A few weeks ago, Reema (Sumthinz Cooking), Adarsh (The Big Bhookad), Shirin (Food Chants), Krytie (Food Mantra) and I took off on a roadtrip from Mumbai to to check out Della Adventure. The drive to Lonavla was beautiful! The rain pitter-pattered as we hit the Mumbai-Pune Expressway.
After a few hours, we reached Della Adventures. This adventure park is India’s largest and has 86 (and counting) activities for adventure seekers. Click here for more information.
Upon arrival, we were taken on a short walking tour around the park by one of their representatives. This place is popular among families and corporate.
Here are some pictures of the park activities:
Don’t think that this place doesn’t have its quirks…
With activities and other interesting things, it was time to check out the food this place has to offer. While walking up, I caught a whiff of fresh bread. My nose guided me to their in-house bakery where they bake fresh bread and cake every day. They had to do this because this place has 4 eateries within the property.
After the tour, we all worked up an appetite and headed to one of their restaurants – Café 24. This is a 24 hour joint which has an impressive array of cuisines.
We all settled in and took turns at ordering food. I had to carry the menu with both my hands! It was that heavy! After reading the menu, I decided to try out something from every section. This is a good test for their chef.
Here the dishes that I tried:
Drinks:
I was impressed with only Capirinha. It was zesty and fresh. After such a long drive, this was quite comforting to me. I found the Long Island Iced Tea too strong. Wish there was more ice in it. Daiquiri was unimpressive.
Salad:
I am big on Caesar Salad. I order it almost everywhere I go. This one was a let down on two things; freshness and dressing. The lettuce was limp and chopped finely. The dressing was too much. However, I did like the smoked chicken. Really juicy.
It’s a good dish to order when you have a lot of people on your table. The hummus was too grainy. I like the babaganoush, though. The pita bread and lavash served were fresh.
I like cooked beetroot and enjoyed the salad very much.
Plump prawns cooked to perfection with a great garlic flavor. Thumbs up!
I really like aubergine flavor. However, the sliced were doused with cheese. Not happy.
Nothing magical about it.
Spicy, sweet and really delicious!
Mains:
I expected a lot from this dish. It let me down because it was heavily flavoured with lemon grass.
Err… it was more like seafood risotto. Paella is supposed to have saffron in it. Also, why did they add cheese on top of it? I was confused.
I asked for a medium rare steak with red wine sauce, mashed potatoes and vegetables on the side. I kept my fingers crossed for this. I enjoy a good steak. This dish didn’t let me down (almost). The meat was cooked to my liking. The side dishes were good. But, the sauce was wrong. They served me a brown sauce and said it was a red wine sauce. Strange!
Dessert:
Ice-creamErr… the ice cream was good.
No lemon. No cream cheese. No biscuit base. Complete let down.
Overall, it was an average experience when it came to food. I liked a few dishes like the Lasooni Jhinga, German Salad and the Steak. I suggest they work on their menu a little more. An extensive menu like theirs raised my expectation. Well, you can see what my thoughts were after. Anyway, I would like to visit that place only for the activities.
Other restaurants in the park:
The Black Sakura 