When we tell you that the newest kid on Bandra’s café scene is a plant-based offering, you could accuse us of stating the obvious. And, perhaps, you’d be right. The hipster suburb has, in recent years, come to be synonymous with bougie eateries that are, perhaps one menu item away from sounding almost too sanctimonious in the earnestness with which they approach the conscious living/clean eating/mindfulness mandate. 

And so, when we heard about pause (Here ‘p’ spelt in lower case), which describes itself as a community-driven, vegan café that now occupies the same spot on Pali Hill that once housed Seeds of Life, the question at the tip of our lips was: does Bandra need another vegan café? But the longer we thought, the more nebulous our dilemma became — the last few months have seen a wave of similarly-themed cafés downing their shutters across the city, from Bandra’s rooftop Yogisattva to Kala Ghoda’s Sequel. Could the timing of pause’s opening be the key to its relevance? Did this café have what it took to be a hallowed Bandra landmark?