Usually I am quite disappointed at the dessert section of most of the sit down restaurants as they are generally clichéd and hard on innovations. However, of late I have been quite impressed with the abundance of dessert specialty places like Theobroma, Le 15 Patisserie and off course Chocolateria San Churros. This has opened up a whole new panorama for me post lunch…I can rather settle for a plain Jane meal, but my desserts have to be decadent (perhaps that’s the bong genes in me claiming their just desserts).
San Churros, despite being an Australian chain handles Spanish chocolates with an equal finesse as some of the classiest chocolatiers around Las Ramblas in Barcelona. I had heard about this chain long back when I had just moved to Mumbai and was looking to get in touch with some Hispanic culture (having lived in Latin America for half of my life, I have developed a certain affinity to Latin food), but somehow never had a chance to visit the place.
However, last week post my kids’ classes, we were hunting for a lunch place to go and happened to pass by San Churros and needless to say, immediately stopped and went inside. On entering the premises, we were taken aback at the chocolaty décor of the place and the laid back ambience. The aromas of dark chocolate were lingering thickly in the atmosphere indoors and we were suddenly hungrier than we had realized. However on approaching the food display unit we were quite put off by the lame display on the counter. There were only 6 sandwiches – 3 veg and 3 non veg, totally forgettable, sorry looking fare. When we asked the staff, we were told that the delivery for the day was done and that is all they had for food. Disappointed, we headed to the Alfredo’s next door in hopes for a thin crust wood oven pizza but were swooned by the cheese fondue offering of the place. Much to our chagrin, it was a sorry affair with soggy vegetables and cheese which felt completely out of place in the fondue bowl. We finished the fondue half-heartedly and like kids walked back to the San Churros next door for the chocolatey desserts.
Ea
ch offering on this menu was better than the rest and between the kids, myself and my chocolate loving better half, we were split over our decision. Finally we decided on the chocolate tapas for us to share, a Spanish mocha for the misses and a double shot cappuccino for me.
After the sorry affair at Alfredo’s, it wouldn’t be an exaggeration to say that we met of dessert Nirvana. The sight of my wife’s Spanish mocha was enough to make any chocolate lover shake in their boots….thick creamy sticking to the spoon chocolate with an ever so slight hint of coffee, we were in heaven! Two sips down, we realized the reason why the restaurant doesn’t need to carry much food. The cup of mocha was a meal in itself.
W
hoever has designed the chocolate tapas has done a fine job keeping in mind the sweet and the savoury quotient of the platter. It is a meal in itself and includes salty pretzels, choice of fruit (we chose bananas), choice of an ice cream (we chose vanilla), brownies, two pieces of chocolates to choose and six churros along with a choice of chocolate dip (white, dark and milk – we chose milk). I must say that the chocolates were as close to any of the finest chocolateries of Spain, the churros crisp and piping hot, paired quite well with the creamy dip. My coffee was perfectly made to my liking. All in all decadence and bliss were small words to describe what we felt at the moment.
As always the churros made a fast appearance and a faster disappearance and we decided to call it a day and rush back to our home for a much deserved afternoon nap.The best thing of all was that the cost of this gluttony was totally within Rs.1,000/- and needless to say, the devil of San churros has struck us hard to safely lure us back into its trap over many fateful afternoons in the days to come.
Ratings (Out of 5)
Food (desserts mainly): 4.0 | Ambience: 3.5 | Service: 4.0 | Overall: 4.0
Meal for two: Rs 1000 (dessert and coffee) | Timings: 11AM – 11.30PM
Address: San Churros, Royal Classic Building, Ground Floor, New Link Road, Shastri Nagar D Phase, Andheri West, Mumbai | Phone: 022 2617 1711
– Suprio Bose
