Restaurant Review: Indigo Deli

The red currant cheesecake.

Bigger is better is the mantra at the new Indigo Deli at Palladium mall in Lower Parel. Everything from the staff to the food selection to the wine racks appears to have been doubled if not tripled in size. The menu is 32 pages (the Colaba menu is about half of that); the deli counter has 32 kinds of cheese and 40 kinds of meats, including Napoli sausage, rindless bacon, and a ghastly log of fat free ham (surely that’s an oxymoron). It’s almost as if owner Rahul Akerkar and executive chef Jaydeep Mukherjee were on a mission to prove that whatever they did at the Colaba outlet, they could one-up at Palladium. For the most part, they succeed.

Despite the overwhelming menu, as Indigo Deli regulars know, the establishment excels in home-style American comfort food—burgers, pizzas, sandwiches, cookies—that has admirably never been compromised to make it more palatable to Indian tastes. Everything else is embellishment for the most part. This new branch, tucked away in a corner of the mall across from TGIF, is no exception to that rule—take our advice and stick to the favourites.

Luckily, most of the Colaba menu is here, with a few added items that seem designed to alleviate the sticky hot summer months. A summery salad with pomello, slices of orange, olives and red onions dressed in a citrus-y vinaigrette was crisp, and delicious, if simply arranged and served. From the sandwiches, two new additions are much welcomed. The first, charred asparagus, peppers, feta and arugula wrapped in a whole wheat romali roti, was calling out to be put in a hamper and served on a picnic. Our only complaint was that the romali roti could have been more tightly wrapped around the veggies, which came tumbling out with each bite. The second, the “Deli chilli cheese toast” is deceptively titled but will likely be a hit. Diced peppers, onions, jalapenos, and corn are tossed in a creamy cheddar cheese sauce and grilled between two slices of flat bread. While purists might carp that this is most definitely not a chilli cheese toast, it is baked dish melted goodness in sandwich form.

The burger section has one new addition: a blackened salmon burger with sauteed onions and coriander, served with a helping of coconut slaw. Superbly cooked (even if the waitstaff forgot to ask how we’d like it done), the burger was, however, excessively salty, and the cucumber and peanut slaw, with nary a hint of coconut to it, doused in a creamy dressing. Only the dessert menu remains exactly the same, with the permanent addition of the molten chocolate cake, served only as a special at the Colaba branch. Of this most limited part of the menu (only one page long), the red currant cheesecake is first rate. Equal parts crumbly and fluffy, its sweetness was perfectly offset by the tangy red currant sauce.

Indigo Deli will no doubt be a hit among the mall lunch crowd, who faced with the heaviness of Punjab Grill, Asia 7 and TGIF, will find welcome relief in the summeriness of the Deli’s offerings. That said, we have two main gripes. One, the staff, though well-meaning, could use with rigorous training. Forgetful, sloppy and incredibly slow, the service was sub-standard. Two, with dense black walls and a bee-hiveish dark woodgrid snaking through the space, there is something dark and dingy about the Deli that belies the lightness of its food.

Must Have: The red-currant cheesecake is among the best we’ve tried.

A meal for two costs approximately Rs2,000 excluding alcohol. All reviews are conducted anonymously.

Indigo Deli

LocationFirst Floor
Palladium
Phoenix Mills
Lower Parel

Phone2498 6262

HoursDaily, 9am to midnight

Websitewww.indigodeli.com