Mumbai: This Bandra dessert outlet is perfect for paan lovers

Bombay velvet

The obsession with finishing off a meal with a chocolate mousse is new-fangled. In the "hamare zamane" times, the luxury of a night-out meal was followed by a paan from a corner shop. But, now, the '90s are back with an upgrade. Why, then, should paans not jump on the bandwagon?

While there are already a couple of swanky paan shops around town - none with the charm of beetlenut chewing and spitting, sitting very comfortably cross-legged - Leavessence near Toto's in Bandra has the promise that few hold. It, after all, promises to deliver the leaves at home, post the usual hours.

Kuch meetha ho jaaye

While the sweet messenger remains a popular delivery operator, the package does arrive within 35 minutes. And there, without moving more than the five steps it takes to get to the door of a Mumbai house, we have our meetha paan (kuch meetha ho jaaye). Neatly packaged in paper boxes, there are two (priced at a total of Rs 70). They had the same melt-in-the-mouth texture that a regular paan-beedi tapri would serve. And it did help with the digestion of the heavy meal we'd just had.

But Leavessence has quite a few tricks up its sleeve. There's the Bombay velvet (Rs 130). A red-velvet dessert rolled into a paan. It's quite heavy and too sweet for our taste. Yes, we did try it at the fag end of the recommended 24-hour window, and perhaps that contributed to it feeling a little stale.

Vanilla ice paan; The packaging

What did blow the mind was the vanilla ice paan (Rs 80). Now, remember, we ate this within the same timeframe as the Bombay velvet, but time it seems, does not hurt vanilla. It is fresh and is exactly like a vanilla ice-cream rolled into a large beetle leaf. The two textures (the crispy frozen paan, and the about-to-melt ice-cream) go well together. A boring vanilla flavour meets the peppery twang of the paan. It was meant to be.

Most Indians have their favourite paan. Leavessence achieves two things. A) You can expand your list now and B) The next time that guests are over, you have some
new desserts to offer. Without stepping out.

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