Hey there! Welcome back to ‘The Confessions of a Random Blogger!’
Today’s post is another collaboration with ‘The Oven and Me.”
Story time. ‘The Oven and Me’ are actually friends outside of the blogging scene. So one day, we were hopping from restaurant to restaurant, when I had an ‘Aha’ moment. She’s a culinary student that knows almost everything there is to know about food, and I absolutely love to eat and can ramble on forever about almost any subject you give me.
In that moment, ‘Random Restaurant Reviews’ was created. The rest is history, or at least it will be.
This is the 2nd instalment of a recurring series where we will be reviewing restaurants, cafés and bars around Pune.
You can check out our last review here.
One O Eight, Lifestyle Cafe
One O Eight Lifestyle Cafe is an aesthetic little café in Koregaon Park. It’s one of the only ones of its kind in Pune. By that, I mean one of those restaurants that is sugar free, animal byproduct free, gluten free, dairy free; everything but actually well… free!
Location
One O Eight, Lifestyle Cafe, like most of Pune’s high end restaurants, is situated in Koregaon Park. Staying true to its nature fuelled agenda, it is right above Nature’s Basket, a local organic grocery store.
Honestly, this restaurant couldn’t be in a more perfect location. Koregaon Park just sort of screams “vegan and health conscious” to me. I don’t think this restaurant would be nearly as succesful as they are now if they were in a different location.
To be honest, the restaurant is just a little hard to find. As you can see in the image pictured above, their neon sign actually is quite noticeable; yet somehow it took me a while to realise that the restaurant was actually at the end of that long staircase.
But then again, that might just be yet another symptom of my characteristic cluelessness.
Salads, Smoothies and sugar free
So although not completely black and white, their menu mainly consists of vegetarian, vegan, gluten free, and sugar free options.
They serve exactly what you think they would serve. As far as food goes, you’ve got your breakfast bowls, gluten free pastas, salads, sandwiches- the works.
First, we decided to order the ‘Cacao Berry Smoothie Bowl,’ which features a questionable cocktail of raspberry, banana, cacao, coconut milk, Bali nut butter (don’t ask me what that is, I have no idea), toasted nuts and chia seeds. We then moved on to the ‘Bianco Pasta’ which was seemingly safe.
For the most part, the ‘Cacao Berry Smoothie Bowl’ was perfectly fine. If I’m being honest though, I wouldn’t personally order it again, but that might just be due to my aversion to healthy food. However, it was pretty tasty, if you’re into that sort of thing.
As for the Bianco Pasta, I’m going to let ‘The Oven and Me” take over that one.
Check out her article for a more detailed analysis of the food, flavours, and plating.
For the drinks, we ordered a ‘Berry Nice To Meet You’ smoothie (very punny eh?), consisting of blueberries, raspberries, yogurt and honey; and an ‘Iced Turmeric Latte;’ which I’m sure you can guess what the ingredients are.
These were actually very delicious. My personal favourite was the berry shake! It’s much more digestible (literally) than anything else on the menu, especially if you’re not a habitual vegan, plant-based eater.
The chilled ‘Iced Turmeric Latte’ was absolutely refreshing as well, but I do have to answer the question on everyone’s minds. Yes- it does taste like turmeric. Shocker.
With repeated affirmations consisting mainly of “If you finish this, it makes up for those 3 cups of black coffee you drank this morning;” I managed to finish it.
All jokes aside, I would absolutely order these 2 drinks again.
General Ambience and Service
If you need an aesthetic café to take Instagram pictures, One O Eight, Lifestyle Cafe has definitely got you covered!
A majority of the restaurant is surrounded by large glass windows, ensuring that there is lots of light for that perfect shot. It also gives you a pretty impressive view of Koregaon Park, which basically means that if the company you have is bad, you can always people watch!
Keeping with their whole “nature” theme, the restaurant is adorned with a multitude of fake greenery, and pictures of really cute animals. It truly does make you feel like you’re sitting in the middle of a tropical paradise. With a couple of waiters bringing you food every few minutes of course!
Pricing
They are so completely and utterly dedicated to their concept of (everything unhealthy)-free, that they have even created a ‘code’ of sorts.
‘V’ stands for Vegetarian, “RSF” stands for Refined Sugar Free, and ‘GF’ stands for Gluten Free. Not girlfriend, if that was your next question.
Although One O Eight, Lifestyle Cafe is slightly more expensive than the average college student can afford, it is obviously understandable since vegan ingredients and alternative, more health conscious sweeteners are more expensive.
Considering the mass hysteria that has been created around how expensive vegan food can be, I would actually say that this is a very affordable option for plant based eaters.
General Tips
- If you aren’t used to the taste of vegan and sugar free food, maybe try to ease yourself into trying the more adventurous options on the menu. Maybe just drink a smoothie or cup of coffee on your first visit?
- The ‘aesthetic’ that I talked about before is at its best at around the afternoon. So if you had to ask me what time you should go, I would recommend 1:08pm. (Sorry, bad joke.) Before you ask, yes I did create this entire tip just so that i could make that joke.
- Although I’m definitely not becoming a vegan anytime soon, I must confess that One O Eight, Lifestyle Cafe serves some of the best cappuccinos in Pune. The reason why? It has a bear on it. Need I say more?
Verdict? If you’re a plant-based eater looking for a vegan restaurant in a city full of chicken biryani, look no further than One O Eight, Lifestyle Cafe. However, this restaurant is also perfect for the average college student trying to open themselves up to a new experience.
Thank you for reading! I hope you enjoyed this review of one of the only vegan lifestyle cafes in Pune.
Comment some recommendations of other restaurants you would like us to review!
To read a more in depth analysis of their menu, flavour and plating, check out The Oven and Me’s post. Follow my blog to get updated each time I post!
You can check out my last few posts here:
- The Scariest Things That Actually Exist
- borrowed poems from an anonymous- ‘Expressions of Love’ and ‘Experience’
- The Horror of Surveillance
- Pet Peeves
- Happy Panda- Random Blogger Interviews
Until Next Time.
theconfessionsofarandomblogger.com 
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