This new Thane vegetarian eatery could have been better

Thane's new vegetarian restaurant, Ghaas Phoos, is high on style and the cool quotient but their unimaginative menu needs to match up to the hype

Ghaas Phoos
Food: Average
Service: Quick
Ambiance: Pretty

When we first spotted Ghaas Phoos at Korum Mall in Thane, we fell in love with the interiors. No other restaurant beyond Powai had been able to crack the code when it comes to creating a cosy, vintage appeal along with fine-dine cuisine to boast of. Being vegetarians, we were keen to gauge if they could translate this vibe into their menu too.

Love from the Mediterranean

The menu begins with a prologue about vegetarians having to deal with paneer all the time, which made us expect even more non-paneer dishes on the menu (their online menu indicates that they plan to add more dishes soon). However, we were disappointed to spot the usual suspects — penne pasta, sandwiches and a few starters. We picked the Sweet and Sourcastic Soup (Rs 160, prices exclusive of taxes).

Mango Cheesecake

As the name suggested, it was a flavourful Asian-style soup with a comforting balance of sweet and sour. From the appetisers, we called for Hot n Spicy Cottage Cheese (Rs 310), which was an average dish of paneer cubes tossed in a spicy gravy, rather than being marinated, as the menu promised. Love from the Mediterranean (Rs 255) from the Panini section, was to include panini bread, naturally, but we had to make do with regular bread as they didn’t have panini breads. Well.

The interiors of Ghaas Phoos

Also, the menu claimed to serve exotic ‘European’ veggies with a mix of garlic mayo, but what was served was a general mix of zucchini and bell peppers minus the mayo. The very-refreshing Ice Tea helped us wash down this melee. For the mains, we skipped the usual pasta, and ordered Korma Malabar-Bar-Bar (Rs 375) that was supposed to be served with Malabari Parotha. Again, there was no parotha and we had to settle for the garlic naan instead. The gravy turned out to be average; the kinds you find under the ‘Punjabi’ section of the menu in restaurants. Thankfully, the meal ended on a good note, with a tasty Mango Cheesecake (Rs 185; mango addition being a drizzle of syrup).

With its interiors, Ghaas Phoos can go a long way to score extra points over competition in the area, but they need to evolve their menu, and soon, as customers wouldn’t come back just for a fancy packaging.

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