European cafe Su Casa is on the grounds of The Bombay Art Society, the strange, dun-coloured building in Bandra Reclamation so at odds with the rest of the landscape it seems to have dropped out of the sky. Now the idea of a restaurant attached to a museum or gallery is always attractive. It’s pleasurable to digest both art and a meal in an atmosphere pervaded with culture. Su Casa and The Bombay Art Society could’ve offered such a nourishing experience were it not for two major drawbacks. As the gallery, which opened in February last year, rarely has shows, it’s usually deserted. Walking around its empty corridors and peering into locked galleries gives the impression the place was abandoned long ago. The second snag? Su Casa isn’t a draw on its own because it belongs to that heaving category of Mumbai restaurant: the good-looking joint with average food.
The spot belongs to Suren Joshi, the co-owner of Pali Village Café, which in its early days was also a combination of charming interiors and mediocre food. The nosh there has thankfully improved. The large, airy Su Casa is coloured grey and wood and its chief feature is a ceiling carpeted with hanging plants. There’s an entire wall of potted plants in the al fresco section, which is particularly pleasant in this cool weather. The menu is bog-standard café fare that any chef could’ve composed over a coffee break, and the food is tasty in the big-flavoured fashion of street grub but forgettable.
The pulled lamb salad (Rs410) was a medley of arugula, avocado, cherry tomato, lamb, pieces of pita and feta in a citrus dressing. The best thing about the salad was the arugula, which is more an endorsement of the farm it came from. The lamb was curiously tasteless. We tried two of the five baos on the menu. The shiitake mushroom bao (Rs355) was a winning combination of meaty mushroom, hoisin sauce, sprouts and spring onion. The BBQ pork belly (Rs450) was pliant but mostly fat with little meat. The bao itself was impressively soft unlike the doughy variety served at many restaurants and takeaways.
It was hard to pick a main from a list of items that’s as exciting as doing your taxes; they’re all café clichés. The penne with aubergine and jalapeno (Rs430) had a homemade quality. There was little sign of jalapeno but the tomato sauce was luscious and fresh, the portion generous and the pasta cooked till it was soft, just the way Indians like it. On the other hand, the smoked duck and chicken lasagne (Rs610) reminded us of microwave TV dinners. Perhaps it was the stiffness of the pasta sheets and the topping of cheese that made us wonder whether it had been reheated after a spell in the fridge. Our dessert of chocolate mousse (Rs325), that café staple, was actually the most inventive. The sleek block of delectably creamy mousse had a biscuit base and a thin crust of chocolate.
Get: Shiitake mushroom bao (Rs355), penne with aubergine and jalapeno (Rs430), chocolate mousse (Rs325).
Skip: Pulled lamb salad (Rs410), BBQ pork belly bao (Rs450), smoked duck and chicken lasagne (Rs610).
It is our policy to wait at least a week after an establishment has opened before we review it.
Prices exclude taxes.
Su Casa, The Bombay Art Society, Bandra Reclamation, opposite Hotel Rangsharda, Bandra (West). Tel: 022 2651 5511. Open daily, from noon to 1.30am. Get directions here.