Chaayos on Bandra’s Chapel Road is rarely empty. One reason could be the fact that patrons seem to be able to hang around for long without staff hurrying them along. Since it’s a self-service place, there are no waiters hovering near your elbow to check the level of your beverage or how much of your sandwich you’ve eaten. When we visited, the al fresco section of the café was full of young folk huddled over laptops and notebooks speaking the language of today’s entrepreneurs: “scale”, “business plan”. Perhaps this is a good sign for the cafe, which occupies a spot that has changed hands several times over the years. In the past it has housed a Barista, an outlet of Costa Coffee and a bike showroom. However, the unhurried pace is almost all Chaayos has going for it, for the food is the sort of bog standard fare you find at most such chains, and the teas, their pivotal offering, ranges from average to decent.
The chain was started in Delhi in 2012 by a couple of IIT grads, who envisioned a tea-focused alternative to the coffee shop. Chaayos has expanded swiftly; the chain has 12 outlets in Delhi and Gurgaon and two in Mumbai where they also have a cafe in Juhu. But if you’re in Bandra with a hankering for tea, you’re better off going just down the road, to Taj Mahal Tea House that offers the sort of enriching chai that can make you feel that despite climate change melting polar ice caps at a scary clip, the threat of ISIS and a beef-hating government at the centre, the world is not such a bad place. That cannot be said of the teas we sampled at Chaayos, which has a pleasant yet unremarkable decor of white-washed walls, dark green and brown Tolix chairs and wood tables. The kulhad chai (Rs79) was lukewarm and lacked the strength of aggressively brewed roadside tea. The pahadi chai (Rs129), a black tea brewed with spices, was too sweet and missing the pungency of tea boiled with cinammon and cardamom for an adequate length of time. The thandi chai (Rs69), on the other hand, was a sugary but tasty saunf-flavoured thandai-like beverage that would appeal to those who like their tea sweet.
If Taj Mahal Tea House is a better place for chai, neighbouring Uba Tuba is a more satisfactory option for a quick bite. The food at Chaayos could do with some improvement. The Maggi sandwich (Rs109), a double carb wallop, was filled with noodles and sautéed vegetables. Since the ‘tastemaker’ seasoning, which imparts Maggi noodles their addictive flavour, was missing, the filling was more like a home cook’s unsuccessful experiment with Chinese fare. The kadhai paneer wrap (Rs139) should really have been called the achari paneer wrap as it had the not-unpleasant tart sharpness of pickle. The chunks of paneer, however, were unnecessarily smothered in a surfeit of mayo. The green chicken sandwich (Rs149), made with flavourful coriander chutney, was undermined by bulky and dry halves of bread. Dessert, a slice of lemon cake (Rs99), was equally arid.
It is our policy to wait at least a week after an establishment has opened before we review it.
Prices exclude taxes. This review was conducted anonymously.
Chaayos, Shop 8, Ground Floor, Pearl Haven CHS, 86 Chapel Road, opposite Salt Water Cafe, Bandra (West). Tel: 86553 36621. Open daily, from 9am to midnight. Get directions here.