Bean-age Romance

If Cafe Madras’ crisp dosa were to marry Suzette’s buckwheat Brittany-style crepe, you’d get a pesto aaloo dosa, much like the one we sceptically ordered at Powai’s new Cafe Bean Garu on opening day yesterday. This, a new “South Indian bistro” opened by the guys behind Out of the Blue restaurant, alters Udipi to suit uber cool. So besides the union of the crepe and dosa – crosa anyone? – the menu holds records of other mixed marriages including herbs weds idli and Malabari curry weds Italian Risotto. During the course of our meal we found that while many of these relationships work out, some can’t deal with the cultural differences.

Fly South for the Summer

Situated on the first floor of Haiko Mall, this “bistro” is really a food court-like cafe facing the back of a departmental store and the front of an ordering booth made to look like a hut. Despite this, the place didn’t strike us as tacky, saved perhaps by Tuesday afternoon peace, its lungi-wearing mascot Mr Bean Garu and cute wooden chairs bound with thread. We wondered if a chaotic Sunday evening at the mall would change that opinion, though. Aiyo!
We started with what the weather dictated – a chilled glass of herbal ice tea that is apparently made with twenty different herbs. That figure may be a stretch, but the beverage definitely tasted more natural, a refreshing change from the packet iced teas served at so many cafes today. For solids, we started by ordering the South-style potato wedges and Thayir Mirapakaya Ulli Garelu (fried spiced dumplings), but learned that unavailability of certain options is one of Cafe Bean Garu’s teething problems. Paper crockery is the second – they promise to change both by next week.

Malabari Hills

So we ordered instead what was available - the pesto cheese dosa and butter herb idli. While the former with all its potential lost a lot of its pesto flavour to the potato stuffing overdose (the receptive staff took our feedback and implemented it immediately), the latter was soaked in just the right amount of butter, tossed with herbs and complimented by delicious tomato chutney and spicy sambhar. While one half of the menu experiments with unusual combinations, the other half also features regular idlis and dosas for those who want to play it safe. Malabari curry, stew and curd rice with pickle are other good options.

Considering we’d spent most of our meal experimenting, we figured why stop now. So it ended with the Nutella Dosa, a desi treat made decadent with melted chocolate and topped with hazelnuts. Yum! You can also choose to get their Andhra filter coffee.

Nobody Put a Gun(powder) to Your Head!

The thing is this: You won’t go to Powai’s Cafe Bean Garu when you crave authentic South Indian fare. But if you’re in the area, sure. Or maybe you’ll even make the trip when you crave a pizza dosa or something equally bizarre. What we’ll return for is a super interesting appam and fondue combination, one we heard might be exported from their flagship cafe in Hyderabad.

Getting there: Cafe Bean Garu, Level 1, Haiko Mall, Hiranandani Gardens, Powai, call 40153258, Rs 400 for a meal for two.

bpb reviews restaurants anonymously and pays for its own meals.