Coco & Basil, Manpada, Thane West

A very happy new year to all you foodies out there! May this year bring a lot of deliciousness on your plate, happiness and health too.

Cute Interiors

On the very first day of the new year where most people start their new year's resolutions by hitting the gym, we ventured out to find a new hidden gem in town!

Talk about Resolutions!

There's something about finding a place that's not-so-easy to find that excites us. It's like treasure hunt if we exaggerate the sentence. We knew the place had good reviews but still wanted to try it out for our own sake. One fine Sunday, we finally decided to head out to this little cafe  that's tucked into a corner in the lanes of Hiranandani.

Well lit!

The best way to find this place is to reach till Hiranandani meadows and then it's a 10 min walk or 3 mins drive from there. Ask around for Hyde Park or Cafe Amigos.

This is in no way a fancy cafe with brilliant ambience. It's a very small cafe that can accommodate up to 20 people at a time. The ambience is good but not great. There are frames hanging on the walls with various food quotes. No music playing in the background.

Here's what we ordered:

1. Veg Crema Fungi Pasta: A classic white sauce pasta with mushrooms and grated cheese running through. One can never go wrong with it and it was a very creamy, smooth sauce with Fusilli pasta. Add some oregano and chilli flakes for spice and you are sorted. What we loved is the quantity of the dish that's way more than other places. It's a hearty meal for one, the solo dish!

Veg Crema Fungi Pasta

D-licious!

2. Ming Yang Pizza (Non Veg): Every once in a while we try something that we've never heard of. This was one of times that we did and we are so glad we ordered this! It was so good! Spicy, little tangy and little sweet, full of flavours with thin pizza crust and good amount of clmelted cheese. This is a must try if you visit the place! What we liked is the base was crispy instead of soggy even though the pizza had nice amount of red schezwan sauce in it.

Ming Yang Pizza

Mouth Watering!

3. Oriental Pizza: Since we loved the Ming Yang Pizza, we ordered another one. This one tasted like Chicken chilly gravy or a Chinese gravy. There was plenty of oriental sauce in the pizza, so much that it was oozing out while we ate. It was a very different kind of pizza but we liked it nonetheless!

Oriental Pizza

Heaven!

4. Chicken Junglee sandwich: We love sandwiches that have crispy breads and this one made us happy! The amount of filling was adequate along crispy buttered breads tasted too good.

Chicken Junglee sandwich

Good amount of filling!

Crispy texture!

We were full and happy by the time we finished our food. All this was shared among three of us. What a lunch it was! This place is truly a good option if you crave for some really good Indian version of Italian cuisine and don't want to spend a bomb. If only they open new outlets in other places as well! It lives upto our expectations and we are happy that we came here.

Only one thing we would list as a con is that since the kitchen and billing counter is downstairs, there's no one to check on you for your order. The person will come once in a long while for clearing the plates or for noting down further orders. But the service was pretty quick though. The order reached us within 10-12 minutes after we ordered.

Food- 5/5

Ambience- 4/5 (since the place was empty when we reached)

Service- 4/5

VFM- 5/5

We'd suggest the pizzas and pastas especially Ming Yang Pizza if your taste buds are similar to ours!

Bon Appetit!