Let's observe a moment of 'Inn' drop silence. Colaba’s favourite pub Woodside Inn – our off-screen version of the Cheers bar– opens its Andheri branch tonight with a few menu additions, new lay out and a slightly altered name. “Our Colaba pub is housed in a heritage building which explains the ‘inn’ in the title. We dropped the word for Andheri, but added ‘all day bar and eartery’”, says Pankil Shah, co-owner of the bar.  

Semantics aside, Woodside Andheri will retain the Colaba outpost’s warm feel with its wooden interior and casual vibe. Spread over 1,500 square feet, the all-day bar has a large outside section (perfect for the upcomng winter) and interiors that a friend described as “a shiny and new version of Woodside Inn”.

While 90% of the menu is the same, the kitchen here will also be serving all-day breakfast and a few burgers from their annual beer and burger festival.

Starting today, Woodside will be serving dinner and drinks, but the lunch service won't be on until next week. Cheers!

Getting there: Woodside – all day bar and eatery,  Oshiwara Link Road, next to Oshiwara police station, open for dinner only until October 9.

The Mukherjees recently used his services for a 200-guest wedding, Mrs Bannerjee ordered his daily dabba for a month when her cook was visiting family in Cal, and the Boses, quite unfortunately, had to call on him for a funeral. What the Mukherjees have in common with the Boses and Bannerjees is Pratap Parua, an enterprising caterer in Mumbai who dishes out yum, authentic Bengali food; some even say his Ilish Shorshe is better than Oh! Calcutta’s.

Looks like someone finally put Baby(cakes) in a corner. One of our favourite city bakers Pallavi Sheth is taking her two-year-old home baking business to a tiny nook at the The Bombay Store, Fort (think Le 15 counter at Good Earth), where she’ll sell those swirly sponge cakes we love so.

I Love Babycakes' belief has always involved a no-frill philosophy, where yum teacakes turn up sans frosting and D-I-Y cookie dough kits encourage baking. She will continue to use this philosophy as she steps into her first retail space, with an effort to change the notion that cakes are just for birthdays. “The idea is for you to be able to pick up a 200 gm carrot cake at our counter, throw it into a white parchment paper bag and share with a friend over coffee or eat on your way home from work,” says Pallavi.

The menu selection will be small, but will change daily. You can buy cupcakes; D-I-Y baking kits that come with batter, dough and rainbow sprinkles; and a range of tea cakes – tangerine, marble, gingerbread, coffee liquer, banana and the bpb recommended lemon with chocolate swirls. These you can parcel or eat at one of the three benches are the store. There’s also that latest cake-in-a-jar trend, only hers come adorned with skittles and held in baby-sized containers. We kid you not.

Getting there: I Love Babycakes at The Bombay Store, Western India House, Sir PM Road, Fort on October 1, 10.30 am to 7.30 pm, visit the website here, 200 gm teacakes start at Rs 140.

Weekend Wonders

Here are pancakes for a Sunday morning, easier than pie to whip up and fluffy as a cloud, studded with enough chocolate chips to keep the most demanding sweet tooth happy. Make a mess of them we suggest, pouring on butter and honey, adding whipped cream or maple syrup. And once you’re done licking away the last crumbs, remember to send out a big thanks to Ayushi Shah.

Founder of Icing On Top, Ayushi is a home baker offering interesting treats such as pancake mix (comes in blueberry, chocolate chip and vanilla flavours), brownie lollies, shot glasses filled with cream and cake, and more regular fare like cookies and cupcakes; all her desserts are eggless.

Ice and Entice

We tried and loved the abovementioned pancake mix, which only requires water and a hot griddle, amusingly spelled “girdle” in the neatly typed instructions. As in: “Pour some batter onto the hot girdle and let it bubble” – makes for a whole different kind of Sunday morning!

The Big Bong Theory

Playwright Anuvab Pal once told bpb that a good number of Bengali theatre folk eat at Hangla’s kiosk when they miss the taste of Kolkata. The troupes will be glad to know that nostalgia now has a second act in Bandra: Bong Bong, a new takeaway joint that sells “Kathi rolls of Cal” in a canary yellow space pasted with old photographs of Kolkata. Will the new Lady Chatterjee have enough lovers?

Be Joy

bpb dropped in to this Joy joint on a Monday evening to find a small selection of kathi rolls, a snack widely eaten on Kolkata’s streets. We picked up the mutton, chicken and egg rolls (there’s also potato and paneer) but not without cooking up a pretext to visit an old friend who moved here from Cal. As the rolls were unwrapped, memories unfurled.

The Mask of Doro

Looking for tall, dark and handsome at Carter Road? Enter Doro, a giant chocolate-coated popsicle that’s really a curbside deep freeze filled with gelato sticks for just Rs 29 each! Don't take the cold vibes personally.

A new price-conscious venture by the guys behind Amore, Doro is clearly meant to be the poor man’s gelato, but rest assured, the poor man will not be disappointed. The vending machine-like contraption that stands on the pavement is attractive, the flavours are exotic enough, and a few licks later we found that the gelato was quite tasty too. And if all goes well at Carter Road, you'll be seeing more of Doro soon, at multiplexes and other street corners.

These popsicles come coated with a layer of chocolate and beneath the mask of Doro you’ll find one of these flavours - Belgian chocolate, Ferrero Rocher, vanilla. The Belgian chocolate version – dense, rich and smooth - turned out to be our favourite.  Slightly more decadent is the Ferrero Rocher with a nut-studded exterior, while the vanilla with chocolate shell just sounded too well, vanilla, to bother with. You can coat us on that.

Getting there: Doro gelato popsicles on the pavement outside Amore, Gagangiri Premises, off Carter Road, Bandra (W), Rs 29.

What: New batter-filled cupcakes from Deliciae, Union Park, Khar (W) and Haiko Place, Hiranandani Gardens, Powai, call 9029023000 or visit www.deliciaecakes.com, Rs 110 per piece.

Why: Betty bought a ball of batter and to make the ball of batter better she filled it into the centres of yum, oozy cupcakes. Tongue twister indeed! bpb tried and loved Tiramisu and blueberry cheesecake flavours, but they also come in choco-cherry and Ferrero.

When: You want your goods with batter-ies included.

If you give a ham about pizza, you'll be glad we attended Corleone (InterContinental Marine Drive)'s pizza festival and brought back this yum pie recipe. Buon Appetito!

Honey Roasted, Black Forest Ham, Rucola and Green Olive pizza

Ingredients

For the Pizza dough

150 gms refined flour
5 gms yeast
5 gms olive oil
20 ml milk
20 ml water
5 gms sugar

What: 5 All Day, The Apollo Hotel, Lansdowne Road, behind Regal Cinema, Colaba, call 22873312.

Why: The debaucherous downstairs that used to be Oba is now a sunlit space featuring pale gray upholstery and wide windows, low ceilings and walls painted the colour of limes and passion fruit. Transformed by the guys behind 5 – The Restaurant, this cafe will offer “Modern European” cuisine including hickory smoked chicken burgers; black pepper fish and chips; leek, crispy cauliflower and goat cheese crepes; scrambled eggs with smoked bacon and more. We also hear rumours of a smoked Bloody Mary Soup (pretty please?)!

Most ingredients will be locally sourced – the fish gets flown in from Kolkatta – and they’ll have two bars: one for liquor and a separate wine section. High 5!

When: Slated to open on September 27. Watch out for the bpb review!

Rs 2,220 at Indigo; Rs 2,300 at Olive Bar & Kitchen; Rs 3,500 at KOH (InterContinental). As brunch budgets go through the sunlit roof, bpb is pleasantly surprised to find that the Sunday spread at the super yum Trattoria, Taj Vivanta is Rs 1,721 inclusive of taxes! (Yes, we live in a city where a Rs 1,700 meal tag makes us happy.)

The treats at Tratts include a bunch of Italian dishes with unlimited alcohol including Indian spirits like Kingfisher beer, Bacardi rum, Nine Hills wine, Red Label whisky and Ciroc vodka. The menu is extensive, and changes every weekend; bpb hopes to see the Fiama pizza and the pesto pasta at the table this Sunday.

Table tip: Go early - or very late - and you can get served the same brunch at a nicer, calmer (read no noisy families) table at Wink. Bring your own pushy friends.

Getting there: Trattoria at Vivanta by Taj President, 90, Cuffe Parade, call 66650808, brunch from 12.30 pm to 3 pm Rs. 1,490 without alcohol and Rs. 1,721 with alcohol, inclusive of taxes.