'BpB Reviews Fellas' 21/02/2011

Sweet Home

There’s fresh fruit in the blender, a salad on the counter, chairs on the front porch and a dog tied to the fence. This is Fellas, a tiny health cafe in Khar that appears to be as content as suburban bliss and as wholesome as country living. After a pleasurable sneak peek earlier this month, we returned for a review, eager to see if this ‘house’ would score a home run.

Bachelor Number One?

Complete with wooden floor, beams and translucent curtains, Fellas is made to look like the front of a bungalow, but is really housed in a garage-ish space of an apartment building. Charming as it may be, the eatery’s interior fails to make an instant connect with its moniker, one that draws up images of bachelor paraphernalia – leather chairs, poker chips and slicked back hair. The only testosterone you’ll find here is in its four owners – Suvedh Lohia and Anupam Adarsh (previous ventures include juice bar J-Kart), Feroz Shaikh and Gagan Kumar. There is however, one background score for you fellas: a posse of pretty girls that seem to constantly stream in and out.

Bittergood

Then you read the menu that focuses on fit food, and the fresh green and yellow insides of the cafe start to make sense. Here you’ll find fruit and veggie juices, power shots, protein shakes, yoghurt smoothies, breakfast options, fresh salads, whole wheat  sandwiches and mostly-grilled entrees, all of which can also be home delivered to members  on a daily basis (packages start at Rs 1,500 a month). Food can be customised too, depending on diet, blood type and ailments.

After much coaxing (by an owner) and cringing (by us), we ordered the spinach-pineapple-apple juice which turned out to be a cool green potion, surprisingly delicious. If you still can’t get around to trying it – you should! – pick another from the many permutations and combinations of flavours.

Happy Wheat

Our meal started with the spinach, baby corn and skimmed milk cottage cheese sandwich that came with a tasty filling, but dry whole wheat bread and no table condiments. A better, fuss-free option is the Tzatziki with multi-grain bread. Unfortunately, the supreme chicken samosas and aubergine carpaccio being dished out at an initial Fellas food tasting are off the menu, as are most fried-and-tried experiments. 

For mains, we got the balsamic chicken - tender, grilled strips of flavourful meat served with dauphinoise potato – but secretly craved the beet roasted red snapper which wasn’t available. On a previous visit we tried and loved the ravioli stuffed with ricotta, spinach and capers dressed in an elegant black olive sauce. Since the healthy kitchen here does not encourage dessert, sins are outsourced -  yum mini cupcakes that aren’t weighed down by frosting. Note: The breakfast chef hasn’t arrived yet so lay off the dawn dishes for now.

Accompaniments

While most of the food we ordered was tasty, it became abundantly clear after couple of visits that Fellas' appeal lies not in its meal but in the fruit peel. And of course, there's the mood  - gymbos downing wheat grass shots at the bar, freelancers leeching on free Wi-fi (a gaming corner’s coming soon), others sipping juice while playing scrabble and the owners eager to please with all kinds of discounts and tasters. They’re good fellas, these.

Getting there: Fellas, Ahimsa Marg, 14th A Road, opposite Mahavir Hospital, Khar (W), call 32267678, free wi-fi, valet parking available, Rs 600 for a meal for two, early bird discounts for those who live on the same road.