Busago

Rest : Busago
Meal : Dinner
Loc : Bandra, Off Pali Naka.

Busago is the little brother of Colaba's Busaba the Asian eatery with a slight difference.. back in the day Busaba used to be a place to get your  drink on.. eventually that image died and it came into its own as a restaurant. Slowly they crept towards the suburbs opening a branch in Lower Parel (or mid town if you please) outlet. 

Which brings us to Busago, their newest venture condensed version of the original. Small, crammed and with the looks of a health cafe, it however is not all together unattractive. The menu has eight dishes (unheard of for an Asian eatery) serves momos, red & green curry, kaukswe & stir fry.

The Tibetan momos come with chopped veggies and are a fairly light, quick eat. Tasty too.. we went through four portions between four people. Unfortunately, all the recommended Chib's sauces suck as accompaniments..

The Green Curry was okay but crazy spicy, should come with a warning or atleast a choice of how spicy one wants it. Its relatively runnier than your average Thai Curry which is by no means a bad thing. Lots of peas, some more mushrooms would have been great. The side of rice they served it with could be a whole lot fresher.. 

Busaba was one of the first guys to popularize Khow Suey or Kaukswey as they call it leaning towards the Burmese rather than the Thai. A snack like dish, which apparently is hawked by folks who can be flagged down for a quick meal. 

For the uninitiated, the concept is to take noodles, add the curry and then pick up on the accompaniments which are served along.  

I used pretty much everything except for the celery. Fried onions added a brilliant crunch and the curry itself was pretty tasty. 

The Banoffee was weird, although it tasted good, the base was hard..i mean HARD.. Mrs J tried to force her way into it and it flew all over the table and across her arm. That sounds a tad dodgy. 

Overall, the place is small, the menu limited but the food is good. It could be even better if they could get their act together. The curries and the kaukswe were both served slightly warm, rather than hot and the base of the banoffee is a matter of concern.

The service though needs immense work and our table was quite irritated when they brought out momos and put them on the table without telling us which was veg and which was non-veg. I recommend different colored baskets if its difficult to keep track.. because some day this will lead to an incident. 

The pricing too is quite on the reasonable side, the city needs more joints like this which not only offer good food but good value for money. The place has potential to be a fabled neighborhood restaurant this. 

Food : 7/10
Service : 6/10
Damage : 1800 for four. 

The Last Month

Hi Guys,

For those of who have been writing in asking why i have not been updating of late.. i have had a crazy month as my second film Return of Ashoka is in the throes of post production and most of my time has been spent in the editing booth and back at my studio putting the final changes through. The fact that i like to tinker does not help (a small change took two days to put in)

While we arent home free yet, it seems it will be a relatively relaxed month as we only have one more section to send re-takes for and then we are home free. Once delivered there will be a few days off before we jump into whatever is next.

In the meantime a quick update of what i got upto last month and most of it was not that great.

There was dinner with a friend who insisted on Serafina despite my best judgement. As expected another mediocre meal, a caprese which did not serve fresh cheese, bland spaghetti, cold pizza, the mashed potato was excellent and the mushroom risotto was not bad. Hardly worth the time and definitely not worth the money. 

Hard Rock Cafe, there for drinks one of the nights with a bunch of mates. We got their nachos which continue to be excellent, a pretty decent burger as well. Not bad.. the place was dead, yet the service sucked. 

Cream Centre is mrs jain's comfort food. Whenever she wants a pick me up we cab it down to CC.. the usual suspects, the nachos which seemed smaller now.. the chana bhatura was rocking, the mexican sizzler was served with a delectably delicate enchilada, the sides were okay but the rice was not so good. The Prices have gone up however, no longer the quick and cheap meal it used to be.

Also was at the launch of Olive Mahalaxmi's new menu which was unfortunately not exciting at all. However it was a terrific evening spent hanging out with Nikhil, Rushinaw, Amrita, Shivani and Saransh. 

Hoping to update regularly from now on and since mrs jain will be heading to her parents for about 10 days, i should be out and about a lot more.. 

cheers.

Zaffran

Rest : Zaffran

Meal : Dinner

Loc : Todi Mills, Lower Parel

Todi Mills is fast becoming a hyper active restaurant destination, new places opening and some shutting down at regular intervals. The mill space reminds you of the early days of Phoenix, hap hazard, difficult to enter and exit, hopefully in a few years they can sort out the traffic management. 

Anyway, i have heard of Zaffran and known about their Crawford market location for a while, though never quite made it. They have set up a new outlet at Todi Mills, replacing the ill fated Zinc, a bar which never really opened its doors (Zenzi Mills nearby has shuttered as well, Cafe Zoe a few feet away thrives as does Blue Frog) 

Zaffran fortunately happens to be the first restaurant if you enter from Tulsi Pipe Road we were able to drop the car and enter through its massive wooden door in seconds. 

The space is tight but utilised well, tables to one side and not sure if these are meant to resemble gilded cages or Jharokha's, laid out in a semi-circle on the other, they can seat six comfortably. there is running water behind each one and dining with that sound is something else. we were seated in one and it felt serene and private, Mughalesque

The menu is a mix of Mughlai and Punjabi dishes, equal parts veg and non-veg with plenty to choose from for both. 

The lemon iced tea was delicious.

The starters were the Paneer Tikka, which was pretty good with a solid, spicy after taste, the paneer mushroom with cheddar, was too spicy and the cheese did not taste like cheddar at all. Their signature naanlets i totally loved. little naans with tomato, reminded me of the naan, garlic, olive oil and tomato combo served at Arola. The Aloo Chat, was interesting with the taste of North Indian style tamarind chutney but a tad too sweet. 

The Dum Subz was vegetables in a saffron gravy. very nice, pick of the lot, glad i went with the recommendation.

The mrs chose a butter naan, which i eyed for quite a while, she is not big on sharing but i knew i was going to get a few bites in considering the size. Excellent, didnt feel as heavy as i thought it would.

The Paneer Makhani was disappointing, i was hoping for something more in the Moti Mahal direction but this was more in the Shiv Sagar style, i have long contemplated not ordering paneer anymore and try out other dishes, doubly disappointed as they had some interesting curries..

The Roomali was not bad, not as awesome as the butter naan but pretty good. 

The Dal Makhani was fabulous, totally rocking and i found myself just eating the daal by itself. 

The Biryani was okay, it was served with a cold, garlic infused raita on the side, this coupled with the daal made the taste go beyond good. Best to order this while ordering main courses as it can take upto 20 odd mins to prepare. 

Overall, initially i was a bit sceptical about the place having a rep as a non-veggies haven but all things considered it was pretty impressive. The layout and ambiance is interesting and there is a touch of imagination to the menu as well. I only find the location to be distressing as getting in and out of Todi on a busy day can be painful.

The service is quick and friendly.

The pricing is surprisingly on the reasonable side and considering the portions which are impossibly huge and can easily suffice a table for four its good value for money. They have a liquor license and reasonable bar menu and Zaffran is now my number one choice to take over seas guests, replacing Khyber.

Food : 8/10

Service : 8/10
Damage : 2200 for two with no drinks