies. It was pretty good however there was a heavy overpowering of tomato ketchup which could have been minimal. The pink sauce spaghetti pasta coated with cheese and basil was a winner though it also had a slightly high tomato puree taste. It will be better however if they replace their burger bun with a slice of garlic bread to go with the pasta. And for sandwiches they gave us a Mexican/Club sandwich combo with one tier being curried and the other more in the european style. Biting into both the layers together was an epicurean treat. Would have surely gobbled another piece if I had the wherewithal to do so. The food more or less made our tummies packed to the rafters but we had to also give the desserts a shot :). Got to taste the special fudge brownie with ice-cream which was kinda disappointing because the brownie was a little chicky and didn't blend well. But this was just a one off as the crepe with nutella was marvelous. The waffles were nice too and so was the caramel cake which was a delight.
It was a great roster and they made sure we got to have a crack at virtually most of the items from the different segments. And most of what we tasted was surely a win. A little amelioration can help in making it even better. The service was exemplary and the managing partner was very sweet in hearing our views and taking suggestions. The rates are akin to similar cafe based chains.
The Downtown cafe caters to the best of both worlds. If you're the one looking for insouciance and cooling your heels over a cup of coffee you will get that. And if you're looking to come as a big crowd wanting to confabulate nineteen to the dozen with your set of friends as we experienced, that's also possible. This cafe is surely one of the better upmarket cafe's worth recommending. It was indeed a pleasure to dine in at the Downtown.
The ambiance is done up based on a lot of wood work and the decor is simple with brown wooden furniture. There is some comforting music playing at the background and the yellow cubicle bulbs gives it a gloomy touch. It's not hard to configure that this cafe points towards the right direction when you are especially looking to chill and relax with some beverages and nic-nacs for company.
The color palette is done up tastefully with a lot of cream and fabric making it look elegant and professional. There is nothing over the top and they haven't done anything extra to elevate on the kitsch factor. They have kept the surrounding minimal which works well here.
We were invited for an 'On the House' meal where we got to savor a host of stuff from their attic. We were a big crowd and happily ensconced to the top floor and as we were the only one's there, turned out to be a double whammy. We had a shot at their different coolers, beverages. smoothies and milkshakes of which many of them stuck the right chord. The shakes were very thick and large in size and will surely make you feel heavy. After the dosage of drinks, it was the turn of the Waldorf Salad comprising predominantly of apple chunks laced with a tad of walnuts and capsicum and glazed with honey. It had a creamy tangy taste to it. Next was the turn of the Quesadillas which resembled triangular chappathies stuffed with veggies. The filling was to the brim with an assortment of vegetables and it tasted good. Then marked the arrival of the much raved about Rice balls. They were in the form of cutlets and had the perfect combination of being crispy on the outside and cheesy on the inside. Was unique in taste and surely one of their signature specialties. The only blip was the accompaniment sauce was a little wee bit on the quantity front.
Once the starters were done, we moved onto the main course where we first got to have a bite into their boxed panneer burgers. The burger was simple with big square chunk of cottage cheese interspersed inside the bun along with your usual lettuce and tomatoes. It wasn't outstanding but nevertheless tasted fairly decent. The pizza was nicely made with lots of cheese intermingled with a few exotic veggies. It was pretty good however there was a heavy overpowering of tomato ketchup which could have been minimal. The pink sauce spaghetti pasta coated with cheese and basil was a winner though it also had a slightly high tomato puree taste. It will be better however if they replace their burger bun with a slice of garlic bread to go with the pasta. And for sandwiches they gave us a Mexican/Club sandwich combo with one tier being curried and the other more in the european style. Biting into both the layers together was an epicurean treat. Would have surely gobbled another piece if I had the wherewithal to do so. The food more or less made our tummies packed to the rafters but we had to also give the desserts a shot :). Got to taste the special fudge brownie with ice-cream which was kinda disappointing because the brownie was a little chicky and didn't blend well. But this was just a one off as the crepe with nutella was marvelous. The waffles were nice too and so was the caramel cake which was a delight.
It was a great roster and they made sure we got to have a crack at virtually most of the items from the different segments. And most of what we tasted was surely a win. A little amelioration can help in making it even better. The service was exemplary and the managing partner was very sweet in hearing our views and taking suggestions. The rates are akin to similar cafe based chains.
The Downtown cafe caters to the best of both worlds. If you're the one looking for insouciance and cooling your heels over a cup of coffee you will get that. And if you're looking to come as a big crowd wanting to confabulate nineteen to the dozen with your set of friends as we experienced, that's also possible. This cafe is surely one of the better upmarket cafe's worth recommending. It was indeed a pleasure to dine in at the Downtown.
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