There aren’t many examples out there when a cafй that eventually turned into a restaurant was a success. Overestimating the popularity of your cafй and diversifying into a restaurant serving a wide range of food may not always be the best bet.

Sweet Affairs also started out as a cafй in December 2011 in a cozy, comfortable little space in Gulberg. It later opened up two other branches – one in Defence and the other recently inaugurated in the magnanimous Packages Mall. Serving a variety of coffees, exotic drinks, fondant cakes and cupcakes and some beautiful desserts.

Sweet Affairs has now eventually turned into a full-fledged restaurant with a unique menu that the owners claim they came up with out of their own sheer love for food. So, with the recent inauguration of their third branch, I decided to finally pay them the long overdue visit.

The restaurant at Packages Mall is quite spacious and plays a lot on wood and tiles for the interior: wooden windowpanes, wooden shelves with replicas of some spectacular fondant cakes, wooden furniture, black tiles on walls. There’s also a non-functional brick oven (the one that functions is in the kitchen, of course). The meal kicked off with a shot of Frappuccino Lightening (this can be ordered in a tall glass also): a refreshing, breezy concoction of coffee shot, crushed coffee beans, milk and cream to cleanse the palate.

From the appetisers I ordered the Brick Fried Potato, which tasted as scrumptious as it looked with lots of topping, lots of colour. A potato baked in brick oven is spread open on a plate and topped with an assortment of tiny chunks of chicken, chilli, salsa, corn, green and black olives, pickles, and topped with sour cream. A hearty Rs500 dish for a starter I’d say, but mouth-watering with that variety of sweet and spicy flavours. Highly recommended.

I moved on to the newly introduced Barbecue Chicken Pizza. I personally love thin crust pizzas so I was happy. What I got was a crispy, thin crust smothered with a generous amount of gooey, dripping cheese, tender smoked chicken chunks, juicy black olives, BBQ sauce and drizzled with cream cheese. Biting into it, you get a hint of wood from being baked in the brick oven, which turns out to be a pleasant surprise and doesn’t taste odd.

What next caught my attention were the noodle and rice bowls, so I ordered half each of Spicy Shrimp Noodle Bowl and Feisty Beef Rice Bowl. The noodle bowl had pan-fried succulent shrimps tossed in a chilli garlic sauce, oyster sauce and lemon resting on a bed of udon noodles mixed with assorted veggies and a chilli sauce. A hot, fiery, but a flavoursome bowl of noodles.

The rice bowl was a beautiful combo of hot and sour with soft chunks of beef cooked in a sweet chilli sauce served on top of aromatic Japanese rice, assorted vegetables and topped with a fried egg with a runny yolk. Pretty as a picture and packed with equal amounts of sweet and sour flavours. I would definitely recommend these bowls, but order the half serving – for a reasonable Rs600 -- if you intend to try out other things too, otherwise the full serving is quite big.

All of these delicacies were topped off with an intriguing but heavenly dessert called Peek-a-boo Chocolate Bomb. When it arrives at your table, you can’t figure out what it is: a slab on top of which rests a shiny chocolate ball and smoke billowing out of a large bowl underneath. The smoke turns out to be dry ice for the theatre of the dish. The real surprise is the ball. As the waiter pours hot chocolate sauce over it, the chocolate dome starts melting and reveals a scoop of vanilla gelato sitting on a slice of soft, gooey caramel brownie. Blissful for someone who loves a delectable dessert at the end of a meal.

The restaurant also offers an exciting breakfast menu almost all week long comprising an array of eggs, French toast, pancakes etc, fresh salads, soups and a range of appetisers, tartines (sandwiches), burgers and some creative, sumptuous desserts.

While my expereince was pleasant and smooth, the restaurant has had its share of complaints on social media regarding service or lack of attention to detail. It needs to take those complaints into account and endeavour to minimse and eventually eliminate any chances of them repeating.

Published in Dawn, June 19th, 2017