La Folie du Chocolat, incorporating Koinonia Coffee Roasters, No. 16, Commerce House, Rope Walk Lane, Kala Ghoda, Mumbai
February, 2018. A Sunday afternoon and a Wednesday afternoon
(*score out of 10)
The flat white: 8. Sunday’s coffee was a much needed jetlag antidote, Wednesday’s was a comfort coffee. Both consistently excellent, the coffee and the velvety milk. Looked the part, tasted the part and made me happy. Only not a 9 because, though I like the look of insulated glass cups, I can’t get out of my head that the cup will be too hot to hold – a personal niggle, clearly. 160 INR (<£2)
Appropriateness of being called a flat white: A comfortable 8, on the cusp of 9.
The beans: All from Indian coffee plantations, roasted in Mumbai and for sale to take home. (See Koinonia Coffee Roasters’ website)
Other coffees of interest: My friend had “Bulletproof (keto)”, which wasn’t the butter coffee version, rather black coffee with coconut oil and cinnamon. She declared it very nice. 150 INR (c£1.90) They also do infused cold brew, including coconut or cinnamon, and a selection of affogato, including, hello, banoffee. (I know, I know, novelty coffees, but, seriously, they sound tasty).
“A little something to go with my coffee”: 10. Where to start … there are beautiful cakes (as tasty as they look, my first-hand experience testifies), nutty, colourful balls of yumminess (these taste even better than they look or sound), chocolate bars, chocolates and biscuits. This is the ideal café to visit if sweet treats are required. On both occasions I visited, all I heard was comments about how good the cakes are. One man left the shop, ate his cake, then returned ten minutes later to repeat his order. Another couple ate their cake and discussed the cakes they’d had before and which they’d try next time. This café is going to be too small a space too soon. (See La Folie du Chocolat’s website)
Other customers: Predominantly cake lovers. In London, the café would be overrun with hipsters appreciating the great coffee, but in Mumbai the cakes were very much the buzz. No laptops, no moustaches and no abundance of tattoos or piercings.
Staff: The first visit, I chatted to a woman and the second, a man, who either owned or managed the shop. Both were enthusiastic, knowledgeable, friendly and welcoming. The staff behind the counter are professional and efficient.
Décor: 8. White, clean, modern, trendy with geometric emphasis.
Ambiance: 7. Too small and white to be cosy but it’s not cold or unwelcoming, just more suitable for a beautiful design feature in Monocle magazine than for a long sit-around.
Access: Small café/shop with quite narrow steps up to the front door.
Bread: 10. I can see a bread comment might seem unnecessary within a coffee review, but I couldn’t not mention their fig and walnut rye bread, for it is, to my taste at least, bread perfection.
What to do in a one-minute radius: Drink coffee (but nowhere else is as good, I’ve tried), drink tea, look in lovely shops that sell expensive stuff you don’t need, look in lovely shops that sell expensive clothes you don’t need, buy some art, admire some old and crumbling buildings and find somewhere nice to eat.
(Review by Bagpuss at Flat White & Black Coffee Reviews)
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Score scale out of 10
0 = “Excuse me, I ordered a coffee … oh, really, this is a coffee?”;
1 = too revolting to even swallow the first sip;
2-4 = amount of sips endured before having to abandon on grounds of offensive taste;
5 = bearable if you haven’t had a coffee in a week and need an emergency boost;
6-7 = acceptable but not a destination coffee;
8 = a proper flat white and a destination coffee;
9 = the coffee, the taste, the look, the cup- almost as good as it gets;
10 = the holy grail of flat whites has been discovered.