Restaurabt Review: Gajalee, Lower Parel

Was at Lower Parel with some Japanese guests who wanted to try out Indian food and so I thought why not have lunch at Gajalee as it is famous for its seafood. Nothing much to write about the ambiance of the place – very average. The waiters – extremely uninterested and un-knowledgeable about the menu. All they tried was to hard sell the wine (don’t know if they do that to all guests or only to foreigners). The biggest letdown, however, was the food. A heart-attack inducing medley of excessive oil and overpowering spices, it felt like road-side stuff. Couple that with inferior quality rice and poorly baked breads and one experiences the perfect example of screwed up food. Extremely disappointing.

Nutella

Nutella is chocolate and hazelnut spread by Italian company Ferro (the makers of Ferrero Rocher). It is usually eaten as a bread spread, sandwich filling or a general substitute for chocolate in confectionery, baked products and hot chocolate drink. Nutella was developed in 1940s as an inexpensive alternative to chocolates by mixing hazelnuts. And even though Ferrero Rocher has become quite popular in India, Nutella still has way to go.

So whether you eat it with bread or plain, with a spoon or just your fingers, go ahead, grab a jar of Nutella.

To know more about Nutella, check out the Nutella USA website.

Christmas Coffee Art

Was served my cappuccino with this simple yet beautiful Christmas coffee art at CCD the other day....

Restaurant Review: Red Ant Cafe, Bandra

Was catching up with a few old friends over drinks this weekend in Bandra and we thought why not try this new place where we have not been to. Turns out we were right in choosing Red Ant. Located on top floor of Link Square mall, across the street from KFC, Red Ant can be accessed through the side lift. The access from inside the mall is cumbersome. The place is nicely done in red and black with dim lights and large video screens (I don’t know whether they intend on showing sports though). Floating candles on the table, though a bit incongruous, give a nice warm feeling to the place. There is a relaxing, lounge sort of feel to the place.

The focus is definitely on liquor than on food. Good selection of international spirits and liqueurs including absinthe though not much variety in beers. We ordered some paneer starters which were just average. The vegetable salad was lots of lettuce with little bits other veggies. Jalapeno poppers were decent. Cheese platter was good but the quantity really little for the price charged. They are in the process of redoing their menu though (so was I told).

The servers are really good and attentive. They tell you about the various stuff and encourage you to try it out - good marketing skills. Music is decent but nothing great. Prices are a bit higher than comparable Bandra places. Would suggest going there for drinks and moving to someplace else for dinner.

Rating: 4/5

Must have: Absinthe

Restaurant Review: Banana Leaf, Juhu

Great food, but what's with the service?

Banana Leaf is a specialty restaurant serving South Indian cuisine, located prominently on the main road in Juhu. It is on the upper level of a shopping complex and the entrance from the side of the shops is small and cramped. Once inside, there is a large partitioned hall. Care has been taken to leave enough space between the tables. The tables, themselves, however, are pretty small which makes dining uncomfortable as one has to keep shifting the dishes to make space for new ones. 

The menu is impressive with a variety of tiffin snacks, curries and rice preparations. We tried the thali so as to get a taste of all that they had to offer. The sumptuous thali starts with tangy piping hot rasam (served soup style). The thali itself comprises of starters (vadas and uttapam), 6 different curries/veggies, curd and sambar. This is to be relished with appam / neer dosa / chapati and a bowl of steamed rice / bissibelle bhat as per choice and washed down with spiced buttermilk. Payasam is served for dessert. 

The rasam and the snacks were lip-smacking. A huge plus was that all the curries tasted different from each other and the avial was especially good. At Rs. 225 the thali is a good buy to taste a variety of South Indian dishes at one go. I would rate it better than the food available at some of the famous Matunga eateries (Some people might be offended by this but the fact remains – food at some of the famed Matunga places is home-style food, the food at Banana Leaf is a proper restaurant style display of the culinary variety of Southern India). 

The quantity of food in a single thali is too much for one person to have. The servers did not warn us about the same. We ordered one thali per head and ended up wasting lots of food. Service was, overall, shoddy. Chutneys were not served with the thali – we had to ask for it. The spoons were cleared along with the rasam bowls and replaced only after asking twice. Water glasses were refilled only on request. We asked if just one of the payasams could be substituted for some other dessert only to be flatly refused (I agree that these kind of requests kind of defeat the purpose of fixed – course meals but then it was not so difficult a request). They served paan after the food which was dry and stale. There was nothing called ambiance – the place was chaotic and noisy and people were shouting – more like a college canteen. These can, however, be ignored for having the fabulous food. 

A place with really good food, though they should give some options for dessert with the thali and maybe have version of it in a smaller portion size. But the pathetic service and ambiance just spoils it all. I would suggest going there for a lazy brunch or dinner and just for the food.

Rating: 4/5

Must have - the Thali

Restaurant Review: The Den, Bandra

The Den is a small, easy to miss, wine bar on the lane off Linking Road. Despite being small, the tables are spaced out and the couches large and comfy. The lighting is just perfect – dim enough to create a classy ambiance without hampering reading of the menu.

They serve wine cocktails and have a good collection of imported wines served by bottle. The wines available by glass are, however, few. The wine cocktails are a must have. We tried champagne based ones and those were prepared really well. Also tried a couple of wines from their international selection. The problem is that the wine menu just has the names of wines – probably a small tasting note would have made the selection easier.

Food is a mix of Italian and continental cuisines. They served killer quantities. We had grissini – and what they served was 6 strips of normal toast bread (total quantity would have been just one normal size toast bread) with dips. In fact the quantity of bread was so little and the bread was so soggy that most of the dips were wasted. Had a potato based starter, which though was good in taste, again lacked in quantity. Other starters were just okay.

The markup on wines, especially the imported ones, is on a very high side. Couple this with taxes and service charge and you are looking at a markup of 1000-1500 rupees a bottle – not suitable for people who want to enjoy lots of wine. Probably the high pricing coupled with measly portions of food is the reason that the place was nearly empty on a weekend evening and most of those who were there were just hanging out with hardly any wines being ordered. It just defeats the purpose of having a wine bar. It is more like a wine café where people come and spend time over a single drink.

The service was really good – servers were very attentive. And they readily agreed to charge our bills to individual cards (this is really simple but somehow even some of the high end Bandra restaurants would not do that… strange). 3 stars for the concept, service and collection of wines but definitely needs improvement.

Rating: 3/5

Go for: Ambiance, wine cocktails

Skip: Food

Restaurant Review: The Laughing Buddha, Saki Naka

I was in the vicinity the other day with a friend when the two of us decided to try the place. By name, colors and decor, the place gives an impression of being a south-east-asian eatery. There is ample use of red hues and the walls are adorned with large statues of the Laughing Buddha savoring delicacies with the aid of chopsticks. The place, however, serves a medley of Mughlai and Sino-Ludhianavi (this is such an amazing word describing the Indianization of Chinese food). That they were also showing sports on a big screen was a big plus.

But what lacks in the ambience is more than made up for by the food. Cubes of buttery, soft paneer, marinated with just the right amount  of spices and cooked to perfection in tandoor with onions and capsicum, served with a side of salad - one of the better paneer tikkas available here. Authentic Avadhi style dum biryani served in a clay pot - the server removed the sealant  in front of us. Beer served in classy pilsner glasses and not mugs. Soft baby potatoes were served floating in a bucket of spicy home style gravy.The food at the Laughing Buddha is many notches above other places with similar pricing.

Yet another thing that makes one want to go back to this place is the servers - knowledgeable about the menu, adept at making suggestions, attentive and always smiling - hard to find such levels of service even in some so-called high-end places.

The Laughing Buddha

Sagar Palazio, Saki Naka

Rating: 4/5

Must haves: Dum biryani

Skip: Spring rolls