Aug 15, 2008

Indigo Cafe

Clifton Trishool Housing Society, Oshiwara Village, Link Road, Lokhandwala, Andheri (W), Mumbai

Excellent

A superlative experience

At the 5 stars recommendation of the previous three burrpers, I decided to use a special occasion to land up there yday evening for dinner....

The warm smiles of the hostess with whom I had exchanged a few calls asking for directions was a harbinger of good things to come...the inner separate non smoking section was quite empty except for the owner sitting on one table and another small group, and we chose our table for two..
The menu is quite exhaustive and I went for a berry drink, while the husband took to his single malt.

From the start we noticed that the service was refreshingly friendly and attentive...something that we always find lacking in this city.

We started off with a grilled vegetables and heart of palm salad which was delicious to say the least. The ultra thin crust pizza with pesto, tomatoes and buffalo mozzarella was out of the world, so much so that the two of us were tempted to order another one and skip the mains. However, we opted for the wild mushroom and red wine risotto that was crackling with flavours of rosemary. We also devoured a basket of garlic bread somewhere in the middle - which was a tad too buttery in taste for my liking, but was topped with loads of garlic and toasted to perfection.

All the while we made fun foodie conversations with the mother-son duo sitting on the table next to us. A gentleman whom I presume was the partner came to our table after each course to ask how we liked everything, and we enjoyed the interactive lively ambience...should not forget to write about some great music going on, unintrusively in the background. We skipped desserts - as the husband wanted something without eggs which we did not find on their list...and our attendant promised to rectify that the next time :)

Anyway, the highlight of the food was extremely fresh, good quality ingredients and superlative service - for which we are willing to pay top bucks - are the other restaurants listening?

We are going to back here soon, and I'm going to order my pesto-mozzarella pizza when I call to reserve seating :) This was a most wonderful dining experience in a long long time.

A small clarification here - they don't do wood fired pizzas, coz we specifically asked them for one after reading in a previous review; but whatever they do with their pizzas is good enough to get stuffed on them :)

Just in case you are wondering how much it all came to -
Food - 1400 and Liquor - 2400 inclusive of VAT

May 29, 2008

Sammy Sosa

Shop No. 18, Meera CHS, Oshiwara Link Road, Oshiwara, Andheri (W), Mumbai

Average

Good food, but not all good here

[ I am not related to the restaurant owners, and I paid for my meal. So you will read some truths about this place...unlike some other reviews that have only good things to say conveniently masking their faults! ]

Reading the previous two 'going-ga-ga' reviews on Burrp, the first opportunity of an evening out with the hubby, we landed here yesterday evening, with a couple of friends joining us there.

Expectations were high after reading only good about this one...The welcome was warm by a guy who looked like the owner / partner ? of the place. Ambience, menu cards, the whole package of the look-feel of the place has been well thought - and executed...with a Mexican movie running on a projector screen and mini TVs mounted on the brick wall, which made me wonder if couples coming out for dinner would be looking at the TV on their side instead of talking to each other or eating ;)

The menu is pretty long - Beverages, Starters, Main course, Soups and Salads - covering both Mexican and 'Continental' cuisine. We chose the Whacko Tacos [Rs.110] filled with mushroom and corn along with the recommended Mexi skin filled with broccoli. The tacos were accompanied by four dips, one of which was the Guacamole.

Now, according to me, the proof of a Mexican meal is in its guacamole. Having had the best of the lot from a large stone pot in Dos Caminos, NYC - I was looking forward to this....especially after reading in an earlier review that they made it on the table!!! No such luck here, barely a tablespoon of it made an appearance on the dip-platter, which they did refill once....coming to the taste of it - I like my guacamole to be chunky, where I can see the lightly mushed up cubes of avocado, tiny flecks of finely minced onion and coarse cumin and chillies...here it was all ground up like a green chutney....so I cant even say if it was all avocado or some foreign invasion of mashed potatoes to bring down the cost.
The Potato Skins - while they tasted really good - they served 3 pieces in a platter...and we were 4 of us. 3 is quite an odd number and I haven't seen 3 pieces being served on a starter anywhere, minimum being 4, especially when the potatoes were of a medium size and each piece having half the SKIN of the potato, paying 150 bucks for 3-half potato skins felt like a complete rip off!

Here, I must add that it took quite a while for the starters to arrive and when we were ready to order the main course, both the owner and the manager seem to have got themselves stuck to a larger group in the corner, probably discussing the history of Mexico and the origin of the chipotle chilli! God knows what, but it took nearly 10 minutes after we had finished the measly starters to order our mains. It is odd that when the order was taken, we were told, it would arrive in a jiffy, which got me thinking....

So we kept thinking, arguing, looking around, and generally killing the next 45 minutes, until the mains finally found their way to our table.
I had Mama's enchiladas [Rs.140] which turned out pretty flavourful and filling thanks to the beans. The Fajitas Aztec style [Rs.180] - where soft tortillas were stuffed with veggies and served on a bed of Mexican rice was high on the taste quotient. Our friends ordered the Chicken loco stuffo [Rs.210] and the Boatman's Dream [Rs.290] (Grilled prawns on bed of mexican rice), which were both reported to be good. Spice was slightly on the higher side in all the dishes.

Positives - Good food, friendly welcome, efficient service, interesting ambience

Negatives - Starters portions very small for the price, extremely long wait for food to arrive, over-promising & under-delivering, average guacamole (definitely not made on the table)

Overall damages were 1350 including VAT and tip for a meal for 4 with 2 fresh lime sodas, which considering the portions and the tiny shop space I thought to be quite high.

So while the food was good, they have a huge scope for improvement on the service.

P.S.
Their menu says if you walk in as a group of 4 or more after 8 pm, there'll be discounts, gifts, freebies....we were 4 and we walked in at 9.30 pm, and we didn't see any of the above come our way! [Even though we went on a WEEKDAY - on a Wednesday to be precise...donno if Wednesday qualifies as a WEEKEND in Mexico! ]

May 04, 2008

China Gate

Royal Plaza, New Link Road, Next to Citi Mall, Andheri (W), Mumbai

Poor

Soapy noodles and gooey vegetables

After watching a great movie at Fun Republic, we decided to hit the China Gate nearby for a quick Sunday lunch. We decided on steamed veg suimai, veg talumein soup and a veg clear soup. The clear soup was excellent with some chinese greens and celery. The talumein was high on vinegar and a sweetish taste that didn't score with me.

The steamed suimai, while they were delicate and filled with veggies, the raw corn flour that the vegetables were coated with, were sticking to the mouth, spoiling the experience. I find it quite funny that every so called Chinese restaurant in Bombay finds its own versions of 'Chinese' sauces to go with the starters. This one had finely chopped coriander in sugar syrup - and a bhel kind of tamarind chutney which would be enough to throw a real Chinese chef into fits.

The main course consisted of coriander pot noodles, which looked highly appetizing and green, with lots of green vegetables, but one fork down and i realized that something was just not right with them. The noodles were overdone and gloopy, plus tons of baking soda added to the dish to retain the green -ness of the coriander sauce and the green vegetables. We all know the secret of a pinch of soda to retain the colour of greens, but please don't use soda as the main ingredient! I came here for food not for cleansing my stomach with soap! The mixed vegetables were in another corn-starchy red sauce that the server highly recommended, leading me to think it would be one of their specialties. Sadly, it was just another sauce that i wrote about earlier....lots of red chilli powder, minced garlic and cornstarch.

This along with a couple of fresh limes came to 1000 bucks. It has been a while that i felt so ripped off for eating poor quality food and thought of all the fresh ingredients I could have bought for that sum.

Anyway, lesson learnt, we wont be going back.

Service was ok and another negative is that the non smokers have no choice, the whole restaurant is open to smokers, so be ready to inhale the smoke if you go here.

I would have given this place one star but the extra star is for the good clear soup.

Apr 14, 2008

On Toes

7, Mithila Shopping Centre, V Mehta Road, J.V.P.D. Scheme, Vile Parle (W), Mumbai

Good

the locals' favourite

On Toes is the VileParle / Juhu's equivalent of the Totos type pub in Bandra, where you can walk-in in your flip flops and no one will bat an eyelid.

On the main road, which is full of shopping and designer stores, this one is a gem that the locals will swear by. Excellent music - retro /disco / rock with a DJ who doesn't think it is below him to take requests. The serving staff is extremely friendly. If you reach in before 9 pm there are chances you'll find a table, after that it gets crowded very quickly, yet not as crowded as Totos or Hawaian Shack that you'll be smelling the deo of the person standing next to you.

It is full even on weeknights, so you can imagine how popular it is among the locals. Crowd is a good mix of people in their late 20s and beyond. You'll even find some people in their 50s and 60s :)

They have a restaurant by the same name on the ground floor which caters to the food in the bar as well. The food is excellent, we always order the crispy bhindi which is everyone's favourite. Also, this is one place where you wont feel like a fool for ordering khichdi (yeah thats right) with your drinks, the palak version is deadly. Nothing like steaming hot khichdi to dig into when you are hungry after some drinks. We also ordered the paneer tikka and a vegetarian biryani, and both tasted perfect!

I'm usually not a mocktail person, but order the Lion Zion drink with ginger-ale and honey, was quite potent stuff! Our friend ordered the cranberry based Ontoes special cocktail called Sex on OT, which tasted zingy! The rest ordered regular drinks like Bacardi, bottle of Sula wine and the damages came to 3200 for 6 of us, which is not bad for some superb music and dedicated service.

There is nothing much to write about in terms of ambience, regular pub decor.

If you are in this area, give this a chance and you wont regret it.

Apr 13, 2008

Swati Snacks

248 Karai Estate, Tardeo Road, Opposite Bhatia Hospital, Tardeo, Mumbai

Good

Homestyle food in a utilitarian ambience

I've eaten here some 5-6 years ago, but a place that I keep hearing only good about, surely deserves another visit. A month ago, we tried eating here after getting some work done in Worli. 2 .15 pm and 45 minutes waiting! Our growling stomachs did not agree to that kind of wait and we drove off to the nearby Sardar Pav Bhaji.

Today, we decided during our morning walk, that we wanted to visit Swati Snacks for lunch! Ironical that we think of where to add up the calories while we are burning some...Considering that it is a good hour's drive from our place, going all the way for lunch was a gamble, we decided to take anyway.

We reached there some 10 minutes before 1pm, and needless to say, I rushed to queue up our name while my husband waited to deal with the valet. Imagine our glee when we were told '10 minutes waiting'~ I nearly exclaimed "Only that much??" to the guy with the 'waiting list'.

The next ten minutes were spent studying the other waiting people under the awning and the people who were alighting from running cars to make sure they are better placed on the waiting list :)

We were ushered inside in 15 minutes..and we spent some time studying the one page laminated menu, split into specialties, snacks, beverages and desserts. To cool off we ordered a glass of kacha kairy pano and a salted lassi. The former made from cooked raw mangoes lacked the tangy edge and had plenty of saffron strands. While I do like the fragrance of saffron, the raw mango drink was totally dominated by the saffron taste, which was overpowering any mango taste! (Drinks around Rs.50 each)

A plate of dahi batata puri downed and we were ready to order the main course. My partner had the thalipeeth with a thick besan curry. The thalipeeth was sizzling hot and the besan curry really yummy with tomatoes, onions and garlic. I do suspect it had a lot of ghee that gave it a great taste.
My order was the satpadi roti with gatte ki sabzi...another thick multigrain traditional bread cooked with lots of oil and the Rajasthani curry with tiny besan dumplings. While the roti was in many layers and high on flavour, the gatta curry was ok, not extraordinary in any way. (Main dishes Rs.100 each)

Since they serve just one piece of bread in any main course, you can order an extra thalipeeth or roti at Rs.60.

Almost every table was ordering the panki (delicate rice crepes cooked between banana leaves on a hot skillet), and we decided to order the minty version served with a green chutney and some pickled green chillies. This was indeed the best dish for me after the besan curry that came with the thalipeeth. The panki was melt-in-the-mouth delicious and very light too. They serve a plain and a dill version of this too. (Rs.60)

Not finding any great choices for dessert, we went with the Gujarati Puran Poli (Rs.85), which took a good 10 minutes to make an appearance on the table, delicate, fluffy, coated with melted ghee and the filling oozing out. It was the best puran poli i'd had in a long time, as I am not much in love with the thinner maharashtrian version, that has a maida cover. Just one odd thing about this, i have never heard or seen puran poli being served with raita, especially when you call it a dessert. Anyway, may be one of their ideas which their patrons seem to enjoy.

Service was quick and efficient. Most dishes took atleast ten minutes, but considering that each item we ordered was piping hot, I understand they make everything FRESH, once they get an order, which is a HUGE positive for me. The ambience is nothing to write about. It's quite clean and utilitarian. not much space wasted around the place, no flowers and nothing fancy! But when the food is good, the ambience is secondary.

All in all, the meal came to 600 Rs. excluding the tip.

If you are one of those who has never made it to eating here because of the waiting, try reaching earlier than 1pm and you may just about get in without too much of a hassle.

Worth a visit for some of the authentic dishes they serve! Do try Mint Panki and the Thalipeeth!

saffrontrail

Nandita

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