Big Bites

Children are not the only ones who will enjoy the ongoing "Burgers & Coolers" festival at Mountview

Monsson is all about comfort food. With the weather finally relenting and giving the city a much-awaited downpour, this festival is indeed well-timed. With a festival that celebrates burgers and cool drinks in a hotel, the coffee shop is a good place to start. It's also given the Mountview cafe, as we realised during our meal there, an opportunity to showcase their bakery section, which has been dishing out some interesting bites of late. We arrived for an early lunch and finding a table in one of the city's biggest coffee shops, that boasts of a wonderful green view, is never a problem.

The "Burgers & Coolers" menu is quite plump for a three-day festival and thought has gone into offering something different. A quick read and you realise that it's a line-up that offers a good mix of not just vegetarian and meatier options but some international variants as well. But the names are definitely new concoctions — there's lorenzo rosti burger, meg pie burger, Egyptian burger (that's essentially a burger packing in falafel, tahini, topped with onion and pimento cooked with tomato concasse), Mexican burger (expect a fiery jalapeno spiced chicken patty with tomato salsa) along with popular favourites like Frankfurter burger. In this potpourri, we gravitated towards the samosa burger. The name brought back memories of my noisy college canteen that also dished out greasy but extremely mouth-watering samosas which we would pack between two slices of buttered bread and wolf down within minutes. Though not sure what to expect at the cafe, the samosa burger that arrived in a jiffy, was indeed a pleasant surprise. Served with super thin fries, the burger was bursting with flavours including the winning combination of green chutney with mayonnaise and saunth. A hint of rosemary just lifted an otherwise simple dish. The buns have been baked in-house and it's a welcome treat to see cumin seeds sit pretty on bun tops instead of sesame. Equally spot on with flavours and crunchiness — we couldn't help but notice how the buns were toasted on the inside to perfection — was the hip top burger. It's hard to imagine where the name came from but the succulent chicken patty and cheese is just what made it perfect on a rainy day. The coolers are well-paired with the likes of shakes and thandai. As far as prices go, it's pretty pocket-friendly with prices starting at Rs 100. We suggest you save some space for the honey cookies or ghevar available here as well.

... contd.

ALSO READ

‘Why can’t police admit its mistake... they should apologise to her 2 sons’

High Court slams UT Police for letting accident victim lie on road for 2 hours

Of Tales Untold

Many projects hanging fire due to opposition from Bansal, kin