The concept was inspired by the dabbas or lunchboxes found in Mumbai. Filled with small portions of different dishes, these lunchboxes are picked up from housewives in the suburbs by dabba wallahs and delivered to their husbands at work for lunch.

The first MyDabba branch opened on Ferdinand Bolstraat 53 in February 2009, with the Rokin branch following in April. The premises have a paired-down, sleek look, with all the hallmarks of a franchise in the making. The menu covers hot and cold sandwiches, soups, salads, pastries, sweets and drinks, with catchy names like Chicken Bliss, Luscious Lime and Sweet Surrender.

Each item is colour coded according to which mood it corresponds with: orange is happiness, pink is love, green is energy, brown is comfort, blue is relax and purple is splendour. These aren't strictly all moods, but you get the idea. You can then pick the foods that correspond with the mood you're in at that moment or potentially the one you'd like to be in.

Many of the items are prepackaged for quicker service and takeaway, but there's also a small ‘A la Minute Buffet’ of grilled chicken, bulgur salad, sweet potatoes and so on, enabling you to customise your sandwich even further if the prepackaged options don’t quite fit your current mood. This option is one of the best, as the sandwiches are made with crusty sourdough bread and prepared while you wait.

The idea behind MyDabba is good and certainly different; the execution just doesn't quite work. For all its efforts to personalise the food, ironically there's something very impersonal about the place. The colour-coding system also gives the menu the air of a paint swatch, as if you're choosing the shade of your bedroom walls rather than a sandwich.

Several of the sandwiches are a cut above the standard Dutch ham and cheese duo, though, like the spinach with Moroccan carrot salad, chicken, lime and Szechuan pepper, so you'll probably emerge from MyDabba in a better mood if you forget all the colour coding and simply pick the item that sounds the most appealing.