Its been a few months since Lulu Mall opened up in Trivandrum… I had been staying away due to the amount of crowd that was seen in front of the mall whenever I tried going by that area and also from quite a number of incidents of Covid spread linked to the crowd in the mall… However, those days are pretty much behind us and finally I decided to go when my foodie friend suggested we try visiting the Costa Coffee over there… Hence, I finally visited the mall for the first time and also checked out the Costa Coffee over there and here we are… 🙂
First of all, I felt that its a beautiful cafe, very well designed… All the food in the display shelf looked yummy… The idea of coming here happened cause I happened to try their Lemon Cake by ordering delivery at home and mentioned about the same to my friend who wanted to try the same and hence suggested that we visit (hence the title 😛 )… So, the Lemon Cake was the first one we chose… Other than that, among the food options, we chose the Spinach Paneer Wrap and what they call as the Egg White, Chicken Ham In Multigrain Croissant… In addition to the food we chose their Bubbly Mango Frappe and the Romantic Strawberry And Cream Frappe to drink as well… They were all served as can be seen in the pics below…
First, lets talk about the drinks and start with the Bubbly Mango Frappe… While placing the order, the staff mentioned that they have an add on option of a scoop of Vanilla Ice Cream and we went for the same… It came as can be seen in the pics below, topped with Whipped Cream and the scoop of Vanilla Ice Cream… Regarding the taste, I noticed two things… First of all, I felt that the flavour of Mango was quite yummy and rich… The second thing I noticed in the taste was that I felt the taste of Coconut Milk… I have had Coconut Milk based non-dairy Ice Cream before and so, that is exactly what I was reminded of when I tasted this Frappe… Now a note regarding the Whipped Cream cause unlike most places, the whipped cream was not bland or weird chemical tasting… This one was pretty good with slight sweetness… In-fact the whole drink had just the right amount of sweetness… Overall, we liked it… 🙂
Next is the Romantic Strawberry And Cream Frappe… Unlike the previous one, the staff didn’t offer the Ice Cream Add-On for this one but its ok… It was served as can be see in the pics below… Certainly seems made in a similar was to the previous with of-course Strawberry Syrup instead of Mango… This one had more Whipped Cream than previous and those crystals were clearly sugar crystals with strawberry flavour in them… Coming to the taste, first of all, this one seemed to have been made with regular milk and though the flavour of Strawberry Syrup was quite strong and rich, the presence of Cream, mellowed it down and on the overall, the drink was quite creamy withe the rich taste of Strawberry in it… Those Strawberry Sugar Crystals mixed with the Whipped Cream was quite a treat… Overall, we liked this one too…
Next, lets talk about the food and start with the Spinach Paneer Wrap… Its a vegetarian Tortilla Wrap that was served as can be seen in the pics below… The wrap reminded me of the Spinach Tortilla thats used by Subway in their Signature Wraps… In-fact, it tasted exactly the same with the exact same texture… As for filling, the Paneer was clearly of good quality and the taste of the filling overall reminded me of the Achari Paneer curry made with Paneer, Onions, Capsicums, Sesame, Fenugreek and of-course the Turmeric and Chilly Powder… Personally, I am not a fan of Achari Paneer, but this version, wrapped using the Spinach Tortilla felt nice, though it felt a bit too spicy for my taste… My friend however seemed to like it…
Next up, was the Egg White, Chicken Ham In Multigrain Croissant… I like Croissants and among the food options I saw in the display shelf, this is the item that caught my eye… The staff mentioned that it basically consists of Egg White, Cheese and sliced Chicken Ham inside a Multigrain Croissant… It was served as can be see in the pics below… Regarding the taste, first of all, the Croissant being the Multigrain version is not like the All Purpose Flour based Croissant… In fact, though they say Multigrain, it tasted mostly of Whole Wheat Croissants that was just topped with the rest of the grains 😛 But though it looks like it spent too much time in the oven, it was indeed soft nonetheless though not as soft as the regular flour Croissants… The highlight to me was the Egg which was cooked perfectly and hence was incredibly soft and fluffy… The sauce used felt like Hollandaise and so the whole thing ended up being one of the best versions of Eggs Benedict for me… Of-course, the Ham added its own dimension to the sandwich… Overall, definitely one of the best Egg sandwiches that I have ever had… My friend loved this too and both of us can’t wait to go back and have again…
Last but not least was the very reason why my friend and I visited the place ie, the Lemon Cake which was served as can be seen in the pics below… Clearly its a slice from a loaf cake with icing on the top… Regarding the taste, first of all, I must say that this Lemon Cake was the absolute best Cake I have ever had… The texture of the cake was so light and fluffy (even though it looks like a big piece on that plate, its easily possible for one person to eat 2-3 pieces)… The sweetness level was absolutely perfect and the flavour of the Lemon was simply awesome… Its not strong but just at that perfect level where you can taste that Lemon along with the Butter, Egg, etc that was used to make the Cake and also the caramelisation of the Sponge at the edges… The Icing was clearly a Vanilla Royal Icing but not the eggless kind as I could detect the subtle taste of Egg White in it… Overall, this is now both mine and my friend’s favourite cake and we’ll definitely be visiting Costa just for it… I have already ordered some as home delivery for me and my parents as well 🙂
Thats it for now… Undoubtedly, I think its one of the best meals I have had any time recently… I am hoping to be able to visit the place again and try more items from their menu… Even if I am not able to visit, I hope to be able to at-least order home deliveries to try as well… Lets see… In the meantime, feel free to try these items from your nearest Costa Coffee outlet and let me know in the comments section below… 🙂
