Swadesi Review

This is my honest and unbiased review of Swadesi. They're located at 328 South Jefferson St., Suite 120 in Chicago, Illinois. Swadesi is a brand new cafe that just opened up at the end of March. They specialize in Indian cuisine. They have a really beautiful menu and the ambiance is calm and feels like luxury. If you're super American like I am, the menu can be a little bit overwhelming. I recommend looking at the menu before you go or just asking the baristas what their take is on food.

My first bite is the butter chicken croissant. It's about 9 a. m. and if I can eat butter chicken in a croissant, I'm gonna take that opportunity. One thing I should mention is I wasn't sure if I was supposed to use my hands or if we're supposed to use utensils, so I did both because they have utensils. I'd like to make mention of the utensils mostly because they seemed a little bit more luxurious. As if utensils could feel that way. Something odd is the butter knives aren't very sharp. Also, just for the record, I wasn't sure if the food was supposed to be very hot. The butter chicken was not hot. The croissant boat was beautiful and a very good croissant. Very buttery, very flaky. There is a very small amount of Burrata, so small it looks like it's just supposed to be like a garnish, almost? I requested that they put the burrata on the side. I think it would have been a nice addition to the croissant but wasn't sure how it would be served and didn't want it to overwhelm the Butter chicken croissant. Overall it was solid. I'd have it again but I would ask about temperature.

On to the Breakfast sandwich. Here we start with a custard egg. Then a wonderful potato patty, a really nice spice sauce, and American cheese. I don't eat a ton of Indian food and wasn't sure what to expect flavor wise. I was a little bit confused as to why they used American cheese and I didn't know if that was an Indian or an American thing. On the menu the idea of American Cheese seems strange but after the first bite, wow, I completely understand. That saltiness with the other flavors that make the sandwich just hits the spot. When I asked how it was made, I was told that it was cooked in a type of water bath inside of a pan. This was an amazing sandwich. It came with ketchup so I need to know, it was a great addition to the sandwich. I never would've guessed. I don't usually eat breakfast so this was quite a meal at breakfast time, but there was this weird thing that was happening. I actually felt like I wanted to continue eating because of the textures and flavors. It really was that good. The potato was my favorite part and whatever spread they have on it as well. It's good with or without ketchup.

My drink was a Smoked Oat Vanilla Latte with Oat Milk. This was very good. There was some saltiness, some flowers, it was nicely balanced in coffee flavor and the salt was a great addition. I wasn't sure if I was supposed to eat those flowers.

You do have to get up to get your own utensils and napkins, throw away your own trash. And they have a small amount of things on a shelf that you can purchase.

I learned a long time ago that how people treat their bathrooms in a restaurant setting is usually how they treat their kitchens. And I'm happy to report that this place is very clean. The first bathroom I went into was very large. They have really cool newspaper wallpaper. The mirror was large. And my favorite part was that they have tampons out there in the open. Before you enter the bathroom, they have coat hooks and a beautiful mirror for when you're leaving to check yourself. There are two bathrooms and out of curiosity I needed to see the other bathroom. The second one was much smaller and only had one tampon. The general space was the same, as was the decor and cleanliness.

Lastly I tried sweets. I tried the Carrot Halwa Tartlet, the Jaggery chocolate chip cookie, and the chocolate croissant cube.

I'd never had a Carrot Halwa Tartlet. In fact, the last time I tried halwa, I wasn't really too much of a fan, but I also didn't know what I was doing with it. I expected because of the amount of carrot that I saw in here that that would have been the main flavor. However with all of the spices and with the mild sweetness of the halva, it was incredibly balanced. The pastry was surprisingly crisp. I'm not sure if they

set these up to order, but it was really good. After all of the heavy foods and seasonings and savory foods I've eaten, even the latte is very well seasoned/spiced. The Carrot Halva Tartlet was bright and tasty. I like that it's so cold. That chill is nice. The carrot, I thought, was going to be a lot more overwhelming but I think the vanilla shows through well.

My favorite cookie in the world is a chocolate chip cookie. I saw the little flakes of salt and

different kinds of chocolate. While cracking it, I thought it was actually going to be a lot drier than it was. It's incredibly dense, but not dried out. I enjoyed the crust and the cookie part was good. This comes off as a much higher quality cookie. The first, thought was, I wasn't expecting the chewiness since it looked a lot drier. The fact that it's so chewy makes me happy. I got the saltiness immediately. Because I have a natural bias to enjoy a chocolate chip cookie, I took my time with this. I wanted to make sure that I was judging correctly. Is it the worst cookie I've ever had? No. Would I eat it again? Maybe, Maybe not. Would I buy it again? No. Too sweet for me. Even with the salt flakes.

It just wasn't my favorite cookie.

Remember how I mentioned earlier that the utensils are not sharp? It took kind of a long time for me to cut through this croissant. I mean considering that you know we're cutting through a croissant. Now I'd say if this place were known for anything it's how good their pastries are.

Like their croissants specifically. There's a subtle sweetness to it and while I'm sure it's the same dough, this croissant in a cube tastes much different from the butter chicken croissant. Also I think the shape disguises the many layers that it has. As for the gold pearls, I thought we all knew what the pearls would taste like. I was completely wrong. They were delightful. The Nutella Croissant Cube is my favorite sweet at Swadesi. The Nutella dip, the pearls, the croissant and it's many layers. It's really wonderful. We were at Swadesi for about an hour and a half. We had two breakfasts, two drinks, three pastries. And before pastries, I spent about $47. I lost my receipt for the pastries, but I think it was somewhere around $20. Customer service was great. They never kicked us out, even as every table started to fill up around us. We arrived around 9 and left around 11. https://www.swadesicafe.com/menu

#swadesireview #honestandunbiasedblog #swadesichicago #indianfood #chailatte #chantilly #nutella #croissant