A dreamy Alice

Photographs: Himani Shah

The Little Door

An exchange of facebook messages later, I found myself at The Little Door again. Only this time I was in my Alice avatar, ready to pose and pout and review the mocktails, starters and mains.

Potato wedges with sour cream

On speaking with the really tall manager, I discovered that the owners of the place had turned vegetarian for a year or two. In that time, they realised that most bars in the city didn’t have sufficient vegetarian options. Bearing that knowledge, when devising the menu for The Little Door, they focused on the vegetarian section with as much vigour as the non-vegetarian. Which worked out perfectly well for me. The fun menu is divided into three: “from the farmers”, “from the fishermen” and “from the hunters”.

We started with the potato wedges topped with a sour cream and cheese sauce. One of our friends is a sucker for potato wedges and we’ve tried them at every eatery in the city possible. This one was for her.

Sipping on the berry cooler

We called for two drinks. One was a berry cooler and the other … wait for it … a cucumber concoction. To our pleasant surprise, both were equally refreshing and just right to offset the food.

Pita platter with a choice of 3 dips

Pita bread with hummus is my personal favourite. And I believe if an eatery can do hummus right, there are less chances of them failing at something else. This particular platter comes with warm pita bread and a choice of three dips including hummus and baba ganoush. It’s the right balance of tangy and sour.

Alice and the sister

For the mains, we ordered a mushroom risotto and a cottage cheese steak. As if we hadn’t had our fill of potatoes with the potato wedges, we scooped up the mashed potatoes that accompany the cottage cheese steak. The cottage cheese was soft despite being grilled. Always a good thing! And it’s the only version of a steak a vegetarian with a big appetite can try. The risotto was creamy and a bit too cheesy perhaps, the way my sister likes it.

Cottage cheese steak and mushroom risotto

Of course, my favourite part and the reason The Little Door earns brownie points from me is the “message in a bottle” concept. They have coasters that read, ‘All bottled up? Let it out.’ That’s just what I’d done when I was miserable after reading a newspaper article on a Sunday. And it turns out if you wish with all your heart, something close might come true. How does it work? Bottles are suspended from a long table with a different emotion written on each. Find a notepad, scribble a wish/a message/a thought and leave it in the bottle. You never know who might read it.

Alice loves to leave a message in a bottle

The Little Door resembles a set from an Alice In Wonderland production. Doesn’t it? I chose to wear my floral dress (with back detail I’ll show you some other time) paired with a pink jacket and off white heels. You like?