Boggling Bagels!. Review on The Bagel Shop, Bandra, Mumbai

When I was a kid in New York, bagels were everywhere. I wasn't a big fan, but my brother loved them. To me his breakfast bagel looked like a donut covered in a thick blanket of snow (cream cheese). I felt like I had to like bagels because my brother did (same reason I used to force myself to like Metalica and wear oversize t-shirts - little sisters are copycats until we grow a brain). Then just when I started really liking bagels, we moved to Bombay and there were no bagels anywhere. (Except five star restaurant bakeries and how often could I go splurge like that? I'd rather buy more shoes!) Finally, about a year ago, I heard about The Bagel Shop in Bandra.

Even though I love food and would go anywhere for good food, for some reason or the other, The Bagel Shop just didn't happen for a whole year... until this weekend, finally!!! A few friends and I decided to meet there for breakfast (and then go see Beauty and the Beast, which is a 3D Disney movie that reminded me why I don't like Disney animated movies anymore).

Anyway, back to The Bagel Shop... all I can say is it was sooooo worth the wait! The Bagel Shop's menu caters to both vegetarians and meat/fish-eaters! I had a massive spread to choose from, just as my non-veggie friends did. The shop has so many options that it's hard to choose, they all sound so tempting. I just know I have to go back and try more, I just hope I don't have to wait another year for that to happen.

What's perfect about The Bagel Shop is you can choose the kind of bagel you want with the stuffing you want, they have multi-grain, wheat, poppy, garlic, and plain bagels. I tried the multi-grain and the poppy seed bagels, and both were perfect! You can also take home plain, unstuffed, untoasted bagels... 320 bucks for a baker's dozen (13 bagels), and I think 35 for singles. The average stuffed bagel costs about 200, depending on the fillings you choose. They even foil wrap those if you want to take some home... but that's not a good idea unless you live nearby because a stuffed bagel could get soggy. It would make more sense to take home some plain bagels and get imaginative. Anyway, including drinks, taxes, and tips, breakfast set us back by 500 per person, so it's not what I'd call cheap.

Let me describe what my friends and I managed to try out this time. I got the bagel with feta cheese, tomatoes and pesto, and I also got to try the bagel with mozzarella and pesto and lettuce that my friend ordered. That was honestly the best thing I tried there. Then I noticed the pizza bagel, but when I heard what it was (cheese, capsicum, tomato, corn, and sauce) I figured it didn't sound like an appetizing breakfast. (And I'm the girl who'll heat up leftover pizza from last night's dinner and have that for breakfast. What can I say? Breakfast is my favorite meal and pizza's great anytime :)

But I guess I wasn't in a capsicum mood that morning, so then it was a toss up between a melted mozzarella bagel and a bagel with gorgonzola cheese. I hadn't tried gorgonzola ever, so I opted to go for that one. This visit to The Bagel Shop taught me that I don't like really salty cheese like feta and gorgonzola and nothing beats cream cheese and mozzarella. And next time, I'm so getting the bagel with melted mozzarella. I'm not sure what my non-veggie bagels my friends had, but I do know one had a garlic bagel with cream cheese and proclaimed it to be delicious. So next time, after my melted mozzarella, I plan to try the more basic bagels too.

Now let's move on to drinks. I wanted the brownie shake on their menu, but they didn't have it that day. They also didn't have kiwi juice or beetroot-carrot juice, even though that's on their menu. That was really disappointing, so finally I had to settle for a hazelnut mochaccino to wash down my awesome bagels. Unfortunately, awesome is not how I'd describe their cold coffee... it was really watery and too sweet. I had coffee at Costa later (at PVR Juhu during the movie) and that's what I call good coffee.

Besides the food and drinks, this little bagel stop is a typical bandra cottage, it's so cute! I absolutely loved the decor. The air-conditioned section has low comfy seating, but not so low that you can't sit up straight and enjoy your meal. There's outdoor seating as well, where you can lounge on lovely cane furniture, but that's not a good idea unless it's a cool, breezy day, and unless you're there either really early in the morning (like we were) or really late at night. Any other time, the humidity and the traffic outside will take away from this ultimate bagel experience. The shop also has pretty ornate lamps and retro posters, the ambiance is just lovely. The whole place is really clean too, so that's a giant plus!

About the service, the main guy behind the counter gets a little overwhelmed sometimes. But he's really attentive and good at what he does. Some of our bagels came flying out the kitchen within minutes and empty plates were cleared promptly. Our coffee took forever though and the shop guy did apologize about that. Also, the others who were there seemed really civilized, no loud obnoxious types. A sweet dad came in with his two kids and fed them a healthy breakfast. A bookish-looking woman sat on a high stool by the wall counter and downed a coffee while reading a book. A few cute guys walked in just when we were finishing up. One followed us out and handed me my sunglasses, which I stupidly forgot to pick up. So here's a shout out to the cute guy: hey cute guy who took the trouble to return my sunglasses, thanks for doing that!

Here's the only thing I don't love about the place: maybe people like Pali Mala road, but the location is confusing for me (I tend to get lost in Bandra's lanes) and finding parking is a nightmare. I wish The Bagel Shop was somewhere easier to access (close to my home maybe, heeheehee). But honestly, the worst part is they don't have valet parking. Thankfully, I'd been warned of the parking (or rather the lack of parking) situation beforehand, so I managed to find parking on Waterfield Road and then took an auto to my breakfast destination.

I should mention, besides bagels, they also serve pastas and desserts and muffins. So if you're not bagel person you could get coffee and muffins. If you're not a breakfast person, you could always go any time. Besides, who says bagels are only for breakfast? I hope to go back to The Bagel Shop soon and try out their pasta and desserts like the delicious-looking cheesecake (and, of course, more bagels). And next time you're in Bandra, you should pop in and get your mind boggled by all their bagels too!