The Parlour (Pickles)

There may be people who've built empires selling cookies on roadside shops, but the Ohris are not among them. And neither are they trying. The Parlour, a tiny bakery that falls on the official border of Hotel Baseraa , the original Ohri property, is just a side-business for the restaurant chain that serves tens of thousands of customers across the city daily. Heck, they'll probably give you a cookie free if you ask nicely.

The Parlour sells its wares mostly internally, to customers of the popular coffee shop Pickles. They would need to - with puffs priced almost Rs. 20, they're unlikely to have passersby and the hoi polloi beating down the doors. The shop itself is a hole in the wall, with usually no one tending to it (but we still wouldn't try what you're thinking).

Cookies and cakes cost twice what they would in your neighbourhood bakery, and so does everything else actually. A dozen varieties of cookies are priced Rs. 180-250 per kg as we write this in Mar '08, and include the standard Kaju, Almond, Nankhtai and Vanilla flavors. Cakes cost Rs. 350-450 per kg, and also feature a dozen standard variants, including Black Currant, Death By Chocolate and Swiss Truffle.

Pastries are Rs. 30-35 each, and come in about 20 varieties including Chocolate Fudge, Blueberry, Black Forest and even White Forest. 5 types each of mousee (Rs. 45-55) and muffins (Rs. 12-15) complete the baked stuff range, but they have cold coffee too. And did we forget ice creams? At Rs. 30-40 for a cup/cone, this is the same stuff you get at Havmor.

The Parlour is something to gorge from when you're not in the mood for anything heavy at Pickles, but nevertheless want to be sitting in it for a bit and a bite. To truly indulge yourself, remember to sign up at your local gym.