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:
Day 1 & Day 2: Simplicity, back to basics (Roots), a great idea, superb execution, unbelievable prices & excellent food are words that come to my mind while describing Roots café. Day 3 : Quite dissappointing & average food
It was a Saturday morning & we were upto our customary ‘Earn ur breakfast’ – Walked 4km & then renewed our energy at Roots Cafe situated in Renewable Energy park, leisure valley, Gurgaon.
Moong dal chilla @ Roots cafe
For many of us in Gurgaon, central air-conditioning, glass house buildings & high rises have become a part of existence. Lots of us have lost touch with the way we used to be in our childhood – simple fans / air coolers. Roots Café reconnects us to our roots with its basic but tastefully done décor in which almost no man-made materials have been used, the simplicity of its menu, partially open-air structure & the huge air coolers.
the interiors of Roots Cafe
The structure, as mentioned above, is of wood, bamboo & other natural materials. The roof is thatched. The furniture is all wood. The coasters are natural & so is the beautifully made cover of the menu card & the ‘cheque’ folder.
Furniture at Roots cafe
As mentioned above, there is no A/C but even in the heat of June the two mammoth non noisy air-coolers do a good job of keeping the place cool.
The all natural Menu card – only the lamination inside is plastic
Unlike in other places where the waiting staff gets the order, here u r supposed to write ur choice of food on a little ‘order slip’. Really liked this concept as that reduces chances of wrong ordering / wrong order interpretations.
A huge wall cabinet with an inbuilt refrigerator in the center
The waiting staff is very non-intrusive but well behaved & nice. Their product (the food that they serve) knowledge is good as well.
The urge & passion to serve tasty & good food (even though it is not gourmet food) is really commendable.
Detailed Description – In case u have the time to njoy readin:
One of the many micro-breweries – ‘Freshly brewed Beer’ places in Gurgaon that not only serves good beer but also beer cocktails & thankfully focuses on serving some excellent food as well.
Micro breweries are popping up every here & there in Gurgaon. It all started with Howzzat few years back in Galaxy Mall. While all of them serve 2-3 options of fresh unbottled beer, most of them serve really average food. My experience of food at Lemp has been very average – same for Downtown & of course for Rockman’s & Howzzat. Its different that post a couple of glasses of beer the tastebuds tend to numb & taste does not really matter at that time, but food is surely not the forte in most of these places – all of them have some good / popular / chatpata items but in general food is average to good – not outstanding / excellent.
A view of the bar area
Brauhaus is an exception. I was pleasantly surprised by the good food (I tried the German food section only) at this place & am willing to get back to try & ‘eat’ more stuff – a feeling that I have not got in other places so far.
The interiors are very good – high ceilings ensure that the place seems airy & non-claustrophobic. However, the seating area is quite cluttered. In fact the seats are so near that if the music stops, u might be able to catch a whisper from the table beside u. A part of the seating area has trees (with leaves) etc & u get the feel of sitting beneath the tree (without the threat of bird droppings).
The crowd was almost a 50:50 mix of Indians:Expats.
Music was good. I liked the little note-slips kept on the tables that looked like audio cassette covers – they were meant for music requests to the DJ.
Music request slips that look like audio cassette covers
The waiting staff who was in charge of our table was a very good guy & he positively contributed to us having a very good experience.
Detailed Description – In case u have the time to njoy reading:
In a nutshell: A take home joint that serves pretty good Kolkata Biryani & rolls & excellent Chaap. Meal for 2: Rs. 150 onwards Home Delivery Numbers: +91 9999311547, +91 9312733913 Cuisine Type: Vegetarian & Nonvegetarian Short Description – In case u r in a hurry: Bongo bondhus in Gurgaon, good news for u. At last there is a Biryani shop that serves good Kolkata Biryani in … Continue reading Mughlai treat (Shop no. 26, Sushant Tower, Sector 56, Gurgaon)
Interesting Korean Fast food place with outstanding service, some great food & some confused ones.
The logo
Address & Other Details: Tomato
Meal for 2: Rs. 800 onwards
Assorted cutlets @ Tomato Restaurant
Cuisine Type: Predominantly Nonvegetarian with some vegetarian options
Short Description – In case u r in a hurry:
Came to know of this place post shopping at Spencer’s Hypermart the other day. The Korean lady who is either the Owner or the Manager of the Tomato Restaurant was herself distributing pamplets outside the Spencer’s Retail shop. It being unusual, caught our attention & we decided to try out this new Korean Joint run by Korean Nationals.
The Restaurant turned out to be a standard Mall shop in this almost shop-less Mall. By shop-less I mean most shops are unsold / unoccupied. The Glass façade of the Restaurant was covered with a huge poster of the food available in the Restaurant with names of Dishes written both in English & Korean. One can read this standing on the mall walkway without even entering the Restaurant.
pictorial menu card on the facade
The interiors are nice but not overdone.They have a very simple touch & feel.
interiors of the restaurant
The Korean Lady herself came to welcome us with a traditional bow. We were shown a place to sit & soon after along with the menu card came a 1 litre bottle of Korean cold tea (on the house) & 2 empty glasses. The several interactions with the lady & her team-members were a mix of verbal exchange & sign language.
Korean cold tea served on ‘tomato’ table mat
The Place was filled with superb aroma of koraean food. The foodie in me jumped out in joy at the prospect of some imaginary YUMM food. I soon realized that this cud b counter-productive as well for vegetarian guests / those not used to Far Eastern food smells.
The Menu card had pictures of some of the dishes. The corresponding no. of the item in the menu card was mentioned alongside the picture. The pics & text were same as in the huge menu on the outside glass wall of the restaurant.
the 2 page menu card
Soon enough we noticed that except us every other diner were Korean & so were all members of the host team. This seemed to be quite exciting as it showed us a hope of authentic Korean food.
There are three kinds of food available in this restaurant – cutlets, spaghetti & Korean soups & noodles. I had no idea that Cutlets are part of Korean cuisine. A call to my Indian friend who happens to visit Korea frequently answered my question – Cutlet is not a Korean dish.
Cutlet section , Spaghetti section – seemed to be fusion kind & Korean food section
Apologize in the beginning for not having YUMM food snaps as u see in all posts on http://www.yummraj.com. There was a ‘no photography’ policy at this restaurant. I was told by another foodie friend that this policy cud b exempted for us if I wud have said I was a food blogger. But that is precisely what I hate doing. If I tell I am a food blogger, I might get a lot of extra attention which an average diner wud not get. As mentioned in ‘about’, I believe in dining like any normal diner & passing on the feedback to u in my posts so that it is as unbiased as possible.
This Restaurant is inside Culture Gully, the food court cum shopping area of the Kingdom of Dreams. One has to buy tickets for Rs. 750 (pls check exact amount as it keeps changing) per person & can spend the same on anything from food to decoratives. If u are not able to spend the full Rs. 750, a part of the balance is returned.
The Restaurant is very beautifully done – traditional Green & white decor with outstanding intricate designs in everything from the walls to the pillars to the furniture, right up to the cutlery. The look & feel is like a Nawabi Court of the Olden days.
The center of the pillared hall is devoted to the Qawwals who sing throughout the evening. They are ‘theth’ as in as ‘rustic’ as one can get – not the polished Bollywood inspired Qawwals that we come across these days. If u dislike Qawwalis or Sufi music, u might be irritated but for a Qawwali fan like me, it was an excellent experience.
The waiters are Old School – They are knowledgeable, smile less, are not smooth talkers & the types u come across old restaurants that have been around for say 50 years.
The food has been good & we had always liked the Awadhi Dum Biryani on all occasions sans the last. Kababs are good as well.
Detailed Description – In case u have the time to njoy reading:
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:
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:
This post is kind of a recap of non Indian cuisines & eateries in Gurgaon – I have covered detailed reviews of many of these eateries in doifferent posts in this blog . Needless to say that this is not a comprehensive guide of food places in Gurgaon but then it is good to start with – its about our favourite pik or not so favourite pik.
This post was first written in early 2011 for www.socialmantra.in. I am republishing this with minor changes. You will find updates to restaurants that we have revisited if u click on the links below.
Moving to cuisine from our neighboring country China, I must first explain the two types of food available Gurgaon. The first is authentic Chinese & the second is Chindian (Indianization of Chinese food). Manchurian is a common example of Chindian food – When I went to China years back, I asked for the famous Chinese dish Manchurian, to be told that they had never even heard of this. Later while reading a book called Rude Food by Vir Sanghvi, I came to know that Manchurian was invented in Mumbai by a Chinese origin Indian National hailing from Tangra in Kolkata who later opened a very successful Eatery in Delhi!!!! The Chinese of China have never even heard of it. The technique is basically to make koftas of meats & vegetables in the Indian way, deep fry them & then cook them in Chinese sauces. This form of food is so popular that last time I was in Boston I saw a restaurant with a board saying Indian Chinese Restaurant!!!
A good example of a restaurant serving Chindian food is Yo China. With most of the Chinese cuisines tweaked to cater to local tastes, this little eatery in MGF mall is a super success. Food is very tasty in general – Starts with a limited but good selection of dimsums (very chicken heavy). Honey chilli potato is a good vegetarian starter that even carnivores like me would love. Special mention for the fish & prawn dishes in starters as well as main-course. The full pomfret is excellent & so is garlic fish. Crispy mutton is also worth a try. There are a few very good sautéed chicken options as well. In the desserts section, there is a unique ‘snickers sundae’ which is actually pieces of snickers chocolate pieces dunked in vanilla ice cream. In food courts of other malls, movie halls & large departmental stores, you may come across a little colorful Yo China Cart which serves yummy momos & honey chilli potatoes. This is our favorite ‘little munch’ during our Gurgaon hopping exercises.
This post is kind of a recap of cuisines & eateries in Gurgaon – I have covered detailed reviews of many of these eateries in the blog . Needless to say that this is not a comprehensive guide of food places in Gurgaon but then it is good to start with – its about our favourite pik or not so favourite pik.
Food being a passion, eating out is a part of our regular existence in this city of Gurgaon. The range of eateries here vary from the tiny old shops of old gurgaon & their relatively new avatars in New Gurgaon to Restaurant chains & Boutique restaurants in star hotels. When someone asks us ‘what is ur favorite cuisine’ or ‘what is ur favourite dish?’, we have no answer coz as long as the food is great, we r happy. We generally try to avoid eateries that are confused about their USP themselves & have signboards saying ‘Indian, Chinese, Mughlai’ – They seem to have separated Mughals from the rest of the Indians owing to the former’s Timurid origins (pun intended)!!!!
In this post we focus on Indian eateries. By Indian most restaurants here refer to Punjabi. Among the non Punjabi ones, there is one stray tiny Bengali joint, few horrible or at most average South Indian ones (except Zambar), two branches of ‘Mughal’ Karim’s, a super cool Mangalorean seafood joint, a very bad Rajasthani food joint & alas a good erstwhile kashmiri joint Chor Bazaar (now closed down).
What is common with most of the above restaurants, however, is that most of the non-veg menu cards are very chicken heavy influenced by the taste of Punjab.……….. to the extent that I heard someone crack a joke in frustration – ‘Chicken seems to be the National bird of Punjab’. Let me make a confession here – For hardcore carnivores like us, chicken actually is the lowest form of non-vegetarian food & is on the borderline of being vegetarian!!!! I have consciously tried to cover all chicken joints, being completely aware of my bias………… Hope I do not disappoint the chicken lovers.
Inspite of having a bombardment of Punjabi food on offer, surprisingly there is not one shop which serves an Amritsari macchi tikka as good as Makhan Fish shop in Amritsar or a Bhuna Baingan & Dal Makhani as good as Kesar Da Dhaba in the bylanes of old city of Amritsar. In case u have had the opportunity to taste the fantastic true blue Amritsari Kulcha on Lawrence Road, Amritsar, u wud hate to swallow down the breaded variety of kulcha that is served at most of the eateries in Gurgaon. In fact, if u had been courageous to eat at Bajwa Ka Dhaba (opposite Highway King on Jaipur road), then u wud shudder at the thought of eating Punjabi in Gurgaon.
Among the low cost Punjabi joints, the best seems to be Pind Balluchi & Park Balluchi besides Bikanerwala. Bauji ka Dhaba in MGF mall is also not bad. All of them serve very good tandoori items (meats, paneer, breads), few good curries (the meats in many cases are not cooked in the gravy but boiled meat is simmered in half made gravy) and mostly average to good desserts. Gulab jamuns do no more have that slight taste of saltiness in the center near the kesar and many of them smell of ‘ageing’.
