Sing Kong

Rest : Sing Kong

Meal : Dinner
Loc : Bandra/Khar

Sing Kong is the brand spanking new Pan Asianish eatery in Bandra located above Sancho, the iffy Mexican joint. The invitation came in and since i was in the suburbs already and the fact that they were having some of my fav food bloggers on the table, was all together too great a temptation.

The place has gray colored walls, large glass windows and a bar covered in turf (which i think is super cool) it apparently used to be a place called Tasty Tangles (unfortunate name for a restaurant) and the menu covers Sushi, Dim Sum & related mains.

Started off with a caiprioshka which was very mandarin heavy but it worked, was not difficult to sip on this considering the heat that has prevailed in the city of late. delicious.

the virgin mary (i was driving) was delicious as well, not like the horrible ones i was served at Land's End a week or two ago. 

                    

This was the very interesting potato nest on a sugar cane stick, looked very cool and didnt taste too bad either. 

the cottage cheese was a tad dry but tasted allright. the wrapping was disgusting though. 

the cucumber and cream cheese was okay, not too bad but just too experimental. 

i did enjoy the asparagus, avocado and cucumber. nicely done. 

these were the other cottage cheese cakes and while they were enjoyable they were just too spicy to go in for seconds.

                         

the may spiced corn fritters, very nice cream corn kind of flavours, pretty good. 

the spinach and vegetable dumpling was decent, but my take on dumplings is they are more about the dipping sauce then they are about the dumpling itself. atleast for vegetarians. 

                

This was the Frozen Margarita ordered by Nikhil Merchant but it was pretty much plundered by all of us to the point where he got another one with similar results.

the stir fried oriental greens were by far the weakest thing on offer unfortunately, the taste just did not sit right. 

The black pepper paneer too was strictly okay. 

the noodles were crispy and my guess is wok fried. delicious. 

Overall, the space is well laid out and the ambiance is pretty upmarket.

The food has promise, the appetizers are spot on, the Dim Sum & Sushi are good, the mains that i had need more work. However they have quite a large menu and we didn't try everything but there is something for everyone.

The pricing is aggressive and they should make a solid dent in the Five Spice space.

Aoi

Rest : Aoi

Meal : Dinner

Loc: Somewhere in Bandra

The Justice League of Bombay food blogging descended on Aoi, a relatively new entrant to the resurging Sushi/Japanese scene. This is the second wave (Kofuku is another joint that has opened doors in Bandra as well) the first was of course silenced when Tetsuma closed doors. 

Aoi, serves familiar dishes but they do twist things around, especially with Sushi. 

I have had a lot of Miso soup in my time as my college room mate was a new yorker who had lived in Japan and would eat like the last samurai. Never learned to love miso unfortunately.. 

This one was pretty good, the tofu and the sauce were fairly light and had a refreshing taste, probably one of the best things i had all evening.

Button mushrooms and leeks in what i think was a ginger sauce, were not bad at all. they had a Japanese bent as is rightly expected but i have never been a fan of that particular after taste. All in all good lil thing. 

It is not everyday that one gets sushi with tomato and cheese, as weird as it sounds, they did make it work, id highly recommend it. 

The noodle bowl, i dont recall being very enjoyable, strictly okay. 

The curry and rice was interesting, for those who don't know, the Japanese do a fair bit of curries and some of them are okay. this one too was not too bad, lacks the intense flavours of a Thai curry but decent fare.

can't recall his !

the dessert looked like fried chicken but was kinda like a biscuit dipped in maple syrup, interesting but not something i would order again.

Overall, the place is small, seat about 35 people in a tight configuration. The menu is a gentle introduction to Japanese cuisine with plenty of adapted or experimental sushi thrown in for good measure. Anyway, it was a terrific evening with some amazing people so the food kind of took a back seat.

The prices are mostly okay, as our party was about 25 people we had a set meal with tasters of just about everything on the menu for 1000 per head.. Going by the menu prices, one can do it for less than that.

Food : 7/10
Service : 7/10
Damage : 1000 pp.

Dome Monsoon Menu Preview

The Dome at the Inter Continental just added a monsoon menu and yours truly was lucky enough to be invited to sample it.

The Dome holds many memories (RG's at the old Natraj, is where i first had a vodka coke and where i officially hit on Mrs.Jain) so its always nice to come by. While i have been here often, it was the first time i was there whilst the sky was blue.

The monsoon has a few new dishes and they also serve Moet at 950 a glass/6000 a bottle. While i am personally a fan of Tattinger the Moet was delicious.

The stuffed Bhavnagri Chilli was delicious, i recall having something similar at one of Rahul Akerkars places but cant recall which one.

The Monsoon Butta with lemon and paprika was pretty decent but a tad awkward to eat.

The Cajun mushroom with water chestnut skewers was okay.

Veggie skewers with pineapple. It was okay but pineapple needs to show up on more skewers man. Missing are the cottage cheese skewers in rosepetal chutney, while i did not discern the rose petal it was terrific. Best of the lot.

Overall, the place continues to be a super attractive venue. They had someone playing some sweet jaazy tunes and the ambiance was terrific. Its quite an escapist environment.

The food is okay, i think there are way too many skewers, which can be unwieldy. The corn would be easier to eat if shredded. In any case the regular Dome menu is quite varied (actually a little cheaper too) Moet @ 950 a glass does not seem so expensive once you have dropped 1200 on cocktails at Ellipsis.

Its a great occasion place and certainly not for the faint of heart (and wallet) but deserves a visit, especially if you are wooing someone.

Canvas

Rest : Canvas
Meal : Dinner
Loc : Palladium, Phoenix Mills

Canvas is a relatively new restaurant that has opened in the busy High Street Phoenix Mills area. I was invited to attend the opening night festivities but was busy with my kid brothers wedding.

So decided to jaunt on down and see for myself what the place was all about.

Canvas has been launched by the folks who brought the Comedy Store to Bombay, the restaurant had been in the works for quite some time and should appeal to folks going into or coming out of the shows at the comedy store.

The space is split leveled with a Tapas bar on the bottom and the dining on the upper level. Designed like a boudoir with red lighting and spaced out seating, the look and feel is very loungish.


We started with an amuse bouche of cheddar tomato and basil leaf, onion bread i think and oddly a shot of tomato juice and cucumber with a sort o tzatziki. while we could share two easily, the other two items were much harder to share and made less sense to even have on the table.

Strawberry margarita was excellent. just the right amount of sourness.

my canvas mary was a great idea on paper with fresh tomato juice and peppers, unfortunatley there was a very strong after taste of fennel whcih ruined the drink. they were nice enought to replace with a traditional bloody mary. the second one was not bad but required constant stirring.

The bread basket was okay, the breadsticks were soggy, possibly reheated, one or two of the selections were okay.

Sushi platter was horrible. This isnt a dish one can make and keep for a bit and then present when needs be. the time between production and consumption had robbed the whole thing of any taste whatsoever.

salad was too creamy, not memorable.

the goat cheese appetizer was great, really tasty, hated having to share it.

Red Curry with Jasmine Rice, very average.

The dessert was a sorbet with a capuccino thingy i think. the actual dessert was average, the sorbet was completely off, hard and sour, the little chocolate thingies were unbreakable.

Overall, the space is well laid out and should be able to attract people due to its proximity to the comedy store. However, i am not sure if it will become quite the dining outlet as the food is poor.

The menu was described as Europe meets Asia, which sounds banal if anything. Instead of seeking inpspiration or fusing the two cuisines, they have neatly divvied up dishes to fall into each category which shows a complete lack of imagination.

Their selection of dishes is only slightly wider than that of a five star coffee shop. I can understand that they are trying to appeal to the wide array of tastes with such an ecletic mix of dishes but not finding their own voice means they will not appeal to anyone really.

Freshness goes a long way especially something like sushi will not stand up to being prepped or being kept ready much in advance.

Some cardinal mistakes here, hope they fix it soon as its still early days and some issues initially are forgivable.

The service was friendly, informed and willing to go the extra mile.

Food : 5
Service : 8
Damage : About 3000 for 2 with a drink each.

Cool Chef - Delivery

Rest : Cool Chef
Meal : Snack

Cool Chef is a new joint that has opened recently at Warden Road, they deliver to our place which is not too far away. The menu is eclectic, with sushi, pizzas, paninis.

They have a small dining in section as well.

The Sushi was acceptable, i was hoping they offered a mix rather than just one kind but they didnt. Passable.

The burger was just disghusting. didnt have more than 2 bites i reckon.

Damage was about 450... absolute waste of time & money. Why do new neighbourhood restaurants always suck?

Hot New Place : Fifty Five East

Rest : Fifty Five East
Loc : Hyatt, Kalina, Santa Cruz
Meal : Lunch

I got the opportunity to have lunch at Fifty Five East yesterday.

Although due to open in April, the restaurant got delayed a little. FFE replaces M, the grill and is also the default breakfast space for their sprawling in house guests.

The Hyatt is a modern, minimalist business hotel, Fifty Five East, their new venture is more of the same in terms of look and feel. While most of the restaurants are one side, you walk down a long staircase to get to FFE.

The first thing that struck me was how roomy the entire place is, large, airy and well lit. It also reminded me of Thai Pavilion, which is to be expected considering this too is a Super Potato designed eatery.

The thought behind the restaurant is to offer a business restaurant with familiar cuisine in a buffet style with a twist. The menu is wide and they offer Soups, Salads, Mezze, Sushi, Thai, Grill, Indian & desserts.

The twist, is that everything is made fresh and mostly to order in the live kitchen. The ingredients are fresh and most of the dishes are created in single serve portions on the spot, while you wait. So its only priced like a buffet but does not serve or operate like one.

The dolmas were fantastic, best ones in the city and it has to be down to the freshness (i know i am going on and on about this aspect but freshness in eating out is something i have just discovered and am enjoying the idea immensely)

The other mezze they had were couscous salad, Muttabal, hummus all served with warm pita on the side.
Mashed potato was a little bland but i liked the concept as well as the presentation. A bit more effort and this one could turn into a hit.

This was the mushrooms and kidney bean salad. Very nice, a little heavy. There was also the option of having other salads made to order whilst you wait.

They have a Japanese chef onboard who has been here six months. He cranks out the Sushi when you order it. I had the yellow pepper sashimi, one with shitake and one i cant recall.Each of them was fantastic. The taste, the freshness of it all, lingers long after they have made their way down my food pipe.

The Grill section is interesting, the aspragus was great as were the yellow peppers. The stuffed potato thingy was bland though.

The dessert selection is not only expansive but also puts emphasis on some fruit based desserts which come highly recommended. The choc ice cream with cherry compote was great. Enjoyed it immensely.

The creme brulee didnt work at all though, neither did the tiramisu nor did the cheesecake. In hindsight i should have stuck to the recommendations.

The Thai Curry (not pictured here) was also quite stellar, thai pavilion good in fact.

Overall, the menu offers old favouraites with stellar execution.

Keeping things live, cooking dishes fresh and in smaller portions means the food tastes better than most other places. The concept in itself is so simple and yet is rarely if ever, followed.

Having single serve portions means, everyone can eat what they want and yet have a proper business chat without having to worry about sharing food or even wondering what to order when in a largish group.

Try and get their early though, the place was packed to the hilt by 2pm and they stopped cooking by 3.


The service staff is cheeful and fairly quick, no complaints there. Worth checking out for sure.

Food : 8/10
Service : 8/10
Damage : Meal for 2 without drinks 3500+

Sunday brunch with alchohol and pizza from Cellini 2400+ pp.