First Look At All-Day Cafe The Pantry

Co-owner Sumit Gambhir (extreme left) at his new eatery.

Ever since Woodside Inn’s trio of owners—Pankil Shah, Sumit Gambhir and Abhishek Honawar—told us they were setting up a “new concept in the food space”, we’ve kept our eyes peeled. Turns out we didn’t have to look terribly far from their Colaba pub. Their new venture, an all-day cafe that is, yes, booze-free, is located in Kala Ghoda (just around the corner from Kala Ghoda Cafe and Trishna). A first look at The Pantry revealed an airy ground-floor place with an open kitchen and bakery, and a small menu of sandwiches, pies, quiches, salads and mains using mostly home-grown ingredients (the cheese is from Pondicherry, all the coffee from India). Gambhir and Shah told us the idea is to keep everything as locally sourced as possible; the breads and pastries, for instance, are all made fresh, in-house, by a baker customers can watch at work behind a glass pane.

“We created Woodside for ourselves,” says Gambhir. “This was an opportunity to experiment.” And experiment they have. There’s much to love about the 850 square feet space, from the clean white colour palette and recycled-wood tables to the arched windows and the vintage pastel-toned Bharat tiles against the kitchen counter. A nibble on pastry goods (an almond tart and chocolate chip cookie) revealed a chef who clearly knows his craft (that would be head baker Umesh More). Prices will be in the same range as that of Woodside Inn or even lower. Look out for our review. The Pantry is scheduled to open on Monday, October 8.

SEE ALSO
• Our Review Of The Pantry

The Pantry

LocationYeshwant Chambers
Ground Floor
Military Square Lane
Near Trishna
Kala Ghoda

Phone022 2267 8901

HoursDaily, from 9am to 11.30pm