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.

Delhi

Spent a few days in Delhi last week, ergo the silence. I dislike Delhi from the bottom of my heart, mostly because of the people. Its probably the air of menace, the willingness of people to get violently in your face which turns me off.

However Delhi is slowly turning into the capital that India deserves, as far as infrastructure is concerned. Two of the great things about Delhi is, it has the prettiest women of any place in the country, including Bombay. They also have an enviable range of dining options across the budget spectrum. Cheap street side food, to fine dine restaurants, to some awesome stand alone joints.

To start off, i got some Aloo-Tikkis at a highway side joints while traveling up and down the city.
The potato fritters spent at least 8 mins in the middle of that heated pool of oil.

Topped with yoghurt, sweet tamarind chutney and spicy green chutney. Fairly basic, nothing dramatic but boy did that simplicity work. Obviously its not good for you in any way health wise but taste wise it was exactly what you would expect a Tikki up North to taste like.


Our dear friend and hot shot book editor Ms.Dutta took us to Gunpowder in Hauz Khas, beware, this place is a 4 story walk up some narrow stairs. They serve mostly Malyali food from Kerala, i am a sucker for Appams as they are hard to find at lunch time in Bombay.

The curry was mostly an ishtew with mushrooms which was pretty awesome. Not a fan of green peas thrown in there, could have done without. However, a winner this one. The place itself is fairly basic, small, not too many tables, the menu is not too expansive either but the appams were soft and fluffy and the stew was delicious. Damage was about 600 i think.

got these brilliant choley bhature also on a highway side joint. These were just fantastic, not too spicy but just right. What was GREAT was the taste, it was just on the money.. plenty of people will take you to the BEST chaat place in Delhi but i think you could stumble into a pretty good one all on your own.

The Pot Belly is another one of those small roof top places that can only exist in Hauz Khas and Hauz Khas can only exist in Delhi.

They serve cuisine from Bihar, what we got was the Char Yaar Thali (four friend platter) pickle, some fried potato, rice and mixed lentils. Effing brilliant, like i said, the food in Delhi is just something else. 200 or so rupees. Deranged really.

Another one of the pleasures of Delhi is a Lassi in an earthen ware cup. Thick sweet, churned lassi with a generous topping of Malai (clotted cream) it could be a meal in itself. Things just taste that much better in an earthen ware cup be it tea or lassi they just go one better served this way. I had a really cold cup, standing outdoors under an awning in 45C/111F heat. A taste i will never forget !

Pizza By The Bay

Pizza by the bay is the new blue love child of Not Just Jazz by the Bay & Pizzeria. Post some weeks of renovation, they reopened recently.  Perhaps the only move made by the Narang's that has actually worked (and All Stir Fry) otherwise every restaurant they opened more or less bit the dust (Roti, Dosa Diner, Tides) 

The menu continues to be the same, lots more drinks available now in conjunction with Jazz.

Gone are the red and white table cloth, red walls and the pizzeria meets a brasserie feel. The new space is clean with blue accents, which makes it look like the inside of a cosmetic store. I personally dont like the new look at all. The old one was warm and hadn't changed in AGES. Also, cheapskates that they are there is still no air conditioning.

Bombay Masala, continues to be the best Pizza in Bombay. No question..

The Gnocchi was pretty awesome. Surprisingly in all my years have never gotten it before. Brilliant.

Overall, the food continues to be good, the service continues to be slow which means the status quo has been maintained. Unfortunately prices have gone up and the new décor sucks.

Will it stop me from going back? No, don't be ridiculous.

Food : 8/10
Service : 7/10
Damage : 1100