New dessert joint in Breach Candy for sweet-loving Mumbaikars

Hazel's Nuts

They had us at ‘bun'. My fellow diner and I, being the ardent dessert lovers that we are, are always on the lookout for something novel to appease our sweet tooth. Cupcakes are passé, and so are doughnuts and macaroons. So when we are invited to taste choux buns at the newly opened BunMen at Breach Candy, we decide to brave peak-time traffic in our quest for something new.

Hazel's Nuts has a creamy, chocolate filling

BunMen is the brainchild of lawyer-investment banker duo Hormuz Mehta and Kushal Bhammar, who explain to us that they opened BunMen out of sheer passion. The few years that the two spent abroad - Mehta in the UK and Bhammar in the US - convinced them to give an Indian twist to choux buns for the pav and bread-loving Indian audience.

Red-I-Culous is light and scrumptious

The buns at BunMen are larger than the traditionally small-sized choux buns and come with a centre heavy enough to hold the flavoured filling. Before serving, each of them is meticulously weighed till the scale hits 50 gm.

The Berry Me Bananas balances the flavours of strawberry and banana perfectly. Pics/Shadab Khan

The first choux bun we have is the Hazel's Nuts (Rs 70). The bun comes with a light sprinkle of hazelnuts and a creamy, chocolate filling. It is a clever combination of texture and taste - the crunchiness of the uniquely flavoured nuts and the slightly gooey texture of the chocolate filling make the bun delicious.

The Berry Me Bananas (Rs 60) comes with a banana and strawberry filling and a sprinkle of icing sugar. It is reminiscent of a childhood long forgotten. As we bite into the bun, the filling (which tastes a bit like flavoured strawberry yoghurt) oozes out over our fingers and lips. The two fruits perfectly balance out each other, although Mehta warns us that eventually the banana overpowers the strawberry.
The Pista-La-Vista (Rs 70) evokes mixed reactions. While my friend loves it, to me, the taste of pista, kesar and bun does not gel well.

The Red-I-Culous (Rs 70) is that spin on the done-to-death red velvet cake that we have all been waiting for. There is no sugar here to hamper the taste of cream cheese, chocolate and red velvet bun. Its light, scrumptious and one of our favourites.

While The Crazee Caramel (Rs 70) is soothing with its combination of caramel filling, sea salt and butterscotch balls, The Dark Lord (Rs 60), with its delicious dark chocolate filling and chocolate chip topping, is our other favourite. The slight bitterness of the chocolate works fabulously well for us and is a clear winner.

BunMen scores several brownie points for its novelty factor. As the owners plan to launch more flavours (hint: mint chocolate), BunMen is definitely worth a shot.

We cannot rate the experience as it was an invitation