We call it Upper Crust, but its rightful name is Café Upper Crust, and indeed it is a café, one that serves delicious meals too! It had become my favorite restaurant in Ahmedabad for quite some time now, but taking my husband there for the first time was the real test. After all, he is a foodie (unlike me) and a non-vegetarian (again, unlike me).
The place (at least the one near CEPT University) is quite unassuming from the outside, and I got a sidelong glance from H. When we went inside, the ambience felt very much home-like, yet communicated a sense that the café folks knew what they were up to. The color tones of brown went well with an entire wall devoted to selling assorted bread and cookies, as well as the main counter arrayed with rows and rows of mouthwatering pastry. To my delight, several of them were chocolate based. At one end was a huge square cake: six kg, said the person at the counter, and I staggered on my feet. It was for a little girl’s birthday, with cartoon figures drawn out in real-looking colors. Is that a photo to be removed before eating, I asked. Came the reply: ma’am, it’s edible, it’s colored sugar. Wow!
And now that the five-minute wait for seats was over, we got down to business. There are only six tables on the ground floor, all of which seemed to be occupied as soon as they were vacant. We got a cozy window-side table. The menu card is a simple affair, with the items listed along with a short description in 6-8 words. We found choosing simple because the information was quite clear, and yet tough, because there were so many delicious-sounding options. Italian (our favorite at Upper Crust), Indian, and Upper Crust specials are the major options.
We did not order starters because we planned to gobble down one sizzler each. And so it was the Mamma Mia sizzler (veg cutlet, spaghetti, macaroni in white sauce, and sautéed vegetables, with French fries) for me, and Chef Recommends sizzler (chicken in a delicious-looking sauce, and sautéed vegetables, with French fries) for H. Needless to say, we ate till the final drop of sauce was over, and only the lettuce leaves were left on the sizzler dish. For drinks, we tried the chocolate truffle shake and chocolate brownie shake, and they are truly made for chocolate fans. For dessert we had hot chocolate brownie with chocolate sauce and vanilla ice cream. My resolve to not touch dessert broke down at the sight of the dish, and between the two of us, the dessert vanished in a trice!
We glanced at other tables and saw tempting pizzas, sizzlers, roti-dal-subzi, and mocktails. That’s when we decided to come again, and try some of those dishes. To top it all, the service is good, the waiters are attentive without being overly so. All in all, the delicious food and good ambience made us come back to this place within a span of a week. And brought me praise from my hubby as well. A rare occurrence that is, mind you!
Bottomline: A unique place for some good food in Ahmedabad, a likely favorite for locals who know it, and a must-try for non-locals.
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