China Garden

Restaurant - China Garden
Location - Om Chambers, Kemps Corner
Date - Feb 24
Meal - Dinner
Company - Ze Wife

Experience - It was a pleasure returning to China Garden after almost the best part of a decade. i just refused to go to CG in a mall! Anyway, the new decor is kind of cool, very swanky, dark lighting, no lower level however. The decor is fitting the times i guess. We had a table for 8pm and we got there and were seated at 8pm on time ( i remember a time when you would have to wait 3o mins for a table even after u showed up on time)

Drinks - Chardonnay, Bloody Mary both drinks were allright, the chardonnay went great with the food.

Meal- Tom Yum Soup, very good, slightly on the spicy side but full of good taste, not too lemony or gingery.
The Appetizers were Steamed Wontons (half portion 8 vs 12 in the full) and the Onion Pancakes. The wontons were alright, very generic, however the pancake was fantastic, extremely light, with a liberal helping of condiments and eating them one bite after another, they jammed very well.
The Main course was veggies & cottage cheese in schezuan sauce, and a half portion of teppan soba noodles. The Noodles were ok, almost hakkaish while the the veggies were great, the sauce seemed to have two different layers, one not spicy the other fiery, which was interesting and it allowed the spiciness to build rather than be there on the outset.

Overall a good meal, almost great but for 2 things - one we weren't very adventurous with the food and played it safe, as well as some things like the noodles and wantons being very generic (Still good) in their taste.

They have Dim Sum Lunches as well Mon-Fri which is cool coz i can walk it up :)
Service was pretty good attentive, quick and it was good to see Mr.Nelson Wang in attendance just like old times.

Damage Food (1100) Drinks (600) Total = 1700 ($38)

Rating Food 8.5/10 Service 9/10

China Garden & Piano Bar
201, Om Chambers, 123, August Kranti Marg,
Kemps Corner, Mumbai
23630841, 23630842

Flavours

Rest : Flavours
Meal : Late
Location : The Ambassador Hotel, Churchgate
Company : Loki

Experience : The Ambassador seems like a has been hotel which hasnt had a proper face lift in a long long time. The rest of the rest experience seems to go along in this line.

Meal : Well there was this delicous sounding soup but they didnt have it. So i got some veggies in cream, they didnt have a mezze platter either so we got the chilli cheese toast and some jalapeno poppers. None of the food was tasty or seemed like it was made with anything fresh.

Drinks : Water

The place is terrible, avoid it. The service is weak, uncaring there is no real reason to bother going over to Flavours.

Damage : 600

Food 3/10 Service 3/10

The Bloody Mary War - We have a winner

Well after consuming Bloody Mary's in 3 continents, 9 countries, countless cities i have found the best place to get one.

Drum Roll Please

Indigo in Bombay. All this time, having traveled the world, it has been right under my nose.

The taste is impeccable, not too salty, not too much vodka, just slightly spicy but no overpowering taste. Its meant to be sipped, savored and enjoyed slowly. The glass is slated too :)

To ensure it was not just a fluke i had another one and it was the same great spicy taste.

Wonderful job to the indigo crew, you win my patronage.

It costs $6 and is worth every red cent.

Enjoy!!!