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Home cooked koli food at a koli mansion (Versova ganesh mandir, yari road, mumbai) organised by Authenticook)

In a nutshell: It was not just the outstanding home cooked food made from fresh ingredients, it was about the stories that we heard, the experience of dining in at a koli house (traditional fishermen community of mumbai). Super loved the chat with everyone in the family including the Young engineer at their family home in Versova mumbai – fish and seafood caught by the … Continue reading Home cooked koli food at a koli mansion (Versova ganesh mandir, yari road, mumbai) organised by Authenticook)

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Vaider fish hotel / Smitha’s (near lemon tree vembanad lake, 1 hr drive from kochi, Kerala)

In a nutshell: A tiny L shaped eatery with single row of tables and benches along the wall, where you just find a 1 ft space to land ur butt and sit and eat with strangers, fast and efficient service, serving 1 thali, 1 fish curry and a wide range of fried fresh water fish – worth the 45 km drive each side. Address & … Continue reading Vaider fish hotel / Smitha’s (near lemon tree vembanad lake, 1 hr drive from kochi, Kerala)

The calcutta club (22, link plaza, near police station, Oshiwara , Andheri West, mumbai)

In a NUtshell:A restaurant manned by ‘cold’ people, members of ‘no laughter club’ , the restaurant has average ambience and serves very good food Address & other details: The calcutta club Meal for 2: ₹500 onwards Cuisine type : vegetarian and non vegetarian Disclaimer: All restaurants / eateries reviewed by YUMMRAJ were visited by YUMMRAJ himself & he has paid for the full Bill & … Continue reading The calcutta club (22, link plaza, near police station, Oshiwara , Andheri West, mumbai)

Toast and tonic (unit no. 1, ground floor, Godrej BKC building, Bandra Kurla Complex, mumbai)

In a NUtshell:A newly opened restaurant and bar with unusual and creative food and cocktails that r usually very good. Address & other details: Toast and tonic Meal for 2: ₹2000 onwards Cuisine type : vegetarian & nonvegetarian 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 … Continue reading Toast and tonic (unit no. 1, ground floor, Godrej BKC building, Bandra Kurla Complex, mumbai)

J W Cafe (J W Marriott, sahar , mumbai International Airport area, mumbai)

This is a review of Sunday brunch In a nutshell: An unforgettable brunch, one of the best we have had in years, in terms of spread, amazing attention to detail by chef and team, brilliant conceptualisation and seamless execution. For seafood lovers in india, this is specially more interesting. Address & other details:   Meal for 2: ₹6000 Cuisine type : vegetarian and non vegetarian  Disclaimer: … Continue reading J W Cafe (J W Marriott, sahar , mumbai International Airport area, mumbai)

Kerala food stall, Anantha Restaurant (Dilli Haat, Aurobindo Marg, opp INA market, New Delhi)

In a nutshell – Run by Kerala Tourism Development Corporation (KTDC), Anantha Restarant serves some almost authentic & YUMM to super YUMM food. Address & other details: Dilli Haat Meal for 2: Rs. 300 onwards Cuisine type : Vegetarian & nonvegetarian Short Description – In case u r in a Hurry: Like all other stalls in Dilli Haat, one has to sit under the open … Continue reading Kerala food stall, Anantha Restaurant (Dilli Haat, Aurobindo Marg, opp INA market, New Delhi)

Ki Hangla (B 101, Supermart 1, DLF Phase 4, Gurgaon)

In a nutshell:

Masters of Gravies, curries & fries, still a long way to go when it comes to tenderness of meats. Great place to try out traditional dishes that r seldom cooked at home these days but not a good idea to try basic day to day home food.

The logo

Address & other details: Ki Hangla

Meal for 2: Rs. 300 onwards

Cuisine type: nonvegetarian & vegetarian

Background:

Bengali food is usually associated with fish, meats & everything non vegetarian. However there r some extraordinary vegetarian food items made from leaves, stems, flowers, roots etc that cost minimal but taste YUMM e.g. Mocha (banana flower), thor (the pith of the banana stem), oal (root), bok Phool (flower), kumro Phool (pumpkin flower), kochu pata (leaf), kochu (root), lau shak (leaf) etc. These have unique tastes & flavours and most of these r different from the mainstream usually available Indian vegetarian food.

Bengali cuisine of today also has many Mughal influences like Kolkata Biryani etc. British influence shows upin the form of batter fried fish, orly, crumb fried chops, cutlets, fries , kabiraji (coverage), dimer devil (devilled egg) etc.

Bengali food also interestingly has influence from other unexpected Countries. E.g. Dolma came with the Armenians to Kolkata in early 1800s!!!!The Portuguese introduced Cottage cheese to Bengalis in 1600s& that is what gave birth to the famous chhena based Bengali sweets!!!!

Wow potoler Dolma

Short Description – in case u r in a hurry:

For those new to Bengali language, Hangla (pronounced ‘hyangla’) means Glutton. Ki Hangla essentially means – ‘oh, what a glutton!!!’

As I entered the restaurant, I realized it was a real tiny place but with very well done colourful interiors. There were 5 tables with a seating of 3 – 4 each. The Restaurant was neat & clean. A live roll counter is put up outside the restaurant, beside the entrance door – that ensures ‘roll’ customers can take away their rolls without entering the shop. Smoke from the roll counter does not get in the shop as well due to a glass wall that separates the counter from the Dining Room.

In addition to serving cooked food, the restaurant also sells Bengali snacks like Mukhorochak Chanachur & knick knacks like Jharna Ghee, naaru (Bengali style coconut gur laddoo), hojmi guli etc. The wall is adorned with covers of Old Bengali LP records.

Interiors of Ki Hangla

Home delivery seemed to be a large percentage of sales here as I cud hear the phone ringing quite frequently.

The Lady who owns this eatery manages the show herself & that makes a helluva difference. She gets live feedback from the constant customer interaction & that I guess helps her keep up the quality standard. We cud see that Quality of food as well as ‘home delivery’ on time was being directly supervised by her. When Love & Mustard restaurant opened in Galleria long back, the Owner’s presence meant the food was good & over time the food deteriorated as he started entrusting the shop to his staff members. I stopped going there after a series of average to bad experiences.

Ki Hangla serves traditional Bengali, British inspired food, Mughal inspired food, Bangladeshi specialities, Portuguese inspired sweets & of course Armenian inspired Dolma. The taste of some of the food reminded me of the food cooked by ‘thakurs’ (traditional ‘biyebari/shaadi’ Cooks usually from Orissa who were expert Bengali cuisine cooks) who are on the path to extinction after ‘Marriage Caterers’ have found their way into the Bengali ceremonies.

Ki Hangla also comes up with ‘special thalis’ & special menu for different occasions.

Special occasion menu @ Ki Hangla

Food is served in aluminium foil boxes – the same ones that r used for home delivery – A concept similar to Dominos Pizza where they serve on the home delivery box even if u r having it sitting at the store.

As mentioned above, gravies & fries r awesome at Ki Hangla but the meats r not well done at all – something that needs to be taken seriously by the Management.

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

Continue reading “Ki Hangla (B 101, Supermart 1, DLF Phase 4, Gurgaon)”

Paramjeet Machi wala (near Fun Cinema, Motinagar, Delhi)

In a nutshell:

Excellent fish preparations & tandoori / fried chicken at this takeaway / ‘eat in the car’ joint.

Paramjit Machiwala

More Pics coming up in some time

Address & other details: Paramjeet

This is located on the main road between Motinagar Metro station & Ramesh Nagar Metro station. If u r facing Motinagar, the shop is to ur left.

Meal for 2: Rs. 250 onwards if u eat fish & Rs. 100 onwards if u restrict to chicken.

Paramjit Machiwale’s fried Fish

Cuisine type: Nonvegetarian

Description:

I am yet to forget the taste of tandoored fish at ‘Makhan Fish’ in Amritsar. Years back, that was my first introduction to Punjabi style fish shops. Then we discovered Pappu fish in Gurgaon & found it very good till two days back my friend mentioned Paramjeet. We did not waste time & the next day we were at Motinagar driving all the way from Gurgaon. Unlike Pappu fish who sells fish in the winters onlty, Paramjeet’s fish is available round the year.

……………… & let me tell u – it was worth it.

The shop has a chicken shop, a chai shop, a liquor shop & a paan – soft drink shop as its neighbours – As perfect a symbiosis as it can be.

The row of shops

We stuck to the fish menu only as the portions were large + good chicken is available in many places but good fish is hard to find.
The minimum order size for fish at Paramjeet is 250 grams. That meant two dishes between the two of us = half a kilo of fish!!!!

Continue reading “Paramjeet Machi wala (near Fun Cinema, Motinagar, Delhi)”

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

Continue reading “Food aboard AC 1st Class Duronto Train – & the travel story”

Jamil Hotel, near Chatori Gali, Bhopal – Street food

In a nutshell:

Good fish & meat kababs with strong & rustic flavored & taste, some very interesting Biryani that made me rethink my list of ‘best Biryani’ & one of the best Mutton Kormas I have ever had..

best Mutton Korma I ‘ve ever had

Address & other details: Just get into an autorickshaw & ask for Jamil Hotel near Chatori Gali. U will b transported there. In case the auto driver does not know, ask him to take u to Chatori Gali. Once there, just ask for Jamil Hotel situated on a road opposite Chatori Gali.

Meal for 2: Rs. 100 onwards

Cuisine Type: Nonvegetarian

Short Description – In case u r in a hurry:

Like Chatori Gali, everything here is very chatpata in taste – rustic, robust.

For those of u who rate the look & feel of a restaurant highly, u will b disappointed here. It has quite a shabby appearance, has old metal tables & bench seating. The shop does not even have a signboard. People just know this place.

The interiors

During my chat with the owner, he told us that they will move in to a new bigger building right opposite the existing one & that will b like a regular Restaurant.

For those of u who r frightened to eat fried food or food with fat in them, this is not the right place. BUT, if u r one of those who believe in pampering ur tastebuds & then work out harder to burn those extra calories, then this is the place to be.

the open kitchen

The serving staff at the shop are quite friendly. But as I always say, they do not undergo modern day ‘Hotel Management Training that preaches ‘Customer is the King’ etc. So they behave with u in a person to person basis & treat u as another person they r dealing with & not a ‘Customer’. So if u r friendly, that is reciprocated & vice versa.

We were lucky to have the Chef come up to the table post the serving staff ran out of answers to my questions. The Chef was really nice & explained things. When we ordered an extra Biryani to end the meal, he gave a complimentary ‘gravy of Mutton Do Pyaza’ to taste.

As u enter the shop, u r greeted with the sight of Marinated meats & fishes. These are cooked on request right in front of u. So there is almost nothing that is made & stored. So we had some good kababs, some outstanding Korma & a very very interesting Biryani.

marinades displayed right at the entrance to the shop

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

Continue reading “Jamil Hotel, near Chatori Gali, Bhopal – Street food”