Category: snack

Anglo Indian, bengali, Indian, snack

Food aboard AC 1st Class Duronto Train – & the travel story

Read YUMMRAJ’s latest review of AC 1st class rajdhani here: rajdhani

In a nutshell:

My first time travel in AC 1 of Duronto – turned out to b a series of Pleasant surprises. Pretty Good food, very good service & an amazing experience in a coupe of a new coach.

The story:

Duronto , like the Rajdhani trains, r full AC trains with meals included in the ticket price. Unlike Rajdhani, Duronto is a ‘no stop’ train – so it straight away stops at the final destination. We decided to travel by this train for a holiday from Delhi to Kolkata & chose AC1.

inside Duronto AC1 coupe

What is strange about AC1 is that even if u book way in advance, the seats / cabins r not allocated till the day of journey. We were thrilled to see us being allotted to a coupe (only two people in a cabin instead of four).

As I entered the coupe , I was pleasantly surprised. It did not quite look like Indian Railways. New coach, spic & span, pristine white walls & ceiling, a huge 4ft X 3ft mirror, a tiny mirror etc. I cud sense the room freshner as well. At times it felt like we were sitting in a mid-range hotel (of course ignoring the size of the cabin).

We were lucky to have the pantry car just next to our coach. It had transparent glass window & I peeped into it – looked as good as an open kitchen restaurant. Within I guess 10 minutes after the train started, an IRCTC representative came & welcomed us & gave us a rose & a facial wet wipe.

welcome rose & face wipe aboard Duronto

Within minutes of this, the pantry boy appeared with two menu cards – printed & laminated like the ones in low to mid end Restaurants. One menu card was veg Indian & nonveg Indian. The other was Veg continental & non-veg continental.

We started to read the Indian non-veg & were surprised to see ‘veg au gratin’ written in it. We were told that ‘the starters r common for Indian & continental but the main course is different’.

Detailed Description – In case u have the time to njoy reading:

Service started within 30 minutes of the start of journey. The server came in & pulled out two foldable tables from one corner of our cabin & set them up.

Foldable dinner tables aboard Duronto

He served freshly made thick vegetable soup. Good to taste by Restaurant standard & awesome to taste by ‘Indian Railways standard’. Soup sticks were also given along with this – those turned out to be sub optimally crunchy. We njoyed our soup with dollops of Amul butter. Halfway thru the soup I decided to season it with black pepper – that is what turned out to b a bad decision. The pepper provided was as fine as dust & it was quite weird. Spoilt the Soup to some extent.

vegetable thick soup aboard Duronto

After a gap of almost 20 minutes, we were served starters – 2 pieces of Fish Orly & a lump of vegetable au gratin, in addition to one apple.

Vegetable au gratin turned out to b a catastrophe. It was a lump of sweet potato with cheese popping up at different spots, funny texture & really bad by Restaurant, someone’ home or train or any standard.

The fish orly was awesome to the power 10. It was deep batter fried fish that had a thin outer batter layer & a superbly juicy, soft, flaky fish fillet inside. Outstanding flavors of the fish & also the spices ……………….. Good by all standards – Restaurant, train, aeroplane, someone’s house etc.

fish orly aboard Duronto

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Anglo Indian, bengali, Continental Cuisine, India, Kolkata, snack

Bengal Hotel – fowl o mutton (No. 14 Bus stop, Behala, Kolkata)

In a nutshell:

My childhood favourite – Re-visited after many years & Loved the simple menu , some good & some great food at prices that surprise.

Bengal Hotel – Moton o fowl

Address & other details: Bengal Hotel

Meal for 2: Rs. 200 onwards

fish fry at Bengal Hotel

Cuisine Type: A bit of Vegetarian & predominantly Nonvegetarian

Short Description – In case u r in a hurry:

As kids we used to go to this super tiny restaurant to have fish cutlets. The ambience did not matter then coz we were not aware of ‘ambience’ in an eatery & now it does not matter to me as long as the food is superb. We used to drool over the food then & this time around I found it very good, if not as good as before.

mutton cutlet at Bengal Hotel

The owner sits right at the entrance – He handles cash & remote manages the place. There is one guy who I have seen as the manager for many years now – order taking from customers & coordinating. Food is served by ‘chhotus’.

Fish roll at Bengal Hotel Behala

The most interesting thing at this restaurant is the rate chart. The menu is printed on a board on the wall – permanent (I think it was same when I was a kid). The price of the dish is written with chalk everyday besides the description. All items r made in limited quantities & as soon as an item is sold out, the manager runs to the board & rubs off the price. Popularity still soars & by 6.30 pm onwards one by one the items start getting sold out. The shop opens at around 3.30 pm & shuts by approx. 8.00 pm.

The ‘interesting’ rate chart at Bengal Hotel, Behala

They also pack ‘fry & eat’ chops & cutlets. I have heard that NRIs carry these back home. I carry these back to Gurgaon at times.

‘fry & eat’ chops & cutlets in case u want to pack it for home

The food is Anglo Indian – Chops & cutlets that have become Bengali now & mutton & chicken curries that have a wide following in Britain these days. We tried the mutton cutlet, fish roll, fish fry & also mutton kosha. Liked the mutton cutlet, liked very much the fish roll & fish fry & super loved the mutton kosha.

Detailed Description – In case u have the time to njoy readin:

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Bakery & Breakfast, Continental Cuisine, European, Italian, snack

Sakley’s (Shop no. 93, 1st Floor, Galleria Market, DLF Phase 4, Gurgaon)

In a nutshell:

Super tiny & quite a cool place to hang out, retro music, books on the shelf to pick & read, good for catching up with a friend, a quick date (maybe not the first), reliving nostalgic high school moments & so on……. amidst some good food

Sakley’s

Address & other details: Sakley’s

Meal for 2: Rs. 500 onwards

very interesting pasta

Cuisine Type: Vegetarian & Nonvegetarian

banana toffee pie

Short Description – In case u r in a hurry:

The shop board made with Wood reminds of similar eateries up in the Himalayas. The eatery is tiny with a very warm decor. Seating is with simple lightweight & good looking metal-wood combo furniture. Huge retro posters adorn the walls. Retro music plays in the background quite loud – Good enough to let u talk with ur partner while njoying the music at the same time. The ceiling is too curious – It looks like ‘made of logs’. Beyond the super tiny seating area is a pastry counter that showcases some really ‘mouth-watering look cakes’.

the interiors – with the pastry counter in the background

As I mentioned above, the space is small & the seating is packed – so chances that u will hear the debates / discussions of the next table & vice versa but thankfully nothing of that sort happened to us. While people came & went, it was never 100% full & hence the table next to us was empty for the 2 hrs we spent here.

the good sandwich

As we sat, we came across a very cool writeup on Sakley’s – Must admit that after reading this, I remembered my ‘high school’ day romances & I was lucky that the same person I romanced back then, was sitting right in front of me here at Sakley’s 🙂 & over the next 1 hour I watched the sun setting in her backdrop.

the Legend of Sakley’s

The menu card was cool – great concept & good artwork. Someone really used a lot of dimaag while conceptualizing this. Sadly, it was badly physically mangled at the corners – the lamination had gone for a toss. Reprinting / relamination doesn’t cost a lot & is surely due for the menu cards here.

the menu card at Sakley’s

Food was better than I had expected here. Drinks were good but not ‘I have not have it so good ever’ variety. The portions of food were huge. So cud not try much at a go. Will try some more variety sometime later.

Another view of walls & ceiling of Sakley’s

Detailed Description – In case u have the time to njoy reading:

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American, Continental Cuisine, snack

Crispy chicken T3 (Food Court, International Departures, New Delhi)

In a nutshell: Nice & interesting fried Chicken shop. Address & Other details:Crispy Chicken Cuisine Type: Nonvegetarian Meal for 2: Rs. 250 onwards Description: One fine morning on our way out of the country, we ended up at the food court of International Departures, T3 Airport. We were not very hungry but a bit hungry. We saw a huge poster of ‘KFC look’ buckets of … Continue reading Crispy chicken T3 (Food Court, International Departures, New Delhi)

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Continental Cuisine, For the Chef in u……, Guest Blogger, Mediterranean, snack

Hummus & Pita Bread

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……………

homemade hummus

I had Middle Eastern food – Hummus for the first time in Varanasi – one of the oldest continuously inhabited cities in the world and the oldest city in India. I liked it instantly.

Since then I had been tasting this at different places in Delhi NCR & liked it.

In one of my net browsing sessions I stumbled upon a recipe to make Hummus & that made me think – Is that really so easy?

So I started my experiments in the kitchen & here is my version. Let me tell u that on every occasion I have served this, our friends have been seen finger-licking.

Interestingly, this homemde hummus actually comes out to be much better than what is served at most Restaurants in Delhi NCR.

kabuli chana / chick pea

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American, Continental Cuisine, Continental Grilled, seafood, snack

Cafe Delhi Heights (DLF Cross Point Mall, near Galleria Market Traffic Signal, DLF Phase 4, Gurgaon & also Ambience Mall, Gurgaon)

In a nutshell:Jack of all trades, master of quite a few – when it comes to taste. Service & Ambience is as fun as it can get.

Inside Cafe Delhi Heights

Address & other details: Cafe Delhi Heights

Meal for 2: Rs. 1000 onwards

The innovative menu card bound with a nut & bolt!!!

Cuisine Type : Vegetarian & Nonvegetarian

The interiors

Short description – In case u r in a hurry:

Right from the time u enter the place to the time ur taste buds experience ecstasy, u feel that ‘someone’ has put some real brains into this place & a lot of effort post that. Really impressive – This place has a long way to go (provided they market themselves a bit better than they currently do (Currently 90% people in Gurgaon do not know about the building in which they r situated & I wud say 99% people do not know about their existence.).

writing on the wall 1

Music was peppy, not to loud, not to mellow. Very Enjoyable. We cud have a good chat with friends for the two hours that we were here.

Funny message – writing on the wall 2

The place had a very smiling & interactive staff & they exuded lot of warmth. They added value to the evening.

Funny message – writing on the wall 3

The walls had tons of funny messages – some of which cud induce u ROFL!!!!

Funny Message – Writing on the wall 4

We enjoyed some excellent Cheddar cheese & beer soup, Mindblowing Juicy Lucy burger – bigger than the biggest burger I was ever served, Ok Ok minced lamb pani puri & a super good prawn dish Gambas al Ajillo.

Funny poster – Writing on the wall 5

Saw in the menu ‘aphrodasiac smoothie’ – we did not try it though…ha ha.

Detailed Description – In case u have the time to enjoy reading:

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Continental Cuisine, snack

Twist Potato (food Court DLF Saket, Delhi)

Cool, Funky, very tasty, innovative & very visually appealing are words that come to mind while describing twist potatoes – these r much better than the ubiquitous french fries & potato wedges. Very soft inside with a crunchy outer layer, a very chatpata spice powder that remotely reminds u of something like a maggi masala …………… a swirl of potato deep fried on a long … Continue reading Twist Potato (food Court DLF Saket, Delhi)

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