As those who regularly follow my posts would know, I had started a Pizza Trail series which is basically my search for the best Pizza in Trivandrum (as of now)… This post is the second one in the series and this time, after a long gap, I am back at Cafe Cocoa Bean which is very close to my home at Kazhakuttom… For those who are unaware, this is an Italian Cafe and Restaurant here in Kazhakuttom serving fine Italian delicacies at affordable price and I have extensively reviewed their food over the 1 year that I have known the place… So, when I got the chance to visit there after quite a while, I felt this could be a potential Pizza Trail visit…
So, among the various Pizza options, I chose what they call as the Italian Pizza and knowing the place well, I know regarding their small portion sizes and so also added their Chicken Cream Soup and what they call as BBQ Chicken as the starter…
The first to arrive was the Chicken Cream Soup… This is a soup made using Cream with a thickened Chicken Broth and its meant to be a rich a creamy Chicken Soup… It arrived as shown in the pics below, garnished with some chopped Parsley on top…
First of all, the soup tasted quite rich with the flavours of Chicken and Cream… The pieces of Chicken in the soup was cooked perfectly… The Parsley clearly was just a garnish as I didn’t find it affecting the flavour profile of this soup… However, the problem I had with this soup is that it was underseasoned… So, I had to add some salt and pepper when having it… Once that was done, it was a fine straight forward soup… However, I have had better Chicken Cream Soups in some of the other places I have been to…
Next to arrive was the starter called BBQ Chicken… According to the waiter, its basically their signature Barbecue Chicken option and comes with two pieces of Chicken which is usually the whole leg of chicken cut into two – the Thigh and the Drumstick… Its also served with a small salad consisting of green and purple/red Cabbages and a Lettuce… It arrived as shown below 🙂
First of all, unlike the other Barbecue Chicken options I have had, this has a incredibly crispy skin… So, makes me wonder if this was flash fried and then finished with the Barbecue sauce… The white colored sauce on top is actually sour cream… 🙂 The main star of this dish is indeed the Barbacue Sauce which has this incredible sweet and spicy taste that also feels smokey and it is intense… Quite frankly its my favourite Barbecue sauce so far and with the Chicken being crispy on the outside and absolutely perfectly cooked inside has pretty much made this my favourite Barbecue Chicken option that I have even seen… I would definitely call this as the best Barbecue Chicken option in Trivandrum…
Next up is the main event of the day which is making this post a Pizza Trail post… So, the Pizza arrived and the one I chose from the menu as mentioned before is what they call as the Italian Pizza…
According to the menu, the Italian Pizza consists of Chicken Salami, Sausage and Chicken… I ordered this pizza after confirming with the waiter that the Sausage used is Chicken… So, the pizza came as shown in the pics shown below and above 🙂 Clearly it is a Thin Crust Pizza and appeared to contain in addition to the Chicken pieces, Black Olives, Bell Peppers (red and green), Golden Corn and some sliced Button Mushrooms and was topped with Mozzarella Cheese and then pretty much a handful of Red Chilli Flakes and Oregano… The Chicken pieces looked to have been roasted chicken along with pieces of Chicken Salami and slices of Chicken Sausage…
First of all, the crust was cooked perfectly and was quite crispy especially the edge… The Sauce was the classic Italian Tomato Sauce thats used usually in Italian Pizzas… But many other places the sauce tasted home made as I couldn’t taste any of the usual preservatives but rather tasted of Tomatoes, Olive Oil and Garlic… All the Chicken pieces felt to be cooked well and seasoned well as well… Because of the Chilli Flakes and Oregano on top, each bite of this Pizza had a strong flavour of both along with the rest of the ingredients which were distinctly recognisable… The crust seemed to have a slight taste of Butter in it too… 🙂 So, overall a fine Pizza that I really liked having and am hoping to have again soon… Definitely one of the best pizzas in Trivandrum in my opinion…
At the end of the Pizza, I felt like having a dessert and among those that were available for the day, I chose their Walnut Brownie and they served it with a scoop of Vanilla Ice cream and topped with Chocolate Sauce as shown in the pics below…
Well, this turned out to be just another average Chocolate Brownie with Walnuts in it… That with the Chocolate Sauce give a bitter component to it which got cooled down and sweetness balanced by the Vanilla Ice cream… So overall just ok… Nothing good and nothing bad about it…
So, altogether another fine lunch from Cafe Cocoa Bean and to me personally, it was a refreshing throwback since it has been a long time since my last visit to this place… Hoping to go back soon… 🙂
