China Garden

Restaurant - China Garden
Location - Om Chambers, Kemps Corner
Date - Feb 24
Meal - Dinner
Company - Ze Wife

Experience - It was a pleasure returning to China Garden after almost the best part of a decade. i just refused to go to CG in a mall! Anyway, the new decor is kind of cool, very swanky, dark lighting, no lower level however. The decor is fitting the times i guess. We had a table for 8pm and we got there and were seated at 8pm on time ( i remember a time when you would have to wait 3o mins for a table even after u showed up on time)

Drinks - Chardonnay, Bloody Mary both drinks were allright, the chardonnay went great with the food.

Meal- Tom Yum Soup, very good, slightly on the spicy side but full of good taste, not too lemony or gingery.
The Appetizers were Steamed Wontons (half portion 8 vs 12 in the full) and the Onion Pancakes. The wontons were alright, very generic, however the pancake was fantastic, extremely light, with a liberal helping of condiments and eating them one bite after another, they jammed very well.
The Main course was veggies & cottage cheese in schezuan sauce, and a half portion of teppan soba noodles. The Noodles were ok, almost hakkaish while the the veggies were great, the sauce seemed to have two different layers, one not spicy the other fiery, which was interesting and it allowed the spiciness to build rather than be there on the outset.

Overall a good meal, almost great but for 2 things - one we weren't very adventurous with the food and played it safe, as well as some things like the noodles and wantons being very generic (Still good) in their taste.

They have Dim Sum Lunches as well Mon-Fri which is cool coz i can walk it up :)
Service was pretty good attentive, quick and it was good to see Mr.Nelson Wang in attendance just like old times.

Damage Food (1100) Drinks (600) Total = 1700 ($38)

Rating Food 8.5/10 Service 9/10

China Garden & Piano Bar
201, Om Chambers, 123, August Kranti Marg,
Kemps Corner, Mumbai
23630841, 23630842

Flavours

Rest : Flavours
Meal : Late
Location : The Ambassador Hotel, Churchgate
Company : Loki

Experience : The Ambassador seems like a has been hotel which hasnt had a proper face lift in a long long time. The rest of the rest experience seems to go along in this line.

Meal : Well there was this delicous sounding soup but they didnt have it. So i got some veggies in cream, they didnt have a mezze platter either so we got the chilli cheese toast and some jalapeno poppers. None of the food was tasty or seemed like it was made with anything fresh.

Drinks : Water

The place is terrible, avoid it. The service is weak, uncaring there is no real reason to bother going over to Flavours.

Damage : 600

Food 3/10 Service 3/10

The Bloody Mary War - We have a winner

Well after consuming Bloody Mary's in 3 continents, 9 countries, countless cities i have found the best place to get one.

Drum Roll Please

Indigo in Bombay. All this time, having traveled the world, it has been right under my nose.

The taste is impeccable, not too salty, not too much vodka, just slightly spicy but no overpowering taste. Its meant to be sipped, savored and enjoyed slowly. The glass is slated too :)

To ensure it was not just a fluke i had another one and it was the same great spicy taste.

Wonderful job to the indigo crew, you win my patronage.

It costs $6 and is worth every red cent.

Enjoy!!!

Indigo

Rest : Indigo
Meal : Dinner
Date : 14/2/2007
Location :Colaba, next to Cotton World behind the Taj
Company : Ze Wife

Experience- Indigo is set in an old bungalow and it has its own charm. The place is cosy, comfy, dimly lit and crowded. We walked in were seated right away and we saw Rahul Akerkar at the bar, which means he was cooking. Good Stuff!

Drink :Water, Virgin Mary, Grover Shiraz

Food : We started with the potato porcini soup which we shared. The soup was good but slightly bland, but once we added some black pepper it hit the sweet spot. Light, interesting taste.

The first course was the asparagus and fennel salad which was a valentine day special, very weak, the taste was bland but saved by the cheese. The mushroom and feta salad was on the money, great taste, the textures of the mushrooms complemented by the sourish feta.

Second course was Black bean tortellini in shiraz wine sauce, excellent, tasty, different and then you bite into a black bean which is another taste, sweetish but def on the money. Another valentine day special pasta was their ravioli, which not as good as the black bean was def on the tasty side. Both entrees were creamy which made the meal heavy

They serve a good selection of bread, but their house onion bread is a bit too oily for my taste.

The drinks were fabulous, they didn't have the sula Shiraz so i went for the grover Shiraz which is just as good (about 95% similar to the sula Shiraz)

Also, for those that recall my post looking for the best bloody mary in the world. my friends, head down to the indigo and feast yourself on their nugget. its a bit on the spicier side, but man its so full of taste.

Unfortunately we didn't get a chance to have the dessert (the creme brulee i was wanting) as we were quite full. Next time surely

The service was some of the best ive had a whole three generations ahead of their bastard sibling Indigo deli.

Food 9.0 Service 9.3

Damage was sever 3500 ($75)

Opium Den

Opium Den is the bar at The Oberoi and its quite a weak property. The place is done up quite well and the decor can be private but its not really suited to crowds ( we were a party of 20 out for a celebration)

the scene was sorta dead considering it was Sat night and there was no room to stand at Geoffreys (marine plaza) or at henry tham. the service was friggin slow, we had like one waiter for the 20 people and i must have gone up to the bar to order my drinks.

now the chap was quite a pleasant and hard working fellow but the overall experience with the bar was def weak.

4/10 for service and the damage was around 30k for a party of 20.

Pan Asian

Rest : Pan Asian
Meal : Late Lunch
Date : 7/2/2007
Location :ITC Grand Maratha, Airport
Company : Ze Wife

Experience- the best decored restaurant at the grand maratha easily. nice wide bodied place with windows as well as dim corners. The staff is friendly and service prompt.

Drink :Water

Food : tom Yum soup which was top notch. not taste heavy on any elements ,plenty of balance. the dim sum was of cottage cheese and mushrooms (juliened) went very well with the hot garlic sauce and the soya sauce. the entrees were veggies in an obonga sauce (which is a brown soy based sauce) the noodles were pad thai noodles, thai style with peanuts.

On the whole the meal was excellent, the tastes were rich and varied, the service was quick and efficient. only problem is the hotel is too far from the city to every become a regular haunt. the prices as well are quite nicely 5 star

Food 9/10 Service 9/10
Damage : 2100($35)

Moti Mahal - Nariman Point

Rest : Moti Mahal
Meal : Dinner
Date : 1st Feb & 10th Feb 2007
Location :INOX & CR2
Company : Hector, Edie, Leo, Gautam, Wife, Arti, Rahul, Rishab, Sam

Experience- Dim lit, classy ambience, minimalist yet functional. this facility is comfortable and the experience can be easily very private due to the psuedo booth set up.

Drink :Kingfisher, Heineken

Food : We stuck to the basics both times, dahi kebab (too dry) paneer tikka (excellent) stuffed potato (eeek) the main course was dal makhani (good) paneer kadai (excellent) malai kofta (very good) navratan korma (good) along with some garlic naans, their pulao is very different and extremely tasty.

I must also say that the food dosent hurt your stomach the next day, appraently because the spices used are from their own kitchen.

The point was to take my friends from new york and london on for a good indian meal and it worked well as they were all very happy with the food.
The staff is fairly accomodating and pleasant if slightly scatter brained.

Food 8/10 Service 8/10
Damage : first time meal for 4 (2000) second time meal for 7 (4900)