Verdict: Good coffee and bakes. Ignore the setup and ambience. Spot’s perfect for an office meeting.
Rating: 2.5/5

Table for Two: Rs 350-500
Address: Lobby Level, Platina, Next to Citibank Building, G Block, Bandra Kurla Complex, Mumbai
Contact: +91 22 6521 4222

What do we do when there’s good food but the ambience doesn’t match up? We try not to give too much thought to the café’s corporate feel – the security check and scan, the coldness of an echoing lobby with a high ceiling. But then, the glitch-riddled tablet-based menu which you can use to place your order as well didn’t lend any warmth that we would expect at a café. Maybe that’s what one needs to keep in mind while sitting down for a coffee and sandwich at a place within Bandra Kurla Complex. While we’ll reserve our say on the setting till we manage to visit+23 their stand-alone café near Shivaji Park, we’ll chime about the food.

To the Banana Chocolate Frappe, Nutmeg Apricot Muffin and Blueberry Chocolate Mousse, we give a thumbs-up. The banana was well balanced with the chocolate in the frappe, and with the muffin it does well to soothe the slight tangy aftertaste of nutmeg. The chocolate shavings on top of the mouse add a pleasant crispness to the dessert and you’ll find yourself warming up to the blueberry sauce within the mousse.

While the Macaroni Salad could do with some more dressing, the BBQ Chicken Sandwich and the Cheese & Herbs Croissant deserve just about passing marks.

At the moment, Di Bella is three outlets strong, with the third one in Bandra’s Title Wave bookstore with a similar setup. Since the review, Di Bella has introduced a Modena blend which is supposed to have honey-caramel undertones. The cappuccino we had was a pretty good cup and we’re looking forward to trying the new blend, but this time at another outlet.

Photos by Mehr Singh.