Hi foodies, today I’ll be doing a food review of a popular fast-food restaurant near Vikas Cine Mall, Seemadwar Road. They are well known for their pocket-friendly pricing, vibrant ambiance & elaborate menu.
Come, let’s take a closer look!
Location
220, Seemadwar Rd, near Vikas Cine Mall, Vasant Vihar, Indra Nagar Colony, Dehradun, Uttarakhand 248006.
The café is located along the main Seemadwar road, at the ‘T’ intersection, just off the main road.
There is adequate parking space available for both two-wheelers and four-wheelers in front of the café at most times, especially during the daytime. Finding a good parking spot might become an issue in the evenings as that is when the café is most crowded.
Service Options
Dine-in – Takeaway – Delivery
Timings
Mon–Sun: 10:30 AM–10:30 PM
Cuisines Offered
VEG & NON-VEG
Fast Food & Beverages
Average Cost For 2 (Exclusive of Taxes & Other Charges)
Rs.300/- approx.
Zomato Rating
Menu
Ambience
The ambiance of the café was very vibrant and colorful. It wasn’t at all surprising to see why it was so popular, especially among younger audiences and couples, as it had been designed very tastefully and had a very youthful & pleasant vibe to it. The owners of this café had clearly designed the place to be completely in sync with the likes & tastes of their target audience.
The café occasionally arranged for live performances in the evenings too, and for that purpose, they had dedicated a section in the garden for such occasions.
Quality Of Food (Taste, Service & Presentation)
The service of the café in terms of the presentation of their dishes was quite good, but the overall preparation time of their dishes, in general, was painfully slow. Something they can massively improve upon.
The service staff were polite and always eager to provide an answer to any of my queries regarding the restaurant and the dishes.
Dishes Ordered
I ordered one of their most popular cold brew coffees called Charlie’s Drink, one of their specialty dishes, the Chicken chimichangas, and finally, a plate of Mexican dim sum.
Charlie’s Drink
First up came one of their most popular cold brew coffees called Charlie’s Drink.
The cold coffee came full till the brim in a reasonably tall glass, which had a glossy layer of milky white foam decorated on it and was garnished with a few streaks of caramel syrup as well. It looked quite polished and had a premium feel to it.
The cold brew coffee was rich, creamy, and super tasty. It had a strong but delectable taste of coffee and caramel running through it. It wasn’t too sweet, on the contrary, I found it to be slightly on the bitter side due to the heavy usage of coffee and caramel. The white foam and caramel syrup used to decorate the top of the drink didn’t add much in terms of flavor but still helped to make the cold coffee look pretty.
Personally, I enjoyed the cold brew coffee very much in its less-sweetened original form and absolutely loved the slightly bitter taste of coffee and caramel in it, but customers who prefer their beverages to be on the sweeter side might want to request the restaurant to adjust the level of sweetness in their respective drinks accordingly.
Chicken Chimichangas
Next up came one of their specialty dishes, the chicken chimichangas. I had heard a lot about this particular dish and was super excited to try it out for myself.
5 cylindrically shaped pieces of chicken chimichangas were served on a textured, rectangular plate, accompanied by a small rectangular bowl that contained a tangy red sauce.
The chicken chimichangas were crispy and super cheesy but quite underwhelming in terms of flavor. Starting with the outer layer, was delightfully crunchy and super flaky, but it was clear to see that the pieces were unevenly fried, as some pieces were perfectly golden fried, whereas the others were quite underdone and pale in comparison. Not a massive issue, but something the café can improve upon for the sake of flavor and presentation.
Moving on to the filling stuffed inside, it was slightly salty and super cheesy, but it lacked any distinct flavor. The filling was made with a combination of several ingredients like a few slices of onion, some slices of green capsicum, a few small pieces of shredded chicken, and lots of cheese. Although I tried my very best to like the dish, I found the filling to be a real letdown. Apart from a few negligible pieces of shredded chicken and a few slices of vegetables, I barely tasted anything else apart from the overwhelming taste of cheese, which had totally overpowered the subtle flavors of the other elements present in the dish.
I was expecting an explosion of flavor in my mouth, with lots of shredded chicken and vegetables filled inside the chimichangas, but instead, I got 5 rolls completely stuffed with cheese and barely anything else. I totally understand that they wanted to give their own twist to this iconic dish, but the basics of the dish still have to be there. This dish would’ve tasted much, much better if they had reduced the amount of cheese stuffed in it and put more vegetables, seasonings and shredded chicken instead, to give some much-needed flavor to the entire dish.
Don’t get me wrong, it’s still a great dish for people looking for a cheesy or crunchy snack and should be quite popular among the younger audiences, but people who are looking for dishes that are jam-packed with flavor and texture will find it to be quite underwhelming.
Ultimately, I found it to be an underwhelming version of a very popular and flavorful dish.
Mexican Dim Sum
And finally came another popular dish from their menu, the Mexican dim sum.
6 pieces of sizzling hot dim sum were served on a white serving pan, totally covered with a thick layer of baked cheese. The dim sums were baked in the oven to such an extent that the cheese that was garnished on top of them had become brown in color and formed a delectable, crispy crust for added texture.
The taste of the thick layer of baked cheese was quite rich and had a nice, smoky flavor to it. The momos, on the other hand, were quite soft on the outside and moist on the inside.
The filling of the momos was quite simple yet tasty but could have easily been more flavorful. It was made by combining a few ingredients like soya granules or soya keema, some slices of green chili, and a few small slices of onion. Even though it tasted fine, I wish they had used some cabbage or carrots in the filling of the momos along with the soya granules as well, as the soya granules tend to become quite dry and they, by themselves, don’t have enough flavor in them alone to make the dish stand out. The addition of a few shreds of cabbage or carrot to the filling would have kept it moist and added some much-needed ‘oomph’ to the dish.
It was by no means a bad dish, as all the ingredients worked well with each other and oddly enough, went well with the thick layer of baked cheese too, but yet again I felt they could have added more flavor to this dish to make it tastier.
Although the dish was quite innovative and tasty, I still struggled to understand why they named the dish ‘Mexican dim sum’ when it barely had anything Mexican about it. Yes, they had used quite a lot of cheese in this particular dish, but I felt that it needed a lot more than that to be called a Mexican dim sum, as Mexican cuisine has a lot more to it than just cheese.
[More to follow…]
To Eat or Not?
To Eat, to a certain degree.
With their excellent, colorful, and vibrant ambiance, good food, and economical pricing, they are most definitely one of the better places to visit to spend time with your loved ones and indulge in some good food without burning a big hole in your pocket. Although families are welcome to go there too, it is more popular among couples and friends.
All the dishes that I ordered were presented well and priced economically, but their overall taste was quite basic and lacking in terms of any meaningful flavor. They can definitely work towards adding more robust, delectable flavors into their dishes to not only give them a distinctive ‘wow’ factor but also truly justify their price tags as well.
Every place has a few aspects they can improve upon and this place is no different. Even though I thoroughly enjoyed my visit to this beautifully designed café, they can definitely do a few things better like adding some much-needed flavor into the fillings of their chimichangas and momos, and drastically improving the preparation time of their dishes as well, as I found it to be painfully slow.
FOOD CRITIC ANMOL RATING
AMBIENCE
QUALITY OF FOOD
Value for money
And that’s it, folks! Thanks for reading and I’ll see you again later with another amazing food review tailored just for you! If you have any feedback or suggestions regarding this review, feel free to contact me anytime!
Take care & Happy eating!