Candies, Pali Hill. A Review

Everyone who is a student in Bombay, knows about Candies or has been there. We (myself and my group of friends) went there yesterday to celebrate a friend's 21st.

The first thing that strikes you about the place is the ambiance. It is apt for people who want sit outside, in the Bombay sun and not feel hot, there are shades and trees you see. You have to climb a many short stairs to get to the various levels. It has a an old Bombay Villa feel. There are Beatles tile mosaics, brightly coloured doors, quirky lanters and secluded seating areas.

Cozy location and quirky wall fixtures

There are also these hidden tables for two, which are ideal for dates. I know I want to go there.

Table for two

Now about the Food. I had the Salad Bar (Rs.120) which is a selection of salads and you can load as much onto one plate.

They give you only one serving, so make the most of it

The salad bar has the usual macaroni, potato, corn, green salads. There was also the waldorf salad. What they could have done was provide more salad dressings and also stand alone salad vegetables. 

The pre-cooked mini meals at Candies are a complete disaster. They pre-cook them, so I guess you get the picture. They cost Rs.150 each and come with a serving of salad and tiny pieces of Garlic Bread. We had the Spinach and Mushroom Canneloni, Macaroni and Veg Bake and American Chopsuey. The first two Italian meals were terrible. Made with white sauce that had kind of split and re-heating it just pisses you off. 

I reccomend the salad bar and the sandwiches, which they have to freshly prepare. 

We had a few coolers there. 

Clockwise from top left: greengrass cooler, Pink lemonade and Bombay Blue

They were priced at Rs.50 each. the Pink Lemonade was too sweet with strawberry jelly in it. The Bombay Blue and Greengrass cooler were nice and refreshing.

The desserts! 

They have an extensive menu. And they are very cheap and taste amazing. 

Top to bottom: the array of small choclates and tarts. The Red Velvet cupcake. The chocolate eclair with custard.

We had the Red Velvet cupcakes (small for Rs.20 and the medium one for Rs.30), the Chocolate Eclair with custard (Rs.40) and the mini tarts (Rs.6 each). The cupcakes are divine. The Eclair was nice as well. Though i though the custard could have been better. The jam tartlets are tiny and so cute! They were so small that I felt bad asking my friend for a bite, as they are smaller than a bite.

The red velvet bouquet

Now the best thing about the dessert display were the cupcake bouquets. Anyone who wants to woo me ditch the flower bouquets, get me one of these.

So if you love to hang out and have ample time, not an ample budget, this is the place for you. Also it is so pretty that if you are a sucker to facebook, then you can take millions of pictures here.

So the final Ratings:

Ambience: 5/5

Variety: 3/5

Taste: 2/5 (we only had the mini meals)

Dessert: 4/5

Value for money: 4/5

This blogger is not paid to review and reviews anonymously.

Not a Food Snob

I am a student, living with my parents in Bombay (ok, New Bombay). I have an allowance and all the produce at home is from the local vegetable guy. I don't have the luxury of buying organic foodstuffs because their price is just sky-high. I have to make do with the resources available to me.

In short, I guess what I am trying to say is that, I cannot afford to be a food snob. I use perfectly normal veggies and flour. So any kind of recipe which requires me to use blue-berries or any other berries, to pay for which I may have to sacrifice an arm and a leg, just gets adapted to fit what I have at home. 

So instead of golden syrup, which Nigella uses all the time. I just use honey and sugar syrup. I suspect it is something which tastes like a mixture of the two. 

No pecans? Use walnuts. 

Of course in India we don't get a million varieties of apples. Just two, red and green. So while baking anything which asks you to use smith apples, just use ones which a hard. The results will not be the same but close. 

Living on a budget also puts constraints on where I eat out. I mean I would love to frequent amazing restaurants which use A-grade ingredients, but I can't. Not all the time. So I like places which offer good food at a decent price. Though food is one thing I don't mind spending on, but Bombay can get extremely expensive and till I start earning such luxuries can wait. 

Where do you all eat? Any place you would like me to review or eat at?