We love the American Express Bakery, we’ve been going there for as long as we can remember, and even a few times we can’t remember. We love everything about it, the smell of cinnamon in the air, the old wooden cabinets, the line up of breads whose names we can’t pronounce; everything. Unfortunately, however, we’ve come to the conclusion that the American Express Bakery is probably the most boring place in the world. It’s like a sweet old lady or the Simpsons, there’s no doubt in our minds that it’s great, it’s just that every time we have to spend more than five minutes there, we want to shoot ourselves or get hit by a speeding Landcruiser.
Of course there are two American Express Bakeries, one in Byculla so people from South Bombay don’t have to come to the suburbs and the other in Bandra so people from Bandra don’t turn South Bombay into an art gallery for hipsters. Both are amazing, but we decided to go to the one on Hill Road because we didn’t really want to go to Byculla. Nobody wants to go to Byculla, and after years of gouging down on their food to the point of type 2 diabetes, we know exactly what you need to order.
Lemon Tart
Price: Rs.35
The American Express Bakery Lemon Tart is one of those things that look a lot more expensive than it really is, it’s the anti-Crocs. And even though they call it a lemon tart there’s nothing tart about it all, it’s just pure unadulterated sugar dipped in yellow food colour. We assume. Still, it’s definitely worth picking up one. Or twelve.
Hungarian Coffee Cake
Price Rs.55
The Hungarian Coffee cake doesn’t taste like coffee or cake. It tastes like Christmas. That’s the only way we can put it. If the joyful season of Christmas (or Good Governance Day) had a tangible form, it would be the Hungarian Coffee Cake.
Almond & Apricot Cookie
Price: Rs.30
The Almond and Apricot Cookie tasted like every generic cookie but a million times better thanks to the sugar frosting. At first we thought we detected a hint of rum but it turns out that’s also what gram flour tastes like. So that made us introspect a little.
We do think American Express Bakery is the best of the Hill Road bakery triad. It’s the cleanest, quietest and best looking. We’d probably spend a lot more time there if it wasn’t so annoyingly dull. I mean they could at least crank open a window or something; I could literally hear the blood vessels in my ear even though it’s on the main road on a Tuesday afternoon. But when it comes to incredible food at prices they’ve barley updated since they started 50 years ago, there’s no doubt that it’s a national treasure everyone needs to visit.
