Off to Sin..

Its the wife's birthday tomorrow.. since i couldnt come up with a proper present all she gets is a trip to Singapore...

updates when im back next week.

Dreadful Night Out !

Venues : Olive, Tote
Location : Race Course, Mahalaxmi

10.30 pm in bed, the wife and i both got a hankering to get the hell out of the house and go out. The fact that it is Tuesday night did nothing to stop us. We should have known better..

Since the Mrs wanted olives we headed to the most natural port of call, Olive at the race course.
Man, what a dump this place has become. It was not empty, yet it had this sense of death and decay all over it.


We headed straight for the bar and ordered a beer and a sangria. A few mins later they show up, we are sipping and hoping for our complimentary olives when out comes a little apology of a cup of cheeselings. Imagine that.

So i asked them for my complimentary olives and was told i would have to pay for them. WOW. 8$ Corona and i have to pay for olives. So we decided to stick to one round and head up to Tote.


We ask for the check and a few mins later the chappie comes up and says its 850 Rs. No reciept. So i am not sure what kind of a scam Mr.Singh is running but i insisted on my reciept. It turns out to be 825 with a 10% service charge included in it.

So a scam on top of a scam. I think i am done with Olive now, never going to return not that i think they will be around long anyway. I blame this one on the wife.

So off to Tote i went, got myself a cocktail or two, they threw in the olives with paprika and garlic on their own, shows the difference between a place that pretends to be a restaurant and a real one.
The caiprioshka was great, unfortunately the bar is massive and despite a few tables covered, it felt empty.

I love their bar food menu, they serve some really amazing stuff. this time i went for the herbed goat cheese with jalapeno and chilli olive oil. UMMMMM..... super delicious.


My advice is to avoid Olive all together for thier unscrupulous attitude. Tote has great drinks, great food but is such a huge place that if you dont have 40 odd people in, it feels dead.

Enjoy.

At last Taco Fresco brings true blue Mexican to us !

Finally, its happening. We are getting a true blue, authentic Mexican restaurant opening its doors in Bandra in the 3rd week of April. Awesome news.

While Taco Bell has set up shop in Bangalore, i had a look at their menu and its more potato than beans, so i am not sure how well it will go down with folk who are looking for some true Tex-Mex fast food.

Taco Fresco of course is more on the authentic tex mex side.

Cant wait to check it out.

Viva La Revolucion


PS. Also slated to check out Michelin Star Chef Vineet Bhatia's Azoka next week.

Panchvati Gaurav

Rest : Panchvati Gaurav
Meal : Lunch
Loc : Infiniti Mall, Andheri Link Road

After a long day auditioning voice over talent in Andheri, we decided to grab a quick lunch before heading to work. Last week in Andheri, doing the same thing we ended up at TGIF for a dreadful meal. I regretted not having gone into Panchvati, so this time i got a shot at making up for my mistake.

Panchvati serves a pretty impressive thali here in Andheri, my visit to their older Marine Lines venue was good (read), except the food was not that warm which was a major turn off. This time around though, the service was okay and the food was hot.

They serve a boring dhokla, a fantastic papdi chaat, of the 4 veggies, three were great, one i didnt like at all. Not much of an option when it comes to bread, all they have is roti and puris, the masala rice was below average. The Marine Lines venue serves a bhakri as well, which i enjoy. The chaas could have been way colder.

Overall, the food is good, the service ordinary.

I would consider a 150-175 to be a decent price for a thali, the moment you cross to 2oo, it needs to be superlative. While it was good, it was def not worth the 250 per person price tag.

Indigo Deli

Rest : Indigo Deli
Meal : Late Afternoon Snack Meets Breakfast
Loc : Near Taj Mahal Hotel, Colaba

Back to an old favouraite, after quite some time. Nice to return, place seems to be as popular as ever, it was Easter but the special menu was pretty dreadful looking, except the tomato soup with goat cheese which to much to my chagrin i didnt see until i paid the check. Still quite upset about that.

It still continues to be a fun place, with a little bit for everyone. Brillliant sandwiches, a gamut of breakfast dishes served all day, pasta, pizza, cold cuts, burgers. Hell, i dont know why anyone would go anywhere else !

Start off with a freshly squeezed orange juice, it was 5pm but i was in a breakfasty kinda mood. The juice was alright though, i have had better.

Eggs sunny side up, hash bronws and an addition of beans on toast. very satisfying, i wish they had given me more than 2 slices of toast though...

Brilliant gourmet sandwiches on the menu, green and yellow peppers, brie i think, brilliant.

The panzanella, was fun, boring but fun. Had it way too many times before.

the capuccino.. was okay.

overall, its a place i have been way too many times, so i find myself to be well acquainted with the menu and the dishes. One or two of the things tend to fall flat or just get plain boring but overall its a brilliant place to go and like all over again.

service can be a trifle slow and scatter brained however.

food : 8/10
service : 8/10
damage : 1500