Choc Le!

When the package is so pretty, who cares about what's inside?

                   Imagine coming home to such a pretty little surprise waiting for you at your doorstep. I couldn't bear my excitement having received this and hurriedly tore it down, to find even prettier boxes containing some sumptuous desserts and chocolates from Choc Le.

            The desserts included a lemon cheesecake, coffee mousse cake, a jar of mixed berries compote, and a box of assorted chocolates.

      The cheesecake shaped in the form of a delicate soap had a slight hint of lemon for the perfect tangy and sweet flavor, creating the perfect balance. This was definitely, our personal favorite, the texture being wobbly, slimy and the cheesecake super moist and delectable. A must try for all the cheesecake lovers out there!

          Next I dug into the coffee mousse. Every bite of it was pure bliss! Not a huge fan of coffee, I loved this cake as it had just a bit of coffee. The surface was extremely soft and the base slightly firm. The chocolate and the coffee flavor worked really well for me!

          Next we stumbled upon this jar of mixed berry compote. At first look, I thought this was just another bottle of jam. But it wasn't. The taste is fantastic and you can identify all the different berries blended to form that.

                        The next and the final item was the chocolates! 8 flavor packed varieties of chocolates. That's correct. Did someone say chocolate heaven?! The flavors being Pista, Coffee crunch, orange, chilli, hazelnut almond, sea salt caramel, cookie dough, and masala chai. 

                 All the chocolates and the flavors are pretty self explanatory and are exactly what the name suggests. Our personal favorites were the masala chai and the chilli one. Being a sucker for innovative stuff, I loved what different flavors can do to enhance the taste of chocolate even more. 

          You can follow Choc Le on Facebook, Instagram, Twitter and Zomato for their mouth watering delicacies apart from their official website.

 I would like to thank Mrs. Pooja Trehan Dhamecha, the owner of Nuvo Foodies, without whom this review would not be possible. You can follow her on Instagram and Twitter @NuvoFoodies. 

                 Personally I would give Choc Le a 4.3 out of 5. Would I go back? Definitely!

Restaurant Review : The Salad Bar & Walnut Cafe

We were invited to one of the newest additions to restaurant chains in Vashi - The Salad Bar & Walnut Cafe.

So What's new?
Before the advent of this place, Vashi has suffered from absolutely no cafes/restaurants available for fresh and organic salads. The Salad Bar & Walnut Cafe, which is located in one of the most prime & posh areas of Vashi, offers its diners a variety of 26 vegetarian & non vegetarian salads to choose from. Along, with these sapid and flavorsome salads, this new addition also serves a lot of other mouthwatering food which includes soups, sandwiches, wraps, juices, pasta, a lot of Mediterranean food and a variety of breakfast options.
The owners, Mr Kunal and his wife, Rakhi who were around for the entire meal, made sure we tried their specialties & took care that there we faced no troubles.

Things we had - 
Peanut Butter Banana Cafe, POWL (Pineapple, orange, watermelon and lemon), cottage cheese salad, warriors salad, mezze platter & waffles with blueberry and whipped cream.

What you must try -

•  POWL - 
  

It is a blend of pineapples, oranges, watermelons, and lemon. All the ingredients are used in the correct quantity and none of them have an overpowering effect, thus creating the perfect blend of goodness of all 4. Personally, it wasn't too sweet, was very refreshing and is just what you need in this scorching heat.

• Cottage Cheese Salad - 

This salad is literally all the summer colors on your plate! Along with being really pleasant to the eyes, this salad which included cottage cheese grilled in tikka masala, lettuce, olives, onions, cherry tomatoes, cucumber with basil & Parmesan in red wine vinaigrette. The seasoning on these veggies was beyond fabulous. 

• Warrior Salad - 

The warrior salad, one of their signature dishes, shouldn't be mistaken for a salad. It is definitely an entire meal for two! With some succulent teriyaki tofu, lettuce, buckwheat noodle, grilled mushrooms, broccoli, peanuts in spicy soy ginger dressing, this is definitely one of the best salads I've had till date. Amazingly fresh veggies, the perfect seasoning and some really creative presentation are the perfect recipe to this delectable item.

• Mezze Platter -  

The mezze platter with pita bread, hummus, baba ghanoush, tabbouleh and a Greek dressing was our favorite! The hummus was thick & creamy, with a strong flavor of garlic which hits you & will make you fall in love with it. The baba ghanoush was not in the regular paste form, making it an entirely unique experience for us! A must try! 

What you must NOT try - 

• Peanut Butter Banana Frappe -

The peanut butter banana frappe, was a bit of a disappointment and can be made better. They hadn't blended it well & we could taste the banana in the beginning, leaving the peanut butter at the bottom. After stirring it vigorously, it yet wasn't satisfying enough. 

• Waffles with blueberry and whipped cream - 

This was the part of the meal that we were most excited about. But, alas! The waffles weren't crunchy, but were hard. The blueberries used were canned ones, so that was a major disappointment. Also, it clearly lacked a generous serving of maple syrup.

All in all, it was a great experience and I would like to thank Mrs. Pooja Trehan Dhamecha a lot for this wonderful meal & the amazing time. Don't forget to follow her on Twitter & on Instagram 

I would give it a 4 on 5. Would I go back? Definitely!