Flags

Rest : Flags
Meal : Lunch
Loc : Colaba



Flag is a relatively new Colaba based eatery, the place is spacious but the ambiance is nothing special. There are flags everywhere (not near enough) on the split level layout.

The menu as the name suggests is world cuisine and covers Italian, Pan Asian, Tex Mex, Middle Eastern.

The wife had a caiprioshka, which looked like a bit of a garden but tasted allright.

customary Diet Coke

The lemon iced tea was decent albeit small.

The nachos were grande style with beans, cheese, jalapenos, sour cream and guacamole. I must say they got the combination right, it was excellent, head and shoulders over the New Yorkers variety but not as good as say the Hard Rock.

The mushroom melange was a combination of a bunch of mushrooms (button, shitake, porcini etc) it sounded great as a concept but execution was not quite there. no treatment to it, dryish.

The enchiladas were def not authentic but they were allright, the sauce was a little on the hot side, coupled with the guacomole and sour cream it worked out nicely but it could have been better.

We also had a margeritha pizza which was pretty good.

Overall, the ambiance is on the generic side, the menu is far too expansive and the food itself is inconsistent and needs to be better to compete with some of the other places in that part of town. Although i do think the place is a tad overpriced.

The service is reasonably quick and friendly.

Food : 8/10
Service : 8/10
Damage : 1700

The Pizzeria

Rest : The Pizzeria
Loc : Marine Drive
Meal : Dinner

The Pizzeria is the sister restaurant of Not Just Jazz by the bay and part of the Mars restaurant group (Roti, 3 Flights Up, Dosa Diner, All Stir Fry, Gordon House amongst others) The thing about the Mars group is that they have a) always been ahead of their time when it came to chain dining. b) too eclectic in their product offering c) the food most places was either just not good or went downhill sooner or later)

The Pizzeria over the years has become a south bombay instituiton and fortunately nothing has changed over at the restaurant. They have resisted the urge to add air conditoning or redesign the place or the menu. The place continues to be insanely busy and consistently good.


The spiral pasta in pesto sauce with sund driend tomato and peppers was just too good. Creamier than i would like but the essence of the pesto came through, heavy but fairly satisfying little dish.

the beverage of choice was Diet Pepsi

One of the best pizzas in the world in my opinion. As much as i love goat cheese or feta on my pizza, this is the Bombay Masala, the king of all pizzas. Anyone who is coming to this city MUST go and try this evil dish. Just cant get enough.

Overall, the place continues to flourish, get their early in the evening or late in the afternoon if you want a quick seat or be prepared to wait upto an hour, especially Sunday lunch or dinner. Dont experiment too much, stick to the fundamentals.

Food : 9/10
Service : 8/10
Damage : 800

The Pizzeria
143, Soona Mahal
Marine Drive, Mumbai
Phone 22856115

Atrocious Cafe Moshe - Colaba

Rest : Cafe Moshe
Loc : Colaba, right next to Indigo Deli
Meal : Early Dinner

Moshe is one of my favorite restaurants, apart from the flagship there are numerous cafes spread across South Bombay. The one at Crosswords is one of the best (when it has all the items on the menu)


So when we heard that a new one had opened in Colaba, we decided to check it out, as it turns out, we shouldn't have bothered. The menu was supposed to be different from most of their cafes, they even have the fondues hitherto available only at the mothership.

The iced tea was allright, not a bad start.

the chocolate milkshake was average

we had the sun dried tomato and garlic fondue, not bad. Moshe has always done a good job with the fondue and it was evident with this one.

The pasta salad was disgusting, it was just some cream dressing with greens and cherry tomato's. It was just wrong to serve this as a dish, absolutely lacked taste, ingredients or imagination.

The pasta in tomato sauce was again, fairly horrible. No taste, no imagination, a generic tomato sauce thrown on some penne. I wish they had just retained the Moshes Penne which is a dish they perfected but this was just sick.

The sandwich was pickled aubergine and greens. Again, disgusting (homerun) no taste, no point, no imagination.

Overall, the ambiance is just average, the seating is limited and the service is okay. Indigo Deli next door will not be threatened by this outlet unless they take their game up a WHOLE notch.

The food is below par in almost every respect, which is shocking considering their pedigree and experience. I can chalk it down to its absolute newness but even in that case the service can be below par (which it wasn't) but the food should not be. Maybe Mr.Shek needs to slowdown his ever expanding chain and focus on the quality of the food.

Food : 3/10
Service : 6/10
Damage : approx 1100

Not just jazz by the way

Rest : Not just jazz by the bay
Meal : Lunch
Loc : Marine Drive



Not just jazz by the bay is about the music in the evenings, however in the day time they run the city's solitary soup, salad and sandwiches buffet. The place is due for a makeover though, its been the same for as long as i can remember.

The array is vast and they serve every kind of salad imaginable.

They also do a fairly good hummus with toasted, crisp pita.

The soups can be a bit patchy, i am usually too stuffed to ever get the sandwiches, however the salads pretty much rock. Noodle, caprese, pineapple and cottage cheese, beans, potato, cole slaw are just some of the varieties.

The place is worth a go, the service is quick and efficient, the ambiance okay. It gets pretty crowded so try and get there between 12.30 & 1 if going on a Sunday/holiday.

Food : 8/10
Service : 8/10
Damage : 275 p.p.

Tea Centre

Rest : Tea Center
Loc : Opp Gaylords, Churchgate
Meal : Lunch

In keeping with Lulu & the Knife i found myself at Churchgate with a hungry stomach. Didnt have the car with me then so we decided to walk to my club (Garware) but i quickly remembered the Tea Center was open and decided to take the wife who had never been.

The tea room has been around for a long time and is a fairly popular eatery with all the office going folk at lunch. A recent renovation has turned the place out a little more dressed up but it has lost none of its old world feel.

The menu offers breakfast and snacks as well as a complete Indian & Continental fare, they also do a set meal for lunch. I usually got for the a la carte options and that is what we did this time around too. The Minestrone was not very minestrone like but was not bad.

The Bruschetta was a very odd thing to have at a place like the tea room, however with a little salt it turned out to be a very good little dish.

The tea room has a ridiculous variety and options for hot teas, however they do a pretty incredible lemon iced tea. I guess it would be a little unfair to come here and not have any tea..

They have these little bells which you can ring in case you need attention quickly (and you will find yourself ringing this bell at least once)

We had some bean on toast, not bad and thankfully not canned beans in tomato sauce.


The wife is a big batata vada fan and so we got these khopoli style vadas, garlicy good taste.

She also got the aloo paratha with curd, very traditional north indian breakfastish but not too bad.

Overall, the place is quaint and interesting, the food is not too bad. The service can be slow and forgetful but is fairly friendly.

Food : 7/10
Service : 6/10
Damage : 700