Restaurant Review: Café Pico, Gourmet Kitchen

Clockwise: Chicken sambussa, spicy Mozambique chicken, Tenderloin sliders

Located at the new Phoenix Market City in Mumbai, Café Pico is located near a few high-end fashion stores. Unfortunately, since the mall still has teething problem, the café had an issue with the air conditioning, but we weren't cranky that way, and relaxed in the cool breeze provided by coolers and fans.
 
Food, Glorious Food
 
Kick-starting the meal, we ordered veg empanadas, light Argentinean puff pastries stuffed with mixed vegetables with South American seasonings. The empanadas were good, but since I love my meat I was recommended their Tenderloin sliders. These tiny, bite sized burgers managed to hold caramelised onions, lettuce, Dijon mustard and the mince patty, all sandwiched off with a delicious crisp bun…I could eat that for every meal! (FYI, they bake their own bread.)
 
Abhay Jaiswal, the brand CEO, suggested we try the chicken sambussa, which is just a minced chicken Samosa with Somalian spices, but we have to say, the crust was cooked to perfection.
 
Since they weren't serving wines while we were there, juice seemed like a good option, but our drinks weren't the freshest.
 
The appetizers left us craving for more, so we went ahead and called for the spicy Mozambique chicken in our main course. Without a doubt, it was the most unparalleled dish we ate. It's basically tangy marinated chicken served on a bed of tapioca taboulleh and their in-house barbeque sauce. No one could stop me from swiping it after the first bite.
 
As for the Strangolapreti also (recommended by Abhay), which is a typical gnocchi from the Valtellina region of northern Italy made of bread, parmesan cheese and sautéed spinach, it was a good complement to the spicy chicken. On the side we had sautéed mushrooms, and fresh leafy salad.

Mango pavlova. Image courtesy: Wayne Oliver

After all that good food, we still managed to save some space for dessert, and we went straight for the pavlova. It's mango season, so obviously we ate the mango pavlova, which was rich and really over the top. With fresh mango slices, meringue and whipped cream, it could comfort the most aching soul we think.
 
Café Pico already has three restaurants, including one at Le Mill. This is their largest restaurant (first gourmet channel), and also has a deli. We're definitely coming back here.