FabCafe's new summer menu says no to sugar, but serves up some pretty sweet inspiration 

You won’t find a single ounce of sugar in FabCafe’s new summer menu. But the creative twists you will find every step of the way are pretty sweet. 

Sample this for starters: momos made with jackfruit flour, blitzed cauliflower (rice) in your chicken biryani and jaggery in your cold coffee. 

If you are a bit reluctant to try ‘healthy tasting’ food — we are here to tell you, post a delightful degustatation tasting: these flavours were plenty delicious. 

Smoothie operator
So, we aren’t the least bit surprised when brand head of FabCafe, Rebekah Blank, shares via email that it took three months to put together. As we flip through the elaborate 60-dish list, we must point out a fun theme that becomes evident early on: “A lot of our salads this summer are modeled after Indian street food,” Rebekah says. Like the Jhalmuri salad with puffed quinoa, makhana and amaranth, topped with fresh peanuts and onion.

But we decide to give the quinoa a miss this time and instead opt for a gourmet rendition of the Shakarkhandi Tarabooj salad which arrives with strips of pretty pink watermelon, golden chunks of sweet potato and pumpkin seeds. This one, is definitely winner. 

As our table gets fuller over the course of the evening, there are some hits and misses. The jaggery syrup in our green smoothie bowl undoes it. While the otherwise creamy blend of spinach, mango and spirulina, topped with muesli for crunch, is beautiful and fresh as is. 

Meanwhile, The Keto Chicken Biryani, entirely carb-free with a base of cauliflower rice which we seriously wondered if we would order on a day with a biryani craving, caught us by surprise with how flavourful it was! Paired with a homestyle Kashmiri Mutton Curry, and we were ready to sing its praises all the way home. 

Flour power
A special mention to the roti section on the menu which omits maida entirely! Instead you can pick your own choice of alternative healthy flour — like quinoa to water chestnut! There is also a six-grain chapati option which includes whole wheat, gram, soyabean, jau, oats and ragi.

But if you are in the mood for eats that are a tad more indulgent, we have two dishes that come taste-approved. 

The first is a melt-in-the-mouth Mutton Galouti kebab and the second is a Chocolate Cake made with almond flour, which certainly ups the ante as far as 
decadence goes.

Available at Alwarpet and Besant Nagar outlets. Meal for two INR1,500.

sonali@newindianexpress.com | @brightasunshine