Café Good Luck

Me: Where should we eat tonight?
Friend: I dunno
Me: Are you gonna go and eat dinner or are you gonna lie here all night with your laptop as your girlfriend?
Friend: I vote for lying with my girlfriend.
Me: You are sick. I am going out.
Friend: Good Luck!
Me: Yeah and good luck making out with your laptop.
Friend: No, Good Luck.
Me: Dude did you just started speaking in Swahili? Coz I don’t get you, not that I get you any other time.
Friend: No, we should go to Good Luck Café.
Me: Ohhhh…………………..

…………………………………………and that’s how I got to know about Good Luck Café or Café Good Luck.

It’s located on Good Luck chowk, scary name for a road with all that traffic. It got named after the café itself you think?, since it’s there since 1935? Sorry mate you are wrong. The intersection is name Gokhale Chowk but say that to any pune-ite or more importantly an auto rickshaw driver and he’ll say- “Eh?” It’s got rich history. It started out as a 100 sq. ft. shop and reached to its size by acquiring all the adjacent shops. Gives a whole another meaning to the phrase “Eating your competition” doesn’t it?

Today, it’s a popular “adda” for college students from Symbiosis, BMCC and Fergusson College. It has got a cult status among students and it’s been maintaining that since a long time now. You enter the place and you get this 70’s café vibe which is awesome by the way.

Coming down to business, what’s good? Lot of things. The bun maska is a legend and has been maintained. Best thing would be to go there and order Bun Maska and Chai. You can’t get that wrong in any frickin scenario. You can smoke too, in one of the sections of the café. Ultimate hangout requirements - met……….according to one my friends, Handa.

 The café serves more than just the snacks and tea. It has got this section for “Proper Food”. Menu is versatile, clearly says that the place specialises in Non-veg stuff. Anything which has “Chicken” prefixed to it is worth walking down from any of the nearby colleges. Serves good “Brains” too, no not the ones zombies eat, the “bheja fry” and stuff. The place has more than decent vegetarian stuff too. The Veg Mix was better than any I have tasted so far in the city and the Rumali roti will make you feel like you got more than you paid for, a feeling the college students hunt for everywhere but don’t find anywhere……..sadly……. ,if you are a college student you’ll know what I am talking about. South Indian is avoidable.

DESERTS: This, my friends is my favourite part of the meal. If the “sweet tooth” actually was a tooth, mine would have decayed long ago, from all the sugar intake. I ate two items off the menu. First was the Caramel Pudding, which was typical in every aspect but didn’t quite hit the “sweet spot”. The second was the chocolate soufflé. It wasn’t actually a soufflé, more like a typical American chocolate pudding. But it was………to say in one word……. Abso-flippin-lutely mindblowing. That wasn’t one word, was it? You can’t sum it up in one word anyway. It costs 50 bucks, steep price when you look at the quantity, not so much when you finish eating it.

Bottom-line:  If you live in Pune and you haven’t been here…………then go!!! :D

Taste: 4/5

Paisa Vasool: 3.75/5 

Faaso's

The first reason why anybody would go to Faaso’s would be because it is very accessible, especially from the nearby colleges and PG accommodations. But the problem is that a lot of reasons are fighting over the top rank of “why one should NOT go there”. This particular outlet is located in Model Colony, near SICSR. I went over there after watching “The Dark Knight Rises” and needless to say I was in high spirits, and it was more than dampened with what Faaso’s had to offer. The outlet is a small one , which by the way is not a problem. The smaller outlets are the cosier ones too. There is no seating arrangement unless you count the platform made around the tree which I am pretty sure is NOT countable.

Okay, so I go there and look at the menu and the absolutely misleading photographs, my mouth starts to water and my expectations begins to rise. I scan the menu and find something that interests me. A Paneer Tikka roll would definitely settle the rumble of my stomach, I think and at 70 bucks a piece, it damn well should. I place the order and I wait. And wait. And wait. And wait. And after 15 excruciatingly long minutes my order is served. For God’s sakes don’t have close ups of tasty looking food stuff everywhere if you are gonna take that long to serve. People get hungry. People get angry.

I go and take my roll off the counter. The first thing that catches your attention is the amount of oil dripping from the roll. There was enough for the devil to deep fry 20 souls. I am not the health conscious type, so a little oil doesn’t make much difference to me. But this, my friend could have been called anything but little amount of oil. Moving on, I bite on to the roll, expecting a taste and filling worth 70 bucks. It doesn’t match up to the expectations. The paneer is all right and the filling is good but the quantity and the cover of the roll is not worth the money. Also it is a little soggy. A good roll that could have been better with better covers. Verdict being “Eatable but avoidable”.

Bottom-line: Eatable but Avoidable
Alternatives: Rolls Mania(I heard it got revamped)

Mark-Sheet
Taste: 3/5
 Paisa vasool: 2/5