Where Else Cafe and Bar – For now, somewhere else!

It was a rainy evening the first time I stepped into Where Else Cafe and Bar. What better way is there to spend an evening than watching the torrential rain drench the city while sipping a cup of Hot Chocolate! While I sat enjoying the fabulous Hot Chocolate (with Marshmallows) I checked out the rest of their menu. It seemed very promising. It was for this very reason that our angelic girl gang of five decided to head here for our monthly brunch.

Having skipped breakfast, the first thing we hungry souls ordered was a platter of fries and onion rings with three dips: Mango mayo, Salsa and Cheddar Mustard. The fries and rings were well made. I paid special attention to the crumb fried onion rings because most restaurants tend to make them greasy. It was not so in this case. The Cheddar Mustard dip and the Salsa were delicious. They sailed through the finish line of the race of the accompaniments’. The Mango mayo, however, tripped mid-way and fell flat on its yellow face.

For drinks, we ordered a few mocktails: Virgin Pina Colada, Fresh lime soda, Iced Tea, Cherry Lime and Cherry Cola. The Virgin Pina Colada was the best mocktail from the ones we had. They were all good but nothing to write home about.

We tried their Beer and Cheddar Shrimp Chowder. It was thick, creamy, hearty and served with a generous amount of shrimp. Each and everyone at the table mouthed an ‘orgasmic – ummmm’. The garlic bread served with the soup was also very nicely done. The soup was one of the best things we had that afternoon.

The dishes we ordered for our main course were: Where Else Buff Burger, Bacon Plate, Tuna Melts, Cheesy Nacho with Lamb Chilli and Barbeque Chicken Wings

The Where Else Buff Burger was extremely, extremely gamey in flavour. This was the general consensus around the table. It looked ever so yummy and I don’t mean to be hurtful, or disrespectful, but it felt like the buff had died of some weird disease. Note to self: Not to be repeated! 

The bacon on the Bacon Plate was of good quality and fried to a crisp. Two bacon lovers sat with happy smiles on their face. 

There was some indecipherable creamy topping on the toast of the Tuna Melts which was not very pleasant and the tuna flavour simply did not come through. Again; not to be repeated! 

The minced lamb chilli of the Cheesy Nacho with Lamb Chilli was delicious and imparted a very good flavour to the dish. I’ll take a miss on the sour cream that was served with it though. If the sour cream is left out, or made better, this is a good dish!

The Barbeque Chicken Wings were smothered in sweet BBQ sauce. It was of the sweet kind with no other depth of flavour hence we all concluded that it simply did not have that ‘wow’ factor.

My vegetarian friend chose the Sautéed Mushroom with Toast and the vegetarian version of the Beer and Cheddar Chowder. She also chose the Cheese Chilli Toast. She said. ‘They were all okay, nothing to rave about’. (I, for once, did not take a bite of the vegetarian dishes hence I’m writing about it as mentioned to me.)

For dessert we opted for a Tres Leches, Rich Chocolate Mousse, Banana Fritters with Ice cream, a Sundae and Hot Chocolate with Marshmallows.

The Tres Leches was superb! We actually ordered a second one to satiate our craving of it. It was boozy (hic!) and all of us simply lapped it off the plate. 

The Rich Chocolate Mousse was a tad grainy hence it did not figure on our list of favourites. The hot, crisp Banana Fritters coupled with Vanilla Ice cream was a good combination. The only change I would make to the fritters is to coat the bananas with a lighter batter and I say this because I’ve had better. 

The other desserts had my attention hence I barely paid any heed to the Sundae, which was a platter of three varieties of Ice Cream served with an Ice cream bonbon. 

We ended the meal on the sweetest of notes; their Hot Chocolate with Marshmallows. They serve a superb Hot Chocolate. I’ve had a Hot Chocolate just a shade better than this one hence I will rate this one a 9/10.

Over all, the Chowder, the Tres Leches and Hot Chocolate are three things for which I would readily make the 30 kilometer (15 to & 15 fro) trip to Where Else Cafe and Bar. As for the rest, until they drastically improve the quality of their food from mediocre to very good, we shall, for now, be going ‘somewhere else’.

Food: 2.5/5
Service: 3.5/5
Ambience: 3/5

Address: Shop No 8, Ground Floor, Lunkad Sky Max, Datta Mandir Chowk, Viman Nagar, Pune
Tel: 020 41210613 / +91 7219268752

One more photograph...

Yes, you read this poster correctly!! This is a PET FRIENDLY restaurant. Feel free to bring your four-legged babies along for a meal. They have a special pet friendly menu for them.