I was scrolling through my FB feed as usual whiling away time one afternoon the past month when I came across an ad advertising the sale of Alphonso mangoes from Mumbai. Of course such websites are dime a dozen but the name of the site intrigued me and I wanted to see what else it had to offer me. The Alphonso mangoes didn't interest me since I prefer the local varieties which I find tastier and much more affordable.
As I looked through the sections, there was quite a lot to interest someone like myself who likes to explore different food. Firstly, the idea the site is based on is I feel a very good one which I myself was toying with a while back. So it was interesting to see it being implemented very well. Basically the site aggregates food items that are famous to an area of India. For example, there's tea being sold directly from the estates that grow them, tasty confectioneries that are best sellers of home bakers in various cities across India and world famous local brands that may be great at a single product whether it is butter biscuits, Ooty chocolates, homemade preserves or famous macaroons from Thoothukudi which is famous for making them since decades. You get the idea now, don't you? You're probably on the site right now. :D
So I went about doing what I love. Exploring the various treats on offer. I wasn't really planning on making a purchase since I didn't personally know any of the brands and if they were really good. Did not want to spend a lot and end up having a bitter experience. I was only planning to try one of the tea brands since I love tea and don't mind trying different kinds.
Courier is extra from the product cost on this site. Each item since it is being parceled from a completely different location would arrive at different times even if bought in the same order. However I got all the items in separate couriers on the same day four days after placing the order. The brownies were made-to-order two days before I received it and stay fresh for more than a week according to their claim.
But then I remembered about Shrewsbury biscuits from Pune which my aunt had given me a few times to taste. They are delicious buttery bits of heaven and I immediately searched for it to see if it was available. Lo and behold it was! Now I definitely had to spend money making at least one purchase here! And the deal was a sweet one as well. For rs 320 I would get 4 packets or 1 Kg of this amazing biscuit so the pricing is very good. But there was courier charges extra of rs 100 which brought the total to Rs 420 for this. I was still more than happy with the pricing.
The package arrived in a bigger courier box wrapped well. Inside were two cardboard boxes each containing one big plastic packet (City bakery branded packets) full of biscuits.Around 32 biscuits so totally around 64 biscuits. I expected the biscuits to be packed in 3 cardboard sweet boxes. Some of the biscuits had broken and the plastic bag was tied with plastic rope. I wasn't impressed with the packaging since it wouldn't be that air tight if the plastic packet had holes or if it wasn't tied up. Would prefer something more dependable and which can keep the biscuits from crumbling even better.
However, I was happy that the biscuits were perfectly crispy and tasted just as yummy as I remembered having it years back. Amazingly buttery biscuit. It was hard to resist eating one after the other! If you haven't tried the original shrewsbury biscuit from Pune, please try it right away.
Next I decided to try a brand of tea and settled upon the Dust tea from Balanoor Estates. That cost rs. 138 bucks for 400 grams (4 packets of 100 grams each). Again the pricing is good. The fact that they gave separate packets was good since only one needs to be opened at a time.
The tea was packed in the branded foil type packet and well sealed. I opened just one and transferred the content to a container. There was a leafy, earthy smell emanating from the tea which I haven't found in the usual brand I use. Unlike Three roses which I love, there's a more natural taste of tea in the milk tea with more bitter and flavor notes. But not everyone may prefer this bit more raw taste. It's definitely good though and you need to try it to know if you like it.
Now I wasn't planning on getting anything more, but I came across these nice looking brownies from Sleight of hand which did pique my interest. However, I still didn't want to try them since they seemed quite expensive for just six small pieces of brownie. 540 rupees for six pieces and 50 rupees courier charges extra.
I just googled Sleight of hand to check and found rave reviews for it claiming that they are one of the best cake brownies Mumbai has to offer. Now I was curious and in two minds whether to spend all that money. In the end my curiosity won since I wanted to try a good cake brownie since I've not had this type here. I've tried chewy, crusty and fudgy but not cakey. :P So cakey I had to have for sure.
The packaging was the best for this item. The brownies were individually wrapped in branded clingwrap sort of plastic and packed six in a very sturdy cardboard box. A neat bill was printed with all details given. Weight of product was 320 grams and the best before date was mentioned. It said 15 days from manufacture.
Tastewise, it really did have a good texture and nice taste now that I think about it. First impression was it's good but it didn't blow my mind. Not too oily but moist to the right extent. The sugar level wasn't cloyingly high. It had a slight bitter note to the chocolate which was nice. It does seem to be a quality product as they claim. I liked it but since my first preference for brownies will remain the crusted type, I cannot say I loved it and probably won't pay this price for it again. Not their fault, this will probably be loved much more by a cake brownie enthusiast.
Now that I had chosen some good items from the large variety on the site, I felt I had stretched my already stretched purse enough and chose to click the order button before I found more nice stuff. Payment had to be made in advance. There is no COD [cash on delivery] option. Website seems good enough except for the main menu which I found annoying to navigate.
Adios!
Annd, that's all for today, folks. Hope you enjoyed reading. If you found this website because of this post, please leave your comments mentioning the items you would like to try from here. I would be interested in finding other great must tries from here! I will probably be trying other items from this site soon enough and reviewing those as well.
What is Place of origin about?
As I looked through the sections, there was quite a lot to interest someone like myself who likes to explore different food. Firstly, the idea the site is based on is I feel a very good one which I myself was toying with a while back. So it was interesting to see it being implemented very well. Basically the site aggregates food items that are famous to an area of India. For example, there's tea being sold directly from the estates that grow them, tasty confectioneries that are best sellers of home bakers in various cities across India and world famous local brands that may be great at a single product whether it is butter biscuits, Ooty chocolates, homemade preserves or famous macaroons from Thoothukudi which is famous for making them since decades. You get the idea now, don't you? You're probably on the site right now. :D
So I went about doing what I love. Exploring the various treats on offer. I wasn't really planning on making a purchase since I didn't personally know any of the brands and if they were really good. Did not want to spend a lot and end up having a bitter experience. I was only planning to try one of the tea brands since I love tea and don't mind trying different kinds.
Courier details:
Courier is extra from the product cost on this site. Each item since it is being parceled from a completely different location would arrive at different times even if bought in the same order. However I got all the items in separate couriers on the same day four days after placing the order. The brownies were made-to-order two days before I received it and stay fresh for more than a week according to their claim.
Shrewsbury biscuits from City Bakery, Pune
But then I remembered about Shrewsbury biscuits from Pune which my aunt had given me a few times to taste. They are delicious buttery bits of heaven and I immediately searched for it to see if it was available. Lo and behold it was! Now I definitely had to spend money making at least one purchase here! And the deal was a sweet one as well. For rs 320 I would get 4 packets or 1 Kg of this amazing biscuit so the pricing is very good. But there was courier charges extra of rs 100 which brought the total to Rs 420 for this. I was still more than happy with the pricing.
Experience:
The package arrived in a bigger courier box wrapped well. Inside were two cardboard boxes each containing one big plastic packet (City bakery branded packets) full of biscuits.Around 32 biscuits so totally around 64 biscuits. I expected the biscuits to be packed in 3 cardboard sweet boxes. Some of the biscuits had broken and the plastic bag was tied with plastic rope. I wasn't impressed with the packaging since it wouldn't be that air tight if the plastic packet had holes or if it wasn't tied up. Would prefer something more dependable and which can keep the biscuits from crumbling even better.
However, I was happy that the biscuits were perfectly crispy and tasted just as yummy as I remembered having it years back. Amazingly buttery biscuit. It was hard to resist eating one after the other! If you haven't tried the original shrewsbury biscuit from Pune, please try it right away.
Dust Tea from Balanoor Estates, Chimagalur, Karnataka
Next I decided to try a brand of tea and settled upon the Dust tea from Balanoor Estates. That cost rs. 138 bucks for 400 grams (4 packets of 100 grams each). Again the pricing is good. The fact that they gave separate packets was good since only one needs to be opened at a time.
Experience:
The tea was packed in the branded foil type packet and well sealed. I opened just one and transferred the content to a container. There was a leafy, earthy smell emanating from the tea which I haven't found in the usual brand I use. Unlike Three roses which I love, there's a more natural taste of tea in the milk tea with more bitter and flavor notes. But not everyone may prefer this bit more raw taste. It's definitely good though and you need to try it to know if you like it.
Just Chocolate Brownies from Sleight of Hand, Mumbai
Now I wasn't planning on getting anything more, but I came across these nice looking brownies from Sleight of hand which did pique my interest. However, I still didn't want to try them since they seemed quite expensive for just six small pieces of brownie. 540 rupees for six pieces and 50 rupees courier charges extra.
I just googled Sleight of hand to check and found rave reviews for it claiming that they are one of the best cake brownies Mumbai has to offer. Now I was curious and in two minds whether to spend all that money. In the end my curiosity won since I wanted to try a good cake brownie since I've not had this type here. I've tried chewy, crusty and fudgy but not cakey. :P So cakey I had to have for sure.
Experience:
The packaging was the best for this item. The brownies were individually wrapped in branded clingwrap sort of plastic and packed six in a very sturdy cardboard box. A neat bill was printed with all details given. Weight of product was 320 grams and the best before date was mentioned. It said 15 days from manufacture.
Tastewise, it really did have a good texture and nice taste now that I think about it. First impression was it's good but it didn't blow my mind. Not too oily but moist to the right extent. The sugar level wasn't cloyingly high. It had a slight bitter note to the chocolate which was nice. It does seem to be a quality product as they claim. I liked it but since my first preference for brownies will remain the crusted type, I cannot say I loved it and probably won't pay this price for it again. Not their fault, this will probably be loved much more by a cake brownie enthusiast.
Website experience & payment:
Now that I had chosen some good items from the large variety on the site, I felt I had stretched my already stretched purse enough and chose to click the order button before I found more nice stuff. Payment had to be made in advance. There is no COD [cash on delivery] option. Website seems good enough except for the main menu which I found annoying to navigate.
Adios!
Annd, that's all for today, folks. Hope you enjoyed reading. If you found this website because of this post, please leave your comments mentioning the items you would like to try from here. I would be interested in finding other great must tries from here! I will probably be trying other items from this site soon enough and reviewing those as well.
I have been looking at this site for ages .. and never got to order anything (since my bill always ends up reaching a 1000/- rupees!)
ReplyDeleteThen I thought I should look for some reviews and landed on your blog.
Thank you for a well written review .. but sadly your tastes are different from mine (I am looking at savouries and sweets!) and did not find you ordering any of my choices! :D
But good job. I agree the COD (cash of delivery) option would have been reassuring.
Thank you for the comment. :) Yes, although COD option is not there, delivery has been very smooth the times I've ordered. Note that each package from different brands arrives individually since it's sent from different locations.
DeleteVery recently I ordered the "Kova Puri" from Vellanki Foods and it was very yummy indeed so I can recommend that if you like desi sweets like Badusha. It was filled with kova and even had honey inside so was lovely. Savories, you could look for famous local brands before ordering.