They had a few quiches and puffs (what are known in the UK as pasties), but the emphasis was obviously on chocolate—hot chocolates, cold chocolates, chocolate fondue, churros with chocolate dip, etc. Even among the desserts, chocolate predominated. The chocolate drinks were good, rich and luxurious and very chocolatey. The churros could’ve been better, and the rest of the desserts were mostly forgettable: thick slabs of pastry in the millefeuille, butter cream that was beginning to split, oversweetened puddings… after the first few tries, we gave it up.

Until last month, when we happened to be in the vicinity and I had chocolate cravings. We decided to give Chocolateria San Churro another try.

The décor here is dominated by dark brown and cream, with orange highlights that reflect the restaurant’s logo (incidentally, Chocolateria San Churro is an Australian chain). There are large plate glass windows that let in a good bit of natural light, and the chairs are big, fat sofa-like ones that are comfortable enough, but take up a huge amount of space—thus blocking paths, and causing problems when the café is full.

The extensive drinks menu and the desserts menu are in a nicely printed stylish menu card, with lots of photos. The waiter also handed over a computer-printed list of savouries and other desserts (mostly muffins and cupcakes), which I’m guessing are part of a frequently-changing range. (Several of these, the waiter admitted, were currently not available—so, in reality, what we could order was from the items in the display counter.

Chocolateria San Churro seemed to have increased the range of food items, especially savoury ones, since we’d last eaten here. Though puffs, patties, and quiches seemed to take up most of the space, there were some sandwiches as well. Another display case held a lovely-looking selection of cupcakes (some beautiful red velvet ones, for example), muffins, tarts, iced cakes, and others. Beyond, still another display case housed trays of handmade chocolates.

We decided to order three savoury dishes between the two of us, to be shared: a chicken focaccia sandwich, a multigrain creole chicken sandwich, and a mutton seekh roll. This was served up pretty quick (yes, well; how long does it take to heat up a sandwich in a microwave?). On the side came—sachets of tomato ketchup. Nothing fancy here.

The multigrain creole sandwich, which was what we tasted first, proved a pleasant surprise: lots of roasted bell peppers, a lightly spiced (with a pesto? We couldn’t tell) sauce, and bits of chicken. There was also the sweetness of what seemed like caramelised onions in this sandwich, and both of us thought it was, on the whole, good. Tasty, not too-highly flavoured, and with a good balance of flavours.

Next, we shared the chicken focaccia sandwich—and felt an immediate sense of disappointment. Not that this was bad; it wasn’t. The problem was, barring the flavour of oregano and black olive in the focaccia, this sandwich tasted exactly like the multigrain creole chicken sandwich. Next, we had the mutton seekh roll: a sheet of puff pastry wrapped around a whole mutton seekh kabab, sprinkled with onion seeds, and baked. It was golden-brown, flaky and crisp on the outside, meaty and juicy on the inside—and, best of all, the kabab wasn’t very spicy or hot. I loved this one, though my husband thought it was a bit dry.

For afters, both of us chose the same dessert: a mascarpone blueberry crumble tart. I wanted a drink with hot chocolate in it, but wasn’t keen on the admittedly good, but very rich hot chocolates San Churro offers—so I chose a mocha with a dark chocolate couverture instead. (You can pick from dark, white, and milk chocolate for the couverture in the mocha). My husband ordered a sencha green tea.

The desserts, the mocha, and the tea arrived—and my husband discovered that they’d given him a mint tea instead of the sencha green. When he called the waiter to explain what was wrong, the waiter took it away, saying he’d check. A couple of minutes later, he was back—this time with a little pot of oolong. (My husband could keep track of the types of tea they were trying to pass off as sencha, since they use tea bags—and the mint tea, in any case, was unmistakable).

This time, the waiter kept insisting that what he’d now served was sencha. Finally, my husband got up and went to the manager (?) at the counter, to ask what this was all about. It turned out that sencha was unavailable, but instead of just letting us know, they were hoping to hoodwink us into accepting whatever other tea they palmed off on us. My husband took the oolong, eventually. It was good (how wrong can you go with a tea bag?), as was my mocha—nice and chocolatey, but not too rich.

The mascarpone blueberry crumble tart drew mixed reactions from us: I liked it, because the sugar was well in control, the crumble topping buttery, and the layered mascarpone-blueberry jam filling well-balanced. My husband thought it was too rich, and after a few spoonsful, found it heavy going.

We paid Rs 1,561 for our meal, inclusive of taxes and service charges—not cheap. But I, for one, liked almost everything I ate and drank at Chocolateria San Churro this time around. My husband probably won’t agree to a revisit, though.