Sunday, November 22, 2009

Good Breakfast Joints


Enough about fine dining places! Lets discuss a few good breakfast options in Pune which will ensure a merry start to your day.

For sheer quality and consistency through the years, Vaishali on FC Road would definitely be at the top if you are looking for a good South Indian breakfast. The onion tomato uttappas, idli wada sambar, the various dosa options, the filter coffee are probably the best in Pune. With all due respect to Wadeshwar, Madhuban and Ram Krishna, I have not tasted a better sambar and chutney anywhere else in Pune. Vaishali also makes a fabulous upma sambar and batata wada sambar and with their famous cold Bournvita provides a terrific start to your day.

If you are looking for a good and cheap bread-omlette breakfast, I don’t think you need to look beyond Vohuman Café and Good Luck. Cheese omlette, buttered toast and Irani chai at Vohuman Café will put you in such a great mood, you wont mind the slightly shabby ambience that has always been the way at Vohuman. Ask any of the regulars here and they will swear by the place.
Good Luck as everyone knows is another Irani joint on Deccan and with a similar, albeit slightly better ambience than Vohuman. Bun omlette, scrambled eggs on toast, baked beans on toast, sweet French toast, brun maska and chai – can you think of anything better for that ‘feel-good’ breakfast? Both these places get full with their regular patrons, so mind that you go early.

The popular German Bakery has plenty of healthy and slightly unusual breakfast options. Mostly frequented by foreigners and Osho people, this place has only continental-style dishes with various egg, potato and bread items like the Spanish omlette and fried egg on mashed potatoes, home-made muesli and cereals, variety of fruit and vegetable juices, sandwiches, cakes and what-not. They also have a lot of snack items on display which you can order or parcel home with you. It’s a shaded cozy little place, though not very comfortable with wooden benches for chairs.

Now if you are looking for more expensive places for breakfast with non-veg options, then Mocha is a good bet to go for. There you will find pancakes and waffles, mind-blowing omlettes and Panini sandwiches, crustinis and croque monsieurs and an amazing selection of coffees. Mocha is very comfortable and people here spend hours chatting away with friends. It’s a little expensive, but the food is worth it and definitely a place where you can indulge in now and then.

Fine dining buffet breakfasts – Le Meridien is the best in this category. Priced at 450 a head, the variety is mind-boggling and I guarantee you will not be able to have another meal in the day if you sample all the available options here in the buffet. Everything from cold meats, eggs made to order, waffles, pancakes, south Indian items, milkshakes, juices, fruits, cereals, variety of breads and on and on. Spare a couple of hours for breakfast and do visit on some special occasion. Aubergine (on Nagar road) and the Glass Window (Deccan Rendezvous) also have good breakfast buffets and priced cheaper than the Le Meridien one.

Apart from these places, if you want some typical Maharashtrian (upma, pohe, misal, khichadi) breakfast fare, you can try the Sunday buffet breakfast at Shabree for Rs.100. Café Coffee Day is a decent option for a quick sandwich-coffee breakfast. Or Marzorin of course, for chicken mayo rolls, almond macroons and cold coffee.

So go ahead and explore and let me know how it works out. Also any new places you find, I will be very interested in knowing!

8 comments:

  1. Nice blog!Just yesterday I had the most authentic maharashtrian style meal at shabree. Will try the bkfst too.

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  2. Excellent coverage! Reading through the blog made me want to leave Helsinki NOW and take a flight to Pune and eat at Vaishali! :)

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  3. Vaishali, Goodluck man reading this blog is making me feel hungry !!!

    Well written as usual !!

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  4. I agree with Sandesh! Such description of food makes my mouth water and the pallette tingle... I am so going to push Prady to have our next wknd bfast at one of the places you mentioned.

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  5. Vaishali Rocks. Really good quality food you get over there. However I didnt try breakfast at Ramkrishna though. And such mouth watering coverage of breakfast joints would really engage some 10-15 weekends. I'd love to try something that I haven't tried yet.

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  6. Awesome coverage and yummy descriptions! i would like to add another breakfast category- breakfast on the run. Many people dont have enough time to have a relaxed breakfast, esp on weekdays. For them, Durga, with its awesome bhurji and pohe is a good option, and also the line of 'tapris' at KPIT corner in Mayur Colony where you have a good range of options from pohe, upma, misal to all south-indian snacks as well as sandwiches etc. The food is good, cheap but you have to eat it standing.

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  7. @Sahil - Yes, I agree with what you are saying. A lot of options for 'breakfast on the run' have come up. Durga, the stalls at KPIT corner or KN Park serve that need well

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  8. Vaishali rocks because guys have never eaten the South Indian stuff- Too much oil any case, Too many people too.

    Cafe Cofee day is one place i would only go to have coffee at best and to kill some time. The food is pathetic.For the kind of spaces they command absolutely unimaginative.


    A little late in the day.

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