It’s truly a pleasure to treat yourself to the delicacies available at an American bakery on a chilly winter morning! And if you are in Kolkata then the mystic foggy mornings can aptly be complemented with on piping hot cup of cappuccino or dark hot chocolate over a novel at some warm cozy corner of a café! And if this is the scene, then surely the location courtesy can go to Au Bon Pain located at the heart of Park Street.
The best thing about interiors of this café is the enormous high ceiling, the colonial style structures and some feel of the bygone era. Near the entrance you will notice a yellow standing board with a map which shows how you can walk down their food trail. It’s the map of this place as you are supposed to go through it. It shows all the notable stops where you should stop and take a look or a sip maybe! Coming back to the décor, the classic wooden furniture and those gorgeous high chairs attracts you a lot, and it adds elements to the overall urbane décor and a suave finish that surely impresses you. The chandeliers used are not that artsy but surely adds to the nostalgic element and charm of this place. As you walk past the front section having all the items on display, you enter the seating area which again is huge and is divided into two floors.
We were seated at the long wooden tables with high chairs at the ground floor. The place uses public address system to call out names of people whose orders are ready and for other important announcements. The walls are adorned with classic paintings that remind you of the bygone era of British raj maybe! Overall the interiors exude an aura or warmth and mark your good laid back times. The USP of this place is, here you can sit for hours and no one will come to your table and hand over the bill to you indicating you to leave. And maybe that’s why people come back again and again to this spot to take a break. The service is also quite prompt, and the servers are very polite, soft spoken and helpful to suggest you items from the menu that suits you best.
I love this place for its baked goods primarily like fresh-baked bread, pastries, croissants, muffins, bagels, etc. Also people come here for their other items like tea, coffee, espresso beverages, breakfast food items, soups, salads, sandwiches, etc. So I was overwhelmed to be invited by Bang in the Middle for the Winter Menu Launch at this iconic place. Infact I had also referred several other notable food bloggers and foodies in town and together we had a real good time. This was my second bloggers meet at this place and on both these occasions I quite liked the overall experience, but this time the food journey was even better! So, this review of mine will cover the new items from ABP’s new winter menu which impressed me a lot.
Coming to the new menu items, we started off with the Harvest Chicken Salad, Egg start-wich and Mulled Wine. I really loved the Egg start-wich that can’t be ignored by any egg lover for sure. It was filled to the brim with freshly fried egg, mozzarella cheese and sweet corns! It had roasted vegetables with red pepper pesto on the toasted ciabatta and was perfect to munch for breakfast. The Harvest Chicken Salad is another new item, and believe me, it’s awesome to taste and quite filling as well. The salad had grilled chicken with balsamic tahini, some roasted spiced pumpkin, cubes of feta cheese, assorted greens and topped with toasted almonds and pumpkin seeds. The Mulled wine was a red colored, sweet and syrupy, non-alcoholic drink and was not overtly flavorful to be honest, but it just suited me best on that chilly morning since the drink actually was quite warm, and I loved sipping the warm liquid rather than trying those chilled beverages.
Next I tried the Non-Veg platter, and yes you are right! I simply loved it 🙂 It had several items like the poached eggs and pesto on croissant, steamed chicken sausages, a small cup of fruits and a glass of fresh juice or cappuccino. The whole package was very soul pleasing and flavorful! And yes the cappuccino was again one of the best I have tried in this part of the city, a perfect cup of comfort on winter mornings! The Toffee latte came in next which was frothy, bit chilled (not too much though) but was bursting with caramelized toffee flavors which can’t be put down once you start sipping. My friends tried the Strawberry Bubble Tea and they simply loved it, it was mildly sweet and filled with strawberry bubbles which according to them ware amazing! We ordered for the Chicken Flavor Burst next, which was again very good and got complete approval from my taste buds! This is sure to impress you since it has grilled chicken with mango peri peri, emmental cheese, lovely spinach leaves and pickled red onions inside the crispy toasted baguette!
Next came in all the stuffs to satisfy my sweet tooth. I loved the Chocolate Monkey bread, Dark lava Meltdown and Double chocolate CroisBun. The monkey breads are a good addition since they are the cinnamon breads with a touch of chocolate on top, and I must say these are the best additions this winter. The Dark lava meltdown was too much chocolaty with chocolate sauce inside and whipped cream on top, and can cure acute chocolate cravings in one go.
So, overall the food tasting went great! The new items were a hit according to me and must be rated high! The city will surely love all these awesome new options. Overall Au Bon Pain is all geared up to present a much better, filling and healthy breakfast to the Kolkatans this winter, and they lovingly call these new items ‘Winter Hotties’. So, now it’s your turn to go and try out these awesome new options and try unfolding the magic of fresh, healthy yet tasty food along with the magic of this old city!
Cheers!
foodiedada 