Lila - Curated Experiences - Restaurant in Kochi - Ernakulam, India

We had their breakfast buffet in July end. Although the place was fully booked and we had to compromise on sitting on the ground floor near the courtyard. The food served was decent enough for the price. I assume they have stopped their breakfast buffet for now. The steamed basa fish was yum. And the ambience of the place is really heartwarming. This place is also an art cafe with great displays. Since we had to sit on ground floor we had to take multiple trips to upstairs to get the food. Those round trips could have easily been avoided if the buffet atleast say half of the buffet items was provided downstairs too, as they had so many people booked even on the ground floor as well. Overall it was a pleasant experience considering the atmosphere and the ambience.

The cafe has a rustic vibe with the old British/Portuguese construction fairly well maintained. The interior is fairly bright and charming. There are tables which almost overlooks the parade ground in the west. Food is outrageously expensive, but I guess "Kochi pazhaya Kochi ella!"- it's senseless but- 3 pieces of banana flower cutlet for 400, cold brew coffee for 250, pancakes for 350, salad of the day for 350 and so on. Can't complain on quality or taste, it's fine, but can't explain the value for money aspect. Maybe it's one of the places meant to let the dollars do the talking. Parking can be done in the vicinity along the roadside during non-rush hours.

Excellent ambience. Loved the vibe of this art cafe. We ordered a shakshuka and pancake Shakshuka could have been more flavourful. Pancake with maple syrup was delicious. We can add on Nutella and banana to this one. Hot chocolate was also nice. The staff was also very friendly

The place is an old prison or some sort of heritage home. The way they have done the interior and decor is nice. Now, i absolutely adore the food. I had Beef and Banana fritters which was nice but I expected more banana fritter slices. It's an excellent fusion though. Next we had Kanthari prawns with butter croissant which was amazing. Then we had an overpriced Lemon tea, a ginger ale and an African South Indian fusion dish called Bunny Chow . It was not as great as the rest of them, not because of the quality, but the taste. Then we had Kori Ghasi with porotta which looks the same as Butter chicken but has a different flavour, again not bad. Since, it was our anniversary we had a slice of cake, chocolate red velvet pastry which was also nice. Overall I liked the food and the ambience. We went for a last minute anniversary dinner and food and decor lived up to it. But there are a couple of things I take offence with. I had asked if they could arrange something as it was the anniversary. They said they will set up a nice table and for privacy they would keep a 7 seater for us. I said that much is not necessary and the person insisted that it's fine. They charge almost 500 Rs, for that, and didn't bother to mention that at all, which I consider as really bad business etiquette. It was a Monday night and the place was near vacant, I believe they tricked me into that. They arranged candles but would not light it up saying that it would melt..duh! It had been lit before, and why would anyone keep candles that can't be lit? It was a candle night dinner for god sake! I had also told them that we would be coming by 9 PM and the person asked if I could make it earlier which we tried and reached by 8:30 PM. But still it felt like they were rushing me out at 9:45 PM. They were insisting me to not take my Dinner rewards so that they can get rid of me. So, the user experience is baaad!

The place is beautiful. I would come to have a look at the art pieces, and maybe have a coffee. Service: the staff was constantly staring at us while we were eating. One staff had a very strong body odour while serving our dishes. This is NOT OK in hospitality. Food: ordered shakshuka, and waited 40 minutes to receive RAW eggs. Absolutely unacceptable. The creme brulee 4/5. All in all, if you are going to charge high prices for foreign people then the service and food quality should be held to the same standard. Having some beautiful paintings to look at does not justify these prices. Below is a picture of the eggs after asking them to be cooked again

It was a different buffet experience altogether. We were allotted separate tables according to the booking and attendees.. food was spread across the floor in separate counters such as Kerala, naadan breakfast and English breakfast. They had a variety of food platter and felt it was equally good on veg and non veg dishes. Desserts and curries were all good. Some curries had a dip in salt. I took only veg. The atmosphere was so nice and calming. The exhibition of some paintings were really beautiful and the overall ambiance was so calming and soothing both to our eyes and mind. To get an appointment is a task though

I liked most of the items that I had ordered. The special appam served with pork vindhalu was amazing. There was a sandwich with chick peas; wasn't a fan of that. Loved the ambience and the way the interiors were done. Will be back to try more.

This place was in my list for a while. Finally, visited and sharing by honest experience here: Place - a nice cafe, antique and art adds a flavour to it. Service - decent Food - I only tried their Kerala Portta and beef ribs roast combo - Porotta was not authentic and beef was not well cooked(I am not sure if that was ideal) as I tried beef ribs for the first time. So overall, the combo tasted bad. Adding to it had a lime soda for rs.150bucks which didn't convince me either. I saw this place on insta reels where the vloggers use to roam around there and take a lot of photos and videos, but in reality they don't allow us to go to certain places like near the old well. Overall, a good place to visit for once. Did not give me a vibe to go again.