Of course, the real reason I agreed to cover Leo Fortune was my journalistic probity – insti deserves to know what new place has set up shop to provide those crucial alternatives to mess. And I’d gotten over to Leo’s, having Guru and Himalaya close by. So, is Leo Fortune worth the walk?
Well, for starters it’s more of a patisserie than Gurunath will ever be. It’s new, bright and clean, and has coffee machines. Leo fortune has a branch in Adyar, and it began operations in insti about two weeks back. It’s a proper bakery – a more well-lit version of those we frequent when home. They have bread, cakes and pastries, puffs, pizza, tea and coffee, and other assorted items on sale. It’s more a pastry shop than anything else, so if you like cake, and Kickstart is too far away/not worth the money, Leo’s is the answer to your prayer.
Over the course of three days (Yeah. It takes time. Refer line on probity), I tried, without great detriment to my purse too, a variety of things at Leo’s. Caveat – I don’t have a sweet tooth, so I tend to like the savory things on the menu. But from what I sampled, the cakes are light, and tasty. There are both butter and cream cakes (in many flavours) – the cream cakes are better, although they are a shade more expensive. The cream cakes cost between Rs. 45-60 a slice, while the butter cakes and the Japanese cake come at Rs. 20-30 apiece. The muffins are well-made, moist and not too sweet. And the doughnut – look, it’s 15 bucks. So basically it’s some bread with chocolate cream on top. Decent for the money. Don’t go expecting Donut House. They have a nice tea cake, which is a small roll of fluffy sponge-cake like thing, fully worth fifteen rupees. Cashew tart – Don’t. Nearly lost two teeth trying to bite into it. And the cream-filled pastries (like buns and rolls) have too much cream and powdered sugar, so unless you like that kind of thing, I wouldn’t recommend it.
Leo fortune also makes full-sized cakes for birthdays, so if you were to order a couple of hours before, the cake will be ready for consumption. As of now, they don’t have eggless cakes or pastries.
They have nice pizzas of several kinds, and they’re inexpensive (cost between 75-100 rupees). The list currently includes vegetable, onion, capsicum and chicken pizza. They’re made well, with a good amount of toppings and sauce. It tastes like a better version of what one would come up with at home. Their puffs are brilliant- it’s only about 7-10 rupees for one, and they beat the ones at Ramu’s anyday. Leo’s also has a curious and entirely acceptable dish they call ‘chilli bread’- it’s a small plate of bread toasted in chilli and onions, and tastes very good, giving good reason to move over dry noodles!
The nicest thing about Leo Fortune is that the staff is eager and helpful. I would give it a few months before they too acquire the inevitable world-weariness that’s typical of every other service on the campus.
