I love good bread. There is nothing like the taste of soft, well flavoured bread with butter. And I am, of course, not talking of the basic slice bread which is locally available.
I have searched for good bread at various places. A spate of fancy bread shops had opened at Bandra and I have tried the breads at Bread Boutique, Apple Cake and am not surprised that they have shut down…expensive, not tasty, crumbly, probably healthy (bran, millets, wheat, et all). Tried the bread at Oven Bake which has opened close to our house. Was almost propelled to the stratosphere with the amount of soda in it. Kept burping to the tune of ‘We will rock you’ all night! Even the fancy breads at Pot Pouri & Basilico were crumbly and disappointing.And the bread at most of these places are expensive and average Rs 35 plus a loaf. Frankly even good old Amex and Candies falter here specially when it comes to brown bread.
In fact, had bad experiences at restaurants such as Out of the Blue, Pot Pouri, Tangy Tamarind, Mayb when I ordered garlic bread. they tend to be either too coarse and stale (sp Out of the Blue) or too garlicky.
Though one place which has consistently served great garlic bread is Churchill at Colaba.
Which brings me to a cosy little place called Restaurant 5 on SV Road, Khar, Mumbai. They have this lovely bread basket which is full of warm delectable buns, dinner rolls, herb breads, garlics rolls which they serve with butter and dip. Now here’s the thing…it is ‘free’. The bread basket is served once you place your order and regardless of what you order. And they don’t charge you for it. And believe me, the (all white) bread is so tasty, succulent and good that I would have actually not minded going there just to order it. And yet its free!!!
Restaurant 5 is a continental place. The food is very good. My personal favourite is the barbecued prawns where they serve 3 huge tiger prawns with herb rice. Kainaz ordered a steak which was very tasty and juicy. Most of the stuff we have ordered in the past were pretty good.
Their desserts are quite tasty though too much for two people at times.
Yesterday they whispered that they serve ‘hard drinks’ too. The ambience is nice and cosy
Anyway enough of a free plug, forget everything and go there for the bread. It’s tasty AND free!!!
Update: I wrote this article in Nov 07. Went there today in May 2010. The food and the bread are of the same quality. This time I took a picture too.