In a nutshell: A cool eatery and bar with Asian theme, no distraction, a fantastic menu card that can keep u engaged with lots of stories of food, good service and very good food. Address & other details:shizusan Meal for 2: ₹1000 onwards Cuisine type : vegetarian & non vegetarian Disclaimer: All restaurants / eateries reviewed by YUMMRAJ were visited by YUMMRAJ himself & he … Continue reading Shizusan shophouse And bar (high street Phoenix, mumbai, Maharashtra)
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)
In a nutshell: A large spacious restaurant with Live music, funny Quotes (at times bordering sexist) & some good food from around the Globe including some real gems. Address & other details: One night stand Meal for 2: Rs. 300 onwards Cuisine type : Vegetarian & Nonvegetarian Disclaimer: All restaurants / eateries reviewed by YUMMRAJ were visited by YUMMRAJ himself & he has paid for … Continue reading One night stand (SCO 26, Near Reliance Mart, Sector 29, Gurgaon)
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:
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
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.
‘For the chef in u………’ here comes in a new section that has a unique way of presenting delicious food that can easily b made at home
Contributed by : YUMMRAJ’s favourite Chef –ANONYMOUS
When in mood for a hot lazy winter Sunday morning brunch, why not try making some thin rice noodles (or rice vermicelli) with stir fried fresh veggies & some prawns & scrambled eggs thrown in for good measure………….
….well, u can do without the prawns or the eggs or both or u can substitute the prawns with chicken – whatever be it, u r sure 2 get a load of praise.
Since good food has no set chemical formula, I refuse to list out measurements in grams & mililiitres. I ‘d rather leave it 2 ur interpretation, preference & imagination.
To start with, slice veggies like zucchini, white onions / spring onions, babycorns, pokchoy (Chinese leafy veggie), bell peppers (capsicum) – green, yellow or red or all of them, mushrooms (try the dried black mushrooms)……………… more or less the way it is shown in the pic. Just tear the Pokchoy into pieces with hand before cooking it.
click on the pic, enlarge it & take a look - try 2 cut as close to this as possible
Thinly slice fat cloves of garlic & mince a tiny piece of ginger.
Both veg & non veg food is good. Starters like mochar chop (pakora of banana flower), Gondhoraj Bhetki, Smoked Hilsa, Kaankra Chingri Bhape are unique & drooling good. Daab Chingri, Potoler Dolma, Chhanar dalna, Jhingey Posto, Chingri macher malay curry, Kosha Mangsho, Rezala are some brilliant dishes available here as well. Kolkata Biryani is good but few notches less than Arsalan Park Street Kolkata. Bhapa Sondesh, Nolen Gurer ice cream are very unique desserts served here as well. Overall – Need several visits to taste the variety available – strongly recommended by ur Bong Foodie friend YUMMRAJ