In a nutshell:

A good place for regular ‘fill the tummy’ needs , a good place to catch up with friends over chai & also a place to access relatively healthy & hygienic Streetfood but it is not surely a foodie’s delight.

Address & other details: Chaayos

Meal for 2: Rs. 300 onwards

Cuisine type : Vegetarian & Nonvegetarian

Disclaimer: All restaurants / eateries reviewed by YUMMRAJ were visited by YUMMRAJ himself & he has paid for the full Bill & tips also. http://www.yummraj.com does not have even one featured / sponsored reviews. YUMMRAJ believes in going to a restaurant in anonymity, as a normal guest, experience everything & give a honest account of the same to you.

I rate all the food items & then give a final overall rating which is a simple average of the individual item ratings. What the ratings stand for: 5 = Excellent, 4 = Very Good, 3 = Good, 2 = Fair, 1 = Disaster.

The rating of food in this restaurant has been done with respect to the extent of YUMMness of the food. E.g. While a vada pao served here might b more hygienic than the one on the Mumbai street but this one is surely less YUMM than the real ones.

Short Description – in case u r in a hurry:

When someone recommended this place to me I thought of walking in – the name attracted me quite a lot. The café is spread across 2 storeys with the lower one having a open kitchen counter & small seating area. The upper storey has a full dining area with nice pics , messages on the wall & cool messages on the blackboard as well. The furniture is simple & nice & I particularly liked the graphic cover on top of the table.

The menu card is all over the wall. It has just names of food / beverages with price – with no descriptions / pics.

Guys at the counter were good but cud not pronounce most of the items with International names. E.g. Chamomile almost sounded something like ‘chameli mili’ !!! etc. Since no description was given below the names of the dishes on the menu, the staff needed to explain those in good detail. They cud do so in some cases but not so good in most cases.

One of the guys was a total disaster. He served a dish with 2 empty chutney dip bowls. We asked why they were empty. The answer was ‘this item is eaten with sauce that has been served in sachets already’. We said ‘then why do u give us empty cases for chutney? By the way, can we get some green chutney’. The guy came back with a disgusted face with 2 different types of chutney. We said ‘thanks, we just need the green chutney’. The guy just shrugged, made an awful face & walked out with the attitude of a Zamindar who is having to deal with some petty subjects.

Food in general is not the best in their category. They are either average or just good in YUMM meter. Rarely something was ‘very good’. It is surely not a foodie’s destination. For hardcore foodies who will go anywhere to get good food, this is not a great place. However, those who spend most of their time out of home / office, might find this a good option for regular eating. The food is almost home-like, seemed to be hygienically made & they had some ‘healthy food’ as well. To benchmark, food here is tastier & better than that at say Barista or Coffee Day. Good place to catch up with friends over some tea & small eats.

Someone has told the Chef that egg yolk is bad. So they serve all egg dishes without yolk!!!! Even the ones in which eggs are fried & served with fried potatoes, the egg yolk is not there.

Detailed Description – In case u have the Time to NJOY reading:

We started with God’s chai. It was black tea with kangra masala – Good flavored tea with strong base, perfectly sweetened & brewed so that strength was maintained but it did not turn bitter. 4.5/5

Desi chai with elaichi & ginger was normal home made tea with no special feature. Nothing stood out. I rate it 3/5.

With chai we had Vada pao – Good by Gurgaon standards but in Mumbai u get more rustic & tastier versions. The vada pao here was soft bun with vada within, served with green chutney. There was multiplicity of taste direction in the vada – Sour, salt, hot & somewhat chatpata vada. It was good, had a relatively strong but sophisticated home food type taste as compared to the rustic Mumbai streetfood version & I rate it 3.5/5.

We also ordered Keema pao – Again, good by Gurgaon standards but in Mumbai u get more rustic & tastier versions. Soft bun with a decent layer of keema (mutton mince meat) within. The mutton was done in a nice way & was tasty.

The keema was however of the machine minced kind & not hand minced. Thus the texture & also the taste got diminished quite a bit, thus moving the taste from being rustic to more sophisticated. Good for regular eats I guess but not as a YUMM food that I wud drive from home to eat. I rate this 3/5 again.

Bun maska sounded interesting and we ordered it as well. It was Plain Mc Donalds style super soft bun with sesame atop. The un was split from the center, layered with Amul Butter & then tawa toasted. I am in a dilemma to rate it. It is just butter toast? Since the bread was good, I rate the dish almost good & hence 2.5/5.

Hawaiian sandwich – Like everything that has Hawaiian in the name (except the guitar), this dish also had pineapples. The name reminded me of my visit to Hawaii & their amazing juicy & awesomely tasty pineapples. The taste still lingers in my mouth almost after a decade of me visiting Hawaii.

The pineapple used at Chayyos was of course the local version with no major taste / flavor. The brown bread grilled sandwich was a healthy sandwich version which I guess is enjoyable for someone looking to fill the tummy during lunch time / someone who eats out regularly / is very focused on eating on healthy food even if it does not taste the best. This sandwich is not that great for someone who wants a tasty sandwich. I rate it 3/5.

The last item we had was Anda pao. It turned out to b Boiled ‘egg whites’ fried, served with spicy fried mashed potato between two slices of pao. In this most unhealthy combination in which everything is fried, chef decided to go ‘healthy’ by declaring that all egg yolks shud b thrown away!!!!

Anyway, the food tasted somewhat chatpata & good. The fried mashed potatoes & their masalas totally overpowered the eggs in both flavor & taste. The egg cud b felt only in texture. Good to eat as it is but not at all flattering not for an egg lover. I rate it 3/5.

We ended the evening with Modinagar Shikanji. This was a good shikanji but made with MNC sodas , that too poured from a large bottle that had been opened earlier. The drink is usually enjoyed with local soda Banta that is super strong – much more than the MNC sodas. The masala added in the shikanji was good but not as rustic as the roadside ones. The balance of sweet, sour 7 salt was perfect.Rate this drink 4/5

Rating of food at Chayyos averages out to 3.3/5

I will revisit only if I am hungry in Galleria & want something fast & simple. Not when I am in a mood to eat out a good meal.