Let me paint you a picture: you’ve gone out to dinner with your family to the new restaurant in town and you’re wolfing down the food as it comes. But, by the time dessert comes around, you have no space left for that piece of delicious brownie or a plate of mouth-watering jalebi-rabdi. This is quite a common occurrence in a lot of restaurants, one I can say with certainty that I have lived through multiple times. But what if I told you that you don’t need to worry about skipping out on desserts anymore?
There was a time when desserts were treated as an afterthought, relegated to the last page of the menu, but recent times have seen restaurants awarding just as much attention to desserts as they do the rest of the menu, catering to the food-lovers who frequent their eateries. This is largely true, especially in a country like India where the most important member of a wedding party is usually the food counter. Some business owners and pastry chefs have gone a step further by setting up dessert bars, hoping to give food-lovers a place to enjoy an array of oft-overlooked delicacies. Passing up on desserts isn’t an option any longer, with dessert bars popping up all over the place!
Here are a few places for you to check out in Mumbai:
1. The Bombay Churros
Having recently acquired a taste for churros, I was pleasantly surprised to come across The Bombay Churros. For those who aren’t familiar with this Spanish dessert, churros are deep-fried dough pastries covered in sugar and served alongside champurrado (a chocolate-based Mexican beverage), hot chocolate, dulce de leche (Spanish for “candy [made] of milk”) or café con leche (a Spanish coffee beverage). Started in 2017, The Bombay Churros is a multi-store franchise boasting of a rich vegan menu, ranging from classic churros with six different types of dips to glazed churros covered in chocolate, coffee, and nuts. In addition to this, it offers four different kinds of churro sundaes as well as a host of drinks such as sodas, milkshakes, and coffees. If you are a fan of churros or have yet to try them, do look out for The Bombay Churros!
Location: Multiple outlets
2. Sweetish House Mafia
Started in 2013, Sweetish House Mafia grew from one store to multiple outlets in Mumbai, Pune, Kolkata, and Bangalore. SHM offers cookies made with and without using eggs and has a variety of cookies to choose from. The “Signature” cookies include white chocolate macadamia cookies, triple chocolate chip cookies, s’mores cookies, dark chocolate truffle, and Nutella sea salt cookies, to name a few. They also offer a range of “Classic” cookies such as chocolate chip, double chocolate chip, snickerdoodle, and oatmeal cranberry cookies. If this isn’t enough to tempt you, SHM also offers a range of drinks (sundaes, milkshakes, coffees, and beverages) to help wash down your cookies!
Location: Multiple outlets
3. Le 15 pâtisserie
Named after a famous Parisian neighborhood, the 15th arrondissement, Le 15 pâtisserie is inspired by classic French traditions of pâtisserie. The fact that Le 15 is founded by chef Pooja Dhingra, the renowned “Macaron Queen of India” should be enough to convince you of the stellar quality of desserts made here. Le 15 offers a gorgeous assortment of macarons, cupcakes, tarts, choux pastries, éclairs, and cakes which are sure to cater to varying palates. While a personal favorite is definitely the Nutella Seasalt macaron and the Hazelnut macaron, you should definitely decide for yourself!
Location: Multiple outlets in Mumbai
4. Country of Origin
Aptly (and cleverly) titled Country of Origin, the name is suggestive of the global origins of several of this brand’s desserts. COO presents its desserts in an innovative manner, as ‘Desserts in a Jar’. These ‘dessert jars’ have a variety of chocolatey (and a few sugar-free) mousses, tiramisu, and liquid cheesecakes (which taste as good as they sound!) as well as brownies, muffins, cookies, and cakes. Not only do they have a spread of assorted gift boxes, but they also offer a multitude of flavored nuts, spreads, and flavored honey!
Location: Multiple outlets in Mumbai
5. Daniel Pâtisserie
You have certainly been living under a rock if you haven’t heard of Daniel Pâtisserie’s famous, fluffy, cloud-like Japanese cheesecake. While this is one of its more famous desserts, Daniel Pâtisserie boasts of a variety of tea cakes, dessert jars, macarons, cupcakes, and cookies. It also has pastries such as red velvet pastry, Summerberry cheesecake pastry, dark velvet cake pastry, and Daniel’s birthday cake pastry. With its multitude of choices, this is a must-visit for all dessert lovers!
Location: Shop no. 3, ALJ Residency, Pali Mala Rd, Bandra West, Mumbai, Maharashtra 400050
6. Coppetto Artisan Gelato
Of course, this list would not be complete without including the Gelato place which transports you to Italy with every bite you take! Coppetto offers a collection of gelato flavors, including Sicilian Pistachio, Amarena, hazelnut, dark chocolate, cookies & cream, and Ferrero Rocher to name a few. In addition to this, it also offers lemon, guava, and raspberry sorbets, all of which are made from organic milk and real fruits. So head on down to Coppetto and to treat yourself to a cup of artisan gelato!
Locations: 117, Waterfield Road, Bandra West, Mumbai, Maharashtra 400050 and KM Munshi Rd, Gamdevi, Mumbai, Maharashtra 400007
