This place in Chembur is ready for a beer and order-in culture

The oven baked zucchini parcel at Pot Pourri a hot favourite PicsSameer markandeTheres a white cake in the cooler It has chocolate garnish in white brown and pink stand erect like ice slabs in a colourful beyondthewall Westeros scene And while we may have been far off with the GOT reference the glamour of the screen is definitely on point Ishanee Amar Haware 27 who gave up a cushy job in the financial sector to start the patisserie chain says its her invention I saw someone wearing a dress with frills on Instagram and decided to render the same effect on a cake says Haware as we dig into a Belgian chocolate cake slice that as it turns out has the potential to tempt even the strongest sugar naysayers That its paired with coffee thats come from plantations in Chikmanglur makes the trip to Chembur east suddenly worth the whileAbove a vanilla cake that she designed based on a frilly dress shersquod seen in an Instagram postBoom 2017Yes Chembur The eastern suburb which last made headlines for a culinary reason in November 2016 when Matungas iconic eatery Manis Lunch Home moved here having shut shop after the building it was housed in went for redevelopment is now in the midst of a hospitality boomIshanee Amar Haware opened her first Mumbai outlet of The Koffee Works on Chemburs SionTrombay Road in October 2016 College students and the workfromhome crowd she says are frequent customersFor long the only place to hang out at in Chembur was Barista on the SionTrombay Road In fact till this place opened up wed have our meetings at Barista says Apurva Chembur resident and managing director at Sid Hospitality which last November brought Pot Pourri to the suburb Today Apurva is spoilt for choice Chains that have settled elsewhere in Mumbai have in the last few months made a debut hereGaurav Vaidya CFO and Apurva managing partner of Sid Hospitality In November 2017 Pot Pourri opened a 5000 sq ft space at Cubic MallWant to spend a day indulging your cravings Do it with as few steps as possible as you start off with Theobroma then 99 Pancakes Keventers London Bubble Co The Koffee Works Wok Hei and then China Villa Within 200 metres once you cross the landmark Lamba Restaurant is Grandmamas Cafe And it will take a bit to believe but at least three places here have opened since just December 31 Bar Stock exchange also opened an outlet late last year There is Shalom Rooftop Restaurant near the station and there are rumours that Social too is going to get a home hereOn SionTrombay Road a host of new places have opened up in the last few months serving up coffee WiFi and a new place to hang out atFree the wayIs Chembur becoming a popular place to party There will be those who gawk at the idea After all in this sleepy suburb if you throw a stone blindly youre more likely to break the window of a bank than a draught beer mug But things might be changing Abhayraj Singh Kohli who owns Grandmamas Cafe the Chembur outlet is the fifth in the city says the sudden accessibility that the Freeway and the SantacruzChembur Link Road have given the neighbourhood is likely to change the market Check property listings for upcoming highrises and they reflect the same temperament earlier it was either the rich or the lowincome segment that lived here Now as it becomes a prime property its attracting dual income households that come with better spending power There are no organised players here so we wanted first movers advantage says KohliThe redevelopment that the suburb is undergoing has also made more spaces available for opening up bars Apurva remembers that as a youth partying in the area for him meant heading either to Chembur Gymkhana or Wild Orchid the groundfloor pub at Hotel Royal Orchid which has a story of its own Now 36 years old Apurva says its been a while since something opened up in Chembur And when Pot Pourri which has an outlet at Vashis Inorbit Mall wanted to expand Chembur became a market they wished to tap intoFor the longest time it was difficult to operate a liquor licence in Chembur because almost anywhere youd be within 75 metres of a school hospital or temple Its only thanks to redevelopment that we found this place he says referring to the 5000 sq ft space that Pot Pourri has at Cubic mall where Basant Cinema used to standWhod have thunk itWhile now there is space for Chemburkars to party near their home the question is do outsiders head here for an evening out Those on their way to Navi Mumbai now have a place to stop at Powai residents too have been known to hop over for a look and bikers both the motor and pedal kinds we are told have enquired about breakfast options at Pot Pourri this Sunday a brunch opens at 8 am nudging Zumba classes out post a Lonavla road trip But there was a brief twoyear period in the 1990s when Chembur was a hot party spotSatish Balan owner of WildOrchids remembers when Luke Kenny would DJ here and guests arrived post 1130 pm Sushmita Sen Salman Khan others from the modelling and film world and businessmen like Ness Wadia etc would come here says Balan He adds that when he opened the place he kept a few parties to introduce the venue to Mumbais IT crowd which took to the place Wed have 500 people at a time and had to open the restaurant at the back to accommodate everyone That they served food till the end was a USP he feels But the biggest compliment he received was when he knocked off 1900s the club at Colabas Taj Mahal Hotel and Palace from the popularity list of Society magazines whats in and whats out section That was enough for me he laughs Ola and Uber services he feels have made it easier for locals to party elsewhere and return home safely He feels Chembur doesnt know how to partyNew world same tasteOn the first day that we opened which was October 1 2016 a bunch of college students walked in and said they were glad to see a space in Chembur where they could hang out says Haware who first opened her outlets in Navi Mumbai Chembur is her Mumbai experiment and one she hopes will be successful And where The Koffee Works provides free WiFi and a place where the workfromhome crowd can plug in Pot Pourri is bringing in an allday bar conceptYou can get your Biras and Gateways on tap here with freshlymade pizza dough to keep you sober and if healthy is what youre looking at theres a millet and barley risotto with a light garlic flavour Gaurav Vaidya the CFO at Sid Hospitality says that among the top sellers here is the cilantro chicken and the Andhra chicken both of which retain an Indian palette which works best Its a sentence that even Sumeet Dewangan who runs the home delivery joint Bonne Sante which opened in January 2017 repeatsDewangan and his partner at Bonne Sante Nishi Barnwal both had a career in finance which they gave up for the love for food Since Dewangan is a Chembur resident he decided to open up this health food delivery joint here That a place here would be a cheaper experiment also made financial sense for someone who was testing the market In a menu that ranges from a kale omelette sandwich to Buddha Bowls and even a parfait which a Zomato reviewer rated as okay Dewangan says the NRI chicken and the black magic chicken are among the top sellers In a largely residential area a delivery service seems like the oddman out But perhaps theres more that Chembur hides than it revealsFor Dewangan the orders come in not just from couples getting home late in the evening after a days work but also from students at Tata Institute of Social Sciences hostel at Deonar Students young couples with expendable money and places to drink and eat at Chemburs new population might just prove Balan wrongCatch up on all the latest Crime National International and Hatke news here Also download the new midday Android and iOS apps to get latest updates