Cafe Sunflower is one of my favorite eating places in the city. Here is a place where a vegetarian can eat in peace with no fear of any meat cross-contamination. Did I mention that I love the decor of this place? Vibrant colors, lovely lamps, cosy ambience and lovely food – I should also mention that I love their business cards too! Minor detail but it was so attractive (think shades of orange-saffron, clean font in basic colors) that I couldn’t help mentioning it.
I have been to Cafe Sunflower a bunch of times, and the last time we went happened to be the eve of Dad’s birthday. What did we order?
We got the Fried Green Tomatoes and Jamaican Limbo Plantains. The tomatoes were nice and crispy. I loved the Jamaican plantains that came with a black bean dip. If not for the dip, it could have passed off as Pazham Pori, a popular snack from Kerala. One bite and I am transported to an earlier age of summer vacations to Kerala, cups and cups of coffee from vendors, gorging on spicy cucumber salad from railway stations in Andhra Pradesh, and finally alighting at Thrissur station, so happy to be home!
Mom wanted Dad to have a taste of dumplings and so we also placed an order for Steamed Dumplings. They were fairly decent – as good as dumplings could possibly be, I guess!
For the entrees, we ordered Orzo Eggplant Lasagna, Fajitas, and Walnut Crusted Tofu Cutlet. The portions were generous and the spread looked fantastic! I have to mention that these folks do such a wonderful job of plating the food. Yeah, watching Top Chef has developed my food vocabulary quite a bit… 🙂 I have ordered the Walnut Crusted Tofu Cutlet before and it’s one of my favorites. The tofu-walnut combination has a nutty flavor but be prepared to share – the dish fills you up. The collard greens served as part of the dish didn’t really register for me neither did the bean sprouts.
The Fajitas featured grilled garden soy steak with other accompaniments. I wish it were more flavored but again, put together with the peppers, tofu, salsa, etc. it was quite good.
About the Orzo Eggplant Lasagna, it isn’t my most favorite dish in the world. But it is an interesting combination of ingredients – ricotta, red pepper, eggplant, roasted asparagus (yum!) – definitely worth a try.
Since it was Dad’s birthday the next day, we got a slice of the vegan chocolate raspberry mouse cake. Generous slice, absolutely melt-in-the-mouth delicious, fabulous combo of raspberry-chocolate. I think this could work with orange and strawberry also.
Next time I go, I’ll take my Canon Rebel for the pics.