Oh Bean Der
Oh Bean Der is re-branded "Leaf" restaurant which is part of Amogh Boutique Hotel in Banjara Hills. Renovated under the new catchy name of Oh Bean Der , this is part of the Butta Hospitality which is s a multi faceted organization that owns & operates hotels and also successfully conducts business as a professional "one-stop shop" for a complete set of Hotel Consultancy and Management Services. I was invite among other bloggers for a review of their offerings by their PR & Marketing Partner ThinkTankers rep Mr. Rahul Shetty on an otherwise tiring tuesday.
The decor and ambiance is quite quirky and bright but on seeing their menu label as Global Cafe, I felt the decor though bright didnt go well with that cafe theme. Never the less we felt it as a positive vibe on it. The one thing that took me and other bloggers attention totally off was the buffet array setup right in the prime area of the place. This offset the entire mood of the place and we immediately provided feedback on the same. The table and seating were otherwise quite standard and comfortable. Nothing to go WOW about to be frank.
Note: This review experience is based on Management Invite and was on the house & review shared is honest and unbiased in the interest of fellow readers and foodies.
We were pleasantly greeted by their PR MR. Rahul and also the Manager and seated in the prime sector of the place. As we sat down we felt the bright colors does give a cafe feel and as we had a lance through our menu, Chef proposed he will send in array of food dishes back to back or we can order from the menu. We felt the formaer was a better and faster choice. So we started off with some mocktails which they have like any standard cafe - smoothes / shakes / hot and cold coffees and some typical mocktails. Mango and water melon smoothies were on the above good side as they were fresh and aprt for their pricing and oreo choco shake also felt filling but got more of choco flavor than oreo but was good-ish. The one drink that every liked was the subtle and elegant Apple-tini (Apple Martini) which was clean , simpel and defenitely refreshing.
We were then served with Mushroom Cappucino soup on a typical cappucino cup with garlic bread stick. The soup was rich , flavorful and right balance of the cream ensured we finallygot our relaxation to savor the upcoming items. Have had best ones but this was equally good. Then came the series of veg starters - veg stick kebab, mushroom friti, cottage cheese sicilian, basic cottage cheese tikka. Veg Stick kebab was interesting in the way they were served on shot glasses of green sauce and a tinch of tomato ketchup on top of it. The idea was to use the dip stick into the sauce and have them and I think it worked quite well for this one. All other dishes were pretty average as none of them had the warmth and depth of flavor. Not that they lacked seasoning or flavor but none of them screamed uniqueness coming from OBD.
On the non-veg front, we got Orange n BBQ glazed chicken wings which we felt was the pick of the day - was spicy , tangy but didnt get much on the orange or BBQ flavor and garllic chilli pepper prawns which also served the purpose though we didnt felt it anything WOW again but hey it was good indeed.
We then moved onto their veg and non-veg pizzas. The Exotic Veggie Pizza was made with almost perfect thin base but the marinara sauce used was so low and the cheese dominated the veggies that we didnt get to savor any contrasting flavors. The veggies though cooked didnt add any value to be labelled as exotic. We felt the sauce and contrasting topping would have done the magic and gave back the same during feedback session. The non-veg variant BBQ Hot chicken Pizza was OKish again as we didnt get any BBQ hint during our experience and chicken was also so small cubes that we really didnt get the feel. The BBQ Sauce used was slo scarce which led to us having a simple pizza with some chicken toppings. So this didnt impress me either.
Murgh Tikka
After a mixed bag of starters, we took a break and sat down for a chit chat with the owner of the place and shared our views and some feedback as well on the plae and food. Then we got into our entree`s.
We thought this dish was as usual interesting to see how a cafe would served and our first ask was mushroom chicken risotto. The dish obviously looked appetizing but then on tasting , we felt the richnes was almost there but it was bland ano proper seasing was witnessed. The chicken and mushroom were cooked good but overall the feel of risotto was lost and also I didnt get the idea behind that BBQ chilli powder drizzled all around the dish. Served no purpose.
We then moved onto Thai Green Prawns Curry which was served with jasmine sticky rice and kimchi. Kimchi and sticky rice were passable. The thai curry was rich and decently flavoured and prawns were cooked good. The aroma could have onotched a bit high but nevertheless was close to being authentic and definitely needs little bit of more seasoning.
Chicken Biryani was also served which we felt is a risk always in a cafe but I think Chef being strong in hyderabad local cuisines, the bryani was defitely good and if not the one of the best in hyd, one of the best we had in OBD compared to other items. We also tasted their naans with Subz Miloni (mix veg curry) and Lachhedar butter chicken Curry. both the currries were really good but again lacked punch in them. They went really well with the naans and since we were almost full, couldnt savor much of them.
Almost fully packed up, we then moved to finale of any meal - desserts. We were served Lava Cake, Blueberry cheese cake, Red velvet cake, Chocolate brownie with vanilla ice cream and Chocolate truffle pastry.
My first pick among them were Chocolate truffle pastry which was soft, guey, rich and defnitely bang on flavour and most of us preferred that more than anything else. This was followed by Red velvet Cake which was again on right amount of sweeetness but the richness of it was missing. Lava Cake was nothing exceptional but heated readymade motel cake which had a sour taste to it for some reaons but was served interestingly with fork and spoon impression with chocolate poweder for decor and flavour. Chocolate brownie with ice cream was tasty but nothing WOW again and I guess for me the blueberry cheescake was the least favourite as I coudlnt get anythign out of it. I think they should limite the options but increase the quality and WOW Factor of them to get them hooked up to the cafe mode menu styling and dining.
Service & Hospitality:
Mr. Rahul along with the Hotel Manager and crew were of course on the toes since it was bloggers table and their staff were extremely attentive and polite. They kept changing plates after each course without prompting which tells us they are well trained and well aware of customer service and I had no complaints on this factor for sure..
Verdict:
Oh Bean Der,A trendy to-the-trend cafe is ambitious with a global menu with around 90+ dishes whcih cater all day dining raning from breakfast to dinner with menu offering something for everyone but I feel in this early stage of setting foot print in the most competitive aera of dining warfare, they should limite the menu and be confident and consistent on it. Chef is absolutely confident on his indian cuisine but definitely needs to work on plating and other cuisines if they still prevail to provide all the cuisine options. Also the indian dishes which where on the upper hand should be thought through for any fusion attempts and those would be their USP and singature rather than serving all normal dishes might or might not work on a long run. Hope they work on it and try to sustain selling aspects and succeed.
Note: This review experience is based on Management Invite and was on the house & review shared is honest and unbiased in the interest of fellow readers and foodies.
