Sweet and too sweet: Gurgaon outlet of New York’s iconic Magnolia bakery is a rage on Insta, but not everyone agrees

The videos triggered enormous curiosity about the iconic bakery that opened in West Village in New York City in 1996 and now has outlets in six countries outside the US. Magnolia came to India in 2019, and there are 11 bakeries in the country now – in Bengaluru, Mumbai, Hyderabad and the newest, Gurgaon.

Inside the bakery, customers walking down the aisle eyed the range of cheesecakes, cupcakes, cookies, and other desserts lining the display shelves as young staffers wearing green aprons took orders and answered questions. “Takeaway or dine in?” they asked every customer.

Roughly every second person ordered the bakery’s signature tres leches – Spanish for ‘three milks’ – a traditional Mexican sponge cake made with three different kinds of milk topped with whipped cream, an item that influencers on Instagram have recommended breathlessly. The popular classic version had run out; only the eggless and chocolate iterations were available.

“Whenever we open Instagram, Magnolia and its tres leches inevitably appear. We’ve come here several times already,” a woman who was at the bakery with two friends, said.

“We like everything, especially the tres leches,” said another woman in the group of three, all undergraduate students at the nearby IILM University. “It is worth the hype.”

Not everyone seemed as impressed, though.

A man who was with his wife and their toddler son complained that their order was too sweet. “The tres leches was okay, but everything else was below average. The desserts were too sweet and there weren’t enough savoury options.”

And how did he come to know of the bakery? “Through Insta only,” the man replied. “It is everywhere there.”

They would visit again, he said. “It’s close to where we live.”

A woman who returned to her seat after getting a bottle of milkshake seemed disappointed that it was too “bland”, and not vanilla-y enough. She did not seem to mind how it tasted, only that “It’s just not a vanilla milkshake.”

Another customer who gave his name and age as Nitik Arya and 32 had a clearer, more blunt opinion of his tres leches and coffee.

“It is too sweet,” he said. “There was so much hype… I came here only because it was all over my socials, but I won’t be returning.” Arya expressed scepticism about the initial hype sustaining – “when Tim Hortons was new in town, there was a lot of noise for the first few weeks and everyone was lining up,” he said.

Arya was among those who had managed to find a seat; several other customers were heard discussing their similar good luck, which they attributed to having arrived before the evening rush commenced. They seemed happy enough in the white-pastel interiors, with a prominent white brick wall declaring “Whipped & Swirled Around the World Since 1996”.

Outside, as those in the queue showed some impatience, a security guard announced to a group of young men, “Rukna padega, line mein lagna padega (You have to wait, stand in queue).” It could take a half-hour, he told them.

A couple outside said they had placed a takeaway order. As they waited, they took pictures and selfies. “We have not tasted the desserts yet, we wanted to get the photos first,” they said. To post on Insta, presumably.