Monsoon Brunch at The Leela, Mumbai
There are meals, and then, there are some meals that turn into experiences that will be talked about for a long time and memories that will last a lifetime!
The last weekend was a very special one for us, our parents would have celebrated their 30th wedding anniversary and we wanted to go all out and ensure a fantastic weekend for maa, and that is when the thought of the Monsoon Brunch at The Leela came to our mind!
What makes this brunch so special is the fact that apart from some fantastic hospitality combined with some delicious food, the lush greenery and artificial Waterfalls in the property gives you a breathtaking view while you enjoy your meal!
The Monsoon Brunch boasted of lot of lot of delicacies that are a staple in the Mumbai monsoons.
The Appetisers:
Apart from the usual grills and salads and canapes and cheese boards, this time’s brunch boasted of a large chaat counter with Pani Puri, Sev Puri and Bhel served to order; a Bombay street food counter which had dishes like the Pav Bhaji, Samosa Chaat, Matar Samosas, Patra, Matar Pattice, Corn Pattice, Khaman Dhokla and the likes. They also had a fantastic Cutting Chai and Monk’s Chai Counter which had a Popcorn cart to its left and a Bhajia and Vada Pav cart to its right! While the Patra reminded me of what my grandmother makes, the Matar Pattice was the bomb and I just loved the Sev Puri! Mom enjoyed the Pani Puri and munched on the Popcorn while the Vada Pav was what dreams were made up of! They also had two types of Chai that came in cutting chai glasses, one was the good old cutting chai and the other was something called the monks chai, made with condensed milk instead of milk and also had some old monk in it! So cool, right?
The Beverages:
An array of beverages kept flowing in all through the meal! From the freshly made Shikanji to the Tamarind mocktail whose name I forgot to some fun kala khatta jars! An assortment of avocado in various forms such as smoothies and milkshakes were also available apart from the assortment of coffees and hot chocolates!
The Mains:
A large variety of Indian and Thai cuisine, accompanied by live counters serving an assortment of Pizzas, Pastas, Dosas, Uttapams and Soups. While the dishes in Thai counter that caught my eye were the Okra and Potato cooked Thai style and the Drunken Noodles; I got a little more attracted towards the Indian counter that had dishes like Methi Paneer, Dal, Mixed Vegetables and what not! Food, so good that it is so hard to resist! The pizza was woodfired and the dough made from the scratch and the dal that dal was truly what dreams were made up of! Such a delight I must say…
The Desserts:
How could a large dessert spread filled with delicious goodies be left back when you already have such a variety of foods! From Malpua to Phirni to the good old Jelly with Custard to some uber delicious Burnt Butter Parisian Brest and that massive Grandmama’s Old Shoe made out of Chocolate and the White Chocolate and Mint Mille Feuille to the Cream Cheese Chocolate Brownie to the sugar free Chocolate Mousse and what not! I loved the Burnt Butter Parisian Brest so much that I found it difficult to stop and eventually overlooked everything else that was there!
I must add that Kaustubh’s (Assistant Manager, Food And Beverage) hospitality and his passion for the brand shows in how he treats you as a guest, how he talks about the beautiful surroundings and the stories behind them and why you will always see a live Dosa and Uttapam counter and how he will push you outside your comfort zone and make you try dishes that you may have never contemplated trying and then loving it so much that you wonder why did you never try it before!?!
It’s the little things like these that always make a difference, don’t they?
And just as we were leaving, Kaustubh asked us to wait for a moment and we actually wondered what more could he do and he comes out with a decadent chocolate cake with an Anniversary message for mom, so heartwarming; you could see it in the sparkle in mom’s eyes!