Two new places to eat out in Alibaug

While travel might be off the cards for now a daycation or a quick drive down to aamchi Alibaug is always a welcome idea for us Mumbaikars And wersquore happy to hear that a group of women are creating quite a buzz at the coastal town with two new hangouts that make for the perfect excuse to set out on a foodhappy weekend escapeCuppa in storeWhile Mumbaibased designer and artist Ritu Patel and four of her friends were spending the lockdown in their respective Alibaug homes last year they realised that the town lacked a place that offers a curated collection of house deacutecor and lifestyle itemsTen94 operates as a lifestyle storecumcafe offering home decor items tea coffee and bakesThe five women then joined forces to convert an old warehouse that yoursquore bound to cross on the way from Mandwa jetty into a rustic lifestyle store and cafeacute called Ten94 which opened late February From furniture and glassware to quirky artefacts the idea is to offer homeware that you donrsquot need to source from Mumbai they tell usldquoApart from tourists who flock to Alibaug between Thursday and Sunday a lot of people come here for quick meetings during weekdays and we thought a cosy cafeacute that serves coffee cakes cookies and other bakes would be a nice ideardquo she explainsThe menu at the cafeacute keeps changing with beverages costing anywhere between Rs 125 and Rs 260 and brownies cookies and the likes priced around Rs 50 If you visit over the weekend yoursquore likely to run into a popup with restaurants such as The Clearing House Royal China and The Bombay Canteen setting up shop at the quaint little cafe thatrsquos housed in a courtyardldquoWersquod like the store and cafeacute to grow into a community space that offers workshops cookouts pottery shows and other activities and also rope in more localsrdquo she addsAt Ten94 Zirad AlibaugTime 10 am to 6 pmCall 9022474976Log on to ten94alibaug on InstagramSnack till you dropIn the three years that motherdaughter duo Naina Rahul Goregaonkar and Dhani Goregaonkar have been running Paisley Experience in Alibaug that offers farmtotable Panchkalshi fare they have had to let go of clients several times as they run on preorders only ldquoI always felt that we should also have something for walkin visitors We wanted a small dhabalike space offering local food where Alibaug residents would like to hang out toordquo shares NainaTheir misal pav is a hit with visitorsTheir new venture Jatra at Awas Phata does exactly that With a pocketfriendly snacks menu that comprises favourites such as misal and vada pav poha eggs Kejriwal puri bhaji sheera upma etc mdash all priced in the range of R20 to R80 mdash and homely Agri meals thalis R180 onwards the 40seater restaurant literally lives up to its name that translates to a fair or mela in Marathi ldquoSince most of my staff members hail from the Agri community we offer their fare We also serve allday snacks or nashta that no one else here doesrdquo Naina informs us adding that the misal pav has been a hot favourite since they opened earlier this monthDhani and Naina GoregaonkarThe brightlylit eatery has been attracting a lot of attention at night thanks to the simple but colourful indoors that boast of old Marathi film posters she tells us ldquoVisitors get all nostalgic looking at the posters of the movies that they or their parents must have watched and a conversation ensues That was the ideardquo she signs offJatra at Awas Phata is a dhabastyle eatery that offers a pocketfriendly allday nashta or snacks menuAt Jatra Awas Phata on the main road right behind the rickshaw stand AlibaugTime 9 am to 10 pmCall 9821016711