Sunday Foodie Delights

One of those Sundays which turns out to be a complete culinary delight.

Lunch at Nairobi Java Coffee House where I relished the Mushroom Chicken Breast.. I really like the mushroom sauce they make. And the fries are always tasty at Java. A meal so good can't be without a wonderful dessert to leave the sweetness of the afternoon lingering for a long time in your mouth. The massive Chocolate Cookie Sundae was ordered. Yes massive is an understatement - look at the size of those choco chip cookies and the 3 scoops of ice creams. Phew!

Choco Chip Sundae at Nairobi Java House

As if the lunch wasn't enough that the wife decided to make the dinner too very interesting. It was home cooked panini and a lovely bottle of red wine accompanied it. Pearly Bay has been my favorite since I first tasted it a few years back with some close friends in Mumbai.

Red wine & Panini 

Truly a delightful Sunday this has been. 2 more days of holidays in Kenya ... Here is to more good food and drinks.

Restaurant Review - The Tasting Room

This place has changed and expanded recently. Their menu has got a lot more to eat than what my wife had earlier seen of it. Located in and around an artifact store, this place has some wonderful and highly inviting interiors. Background music was not bad also .. nice & soothing but I don't think the acoustics were designed well for the music to be heard evenly across the venue. And that can be said about the air-conditioning also. 10 of us were in a big corner table, the other areas of the restaurant seemed much cooler.

What did we eat?
Paprika dusted grilled chicken - creamy & mild. the chicken could have been a little more softer. But worth trying.

Sun dried tomato n grilled vegetables spaghetti [Highly Recommended]

Tomato and mascarpone cheese risotto - Baby safe dish was nice but needed a heavy dose of chilly flakes & Tabasco to make it fun and also a pinch of salt helped bring it to the right taste.

Peppered potato with Racellete cheese - YUM! but I wish the portion was a bit larger. The cheese was really good on the tongue.

Mushroom pate - time pass ... they used mushroom cream and pickle on vol-au-vent.

What's to drink?
Lots ... wide choice of wine, viocktails (coctails made from wines), cocktails

What's not good?
They apparently have a "small" kitchen so cooking speeds are slow. Also customization and mix-match of dishes are not very welcomed.

The approach is dark and dingy ... a little lighting near the car park area would make it a bit more friendly.

Conclusion - Good food, nice ambiance, I just wish they bucked up on the speed. but what would be a good idea is to go in small numbers, Romantic Meals, Dinner Dates - AVOID large groups.

The Tasting Room Good Earth, Raghuvanshi Mills Compound, Senapati Bapat Marg, Lower Parel, Mumbai. Phone 65285284, 24951954

Foodie delights from my recent holiday

I am back from a holiday and I thought I would tempt you guys with some updates here.

Singapore
My cousin is in Singapore and he invited us to Holland Village which is supposed to be a local hangout and as such does not feature in most of the tourist guide. This is a rather interesting ONLY pedestrian street full of watering holes and multi-cuisine restaurants.

We shared a bottle of Spy Village Chardonnay 2006 white wine at Tangos. After which we moved to Cha Cha Cha, a mexican outlet right opposite. I ordered the Longansito [Spicy King Prawns with Mexican rice]. It was a hearty meal and we were stuffed, but my brother told me you can't NOT have the chocolate mousse at this place. And boy was it delicious - it was yum!

On our last day in Singapore we were shopping at Vivo City Mall and had lunch at cedele cafe. I ate a Rosemary Chicken Sandwich which was sweet and I don't think I will have one ever again. But it was good to taste the other things one the table - cold pasta salad, carrot soup (I didn't like this) and the wild mushroom soup which was nice.

Phuket
Lunch in Phuket was probably one of the best meals we had on the trip. terrazzo at Holiday Inn is a fabulous beach-facing restaurant serving a wide variety of cuisines. We feasted on the pasta & pizza, thai green curry with a chilled glass of watermelon juice and a decorated coconut.

Written on the drinks menu at terrazzo:
One drinks for two purposes. Either to cure a thirst or to ensure that one is not thirsty.
Prevention is better than cure.

While the family shopped at Phuket's Central Festival mall, I made myself comfortable at au bon pain with a Ice Blended Mocha Blast.

Bintan Island
We were staying at the Bintan Lagoon Resort which has quite a few eating options. The breakfast at Kopi-o had a wide spread of breads. Chocolate croissants, white & brown breads. The live egg station served up some yummy mushroom & tomato omelettes.

After a lovely morning spent at the beach and pool we had a late lunch at the hotel's Terrace Restaurant & bar. The margarita pizza was loaded with cheese. Although the heat was a bit too much to handle I think it was a beautiful setting for the afternoon.

 

For dinner we went to Pasar Oleh Oleh - a little tourist attraction with lots of souvenir shopping and some interesting eateries. At the Bintan Idol Cafe N' Restaurant I ordered for Claypot Chicken which tasted really fresh and nice. The chicken pieces were delicious. The Mongolian Prawns which were fried crispy and although tasty I think fried prawns get a bit difficult to sort out. The onion rings were nice too.

Wow, that was a wholesome holiday indeed - lots of good food and nice fun. Can't wait for my next holiday.

Jacob's Creek: Chardonnay 2002 (White Wine)

Last night I relished a Jacob's Creek Reserve Chardonnay 2002 White Wine over a family dinner. Although I was not in the best of my health, I think the wine was smooth and left a good taste on the tongue. The color is a dirty yellow with very little bubbles.

Recommended drinking.

Tastes from Kolkata

I spent the weekend in Kolkata and got a chance to taste some of the restaurants around there. Here is a quick note on my experiences.

THE HUB at Taj Bengal: The breakfast buffet was just like a king's meal - scrambled eggs with bacon, idli+wada, a variety of breads & jams, parathas, momos, stir fried vegetables with noodles, burgers, fresh juices, mishti doi and a lot more which I never got around eating. Lucky for me we had 3 mornings so I tried something different everyday.

Fire and Ice on Middleton Street: An Italian joint this is a must try when in Kolkata. We were there for a late lunch and called for the a raw salad and a thin-crust pizza. I must say they had a very authentic taste. The place has a unique look decorated with black & white film posters from Hollywood and a single poster of yester-years of bollywood stars like Meena Kumari and Shashi Kapoor.

Mainland China: This was the most talked about place and plans to visit this chinese restaurant were made almost a week in advance. A table on a Saturday night is a bit of a problem, so the advance booking. Although the food was tasty I could not really relish it because we were just too many of us busy chatting up and joking around.

When we checked into the hotel, we were given a cake (I don't know who messed up - but they thought it was our anniversary) and a bottle of wine.

The cake wasn't bad - a nice chocolate cake with white chocolate flakes.

The wine was a Grover Vineyards 2004 la reserve. I didn't really like this one much, it was very dry and rough.