Cafe Max – Hardly a Cafe

Last weekend, Snubnose and I visited Cafe Max for lunch. We were ravenous, (I had skipped breakfast), and Snubnose is perennially hungry these days. However, since we had cooked lunch at home, we visited Cafe Max intending to order some small bites, leaving room in our tummies for a late lunch at home.

However, all thoughts of something light went out of our heads when we perused the menu. The name Cafe is a bit of a misnomer actually. While they do have the standard Cafe type of food, this place is more in the lines of a traditional restaurant complete with a full wine and cocktail menu, starters, main course, and dessert.

So, yes, you could visit this place and just have coffee and snacks, but if you do, it’s a real shame, because the main course here is just totally delish.

If you don’t trust my opinion, check out Askme.com, your friendly neighborhood search engine for all the best places to dine in your city. It’s not just limited to restaurants either, you can search for spas, saloons, and other services too.

Anyway, putting all thoughts of homemade lunch to the side, Snubnose and I simply tucked in. We started with a rather boring dish – tomato soup.

Now, tomato soup is a dish that is hard to get wrong. But it’s amazing just how terrible it can be in restaurants – either too watery or too creamy, too much spice, or totally bland. Well, Cafe Max got it just right.

In addition to the soup, we also had a starter of honey and sesame potatoes.

Because of the heat, I decided to cool down with a tall glass of ginger watermelon slush.

This drink was probably the only dud in our meal. It was ok, but nothing special, just a lot of freshly mixed watermelon with a minuscule amount of ginger added. It wasn’t the reviving drink I had hoped to have, and only reminded me of the juices I make at home. Definitely not something I will try again.

By now, we were pretty full. A lot of the reviews of the place had mentioned that the portions are small, which is why we ordered quite a bit. But frankly, the people who left such reviews must have been pretty heavy eaters. All the dishes that we ordered were substantial.

The next dishes to arrive were the main course plates – I ordered an original aglio olio (with a request for extra veggies on top), and Snubnose ordered a pasta classico (fusilli in home-made tomato sauce and basil).

Both dishes were fabulous. The owner of the cafe had warned me that the aglio olio was not spicy, but I went for it anyway and it just blew my mind. Yes, it’s not spicy, but an aglio olio should not be spicy anyway, at least not in the regular Indian style. Instead it was flavorsome, and because I requested for the extra veggies, it was wonderfully filling and satisfying. This dish is definitely going to be on repeat order the next time we go there (and of course, we are going there again!)

Snubnose has already declared it her most favorite eating joint, so I know there will be demands for repeat visits.

After the main course, we were too full to attempt dessert, however, we were not leaving without the tiramisu we had spotted in the bakery counter.

We picked up two tiramisus to go for the entire family, and polished them off at night after dinner. Again, the tiramisu was simply awesome, and I am definitely picking out one all to myself (no sharing for this little piggy), the next time we visit.

The next visit will definitely be for dinner though. While the place is nice and the ambience relaxed, it got a bit too hot in the afternoon. A terrace restaurant under an aluminium roof is really not the best of ideas in a tropical country.

Location:

716, Goethe Institute,
Max Muller Bhavan,
CMH Road,
Indra Nagar,
Bangalore

Approx cost: About Rs.800 for two people (as per Zomato)

We however ate for about Rs.1600/- (Ouch! but then again we were hungry, and the food was worth every rupee spent.)