Bao wow buns

A new take away joint at Warden Road makes good with an unusual yet tasteful menu devised by a Les Roches-educated chef and saccharine-sweet staffers

Affordable eating options in stiff upper lip Warden Road and Breach Candy are hard to come by.

So, when a takeaway restaurant promises a subsidised menu, devised by a young chef educated at the premier Les Roches Hotel Management School in the Swiss Alps, a stint at kitchens in Europe and The Leela chain closer home, it's hard to resist.

Chef Kaviraj Thadani has dreamed up a spread of bao buns, sushi rolls, panini pizzaiolas (panini pizzas) and tiny Pop2 burgers.



Organic honey bottles, in-house "Prakash" pickles and sauces, and tinted tea lights all on sale fill the nooks of the white-and-green interiors, like the takeaway joint takes up the lane opposite the adorable Muchhad Paanwalla.

Our assorted mix of pre-prepared vegetarian and non-veg bao buns (in popular flavours like Chilli Chicken, Spicy Veg) were first steamed in a special device.

Moist, soft and stuffed dumplings with stuffed with meats and veggies, the bao bun is an addition other hip eateries would be wise to include.
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The staffer promptly re-steamed a stubborn Thai Chicken bao bun that had refused to soften. He then got to work meticulously on the Meat Feast Panini Pizzaiola (Rs 160).

It was packed with chicken bacon and barbequed chicken and cheese melting with a "special" sauce.

He repeated the formula with the exception of meats for a make-your-own Panini Pizzaiola (Rs 140) in which we combined sundried tomatoes and roasted bell peppers with pesto sauce.

Free samosas sandwiches were handed out while we waited for our veg sushi rolls to get ready we arrived close to closing time and they had run out of the real thing.

Our only gripe was that the cucumber wasn't the freshest. Our stomachs content, we decided to give the ongoing Pop2 burger feast a skip. Cool Chef is a mini takeaway corner with mini snacks that are also small on price.

Cool Chef didn't know we were there. THE GUIDE reviews anonymously and pays for meals
AT: 2/A Meherabad, near Tata Garden, opposite Muchhad Paanwala, Warden Road; also at Breach Candy.
CALL: 23696173