In a nutshell: An understated presence of the restaurant (from outside), a cheap looking colored hoarding outside the building contrasts with a stunningly beautiful interior. Great place for enjoying some good Oriental food in a nice ambience. Address & other details: Oriental Blossom Meal for 2: Rs. 1200 onwards Cuisine type : Vegetarian & Nonvegetarian Disclaimer: All restaurants / eateries reviewed by YUMMRAJ were visited … Continue reading Oriental blossom (Optus Sarovar Premiere, 43-47, City Centre, Sector 29, Gurgaon)
It was a Saturday morning & we were upto our customary ‘Earn ur breakfast’ – Walked 5.8 km to reach Asia Alive to enliven ourselves. Called up the Restaurant the night before & confirmed that it will b open in the morning. So we walked all the way excited to have Asian food for Breakfast – like at Sakura / Sen5es.
We were very disappointed to find Continental & Indian spread in place of an Asian spread for breakfast. In fact we were expecting live dimsum / congee / stir fry counters but ended up at a live Dosa counter!!!!!
The decor was obviously nice but nothing special to remember.
The staff members were very warm, attentive & efficient. They surely took care & contributed positively to our breakfast experience.
Food was very good in general that does not qualify for a ‘wow’ though. Loved the breakfast here – small spread, good ingredients, simple but good food without any twists / turns/ surprises. Sen5es Pullman Hotel breakfast spread beats this hands down on spread & the wow factor.
Detailed Description – In case u have the time to njoy readin:
An Indian foodie’s experience at a Specialized Asian Food court in HongKong
In a nutshell:
It’s a great concept place planned perfectly where u can sample food from all Asian countries & different kinds of cuisines within a country as well.
Food Republic – Asian Speciality Food Court at City Plaza Taikoo Shing, Hongkong
Meal for 2: HK$ 80 onwards
Cuisine Type: Vegetarian & Nonvegetarian
Description:
I was wandering in City Plaza Mall in Taikoo Shing, Hongkong, when I noticed a huge corner with food stalls. The foodie in me cud not resist & I walked in. I started looking around at the stalls soon to realize that it was a well-planned & nicely laid out food court.
peking duck on display
The Design of the food court was uniform for all stalls – in terms of size, façade, Shop fronts etc. This was quite different than the over-cluttered multicolored multi sized facades of stalls in Food courts in India.
Food Republic at City Plaza
What impressed me was the fact that the Mall Guys have actually planned the renting out of stalls to ensure that all Countries & the cuisines of Asia (sans Indian subcontinent) are represented. The shops included a Japanese open live teppanyaki counter, a Chicken rice counter (Singapore), a Noodle & congee shop, a Japanese wazen shop – what was been sold here looked like a lunch box (bento box), a Vietnam stall with many ‘pho’ dishes – of diff varieties like chicken, duck, beef, seafood etc, a Chinese stir fry, a Thai stall, a traditional rice noodle house, a ‘in-house made’ Japanese udon noodles stall, a Shanghai & Sichuan counter, a Korean counter, a Dimsum house & a shop selling Taiwanese food. There is a dessert shop as well. I guess it will take a month for a person to xplore all the shops & may be 6 months to try all dishes sold at these shops.
Roasted meats on display
The first shop on the right was Bread Talk that we have at Spencer’s Gurgaon. Till I saw this I had no idea that this Bakery shop in Gurgaon was an International Chain.
Bread Talk at Hongkong
I must say – amazing variety, amazing planning & great execution & popularity shows – The Food court is always full at meal time.
Some stalls had almost real looking plastic look-alikes of the food that was on offer.
look-alikes of food on display
Some others had all their real roasted food on display.
Roasted meats on display
In case u r visiting Hongkong & want to have a taste of Hongkong & other Asian Countries, get to this place. I wud not say that the food served here is the best in their respective category but they are surely good.
Detailed Description – In case u have time to njoy reading:
Beautiful Romantic Setting, attentive service, average to good food.
The outstanding interiors of the restaurant
Address & other details: Jing
Cuisine type:Vegetarian & Nonvegetarian
Sauteed Prawns with celery & preserved chillies
Meal for 2:Rs. 1000 onwards
Short description – In case u r in a hurry:
The guys who planned the Restaurant, I wud say, are wizards. They have created an outstanding place amidst an otherwise office complex. The overall look & feel of this place, the color schemes, interiors, the huge glass walls, the ‘dim but not dark’ lighting, the interior decoration & most importantly the greenery on other side of the glass wall – all seem perfect.
the facade
With such a cool ambience & peppy but non intrusive music, this place positions itself as a great place for a romantic evening out. It can also be good for casual get togethers for small groups.
I had heard people complain about the service earlier. We however found the service to be good except for two issues –
Firstly, refilling of water was being done abruptly. At times it was quick, at times after gap of 10mins or at times it wud be refilled only after u wud wave at someone.
Secondly, we ordered for two starters – one was a dimsum & the other was fish fried in Sichuan spices. As u know, any Sichuan dish is spicy & chatpata while a true blue Chinese dimsum is mostly on the other extreme – super subtle. The order of serving these was completely wrong. First we were served the spicy Sichuan fish & then the subtle dimsum. In European restaurants , palate cleansers are served in such situation – an ‘in between’ food that helps clean the taste & flavor of the previous dish & makes way for the tastebuds to appreciate a new taste. As a result, the subtle Dimsum started tasting absolutely flat till I rinsed my mouth with water thrice. A smart way to serve (in absence of palate cleanser) is subtle first, followed by tangier ones.
Overall, the staff members were very well behaved.
The food was average to good , urely not wow.
Detailed Description – In case u have the time to enjoy reading:
Delicious & ‘almost real’ Chinese Cuisine served in a nice ambience.
The interiors
Address & other details:Royal China
Cuisine type:Vegetarian & Nonvegetarian
Meal for 2:Rs. 1000 onwards
Short description : In case u r in a hurry:
Chinjabi lovers, beware. This is the real thing & u may not like some of it as much. Those who have developed a taste for the real thing will however have a ball of a time.
The Restaurant looks like any other high end restaurant I have come across in Hongkong & China. The restaurant with full Glass walls, being located in a Highrise enables u to enjoy the view of the city while dining. Ambience is nice & enjoyable.
The staff seems to have been a major issue when the restaurant started – as I have been told by some friends. However, on the two anonymous visits (I did not divulge my identity) to this place, I had a good experience on this front. In fact the guy named Suneil who served us on both the occasions, was extraordinarily good at his job. He was very well versed with the products on offer & made some good suggestions that enlivened our dining experience. In absence of Suneil, another guy popped in for 5 minutes & he was surely a disaster. So, I guess staff training still needs to b prioritized by the Management.
The food & overall experience was so memorable that we returned back for some more in a short span of 10 days.
Detailed Description – In case u have the time to enjoy reading:
This is a part of the series ……. For the Chef in u
Contributed by YUMMRAJ’s favourite Chef ANONYMOUS
Super easy to make & Super good to eat……………
On his fifteenth visit to Hongkong, YUMMRAJ suddenly came across noodle soup by sheer chance – serendipity. He liked it the first time & eventually liked it so much that he had five different versions of the same in four days of his stay. What struck me was the fact that supposedly this takes less than a minute to cook!!!!!
Healthy n tasty Chinese style noodle soup
I got only the stories sitting back in India.
So it was my turn to try out something of that kind so that at least I have an idea of how it tastes. Thus began my playing around with ingredients & hence this post.
Well, post that tiny story of mine, lets get to the cookology.
In Hongkong, almost any kind of seafood or meat slice is put into the soup. Sitting in land-locked Gurgaon, I did not have access to a variety of fresh seafood – so had to do with just prawns & fish. I chose betki. U may choose river sole or red snapper as well.
the seafood for noodle soup
U can also add thin strips of lamb/ chicken / tenderloin.
Marinate the prawns & fish chunks (as shown in the picture) in rice wine vinegar & soya sauce. Use white vinegar in case u cannot get rice wine vinegar.
A roadside Chinese Dhaba in which u actually sit on plastic chairs on the road & eat from makeshift tables – some marvelous fresh seafood & other Chinese food. I wud have regretted to have missed this place.
te facade of the shop
Meal for 2 : HKD 200 onwards
people sitting on plastic chairs & tables on the street & eating
How to get there: Get to Kowloon station & take a taxi to ‘Temple Street Night Market’.
live (most of them) seafood on display
Cuisine Type: Predominantly Nonvegetarian, limited but good Vegetarian selection.
live seafood – view 2
Short Description –In case u r in a hurry:
In many years of my regular visits to Hongkong, there has hardly been an occasion when we have not visited the Temple Street Night Market. It is a makeshift market that comes up everyday post sunset, on a place that is a road in the daytime!!!! I guess there are hundred or more stalls in this place & they sell a huge variety of merchandise like – Chinese traditional dresses for adults & kids, very innovative toys, paintings, a plethora of things that u can use for decorating ur home, Hongkong memorabilia, DVDs & fakes of all kinds of brands from clothing to accessories & shoes.
A very common sight in Hongkong – Full roasted birds of all shapes & sizes hung – with their beaks intact
What this market also has is a few roadside eateries that served fresh seafood & other Chinese food. On the display is a host of sea animals of different shapes, colors, textures & sizes. U can choose from them & they will cook it for you in the way you want (u will have to choose from multiple choice questions). U can also order from a printed menu card in which almost every item has a colored picture.
the aquarium section – u choose ur food
We generally used to go to one of these eateries for a long time – The food was great but the service was dramatically poor. They wud not come to take the orders for long, u wud struggle to get a fork (food is usually served with a pair of chopsticks), they might forget serving one of the things that u ordered etc. We always thought that all popular street food joints are like this only. Yesterday it crossed our mind to try out a new joint. To our pleasant surprise, the service was perfect, so was the behavior & the food was awesome. The food was actually better than our earlier joint.
from shelled beings to swimming fishes (background)
What is interesting is that on each table u will get a toilet paper roll – in place of tissue paper, for wiping ur hand!!!
Incase u r a nonvegetarian beyond just boneless Tandoori Chicken, do not miss this place if u happen to be in Hongkong. This is a foodie’s heaven.
Detailed Description – In case u have the time to enjoy reading:
Chinese food always rings a few unusual bells in my head – unusual to most Indians except for those who have travelled to China, lived there or stayed there for some time. I freak out on food every time I am in China & in Hongkong. However the food that is served in most places in India as ‘Chinese’ are versions that the Chinese nationals wud be shocked to know about. So I will refer to the authentic version as ‘authentic’ & the Punjabified version as ‘Chinjabi’.
What is good about this restaurant is that they have two separate menucards for Chinjabi& authentic Chinese.
All other occassions we had been to thisplace, we just retained the authentic menu. Do not remember any major dissappointment regarding food here, in the past – rather have a very fond memory of dine outs here.
This time around we had guests who were not hardcore foodies like us & hence we thought of trying out some popular Chinjabi as well along with the authentic.
The decor in this place is wow – u can surely go for a romantic dinner. U can go with small groups of friends as well.
the dining hall
The staff is pretty smart & answer most of ur questions well. They however do not fill up empty water glasses if u have opted for filter water in place of Bottled water.
We loved the fish in black bean sauce, ate the ‘not bad’ crispy fried chicken, loved the mei foon (rice noodles), hated the fried rice, did not dislike the chicken hot pot, freaked out on fish in black pepper sauce & quite disliked the darsaan.
Detailed description – In case u have the time to enjoy reading:
Disclaimer: All restaurants / eateries reviewed by YUMMRAJ were visited by YUMMRAJ himself & he has paid for the full Bill & tips also. http://www.yummraj.com does not have even one featured / sponsored reviews. YUMMRAJ believes in going to a restaurant in anonymity, as a normal guest, experience everything & give a honest account of the same to you.
I rate all the food items & then give a final overall rating which is a simple average of the individual item ratings. What the ratings stand for: 5 = Excellent, 4 = Very Good, 3 = Good, 2 = Fair, 1 = Disaster
Short description- in case u r in a hurry
This was our first dinner in a restaurant ever since cities got locked down due to COVID. We were deliberating between different options & narrowed down to spectra. We were looking for European food. Very Glad that we came here – the experience was totally worth it.
The restaurant is situated inside leela ambience gurugram. As we alighted from our vehicle, a guy in uniform came for valet parking. I handed over the keys & the car. He asked my phone number (he said it was mandatory). I asked for the receipt. He said physical receipt will not be given & that I will receive an SMS in 10 minutes. The SMS however never came. After our dinner I walked out of the gate, told the security about my car. He asked me for SMS. I said I did not get. He got me the car & handed over the keys!!! So imagine someone can quote another person’s Bentley’s number & drive it away!!! Super wierd.
As we entered the hotel we were asked to put all our metal belongings in a tray and pass through the security so that there is no need for physical patting and checking. As we reached the lobby, we were asked to stand in front of a machine that could measure the temperature without physical contact.
After this,when we moved on to the restaurant, it was about 7:40 PM and the restaurant had about 4 to 5 tables occupied. it was as silent as it could be it. No chatter, no clattering of cutlery. It seemed like walking into a restaurant in a hotel at 7 AM in the morning for breakfast on Sunday, sharp at the opening time.
When we had called earlier, the guy did not tell us that the last order will be before 8 pm. We were lucky we walked in at 7.40. Else we would have to return.
Our server was extremely warm and constantly kept us engaged throughout our stay in the restaurant. We felt like being guests at his home.
As we sat, he got us a scanner. It had a QR code, which we had to scan from our camera of the phone. immediately as we scanned the code, a link appeared and it had the entire menu of all the restaurants in the hotel. The E-menu was Crisp and very very easy to navigate through. it was very user-friendly, I must say.
The final check however came in traditional printed paper. Thankfully, inside the restaurant we could takeoff our masks because the tables are apart anyway and due to low occupancy people were seated far from each other.
Few customers in the restaurant and imports not yet being normal, led to some ingredients being absent in the kitchen. so few of the dishes that we wanted to have , cud not be served to us. However, whatever we had was outstanding and by far made up for not getting the ones we were looking for.
Absolutely loved the food
Detailed description – in case u hv the time to njoy reading:
As we waited for the food, we were served a complimentary Immunity booster – it had strong celery flavors, had a tinge of salt, it was not too sweet & overall it was a great refreshing drink. Rate it 4.25/5
We ordered grilled Norwegian salmon. It was just brilliant. It was so juicy that At times it felt like that I was having watermelon!!! The fish was flaky, full of flavors and perfectly cooked. the skin on top was Crisp & super enjoyable. Chef had made a marmalade Inhouse, that was spread on top of the fish. excellent. Loved it so much that our plate was polished white by the end of the meal. Rate it 4.5/5
Grilled lamb chops were perfectly cooked as well. The pieces of meat used in the lamb chops were also excellent. The meat pieces had a layer of fat in the corner. These had become Crisp outside. as we would bite into the meat, the Crisp thin layer of fat wud burst into a flavorful thick liquid. Outstanding is an understatement. rate it 4.75/5
For dessert we had banana walnut caramel tart. The tart base was very good. The filling was good, the caramel sauce excellent, the bananas were very ordinary, flat taste ones – not too sweet, a hint of salt. Overall the dish was very good. Rate it 4/5.
Overall rating of food & beverages average out to 4.25/5
Really happy we went there. Wud go for a Japanese dinner some day.
Below is the original post from 2011
In a nutshell:
Loved the experience & the food – a few ifs & buts though on the food. Will surely revisit to try out other cuisines.
Cool & colorful decor at Spectra Leela kempinsky gurgaon
Short description – In case u r in a hurry:
As u walk into Leela & then into the Coffee shop Spectra, ur eyes r overwhelmed with the decor & the look. I wud not say that it is the most artistic place I have been to but it is a visual delight.
........... a visual delight
As u walk in the restaurant u realize that the staff is very warm. I have this funny habit of wearing the most ordinary of clothes to a 5 or a 7 star & then asking for non bottled filtered water – The reaction is very interesting to see coz a section of the staff in most of these places tend to judge u by these initial parameters. Here at Spectra the reaction was as warm & normal as it could get & they passed my funny test with flying colors.
The Coffee shop has a very very interesting Japanese counter where u can chat with the chef, tailor-make ur sushis & sashimis & sit & eat on the bar table. The Chef rolls the sushis in front of u from scratch &serves.
A little away from there is the Chinese counter. Here again u can sit on counter, chat with the chef , tailor-make ur food & eat soups, stir fries , soupy noodles like thukpas etc. All ingredients are kept there as well & the colors of them are a visual delight.
There are also a good representation of cuisines that u usually do find too many Top end Restaurants specializing in. e.g Arab cuisine, Thai, Malaysian, Singaporean . They also have a large list of good unusual food (unusual when compared to menu cards of other delhi restaurants).
The menu card has a very large & wide selection vegetarian section.
Other interesting options are a breakfast spread Rs. 750 + taxes, a Lunch buffet of Rs. 1600 + taxes , a Sunday Brunch (with sparkling wine, house red & white wine, beer & vodka cocktails) & a Champagne Brunch for Rs. 3500 (Champagne in place of Sparkling wine + everything else) .
We liked the seafood soup, loved the Moroccan seafood grill & Freaked out on the outstanding tenderloin steak.
Detailed Description – In case u have the time to enjoy reading:
The Chindian (Indianized Chinese food) is tasty & nice but lacks on the authenticity front. For ‘close to authentic Chinese food’ in Gurgaon, YUMMRAJ recommends The Monk, Galaxy Mall. However, if u do not give a damn to authenticity & r willing to dig into anything tasty, Dine Esty is a good choice. Infact its a very good choice for a nice evening out with some good food.
The main dining hall – another view
We have been to Dine esty several times & always had been eating at the Live Japanese Teppanyaki (Japanese Grill) Counter. This time around we decided to sit in the main dining hall & ordered some Chinese (turned out to be tasty Chinjabi) alacarte section.
starter at Dine Esty
The menu card was almost 10 pages long & really requires a great deal of study by foodies to decide on food. Too many interesting names pop up before the eyes & ity becomes a challenge (in a good way) to narrow down & finalize the order. In the menu card there are sections like soups, dimsums, starters, main course etc like everyone else but all these section in turn have detailed sub sections – chicken, pork, lamb, vegetarian, duck, fish, crab, seafood. I saw some interesting items like seafood dimsum, crystal dimsum, pork gouza, prawn harkaw (a dimsum that has potato starch as wrapper) – I fondly remembered harkaw that we had at Royal china. To summarize, every Chinese place has sections but this one was in great details.
The interior has three sections – a lounge & bar setting on the left (as u enter) & this is covered by a see-through wooden partition. Then there is the Main dining Hall with Restaurant setting & at the end is the Live Teppanyaki counter where u can sit on the counter & njoy seeing the food being prepared in front of u. A chat with the chef is also an interesting option. Getting the food made with ur choice of sauces is surely another option.
The lounge & bar setting behind the wood partition
The Japanese concept of teppanyaki is very cool though – it is essentially a flat Metal plate (say 1meter by 2 meters) that is heated at all times. The customers have the option to sit around this hot plate & the Chef stir fries veggies / fish / meats in front of u & serves fresh out of the Teppan.
Stir frying on the teppan right in front of the customer seats – u see the cooking right infront of u
Inspite of the fact that the sauces here r tweaked to cater to Indian tastes – the overall taste is very enjoyable. ………….. Infact not too many people might b able to appreciate the 100% original taste the way it is served in Japan or China. I Do love the original though & do not mind the tweaked versions at times.
Detailed Description – In case u have the time to enjoy reading:
