Gulmurg

Rest : Gulmurg
Loc : Shalimar Hotel, Kemps Corner
Meal : Late late dinner

Gulmurg is a reasonably popular dining option around Kemps Corner / Napean Sea road and is located on the first floor of the Shalimar Hotel. We entered around 10.30 and the place was fairly busy.

The restaurant serves North Indian and some snack preparations, the North Indian is fairly well recieved and the most popular option.

I chose Indian and we ordered some delectable Biryani.

Poppadum !

A vegetable raita is a must, unfortunately the Biryani is served a is and comes with no accompaniments.

The Dal Makhani was pretty good, tasted just about how you would expect a decent Dal Makhani to.

Finally, the Biryani it was all right, not the best in the world but at 11 pm it would do. It was just so average and thoughlessly put together which was dissapointing. Howevet the dal and raita made it work allright

Overall the place is def an option to go once in a while or when you are feeling lazy to go to far in South Bombay. The service was allright, no complaints.

Food : 7/10
Service : 7/10
Damage : 750

Shalimar Hotel
August Kranti Marg
Kemps Corner, Mumbai
Phone 66641000

The Tasting Room

Rest : The Tasting Room
Loc : Good Earth Store, Raghuvanshi Estate, Lower Parel
Meal : Lunch

The Good Earth store is an oasis of high end minimalist calm in the packed Raghuvanshi Estate in Lower Parel. On the ground floor they sell goodies for home and living while the first floor has a small cafe (about 35 seater) with a full scale menu. The rest of the space is the store.

The menu is Italy via the Mediterranean so no mezze but plenty of pasta. There are some fairly interesting dishes on the menu as well as a decent wine list. The place itself is not very fussy but you need to get there early because it gets busy by 1. So post 1 reserve a table if you dont want to wait for a few mins.

We started of with a roast tomato soup which was just brilliant. Not too sweet not too sour just right, mixed with some cream it went down really well. The portion was fairly large too and easy to share with another.

There was a black currant iced tea which i was told was brilliant, i had the tangy bull which was red bull, orange juice & sprite. Awesome.

The Greek salad was fresh and cold, i wish they had thrown some more feta in there, however it tasted great and i hope it is served as fresh each time.

The spaghetti with sun dried tomatoes and grilled vegetables was served in a dry tomato sauce, the taste with the veggies was fairly exquisite. It was again just the right kind of dry and had a unique taste. Pretty imaginative , def a bit of an international taste rather than local Italian.

The Jalapeno Polenta was serve with grilled vegetables, tomato as well as a drizzle of pesto. By itself it was average however when you marry it with some of the accompaniments it was fairly brilliant.

Overall the food is superior the ambiance is good and the service is average.

Food : 8/10
Service : 7/10
Damage : 1400

The Tasting Room
Good Earth, Raghuvanshi Mills Compound
Senapati Bapat Marg
Lower Parel, Mumbai
Phone 65285284, 24951954

Delhi Eat - Sarvanan Bhavan

Rest : Sarvanan Bhavan
Meal : Lunch
Loc : Connaught Place
Company : Sweets, Mon, Raj,P

Delhi as i mentioned before has been a revelation when it comes to restaurants. One of the gems around the very busy Connaught Place or CP as locals call it is Sarvanan Bhavan, a south Indian eatery.

Sarvanan Bhavan has quite a few branches around the south of India, they serve staples such as Idli, Dosa and a bunch of thalis as well. the place gets fairly crowded and its best to get their slightly early to avoid a wait. Being there with a large group meant i could sample a lot.

we started with the Rasam, which was hot, fiery and excellent, not too spicy which is good.

They are famous for their 14 idlis in sambar with ghee, its one of their signature dishes and fairly popular. The idlies were excellent and almost melted in your mouth. good stuff this!!!

the dosa was crisp, just like i prefer em, very well done, tasty, slightly sweet on their own. They cam with a bunch of chutneys, i am not a fan of green but it was good nonetheless.

The tomato onion uttapam was fairly disappointing . The sambar and chutney added enough taste to make it better though.

The medu vada i did not taste but i was told it was pretty on the money.

The thali was what i ordered. It was def not bad, however it was just too much similar stuff along the same lines which sort of made things confusing. None of it was bad or bland just too much harmony, no contrast. Maybe a dish less would have helped.

Overall the food was very good, the service was quick and the line we saw whilst leaving vouches for the popularity of the place. Good stuff.

Food : 8/10
Service : 7/10
Damage : 1200

Sarvanan Bhavan
46, Janpath
Connaught Place, Delhi
Phone 23317755, 23316060

Delhi Eats - Sanchos

Rest : Sanchos
Loc : South Extension II
Meal : Lunch

Delhi has been a revelation of late, last year (read about it here) they couldn't cook anything well unless it was north Indian but this year i cant get to enough places, they got Greek, Mexican, even Russian restaurants. Wide, clean streets a metro, brilliant restaurants, now only if the folks could learn some finesse and service skills...

Sancho's is a Mexican restaurant located in the busy South-Ex II on the 3rd and 4th floors. The place is large and airy, with large windows, brilliant layout. It is also one of the few authentic Mexican restaurants in the country. the other being Sammy Sosa in Bombay

we started off with a little soup in a shot glass, it looked great but it was a little cold and didn't taste that great.

The virgin Margarita was very pink lemonadish and tasted fantastic

they have a salsa bar, with about 5 varieties on offer as well as a variety of different chips. We were offered an assortment of both chips and salsa. Most of the salsa was on the money except one while the chips were great.

The nachos were 'loaded' served with olives, sour cream, guacamole and refried beans. Overall the whole thing did not come together as well as i thought it would. It worked okay but it could have been way better.

The entrees where a regular burrito served with beans and rice on the side. It was not bad at all, tasted fairly good and was well crafted.

The enchiladas were the other entree, good stuff ! however the burrito was better, Indians are used to having their enchiladas under a heavy sauce, these were unlike that but were still fairly good.

the sides were Mexican rice & referitos (refried beans) the rice was just brilliant, tasty and just dry enough. the beans were okay, should have been thicker and drier, too gravyish.

We opted for a platter which served a honey based chocolate filo pastry, a kahlua based chocolate thingy and two others i cant recall. All desserts were fairly good.

Overall, the place is great, the ambiance is young and chic, the food is authentic and well put together. Service is friendly, pleasing and quick. Plenty of reason to go back, they are also opening a new outlet at Connaught Place.

Food : 9/10
Service : 8/10
Damage : 1500

Sancho's
E 3
3rd Floor
South Extension II, South Extension, Delhi
Phone 46076422

Samrat - Thali

Rest : Samrat
Loc : Churchgate
Meal : Lunch

Previous visit here

Another thali afternoon at Samrat, the busy Churchgate eatery patronised by businessmen in the area, women on their kitty as well as some of us who just come there for the food.


the thali is usually decent at Samrat, my brother had never in all his years had a thali here, while i havent had the a la carte North Indian food here in a long time.

one of my fav things was the chaas, which was served chilled with plenty of refills.

the salads, the snack and munchies were more or less average. nothing spectacular.

the sweet dal and the sweet kadhi were both fantastic and are usually the mainstay of a thali most places.

unlike other places they didnt offer a bhakri but a thepla and a normal roti. they also serve rice, pulao & khichadi which is slightly more options than most other thali places.

the dessert was an average rasmalai.

Overall, its a busy place at lunch time and the service is geared towards dealing with it. I like their thali i find its better than their sister restaurant Status.

Food : 8/10
Service : 8/10
Damage : 550

A primer on thalis is here

My other thali visits are here & here

GONE - Delhi

Shall be in Delhi from Wed-Mon. Shall try and bring in some food porn and updates from there.

Cheers,
Gaurav

Cream Centre

Rest : Cream Centre
Meal : Lunch
Loc : Opp Chowpatty Beach

A somewhat authentic Mexican dining experience can be had at Sammy Sosa

Cream Centre is a fairly well known and popular venue with a pretty solid location, i have been going there forever but unfortunately the charm has been lost long ago. It has become part of the Blue Foods group which also runs the Noodle Bar, Bombay Blue & Spaghetti Kitchen & Copper Chimney joints (which except for the last two are more or less mediocre) They have recently been taken over by the Kishore Biyani led Future group.

The menu covers a lot of ground, popular fast food staples like onion rings, corn cheese balls etc, it then moves to offer Indian fast food, Pasta, Pizza and some Mexican. Most of the food is fairly Indianised and covers most ground for a quick, unauthentic but possibly enjoyable meal out.

We had an awesome Ice Tea and some diet coke to drink, there is no alcohol served at Cream Center unlike the others in the Blue Food Chain.

Started with the staple Nachos and cheese, fairly standard, not bad but nothing spectacular at all.

Cream Center was initially always known for its Chole Bhature and its next door neighbor/sister restaurant New Yorkers was the one that offered American fast food. Not so anymore, the sisters have split and the menus are now the same.

The Chole Bhature were okay to taste but they made me sick which says something about what they are made with. Possibly something to avoid but i dont think that is going to happen for most people !

The wife poor thing does not eat Chole Bhature & that left her with not a whole lot to go for, so she chose the pretty average Margherita

I went for the fairly inauthentic half n half enchiladas, served with beans and corn n cheese, it says something when the corn and cheese tastes better than the beans. Served in a hot tomato sauce, while these arent exactly the Tex-Mex enchiladas, in their own Indian way they work nicely. Not great but def above average.

Overall, the place continues to be monotonous but fairly popular, i see less and less reason for going here now that chole bhature is not on my radar.

The service was average, slowish and fairly cold.

Food : 6/10
Service : 6/10
Damage : 1000

Mumbai Attacks II

The battle continues to rage at the three locations, still have had no word about my friends father and others as of yet. Hoping and praying for the best. I went around for a drive around 8am this morning and it was fairly quiet.

However i drove to work around 9.30 and was happy to see most of my staff here and the others said they were running late but would be here. I was also extremely happy to see traffic outside, for once in my life. Means people are not giving in, they are fighting back the only way they can, by squeezing their fear.

I hope this all ends soon and we can go back and rebuild. I am going to continue updating the blog in anyway i can with information for people. Also will continue going out and updating this blog.

Thanks to everyone for their good wishes.

Cheers,
Gaurav.

Mumbai Attack!

I have been following the attack since they happened last night. The places attacked are fairly close to home, they are places i go in and around with fair regularity. I walk on Marine Drive 4-5 times a week and was on the stretch last night but back home by 10.

A friends father is still in the Trident and has been untraceable as well as the the folks in the Nariman Bhavan vicinity are friends and family, a friends girlfriend is part of the jewish group being held hostage(though she is not a hostage) So this is close to home in more ways than one.

The senselessness of the attack is only topped by the ease with which all this was perpetrated, anyone can walk into the city and go anywhere and do anything, there is no protection of any kind. I have been around the city this morning and people are out and about and it is good to know that they weren't cowed, if we can keep this up it means that the terrorists don't win.

I am sure there is a sense of local elements being involved as well, foreign terrorists cannot co-ordinate an attack like this without being present for long or having local help. Beyond this, it is hard to say how long and how many more terrorists are present in the city and what the next few days will bring.

The center of the city and the symbols of its success and heritage have been attacked and i can hope that they bounce back soon. After this matter is resolved we will see the politicians of all kinds trying to take advantage and things will get more disgusting.

The attack comes after an extremely positive and friendly message from Pakistan PM Asif Ali Zardari, listening to him made me feel that there is still a chance of things being on the mend and the future being better if we can work on it.

It was obviously not to be, the road to peace will be a long and difficult one but we are going to have to walk on it for the sake of the future generations. This is not the kind of world we can bequeath to them.

I am going to be in line to get back into the Taj & The Oberoi when they reopen. I hope others can also do the same.

Moshe

Rest : Moshe
Meal : Dinner
Loc : Cuffe Parade

Previous visits here & here & they also have cafe outlets read

Moshe is the value for money haute dining out option and continues to do well, however the vibe on a Thursday night around was cold like catching a super model without her make up.
Actually we were looking to go out and grab some tipple but somehow ended up here at Moshe, so out went the fun stuff

i got a standard Diet Coke

the wife got a brilliant ice tea

the wife started with a cous cous salad with some vine leaves and chick peas, pretty good, though i wished they would try something other than the regular lime dressing.

the potatos were done with garlic and red peppers, interesting, baked with almost no stuffing. interesting but served with ketchup and chutney (how boring)

the main course was crepes with tomatos and cheese, absolutely brilliant, sort of a smaller less ostentatious version of the one they serve in their cafe outlets. served with some really amazing garlic toast.

the whole thing was topped with a tremendous cup of a cafe mocha, wow. it tasted great and kept me up till about 3am. Rocking !!!

it was served with some pretty nasty cookies

Food : 8/10
Service : 7/10
Damage : 900

Moshe
7 Minoo Manor
Badhwar Park
Cuffe Parade, Mumbai
Phone 22161226