Mumbai Food: Why this Lower Parel restaurant fails to impress

The interiors are pretty bare with only a handful of knickknacks gracing one wall picshraddha uchilMeet John John is an accountant He watches the same TV show every day owns seven white shirts one for each day of the week and has zero hobbies Thats boring ol John for you And if John were a restaurant he would be called Summer House CafeWith its launch in Mumbai this Delhi kid seems to be relying on drawing crowds by virtue of being ldquothe same place where Coldplay played an impromptu gig back in 2015rdquo And while as we hear it is a fantastic place to visit on gig nights as far as a regular day goes the space doesnt even attempt to crawl above averageThe Popcorn Shrimp is crunchy and best paired with a glass of chilled beerBrick or treat The entrance foyer is decked in beautiful patterned tiles but thats where the feeling of awe endsInside the exposed brick walls and fittings lend the cavernous space a stripped down industrial vibe The only decor is in the form of a handful of knickknacks like a cuckoo clock and a vintage metal fan placed on shelves lining one wallSure we could assume that the space was aiming to be functional and nothing more in order to focus on the music And for their sake we hope thats the caseUnfortunately for us the night we visit the stage area wears a forlorn look and only four tables are occupied We settle down on one of the fourseater tables and are handed copies of the menu We pick our drinks while singing along to the catchy 2009 Pop hit Empire State of MindThe Thai Veg Curry comes close to the traditional green curry found in ThailandCurrying favourAlthough it takes around 15 minutes for our drinks to arrive we quite enjoy the Coconut Mojito with a Twist Rs 425 which reminds us of a pintildea colada minus the pineapple However the second cocktail the Raspberry Mai Tai Slush Rs 400 while appropriately slushy is high on the raspberry puree and low on rumAs we peruse the food menu we thank our stars that we arent vegetarian The menu is noticeably meatheavy and offers a limited selection of dishes for those who love their veggies Secondly the menu although vast is and we hate to say this boring and distractingly so After staring at it for a good 10 minutes we settle on five dishesBBQ Cottage Cheese FingersAlthough served with a forgettable mayonnaise dip the Popcorn Shrimp Rs 474 makes for good chakna with a beer but thats about it After all its tough to go wrong with crispy batterfried shrimps Meanwhile the BBQ Cottage Cheese Fingers Rs 265 is also crunchy yet devoid of personality made only slightly better by the dipThe Veg Thai Curry Rs 395 wins our vote for being closest to the authentic green curry we tried in Thailand light spicy and not doused in coconut milk However we feel cheated by the Bacon Jam Cheese and Jalapentildeo Cuban Pressed Sandwich Rs 345 which uses dry candied bacon instead of the sticky smokysweet jam it promises The last dish Butterflied Chicken Breast with Mushroom and Peppercorn Sauce Rs 445 is stingy on the sauce and is yet another dish youd find better versions of at any average Continental restaurant in SoBoThe Raspberry Mai Tai Slush is cloyingly sweet and masks the taste of any rum present in the drinkTo go or not to goWhen there isnt a gig Summer House Cafe is downright dull Moreover the service is slow even on days when the place isnt fully occupied In a neighbourhood where every other joint screams personality this bland establishment will have to try harder to carve a niche for itself