From a miniature Eiffel Tower to a book ‘The Mr Food Cookbook’, the interiors of this place have it all to make you believe as if you have entered somebody’s home rather than Café Ludus.
Done up with extra-care, the interiors comprise various elements of a laboratory, library, an amphitheatre and a cafeteria! And if you are trying to decode the name ‘Ludus’, it refers to a Greek training school for Gladiators!
As one orders drinks, from shakes to smoothies, there is an option for everyone. However, barring the Melted Chocolate Fudge, the rest are too sweet to relish! The Red Berry Iced Tea was better but the chocolate drink was the best with oodles of sauce mixed in milk, shaken with ice and garnished with a chocolate stick.
You could browse magazines hung from hangers but the descriptive menu proved to be more interesting. It taught you how to pronounce dish names correctly!
One of the best dishes that Cafe Ludus had was the Waldorf Salad, which was served with red apple and honey mayo. The lettuce leaves and apple slices were bound in a honey dressing and topped with diced walnut to give the dish a crunchy taste and a wonderful twist.
But other appetisers were regular – be it the Zataar Prawn or Four Seasons platter.
The prawns failed to tantalise the taste buds and the platter wasn’t as innovative. It contained the regular falafel, cheese sambousek (i.e. samosa), cheese croquettes with hummus and mashed baba ganoush and was served with pita bread.
The vegetarian Leguberes Quesadilla and non-vegetarian Chicken Quesadilla were the same, though the non-veg version was slightly better due to the presence of juicy chicken chunks. The large tortillas became thin pockets for fillings but failed to leave a pleasant after taste.
Instead, the Poseidon Panini was a better choice with tiny dices of prawn tossed along with bell peppers and cheese. The prawns weren’t spicy or grilled (as promised by the menu) and the dish tasted average.
There were a few money-saver options as well - like a combo of sandwich and soup or a half‘n’half pizza, which contained both non-veg and veg toppings. You could also order two types of veg toppings on the same pizza or two non-veg ones, depending on your preference. We opted for Primavera and Siciliana flavours in one pizza. Baked on thin crust, the pizza wasn’t crisp and difficult to cut but the seafood side (Siciliana) won the battle against asparagus, artichokes, mushrooms and olives of Primavera, taste wise. The special spicy mayo dip, though, prepared for the pizza surprisingly turned out to be good.
The Crixus Burger contained too much mustard sauce while the French Assiette tasted like a French brother of Indian Shahi Paneer! Served with Ratatouille’ and Caper Rosé Sauce, the latter is a confused dish!
The best, fortunately, came last. As Cambodian Basa (fish) was served, its fragrance was enticed everyone at the table. Difficult to resist, one forked the dish to find the lemon capper sauce heightening the taste of tender and luscious basa prepared by chef Amitabh Kumar. This one seemed capable of awakening even a dead appetite!
But the dessert - Bipolar Cheesecake made with sweet pimento and figs, could not recreate the magic left behind by the fish.
