Bachelor's Ice-cream

Sweet dreams with chocolate and ice cream, and a little falooda on the side. At two a.m. On Marine Drive. That's Bachelor's. Nestled in a nook beside the railway tracks at Charni Road station in Mumbai, this ice cream joint, milkshake and sandwich is a regular hangout amongst the evening crowd, racing down Marine Drive for kicks, stopping at Bachelor's to cool down.

Bachelor's is an experience that every visitor to Mumbai must taste to believe. Their unique flavours cannot be found anywhere else.

Open from five pm to the early am, Bachelor's is a great place to stop whether you're looking for a falooda on your drive home from work, a late night dessert, or even a large snack. The full experience largely covers all three.

Start with a drive or a walk down Marine Drive to build up the apetite. Skip the beach to resist the lure of the bhelwalla. Cross the road towards the entrance to Charni Road station, and head north a bit, or if you're driving, just pull over and park where the guard leads you. A waiter will take your order at your car.

Begin with a club sandwich. You may want to split it between two people, because it's large, and we wouldn't want to go filling up those bellies so soon. Wash it down with a chickoo milkshake or a mosambi juice, and savour the blend of flavours... the best is yet to come.

Pick next from their fine selection of ice creams. Highly recommended are the green chilly, ginger and ginger orange flavours not found anywhere else. The green chilly in particular, is a sensation to be experienced rather than recounted, but we all try. Imagine something cold, and mildly sweet, mildly tangy filling up your taste buds as you draw from it. Then imagine a split second later a fire shooting up your throat and out your nose. Actually, just try it. If it's too strong for you, indulge in one of their chocolate flavours.

They also offer other standard flavours of ice cream for those with no adventure in their blood.

Ice cream done, we come to the last course of the meal. Falooda. A large chunk of vanilla ice cream with sago seeds, vermicelli and a host of syrups all immersed in sweetened milk, but nay. My words can't do justice to the presentation and sensation that is the Bachelor's falooda. Have a large one. Split it between friends if you've already had too much, but don't pass it for later.

Finish off the experience with a final drive around Marine Drive and head home with a smile on your lips.

Blues rates it:
Food - Excellent
Service - Excellent
Price - Easy on the pocket
Ambience - Open air, sea breeze, what more do you want?
Overall - Definite all thumbs up

Recommendation - Go there, go there very often

Getting there:

Bachelor's is about 20 metres north of Charni Road station on Marine Drive. If you're travelling by road, look out for the shop on the left as you pass the Café Coffee Day on Marine Drive (heading south). If you're taking the train, get out of the northernmost part (heading towards Grand Road) of the station on the Marine Drive side, and walk in the direction opposite to traffic for a few minutes.