We could have gone to any other place for snacks when I decided to meet my friend in Shivaji Park. The truth, however, is that we have tried practically every eatery in the vicinity that sells snacks. And both of us wanted to have Panipuri - at all costs :-) So we headed for Haas.
I was surprised to see a sizeable crowd at the place. On weekend afternoons I have seen it practically deserted. But this was a weekday and an evening. Perfect time for a chaat! My other worry was that only 2 people seemed to be manning the shop - one of them dedicated exclusively to making Chaat items. Will we have to wait endlessly four our order to materialize?
But there was no turning back as the crisp Puris at the counter were very tempting. So we ordered Pani Puri. Fortunately they were served in no time. Crisp puris with a perfect blend of sweet and sour taste in the filling - what more can one ask for from life? Mind you, they use Bisleri so no worries on the health front - if you choose to ignore the fact that the puris are fried.
Then I ordered Bhel-Puri and my friend ordered Dahi Sev/Batata Puri. While she turned out to be lucky in her choice, the bhel was a total disappointment for me. It was sweet enough to pass muster as a dessert, if you could ignore onions, tomatoes and sev. An ideal bhel has to be a perfect concoction of sweet, sour and spicy flavors. Sadly, this truth was lost on the guy who had prepared such sumptious pani-puri just a few moments ago. :-(
As a matter of practice, before I eat at any place, I do check out reviews about it on Zomato and Burrp. One person who had posted such review had mentioned that he had caught the guy preparing juice at the Mahim outlet adding water to it. (Is that why they post the sign saying that they don't add water to juices or milkshakes?) Since I had no way of knowing if the same guy was at the counter now, I was a bit skeptical about ordering juice and tried to dissuade my friend from doing so. However, there was no stopping her. She wanted to try out Haas's famous juices. But I did succeed in convincing her not to order anything exotic. So we ended up going for watermelon orange juice. And regretted it at the first sip. More watery than water itself. To be fair to the guy who had prepared it, it could well be because it really isn't the season for watermelons. He was so busy grilling 8 sandwiches for another customer that I simply cannot see how he could have found time to dilute the juice. The taste of the orange was dominating and it was sour.
So yes, I will go again there but will stick to eating pani-puris as far as eatables go. I do have stomach for trying out 1-2 of their juices. But if they too turn out to be equally disappointing, I will not give the juices another shot.
I was surprised to see a sizeable crowd at the place. On weekend afternoons I have seen it practically deserted. But this was a weekday and an evening. Perfect time for a chaat! My other worry was that only 2 people seemed to be manning the shop - one of them dedicated exclusively to making Chaat items. Will we have to wait endlessly four our order to materialize?
But there was no turning back as the crisp Puris at the counter were very tempting. So we ordered Pani Puri. Fortunately they were served in no time. Crisp puris with a perfect blend of sweet and sour taste in the filling - what more can one ask for from life? Mind you, they use Bisleri so no worries on the health front - if you choose to ignore the fact that the puris are fried.
Then I ordered Bhel-Puri and my friend ordered Dahi Sev/Batata Puri. While she turned out to be lucky in her choice, the bhel was a total disappointment for me. It was sweet enough to pass muster as a dessert, if you could ignore onions, tomatoes and sev. An ideal bhel has to be a perfect concoction of sweet, sour and spicy flavors. Sadly, this truth was lost on the guy who had prepared such sumptious pani-puri just a few moments ago. :-(
As a matter of practice, before I eat at any place, I do check out reviews about it on Zomato and Burrp. One person who had posted such review had mentioned that he had caught the guy preparing juice at the Mahim outlet adding water to it. (Is that why they post the sign saying that they don't add water to juices or milkshakes?) Since I had no way of knowing if the same guy was at the counter now, I was a bit skeptical about ordering juice and tried to dissuade my friend from doing so. However, there was no stopping her. She wanted to try out Haas's famous juices. But I did succeed in convincing her not to order anything exotic. So we ended up going for watermelon orange juice. And regretted it at the first sip. More watery than water itself. To be fair to the guy who had prepared it, it could well be because it really isn't the season for watermelons. He was so busy grilling 8 sandwiches for another customer that I simply cannot see how he could have found time to dilute the juice. The taste of the orange was dominating and it was sour.
So yes, I will go again there but will stick to eating pani-puris as far as eatables go. I do have stomach for trying out 1-2 of their juices. But if they too turn out to be equally disappointing, I will not give the juices another shot.
Posts
No comments:
Post a Comment