Tanjore Tiffin Room

Sushant Hiray is back in the city and PetuPetkar || Eat.Review.Repeat wanted to try out a new place and I was eager to meet these folks and eat something good. All of this led to us meeting at this newly opened place for dinner. For those who are aware of the restaurants in Versova, they would know that TTR has replaced The Treesome Cafe.  We happened to miss the place and drove past it courtesy the not-so-well lit board.The decor is well-lit and quite elegant. It has a great sense of calm of it which sets the right tone for the meal.

Coming to the food,

Marina Beach Sundal – Meghana and I were browsing through the menu as we waited for Sushant to arrive. Going through the starters, we saw this dish whose description fit the bill for our situation and hence, we opted to call for it immediately. “The Chennai Timepass” as it is fittingly described, the sundal was well made in terms of flavour and texture. Meghana informed that onions are usually not a part of the sundal but we liked the “twist” of the onions in our Sundal. Great start!

Our beloved Bhaau arrived and so did our next batch of starters!

Yam Cutlets – Another first for me. While I’m a big fan of Yam (Suran), I’ve never had it as a cutlet preparation. The filling was flavourful and soft. The crust was crispy and perfectly fried. The cutlets were served with a delightful tomato chutney which elevated the dish to another level. Dish of the day!

Chilli Garlic Potato Fry –  More peppery than chilli in terms of flavour. However, it doesn’t disappoint at all. In no time, we were munching them down one after the other along with our drinks.

We were ready to order for the main course. Along with the menu, we were provided with a tasting platter which covered all their basic gravies and rice. After tasting all the combinations, some fighting and a lot of deliberation, we finalised our main course dishes. (The tasting platter is a brilliant idea when you aren’t serving a local cuisine as the diner doesn’t regret what he has called for)

Veg Stew –
Coconut milk based. Personally, I’m not a big stew fan but I liked this one. The lovely appams complemented the stew perfectly and for once, I went from a non-stop talker to a silent eater.

Paneer Chettinad – I fought for this one. Right from the moment that I had tasted the chettinad gravy, I wanted to have this. The gravy was seasoned  and spiced perfectly and the paneer was soft and had absorbed the flavour of the gravy. The Appam and Malabar Parotta did justice to this generous bowl of chettinad gravy.

Also, this was the first time I tried the Idiappam and I didn’t enjoy it that much. My fellow mates informed me that it was short on salt so not judging the place on this one.

All in all, good place to chill and catch up. No loud music (which is a relief), the lovely decor and setting makes the time out there much more enjoyable. Service needs a little push but can’t be too harsh on it as it is a new place. I would suggest a visit as soon as you finish reading this review.
Dhaval
Team ERR

 

CAFE NEO, SHIVAJI PARK, DADAR

 

It feels really great to meet people who decide not be part of the rat race, quit their corporate job & follow their passion, you need guts to do the same. Café Neo in Dadar, a little place serving crepes to the city is a result of something similar. Started few months back by 2 friends – a CA who quit his corporate job & a photographer – who love desserts & couldn’t find good crepes in the city.  Having tasted prefect crepes in Paris & other places around the world, the known places in the city disappointed them with their offerings. So they decided to take the onus & prepare the best crepes themselves.

After going back & forth a few times, I along with Harsha (My dessert loving Partner-in-Crime) visited Café Neo on a Saturday afternoon. It’s actually a small place done-up really well with very limited seating option with few wooden benches inside & at the entrance. A flight of stairs takes you to the main outlet on the mezzanine floor.  Open kitchen with a shelf on the side wall stacked with jars filled with sinful goodies welcome you. The sweet & toasty waft of the crepes, pancakes lingers around.

I am sure most of us would have drooled over the Crepe videos seen across social media where with artistic movements, the batter is spread thinly on the pan & in a swift Ninja like move he/she flips it. And then it is loaded with all the sinful stuff – Nutella, Chocolate Sauce, Chocolate Chips, Banana, etc etc I would be tasting a Crepe for the 1^st time & was expecting some similar tactics and I was not disappointed. From the Crepe menu, we were recommended to try Mr Brownie Points. A fudgey brownie topped with Nutella, Chocolate Sauce and Chocolate Chips in a thin & crisp crepe finally topped with whipped cream & served in a card-board cone.

Making of Mr Brownie Points – https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BzGxlKWrWxE&feature=youtu.be

I didn’t expect the crepe to be crisp (almost dosa like). But I realised the crisp crepe was their differentiator. With all the gooey goodness inside, the crepe still held its shape & didn’t form a lump which would have been the case if it would have been soft. Plus, it also helped in eating it 🙂 We totally loved Mr Brownie Points.

 

Before moving to the next dessert we decided to scan through their drinks menu & sipped on Mojo Jojo. A mix of mint leaves & lemon fizz drink which was an absolute delight.

A huge pan with mini heart-shaped cavities was next to be used to make Dutch Poffertjes – small & fluffy pancakes.

Red Velvet batter is poured in the mini-heart shaped cavities, choco-chips are placed in the centre & are left to cook for few minutes. They are then carefully flipped to cook the other side. Taken out of the pan, they are prepared to be served. Swirls of dark chocolate sauce, white chocolate sauce, maple syrup decorate the pancakes. A dollop of whipped cream later, they are ready to be devoured. Contradictory to my expectation, these were not too sweet. The sugar levels were just perfect for my taste & I can easily gobble a few at once. They taste really great when warm.

A special mention to Café Neo’s whipped cream. Not only is it “Shudh Safed” (Bright white) in colour, its smooth & has the right amount of sweetness. Else, it would have affected the overall taste of the desserts.

Before leaving we decided to try The Sparkling Gelato.

Strawberry flavoured ice-cream soda with a big swirl of whipped cream sprinkled with edible glitter. This is one pretty looking drink. Taste-wise its good. But I prefer Mojo Jojo, over this.

I must confess, though the desserts were not overtly sweet I was still craving for something spicy. So our next stop was Ashok Vada Pav 🙂 With our Vada Pav & Choora Pav we walked upto the beach, sat there for a while & enjoyed our piping hot snack.

Café Neo is a great option when you are craving some eggless & not the usual desserts. I am definitely heading back for my Red Velvet Mini Heart Pancakes.

 

Cafe Neo
Shop 5, Caddle Road, Park Apartment, Dadar Shivaji Park, Mumbai

Cold Pressed Juices from Vaho

 

Vaho has been enjoying continuous customer flow from close proximities like IIM and offices on Banergatta Road. The food served here has always been healthy, tasty and pocket-friendly.

Recently I came to know about the cold-pressed juices that they serve and ordered a pack of 7 juices. Thanks to the delivery boy who came all the way to Indiranagar from Bannerghatta during evening time. Kudos to the team.

Cold pressed juices have a lot of additional benefits over the normal juice machines. Few of the benefits are –

1. Helps in detoxification

2. 100% retention of nutrients as compared to normal juices

3. No oxidation

Vaho prepares fruits and vegetables based cold-pressed juices. Below is my experience with their product –

1. Nourish Me – Orange, Beetroot, carrot and Fennel perfect drink to feel and look good.

2. Immune Me – Packed with immunity boosting nutrients which will keep you energized throughout the day

3. Energy Onn – Specially designed to keep you energized throughout the day no matter what comes in your way. Packed with goodness of almond, coconut water, honey, cardamom and melon seeds

4. Go Green – Power packed combination of spinach, cucumber, apple and licorice to keep you hydrated whole day.

5. Glow On – Immunity enhancing ingredients like pomegranate, pineapple, carrot and cumin to make you feel great

6. Go Lean – Designed especially for people looking to lose weight, this combination of black salt- seasoned ash gourd, spinach, celery and lemon is a kick-ass drink to sip on

7. Vitalize Me – Richness of pomegranate to the sweetness of orange, this drink takes you to the whole new level of freshness. Keeps your body pumped pump and helps in cleansing of the body.

To be honest, I tried cold pressed juices for the first time and trust me all of them tasted delicious.

Priced at Rs. 139/- the juices seem to be overpriced but rest assured once you had them, you know it was worth spending money.

Dessert Safari at Belgian Waffle Factory, Bangalore

Belgian Waffle Factory is a small dessert outlet in the lanes of Brigade road serving authentic waffles.

It’s a tiny small store with no frills and minimum amount of stools placed inside them.The owner Mr. Wasim can be seen always smiling and recommending his guest’s various waffles. They are proud to serve the most authentic waffles in Bangalore.

The sin waffle. Pocket size served waffle which is absolute delight weighted covered with a generous amount of Nutella and topped with choco chips. Looking for a quick bite at the store? Don’t miss out on them.

The Beery blast waffle comes with Whipped cream, cream cheese, and freshly cut strawberries. A must for all cheese lovers.

The big KitKat bubble waffle is an absolute fun to eat. The waffle is topped with vanilla ice cream, whipped cream, and the kit kat chocolate.

 

The special bubble waffle was favorite of both of us. It comes with generous amount of Nutella, chocolate ice cream and topped with Cadbury shots, chocolate sauce, and biscuit wafers.

Amazing work by the team behind Belgian Waffle Factory. Next shop soon coming up on Koramangala

Hemant Oberoi, BKC.

One of the most renowned Chef of this country comes up with his own venture after hanging up his boots at The Taj Mahal Palace, where he happened to cast a spell over the diners at his famous restaurants and that too for about 4 decades. It was an honour to be invited for one of the finest dining experience I have had in a long long time. After calling it a day at JW Sahar, I pooled into an Uber to this place which can be easily located in the interiors of BKC. Here is my take on:

THE AMBIENCE: With the pushed ceiling way up, this place looks grand and majestic. Red wood interiors with dim, classy chandeliers – this is the kind of place where you’d like to have an experience and not only a meal. Super comfortable sofas, teal coloured cushioned chairs and spaced out seating arrangements make sure you have a royal experience. This place is elegant, classy and flamboyant.

Royal Thali at Delhi Highway,Bangalore

In the heart of Indiranagar -12th Main, amidst of restaurants and pubs serving cuisine right from Italian, African, Vietnamese, Japanese and European lies Delhi Highway who welcomes you with it with its royal darbar ambience. The double high ceiling with beautiful artistic designs on both sides of the wall will instantly make you in love with this place. The place is brightly lit with comfortable sofas and chairs spread across space.

We started our royal journey with the following dishes –

Virjin Mojito – Little sweet to my taste, it was nothing extraordinary but was liked by all.

Triple Orange – A mixture of orange and cranberry juice. Can be avoided.

Tamatar Dhaniya Shorbha – Mildly spiced soup with good thickness and consistency.

Masala Papad – Beautifully presented, they were served in shot glasses. A small twist made of topping papad with mint and garlic chutney made it quite interesting to eat

Pani Puri Shots: Not exciting at all. Fusion of panis was served which included Cranberry and Mango. Couldn’t have more than one shot.

Naram Dil Kebab – Crisp from outside and finely diced tender paneer inside having a coating of cornflakes from outside, the kebabs were just amazing.

 

Dahi Seekh kebab – The kebabs were not eaten by me but everyone seems to have enjoyed the dish.

Mozzarella Kulchas – All I can say is WOW about this dish. What an extraordinary preparation this was. Italian style kulchas stuffed with mozzarella and served with herb and garlic butter. I could see most repeat orders of this preparation. Must have dish at Delhi Highway

Cheese Aloo Tandoori – Baby potatoes marinated in curd and grilled in tandoor garnished with grated cheese.

Achari Paneer Tikka – The most loved variation of the popular tikka flavoured with pickling spices. Paneer was again soft and juicy.

Charcoal Mushroom – One more outstanding dish. Mushrooms were prepared in tandoori style with a stuffing of grated paneer and spices making it the most delectable item of the menu.

Broccoli Pesto Tikki – They were very similar to hara bhara kebabs in looks except it had a stuffing of chopped broccoli topped with pesto chutney.

Kadai Pasta: Penne Pasta tossed in a special desi gravy topped with a good number of exotic veggies and olive oil. It was served with garlic naan. The combination was unique and was executed very well

Sizzling Mattar Kulcha – Mildy spiced mutter chole served with fluffy and soft kulches on a bed of cabbage leaves.

The main course served in a heavy copper plate with heavy bowls filled with dry and gravy sabji, dal and salad. The thali had Pindi Chana(Rawalpindi style cooked chickpeas), Paneer Lababdar (Cottage cheese cubes cooked in red tomato gravy), Daal Delhi Highway(black daal cooked overnight on tandoor), Kadai Paneer, Dum Biryani and Jeera rice. Daal Delhi and Pindi Chana were simply outstanding. Daal was perfect in every sense and Chana will surely remind you of your grandmother’s secret recipe. Again to our surprise, everyday rice in North India simply blew our mind.The aroma of cumin seeds was fresh and went very well with Dal Makhni. Rich and creamy Punjabi lassi wasserved in kulhad with pista coating on it.

For desserts, we were served Jalebi with rabdi and apricot halwa. The jalebis were simply outstanding. The golden coloured jalebis were made to perfection. Right from the colour, texture, sweetness and shape, everything was bang on. On the other hand, the flavour of apricot was quite strong which was not liked very much by everyone.

The Thali at Delhi Highway is priced at Rs.650 + taxes but trust me it’s worth the money you spend. The thali Menu is huge and offers you variety of traditional starters to fusion dishes to simply mind boggling main course and desserts. Also, the portions are good enough for you to skip next day’s breakfast 😀

Craving for North Indian Food? Without thinking even for once visit Delhi Highway.

Also, don’t forget to order Mozzarella Kulcha, Jalebi and Charcoal Mushrooms

Final Verdict:

Food: 8/10

Ambience: 7/10

Service: 9/10

Value for Money: 8/10

Quench – All Day Pub

If you are craving for some good food while sipping your spirits then Quench is the place to go. This newly opened branch in Veera Desai is walking distance from the metro station, and also has an outdoor seating available.

Attractive painted walls, drinks, good music and great food. What more can you ask from a bar?
As I had a bad throat, I didn’t try any of their drinks. And my review is purely based on their Veg food.

Tried a multiple items:

* Cottage Cheese Paprika – Absolutely loved their paprika sauce. Paneer was also soft and fresh. A very good dish to have here.

 

* Crumb fried cottage cheese with mint sauce – As the name suggests, fried cottage cheese served with mint sauce. Another good Paneer dish.

 

* Peanut crushed potato – Didn’t like this one a lot. Over boiled potato mix covered with big pieces of peanuts.

* Corn cheese

toast – Oh this was very good. Loaded with cheese, a few herbs, corn and was crispy, and absolutely delicious.

 

* Veg garlic bread – Not so great. This was dry, the veggies and cheese were falling off the bread. And was a little hard to eat too.

 

* Exotic Veg pizza – A generous amount of veggies and cheese. Perfectly cooked and delicious.

 

 

* Veg stroganoff – Absolutely loved this main dish. Creamy cheese sauce with veggies served with rice. Will definitely order this on my next visit.

* Veg Moroccan – Rice served with huge cubes of paneer covered with their delicious peri peri sauce.

 

 

* Veg Ratatouille – Another great main course. A modern Ratatouille served on top of aglio olio speghetti.

 

* Veg Burgundy pasta – Good dish. But personally I liked the other dishes more.

 

Verdict –
A relaxing place where one can drink, eat good food, and enjoy the good music. Just the presentation really needs to improve. But a must go place for sure.

Ratings –
Food – 4/ 5
Ambience – 4.5/ 5
Service – 4/ 5
Value for money – this was an invitation dinner.

 

The Bombay Havelli

Located in the heart of South Bombay, The Bombay Havelli is the new place of worship for those like me who believe that food is divine. This place is a vegetarian’s delight and an opportunity for the die-hard meat lovers to experience an unexplored part of the food culture. The place rates high on ambience as they have taken the extra effort to actually provide the Havelli ambience. The minutest of the details have been incorporated to make you feel like a king.

Now, coming to the royal feast that we savoured at TBH.

Ray Cooking Spray

We usually receive invites for reviews but this one was different.

Ray Cooking Spray wanted us to try their products & share our views.2 cans including Olive Oil & Sunflower Cooking Oil were delivered.

Ray Cooking Spray is a cooking essential, which helps you reduce your regular oil intake by 10 times & fat consumption by 80%.  With their unique dispensing mechanism, they reduce the usage of oil to a large extent.

My mom didn’t approve of them initially. But once she tried it, she realised its quite easy to use. Here’s how we used these oil’s

Cooking Oil

At my place we make Chapatti’s aka Ghadi-chya polya. In this we make a small circle with the dough, apply few drops of oil & then roll out the chapatti. Traditionally, we apply the oil with our fingers. We used the cooking spray here & were impressed with the result. Thanks to the spray, the oil spreads more evenly. Sharing a video here –

I also used this to grease the pans before baking. Ensures even layer of oil across the pan.

Used the Olive Oil for salads & preparing the bread for toasting. The oil doesn’t get concentrated & a spray ensures minimum usage with great flavours.

My mother is now a fan & is comfortable cooking with these.

Foodgasm

Ever since the Instagram app has been bombarded by food pics, a lot many new words have been coined in order to describe all the beautiful looking and ultra delicious food items. Foodgasm is one such word and on getting an invite from a café with this very name, your hopes are bound to soar high.

On a weekday, after college, I drove down to Bandra. There was some confusion. I thought that this place was located in BKC and in a whatsapp conversation, Meghana happened to second that. While returning from dadar, after the Mahim creek, I decided to switch on Google Maps. The navigation result came a little after I took a right towards BKC and the first thing the lady uttered was “Make a U turn”. Hence, my drive just got longer.