Mumbai (Bombay) Restaurants

Cream Centre

#1 of 168 things to do in Mumbai (Bombay)

#20 of 21668 things to do in Asia

10 reviews | Write a review

Good for: Chana Bhatura, Families, Solo Travellers, service, atmosphere

Not good for: meat lovers, everything, conversation, Boring People

  • Address
    • Chowpatty Seaface Chowpatty
  • Transport
    • Charni Rd
  • Phone
    • tel, info: 022 2367 9222
  • Price
    • mains Rs100-195
  • Hours
    • noon-midnight

Correct these details

Lonely Planet review for Cream Centre

An excellent ice-cream parlour in a bright, slick interior. Oh, and real food, too: a pure-veg hodgepodge of Indian, Mexican and Middle Eastern.

 

Traveller reviews for Cream Centre (10)

  • Avatar
    To write a review sign in, register or   Connect_light_large_long
    Recommend
     
    Add your experience “ ”
    Say more…
  • Avatar

    It exceeded expectations!

    jeff_the_legend recommends this,

    Was visiting Mumbai for a week or so and decided to try Cream Centre after reading many of the positive reviews that people have written about this restaurant. I actually ended up coming here for dinner or lunch on 4 separate days - I guess I kind of got addicted. For the price that you pay - the food is really good. The ambiance is nice too, but one thing to keep in mind is that it is always crowded. As a foreign person - I really appreciated that the menu had a lot of photographs which helped me pick out items that I had never heard of, but which looked delicious. The Chana Batura which the waiter claimed was their "specialty" was delicious, and I have never tasted anything like that. Over the 4 days, i tried many things off the menu, and ended up loving most of it. The sizzlers were great too. I thought that it was cool that you could get a whole variety of food which was really good all under one roof. The brownie sizzler dessert was also delicious - they pour the cocolate sauce over the ice cream and brownie in front of you and you can smell the aroma of the chocolate and the brownie.

    I would definitely say that I would go back on my next visit to Mumbai.

    Good for: good prices, ambiance, variety of "stuff"

    Not good for: meat lovers

    report
  • Avatar

    Oh-hell-no!

    oceanstar does not recommend this,

    Wow! Cream Centre certainly does NOT deserve to be #1 on this list.

    There are far better thing to do and places to eat at than the Cream Centre in Mumbai! For a traveller coming to Mumbai to sample the local foods there are so many more authentic places to go to! - of the top of my head and in no particular order:

    Vegetarian
    ========
    Rajdhani - for veg Thali
    Chetna Thali, Kala Ghoda
    Samrat - Churchgate
    Resham Bhavan Tea Center for an old world/colonial tea house experience
    Cha Bar - Churchgate

    Non-Vegetarian
    ===========
    Brittania Irani Cafe
    Pizza by the Bay (earlier known as The Pizzeria)
    Trishna for Seafood
    Bharat Excellensea for seafood
    Ankur - for seafood
    Noorani's - Haji Ali for some authentic Mughlai food

    These are just in south Mumbai I'm sure there are so many more further north.
    And yes, I have eaten at the Cream Centre - the food was lousy and the ambience tasteless.

    Good for: Nothing

    Not good for: everything

    report
  • Avatar

    Food, Fun and Awesomeness

    pushu recommends this,

    My parents took me to South Bombay since I was a kid and it would be a nice day out at the Prince of Wales Museum and the Gateway of India, which was rounded off with a dinner at Cream Centre. Channa Bhatura and the likes. 8 years back, we visited Cream Centre at Bandra and I had my first Mexican Fajita Sizzler there. Things have changed a lot since then and I recently happen to visit Cream Centre in Nungambakkam, Chennai. I just had the Mexican Fajita Sizzler at the back of my mind and when I opened the menu, voila, there we are at the sizzler section my favourite!
    It took almost less than 15 minutes for the waiter to get my sizzler and the Channa Bhatura for the friend who accompanied me. same sizzler, same taste fantastic! Given that it was Sunday Evening rush, the ease with which we had the dinner made us forget that we had to wait for half an hour for a table.

    Good for: Chana Bhatura, I, Mexican Fajita Sizzler, Lots'f other stuff ain't tried

    report
  • Avatar

    Great family favourite--must for tourists to sample IND food

    vbubber recommends this,

    My family loves this place. Our favourite dishes are the CHola Bhaturas, Onion Rings, Cheese Balls, Sizzling Paneer, Tacos, Falafel, and the Chaat--it's surprisingly good.

    There's no need to mention the Sizzling Brownies or Hot Fudge Sundaes. I still think these two are among the top 5 desserts in Mumbai city.

    As far as the service, I don't know how they do it, but my Nachos and Onion Rings were at the table in less than 2 minutes after my ordering them.

    I'd like to give it 4.5 stars--I take away .5 because there are always kids running around--but I'm going to round it up to 5 because, really, my kids run around there too. Helps them work off those Nachos and Sizzling Brownies!

    My only complaint--we live in Andheri, and getting to Chowpatty every time we want to eat here is a pain. Wish there was a CC in the suburbs!!!

    Good for: Families, all - families with kids incl

    Not good for: conversation

    report
  • Avatar

    Amazing still after 30 years

    umeshbatra recommends this,

    I have been living in Los Angeles for 30 years now and I recently made a trip to India. Having grown up in Bombay I visited all my favorite restaurants and of course Cream Centre Chowpatty was one of them. Walking in I was surprised to see how well they had renovated the place, but at the same time I was very eager to see what they had done to the food. I was so glad to see the Channa Bhatura was just the same as I remember it 25 years ago. It was quite nice to try their Sizzling Paneer Chilli Sizzler and their World`s Best Nachos but what I loved the most was their Ragda Pattice. It was just fabulous. On my journeys through India I visited Lonavla first where I found a Cream Centre as well and I was quite curious to see how they had maintained their standards so I went in to have a quick bite. The place looked even better than Chowpatty and the food was great too. I was later to find out that they had two outlets in Chennai as well which I visited the one on R A Puram Road- and may I say what a beautiful location. The well preserved tree in the middle brightened up the entire restaurant. I was surprised to see so many Koreans in the restaurant. And of course the food- was just as good. I don’t know how they do it. When I was in Bangalore I ate there and for me it was the best looking of them all and even though they had recently opened the service and food was just fabulous. Seems like Cream Centre has got their act right and they seem to be doing an unbelievable job where ever they open. 5 Stars for me. For me the BEST VEGETARIAN RESTAURANT in India.

    report
  • Avatar

    Food Heaven!

    insearchoftaste recommends this,

    One of my fondest childhood memories would be waiting for a seat at Cream Centre with my family. There would usually be crowds outside the restaurant, all waiting hungrily for a seat. We used to make it a point to have a family meal out once a week, and we found ourselves making a trip to Cream Centre (or CC, as we used to call it) very regularly. Upon returning to India during December (I now live and work in Canada), I went back there with some friends of mine, as I had been craving that food (not easy to find in Canada). So, since I was back in Mumbai, I could not leave without eating at CC again.

    We arrived there for dinner on a weekend night, and as expected, the line was very long. I was very happy to see that the place was crowded and buzzing. I found myself really salivating as we were waiting outside for a table, as I could smell all the familiar foods that I remember eating and loving throughout my life. I could hardly wait to sit down and order.
    The décor in the restaurant was certainly different than what I remembered – I have to say the restaurant was tastefully decorated. It definitely looked snazzier than it did years ago. I was excited to finally be here. As you can imagine, even days before I came to eat here, the food was on my mind… I hoped that the food would be as good as I remembered it being.

    So, here is what my group of friends and I ate:
    Lime Ice Cream Soda: I have found that there are not a lot of restaurants that make a good ice cream soda in Mumbai anymore, so I was very happy to find a refreshing, cold and crisp drink. It’s fizzy and has ice-cream, yumm!
    Cheese Corn Balls – I would expect something like cheese balls to be very oily. Not so with the ones we got… they were very cheesy, but not very greasy, so it was great!
    Onion Rings – all men may be created equal, but let me tell you, all onion rings are not. There are good onion rings, there are great onion rings and then there are the CC onion rings, which are just superior to any, yes ANY onion rings I have tried anywhere in the world. Making an average onion ring is easy, but making the perfect onion ring is an art, and CC knows how its done.
    Tandoori Paneer Tikka – yeah, I only got one piece of this one, since my greedy friends gobbled these up before I could get to them. The paneer was juicy and fresh, and the tandoori spices and smells were amazing.
    Chana Batura – I always marvel at how cool this dish looks, its essentially a batura that is like a hot air balloon when it arrives as your table. I always poke it and can feel the hot air escape as the batura deflates onto my plate. The chana is unlike any other chana I have tasted. It seems like the spices are very fresh and the cooks here are definitely generous with lumping on a lot of flavor.
    Pickled Carrots – this was also very interesting and I have not seen this done well at many places. I don’t normally even eat carrots, but I loved how tangy and flavorful these carrot pieces were.
    Sizzling Brownie – they took a fairly standard dessert option – ice cream and brownies and twisted it up a little bit by putting the brownie on a sizzling platter, putting some vanilla ice cream on it and then dousing it with chocolate sauce. Delicious.

    So after the meal as I was sitting at home very full and satisfied (and now in my elastic pants haha) and I thought back to the meal I had and why I enjoyed it. If you look at a city like Mumbai, it has a very evolving food scene – it seems to me like every year there are trendy new restaurants that open, are popular for a while, and then close down. However, there are also restaurants that stand the test of time – Cream Center is one of these establishments. To me, you can usually judge how good a restaurant is by how many people want to eat there. There are a million places to eat in Mumbai that have no wait times… but the food here is worth the wait. I don’t mind waiting if I know the food is going to be fresh, tasty and affordable, and I think if you were to ask any of these other people also waiting for a table, they would agree as well!

    Good for: cheap eats, ice cream, Chana Bhatura, nachos, onion rings

    report
  • Avatar

    The BEST(EST) place to eat @ a VEG. RESTAURANT in MUMBAI

    anupambhomia recommends this,

    I live in New York now although I am originally from Mumbai. During my recent holiday visit to India while I was in Mumbai, I visited the NEW Cream Centre at Oberoi Mall. I must say what an COOL LOOKING restaurant it is!! The huge projection screen playing a live cricket match made the place very lively and upbeat, the huge red paintings made the warm and classy interiors come alive and it all looked very very classy. My wife commented that this restaurant could have easily been in NY (I wishhhh...) For the price of just Rs. 250-300 I was amazed at the ambience this restaurant has created. Good looking restaurants usually scare me since they don’t always serve as good food but Cream Centre definitely comes as an exception. I waited for over an hour to get in but the wait was truly worth every penny. Their thin fresh dough pizzas are so New York style. Being a New Yorker for last 15 years, I have been to a lotta places serving good pizzas and I must say Cream Centre is among my top 5 favorites around the world. Their original Channa Bhatura is yet the best in the world and my wife really enjoyed the “Make Your Own Thali” concept with the delicious Onion Rings. Honestly it's a 'Brilliant job done.' The food here from what I remember is as good or may be even better than the original Cream Centre Chowpatty restaurant.
    Cream Centre please come to New York soon! My favorite vegetarian restaurant in India.

    Good for: pizza, Chana Bhatura, Thali

    Not good for: Boring People

    report
  • Avatar

    Enchanting food !!

    pritam recommends this,

    There's always a friendly staff to welcome you and get you seated at this restaurant. The ambience is pretty minimal with avant-garde paintings. It gets buzzing with people as soon as the restaurant is open for business.

    The Menu is pretty extensive with Indian, Italian, Mexican & Lebanese cuisines. Cream Centre has quite a list of its own signature dishes which are being served right since it was established and received fame for in the city of Mumbai , especially "The Original Channa Bhatura".

    My favorites are The Enchiladas, The Big Nachos and most of the Beverages served. I find the cost to be pretty economic considering the authentic ingredients used with a modern twist. Find this to be one of the most Outstanding Veg Restaurants in Mumbai.

    Good for: Romance, atmosphere, food, Budget Travellers, Groups, Solo Travellers, service, Families

    report
  • Avatar

    Veggie Delight

    ashish666 recommends this,

    Me and my wife finally decided to drop into this place for lunch on Sunday. We wanted to try the most talked about dish the "Original Channa Batura" which was on the top of the list in a section on the Menu known as "Timeless Classics" and boy we had never seen such Gigantic Bhaturas ever, so we just ordered for a single dish, another dish we ordered was "Paneer & Vegetable Shaslik" that falls under the "Mera Chota Sizzler" section of the Menu card.
    Our order arrived and the size of the Baturas left us full of awe and the sizzling "Paneer & Vegetable Shaslik" was overtly tempting. It was almost evident while having these dishes, that top quality ingredients were being used, coz we seldom see such large channas being used in a dish like channa batura in other restaurants. The Paneer was another admirable ingredient, that it literally melted into your mouth, it reminded me of Reshmi Tikkas. By the time we had these two dishes we were already feeling full, so we decided to order a "Sizzling Brownie Fundae", although it was mentioned that the brownie served is eggless and although I am a non-vegetarian, I did not find it to be different in any manner than the ones I have tasted in other non-vegetarian restaurants this makes it a point that eggless brownies could taste good too.
    Overall we had a great veggie lunch especially on a Sunday afternoon that left us bloated. To conclude my review I would say
    Warm & hospitable atmoshpere.Great Ambience.Top Quality Veg Food.Economic Fare.

    Good for: atmosphere, food, Solo Travellers, service

    report
  • Avatar

    Cream Centre Rox!

    avantika recommends this,

    Cream Centre is one of India's oldest and finest multi-cuisine restaurant. It offers a variety of tongue-ticking dishes which always leave you wanting for more. The variety is such that you can go there all seven days of the week and still have something new to try every single time! A must go! one of my absolute favourites!

    Good for: Romance, atmosphere, food, Budget Travellers, Groups, Solo Travellers, service, Families

    report