Pao, not so wow

Chicken pao with cheese

Food Review
Food/Average
Ambience/Cool
Service/Regular
Cost/Competitive
Rating: 0.5/4

Okay, somebody here loves their ketchup, and 'here' would be Maca Pao, a new delivery joint based out of Mahim started by Ashlyn Naidu, which opened this month.

Their menu, comprising an interesting mix of paos, including a range of vegetarian and non-vegetarian offerings, can lure any gluten-loving soul in. The additional section of sides with snacky treats like wedges, wings and garlic breads is a bonus. And at the outset, the place appears to be perfect for a guilt-free binge.

Veggies kabab pao

Add to that their cost-effective price points (with no dish crossing the Rs 230 mark), and you're likely to be titillated to order for a whole load of stuff, be it the veggie kabab pao (Rs 160), which has a crunchy tikki ensconced within butter-laden paos along with lettuce and a piquant green chutney; or the chef's special chicken pao with cheese (Rs 220), possibly their best, that offers a mix of meatballs, salami, stir-fried meat chunks and sausages.

BBQ mushroom pao

But what becomes apparent, once you are through the neat-but-polluting plastic packaging, and as you dig into the BBQ mushroom pao (Rs 170), the smoked sausages and salami pao (Rs 170) or the spicy tangy wings (Rs 150), is that someone in this kitchen really loves ketchup, possibly mankind's worst culinary invention that doesn't do even an ounce of justice to the juicy, lovely fruit.

The wings are a far cry from anything spicy; the sauce is stodgy and cloyingly sweet. Even though the meat is of good quality, it is masked by a disproportionate amount of ketchup. It tastes a little like sauce on boiled meat. The mushroom pao has undercooked shrooms and a smorgasbord of sliced tomato that serves as a deterrent to the vegetable's inherent earthiness. You can find a piece of jalapeno peeking out of the bun, the perfect ingredient here, really, to offset the strong flavours of the sauces, but it is used sparingly, and unintelligently. And while the sausages and salami pao offers a hearty portion of spice-rubbed meat and these little bits of potato fries, it's again, too sweet and simply unpalatable.

Spicy chicken wings and potato wedges

What is perfect though, is the box of the potato wedges, which comes in a package with little holes so they don't become soggy (clever). It has a crunchy coating with potato skin like it should and a soft indulgent centre. But is a kind of pillowy pao and yum wedges enough to warrant patronage, even when it's pocket-friendly? In 2019, it's frankly going to take a lot more than that.

AT Maca Pao, Mehta Mansion, Sitladevi Temple Road, Mahim West.
TIME 1.30 pm to 3 pm; 5 pm to 11 pm
CALL 7506204410

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Maca Pao didn't know we were there. The Guide reviews anonymously and pays for meals