All is quiet, mid-morning at Surabhi café, off of the lobby at Mascot Hotel. Only our olfactory senses are in overload as trays of pastries, cakes and freshly-baked bread find pride of place, one by one, at the newly opened ‘Mascot Bakery’ outlet inside the café. Mascot Bakery is a venture by the Kerala Tourism Development Corporation (KTDC); a one-stop shop for wholesome cakes, pastries, breads, desserts, savouries and cookies.
“For long, we had been outsourcing bakery items for our café and restaurants and we were not happy with the quality or taste of the products. That’s why we decided to put our noses to the grindstone and make the products in-house, thereby ensuring breads and pastries of high standard, made with fresh and wholesome ingredients,” says Sandeep Nair, food and beverages manager, Mascot Hotel.
The ‘bakery’ is actually only a couple of refrigerated pastry display counters laden with treats such as masala cookies, butter cookies, plain and chocolate doughnuts, slices of pineapple and chocolate gateaux, vegetarian and chicken puffs and the like. “The highlight of the range is bread, baked fresh everyday. We have four varieties whole wheat, high fibre, whole grain and multi grain,” says Sandeep.
What attractive about the items, apart from the taste, is that each is easy on the wallet. The fairly largish chocolate doughnut, for example, cost Rs. 30 while the chicken puff is Rs.35. You can get two cookies for Rs. 25, a pineapple fresh cream pastry for Rs. 50 and a huge loaf of bread for Rs. 40! In fact, the most expensive item on the menu seems to be the foccasia vegetarian sandwich at Rs. 200.
“We’ve tried to ensure that all the items are as low on calories as possible. We use only butter for our products and absolutely no margarine as is wont for such products made on a massive scale. Also, we use only unrefined sugar, sourced especially for the purpose from Maharashtra, which means that it’s safe for people with diabetes to eat. We don’t use artificial colouring or any chemicals or preservatives,” explains Sandeep.
Indeed, team any of items with a cuppa of hot tea or coffee at Surabhi café and you’re guaranteed a scrumptious snack in a blessedly quiet environment, far away from the madding crowd, yet at its very centre.
Mascot Bakery also has an outlet at Hotel Chaitram, in the place where the tourist reception centre used to function. The bakery also takes orders for customised products, such as in a variety of flavours (pineapple gateaux and chocolate gateaux, for example, are priced Rs. 240 per kg) and dietary requirements. More items will shortly be added to the menu. While the café at Mascot is open 24x7, the one at Chaitram is open from 10 a.m. to 10 p.m. Contact: 0471-2318990 (Mascot); 0471-2330977 (Chaithram)
