Hyderabad’s iconic patisserie Labonel opens its first flagship sit-down store in Indiranagar

Nestled in the heart of Indiranagar, that houses some of the iconic patisseries in town, Labonel is set to elevate the dessert experience through its luxury store. It has now introduced its sit-down concept, taking a turn from its earlier takeaway model in Bengaluru.

Founded by a French visionary in 1995, it was taken over by its current custodian Mehnaz Hussain in 2005, who transformed it from a humble home kitchen to a fine-baking experience. Marking a name of its own in Hyderabad from where it first started, the family-owned chain now has seven stores across Hyderabad, Bengaluru and Vijayawada.

The Indiranagar store is the brain-child of Mehnaz’s son Ahmed and his wife Zeenat, “This store which started in 2020 was our conventional take-away model, but with this particular location that has so many of these iconic eateries around we decided to venture into the sit-down area and create a space that resonate with our legacy,” says Zeenat.

As you enter Labonel, you are greeted with their lux interiors, the use of gold and silver with their signature blue dominating the colour palate of the space. In the age of social media where Instagram aesthetic has become a priority for most owners, Labonel’s space does not disappoint on that. The store has a delectable display of its desserts from what is ‘in the season,’ to their signature all-time favourites.

Classic Chocolate Brownies. | Photo Credit: SPECIAL ARRAGEMENT

We tried some of their iconic desserts like Triple Chocolate Mousse, Chocolate Chunk Cookie, Raspberry Cream Cheese Tart, Strawberry Cheese Cake, and their most loved ClassicChocolate Brownies.

Chocolate Chunk Cookie. | Photo Credit: SPECIAL ARRAGEMENT

The mousse and the cookie had a rich taste of chocolate but not an overpowering sweetness. The sweet smell of vanilla infused in the desserts definitely elevated the taste.

Triple Chocolate Mousse. | Photo Credit: SPECIAL ARRAGEMENT

Raspberry Cream Cheese Tart. | Photo Credit: SPECIAL ARRAGEMENT

Both the tart and the strawberry cheesecake had the fresh taste of cream cheese which was complemented very well by the fresh strawberries, however, more than two bites of the cheesecake is sure to give you a sugarrush.

Strawberry Cheese Cake. | Photo Credit: SPECIAL ARRAGEMENT

While most traditional French desserts rely heavily on an egg base, Labonel has curated a range of eggless desserts to cater to vegetarian customers, “We have seen an exponential growth of our eggless products, especially during the festive season like Diwali, where people prefer eggless options for gifting,” says Zeenat.

With a family business that has been operating for 25 years now it is all about the people behind the scenes says Ahmed, “We have people here for the last sixteen seventeen years, who started with probably cleaning the kitchen but are now our best Chefs, they have stayed and learned everything from scratch.”

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Even though a lot of the desserts give out a very luxurious appearance with premium ingredients being sourced from both locally and outside India, they have managed to retain the ‘home-kitchen’ taste, the USP of the brand with which they initially started. “This is something that Mehnaz keeps telling us, if I don’t serve it to my own children and my guests, I am not serving that to the customers. And this is something that we try to stick to here,” says Zeenat.

Labonel is on H No 1155, 12th Main Road, 4th Cross Rd, HAL 2nd Stage, Indiranagar