Food Hopping in New York!

Yes, I know it has been forever and a 3-month hiatus is unforgivable. I've been busy with work, shifting houses, a friend's wedding and lots of travelling. I managed to visit the U.S. last month and I had an amazing time. So I thought I'll share a few pictures of the food I gorged in New York (I'm sorry I couldn't have too many pics here, I've been struggling to find my old memory card in this house and mostly, I finished eating before clicking a pic).

                                  Salmon and Avocado Sushi with Yuzu Aioli at Ruby Foo's.

            Roast Peking Duck with a sweet and subtly spicy Hoisin sauce. Absolutely delicious!

Watermelon, Ricotta and Ricola Salad with sunflower seeds - I liked the different textures.

                   Oysters with red wine vinaigrette, lemon and horseradish. If you like Sushi, 

you'll be able to deal with oysters.

                              The New York Sicilian - Mozzarella and tomato sauce on a square pizza

 base with a thick crust at Julian's Brick Oven.

                The Manhattan - Mozzarella, tomato sauce, basil and garlic. Simple and nice.

                      Capicola, salami, meslun and mayo wrap served with the best sweet
                                                     potato fries I've ever had!

                       Chicken salad with fresh veggies and a cold Garbanzo soup at a local deli.

                                               Hot chicken wings at an Irish pub.

                       American style Mac n Cheese - a little too cheesy for my taste.

                     Pastrami sandwich at a local diner - too much meat, too little seasoning.

                                  The 'small' portion of the Greek salad that I ordered.

Unagi Eel Sushi - the eel was well-cooked with a sweet and spicy sauce, so I wasn't too squeamish about trying eel for the first time.

               Mandoo Gui - deep fried beef dumplings. Very greasy, and hence, very yummy.

   Pork Belly being BBQ'd. No final shot because we ate it in minutes the moment it was done.

Assorted Korean-style accompaniments for the

various meats.

                   Deep fried spicy chicken that I loved. Reminded me of home actually.

        Garden Fresh Omelette - Cheese, mushrooms, green peppers and tomatoes at IHOP.

      Spinach and Mushroom Omelette topped with Hollandaise sauce - very rich and filling.

The fluffiest, most delicious pancakes I've had in my life - topped perfectly with a blob of butter   and served with assorted syrups.

First things first, I got a new watermark. Yay! I'm trying the whole "I-click-photos-of-food-so-I-shall-use-an-artistic-watermark" thing, so I thought this would give my photos a cleaner look - what do you guys think?

Also, a few observations after having eaten at the U.S.:

1. Portion sizes are HUGE. They literally are the size of your head. So forget ordering an appetizer AND a main course. Pick one.
2. Fatty/unhealthy/greasy foods are dirt cheap. McDonald's serves quarter pounder burgers for a pittance, and that really contributes to a growing unhealthy population there.
3. Healthy, well-cooked food and cooking at home is expensive. A dozen eggs cost more than buying a small jar of mayo. It's thus easier to just buy readymade stuff instead.
4. Food is actually cheap in New York. I found Sushi rolls (6 pieces) for $3. I get 2 pieces of Sushi priced INR 300 and upwards in Bangalore.
5. The food streets are really interesting and you'll find cuisines from world over in New York. There are also food tours that are organized that help you explore new areas to find all kinds of food.

So, yeah, I had a ball of a time, but I was bummed that I didn't eat at more places because I didn't have much time. 

Before I sign off, here's a pic of me with the New York skyline. I'm feeling very narcissistic.

Flamme Bois Bistro

My food adventures at Manali were yummay, it was a pity that I couldn’t explore more though. On our way back from Manali, we stayed overnight at Chandigarh. As we caught up with a few friends, we decided to go out for a quick dinner.

First off, Chandigarh is a beautiful city! It’s quiet, not exploding with people and very clean, We stayed near the Panchkula side and had a wide variety of restaurants to choose from at 10:30 pm (I thought of Bangalore when waiters would nudge me at 10:30 asking for our last order :/)

Anyway, we decided to go to Flamme Bois Bistro, which was a very popular hangout for the people of Chandigarh (or so I’ve been told). The restaurant looked very nice, like your typical café given a classy makeover. It was well-lit, there was good music being played and the aromas from the kitchen filled the air.

Despite being a late Saturday night, the place was only half-full. We didn’t mind though. We managed to get a table and looked through the menus. When we were ready to place our order, we were frantically waving to every server around, but everybody ignored us. By ignore, I don’t mean that they didn’t see/missed us. but they saw us and never came upto us. Finally, one of the servers lazily came up to us and took our order. (I’m very glad that we placed our entire order at one go, I can’t imagine multiple scenarios like this)

First up, came my Chicken Hawaiian Salad. The chicken was tender, tossed in mayo with other veggies and chunks of pineapple and served in a pineapple boat. This was one of the best salads that I’ve ever tried. The salad was very refreshing and delicious, and it was also a decently large option. It earned brownie points for the unique presentation as well.

Next, my friend, a regular here, ordered the Chicken Wings, which were supposed to be a specialty here. The wings were de-lish-ious. Really. The meat was soft and warm and coated in this wonderful honey soy sauce with a slight hint of chilli that made these wings delectable. My only grouse was all that honey made our hands very sticky and made for a not-so-pretty sight.

My sister then ordered the Pan Seared Fish with Lemon Butter Sauce for the mains and I ordered a veggie pizza. The fish was lightly browned on the outside and cooked to perfection on the inside. It was seasoned just right and the lemon butter sauce wasn’t too overly lemon-y either (I’ve tasted horribly sour lemon butter sauces at some fine restaurants). The accompanying mash and veggies paired well with the fish. 

The pizza I ordered was a simple Tomato and Mushroom pizza. The pizza tasted great and the thin crust was nice and yum. I generally prefer pizzas with fewer toppings so that I can enjoy their taste more rather than overfilling them with every possible topping, and this pizza was perfect in every sense. And extremely filling as well.

My friend finally finished with ordering the Blueberry Pie, another signature dish. I wasn't the biggest fan of the pie's texture as it was VERY crumbly and dissolved the moment my spoon touched it. The blueberry preserve was sickeningly sweet and neither of us could finish it (despite having ordered only one portion for four people). My friend concluded that it was one of their worst desserts so far, and ruined an otherwise great meal. We concurred.

During the course of us  devouring dishes, we were trying desperately to reach out to the waiters for water, seasonings, sauces, etc. Every request was simply ignored and while the water finally came 15 minutes later, I had taken the cutlery, seasonings and sauces from an empty table next to mine. Let me add that the waiter standing by the side saw me do this and didn’t come forward to help.

Also, the place was only half-full, and many of the waiters were just standing by doing nothing and ignoring a lot of customer requests. I failed to understand this complete nonchalance, and thought it was outright rude and insulting. When the bill came, I noticed that there was a 10% service charge (in addition to the VAT and service tax). I told the waiter that I didn’t want to pay the service charge as I didn’t like it and asked him if he could cancel it. He said that it was compulsory and that I had to pay. I told him that it was compulsory for him to have given me good service.

A minute later, the owner came over to my table and said in his most indifferent tone “Service charge is compulsory, but if you didn’t like the service, don’t pay it”. So I didn’t. I was also surprised with the fact that the owner didn’t bother finding out what went wrong or had even the slightest hint of apology while telling me that I didn’t need to pay it. Anyway, what’s done is done. I would request all of you to carefully check the service charge, NOT the tax while dining out. Speak to the management if you didn’t receive good service. I think customers should be allowed to pay what they deem fit depending upon the service they received. This kind of ‘forced tipping’ is not something I enjoy.

Food – 8/10

Ambience – 9/10

Service – 0/10

Overall verdict – Go for the food, and maybe a takeaway might be a good option :)

Have you had a similar experience at a restaurant? I would love to hear about it! Do leave a comment!

Manali Food-love!

So, I spent the whole of last week touring northern parts of India - Delhi, Chandigarh, Shimla, Kasauli and Manali to be precise. While the weather and hilly roads messed up my system, I loved gorging on all of the street food available. It wasn't something that you see typically down south - Paani Puris, Bhel Puri, Idlis, etc. and spanned across a lot more dishes. So here's just a photo blog from some of the food sightings up north. Enjoy! :)

P.S. Do excuse the image quality. All the pictures were taken on my phone with shivering hands.

Delicious Aloo Tikkis at Kasauli - Perfectly crisp on the outside and soft on the inside.

 Gulab Jamuns at Narinder Sweet House in Kasauli that are world famous! The jamuns were soft, warm and delicious!

Himachal is a great place for Indianized sandwiches. They put anything between bread and serve it. This was a Samosa burger. Which was soft, crispy, spicy and yummy! :)

Bread Pakoras are something to fall in love with. Sandwiches stuffed with  spicy masala potatoes and veggies and a big slab of paneer in between are coated in Besan and deep fried. Yum!

You get different versions of Pav Bhaji all across India. This one was a lot spicier and had lesser onions and more potatoes.

Apparently, my love for Aloo Tikkis can never end. I spotted some more, and I ate some more.

We'd like one spicy chicken, please. Grilled, not hung.

You'll discover plenty of Gulab Jamun guys every 200 metres on Mall Road in Manali, and I insist that you try these wonderful jamuns!

And finally, I managed to find Tuna Kimbap in Manali, for only Rs.150 as well. De-lish!

So, that's some of the pictures I managed to shoot and try during my trip up north. Is there any delicacy that I may have missed? Do respond in your comments below! :)

Monkey Bar - Break'first' Edition!

There has been so much hulabaloo since Monkey Bar launched its breakfast that I figured it's about time I visited the place (we Bangaloreans get more than a little happy when you club breakfast and bar in one sentence). So my sister, a friend and I decided to indulge in this Break'first' (as Monkey Bar calls it) on a Saturday morning, hoping we'd get a quiet table for our conversations and some good food.

The Break'first' Menu

The breakfast menu at Monkey Bar is only served on weekends and alcohol is served past 10:30 a.m.. Pretty cool, eh? My sis started off the meal by ordering the one egg dish she swears by pretty much everywhere - the Eggs Benedict - poached egg and ham on an English muffin topped with plenty of Hollandaise sauce. What's not to love? :)

I simply couldn't flaw the Eggs Benedict, honestly. The eggs were perfect and the Hollandaise sauce was just right - not too sour nor too 'eggy'. My sister found the bread a little harder than it should have, but it seemed just like the texture of that of the typical English muffin bread. Though there were only two poached eggs, they were quite filling.

My friend next ordered the Pandi Curry (which seemed so 'off' from the typical Monkey Bar-esque menu). The pork was really tender and well spiced, though there wasn't so much of a curry with it. The Pandi Curry was served with warm Pita pockets. While the pork tasted good, I couldn't have more than a few bites of it because it wasn't something as a 'breakfast' dish for me. It was not a 10 am thing for me (bacon is totally an all-day thing for me, btw). My sister and my friend seemed to share no such problem though.

Pandi Curry with Pita Bread

I didn't find the menu too extensive, so I decided to play it safe and order a sandwich instead. I was suggested the Croque Monkey by the server, which was a cheesy-gooey ham and Emmenthal cheese sandwich. My expectation of this signature sandwich was quite high, and I was mighty disappointed when the dish did arrive. I didn't find the punch of the Emmenthal or the moistness of the ham and it had zero seasoning. It was extremely vapid in flavour and was nothing more than a bland ham-and-cheese sandwich. This was served with Mustard Potatoes and fresh Baked Beans. I really liked the potatoes, they were flavourful and not too pungent. But that's the only thing I liked about this dish. To top it off, this sandwich is priced at Rs.295 which is ridiculously expensive for a simple sandwich.

The boring Croque Money

We were quite full by this time, but decided to try their much talked about signature Red Velvet Waffles with cream cheese and almond praline. These officially are the best waffles I've ever had in my life. I'm not kidding. The waffles were literally velvety soft and the cream cheese and almond praline added a brilliant dimension of sweet and sour flavours with soft and crunchy textures. We topped this generously with maple syrup, and it tasted orgasmic. It elevated us to such a happy high state that we just wanted to sit there and not move and savour every last bit of that taste.

YUM Red Velvet Waffles!

Overall, it was a very pleasant breakfast, service was highly courteous and the music was awesome as always. It's a great place to head to dig into a breakfast to cure that hangover. Our total bill (all of the above items + an orange juice and a side of bacon) came up to Rs.1860, which was quite expensive for 3 people. The endless breakfast buffet at Taj Vivanta costs Rs.700 per head, just saying.

Food - 8/10
Service - 9/10
Ambience - 8/10
VFM - 5/10
Final Verdict - Definitely go for the waffles, and ensure you're all Ka-chinged up! :)

Blimey!

I'd like to start by saying that this review is not entirely about Blimey, but about an event that I attended there. (and yes, some food was served as well)

I love that name, Blimey! Largely because it reminds me so much of all the dialogues in the Harry Potter books, that, uh, let's not go there, I won't stop. So, yes, Blimey! The gastropub is HUGE and can easily seat more than a hundred people. It's decently well-lit, so takes away the charm from a pub for me.

Blimey! played host to the Foursquare Day and the event was executed by Wooplr (a social discovery platform where people share and discover lifestyle purchases in fashion, decor and food). Hard-core Foursquare users turned up, to network and celebrate the event with gusto, and I can be honest, I turned up for the free food (I'm a food blogger, should this really come as a surprise?)

The event kicked off with a whiskey-tasting session (yeah, you missed that, HA!) which was hosted by Tommy McCready. He is the official brand ambassador for Jameson Whiskey and he loves giving these 'educative' sessions around the city about Jameson and whiskey in general. I tried the Jameson whiskey for the very first time in my life, and kinda liked it too. I tried the scotch next, which I thought was abysmal. And finally, the American whiskey, which turned out to be my favourite of the lot.Turns out, the Scotch was actually Johnny Walker's Red Label and the American Whiskey was Jack Daniel's.

Having quickly downed my whiskey(s), the steady stream of starters came about and a sense of euphoria finally swept through me (I just get really excited with food). The first starter was Lamb Meatballs served with mayonnaise. The lamb was actually really soft and subtly spiced and made for an excellent starter. To appease to the vegetarians, we were next served with Corn and Cheese Nuggets. The sweet corn and all of that creamy, stringy cheese made this an orgasmic starter. Like, really.

Lamb Meatballs

Corn and Cheese Nuggets

This was followed with Chicken and Cheese crostinis that were delicious. They weren't smothered in cheese like I would have liked them to be, but tasted good nevertheless. The chicken had a nice spiced hint to it and the bread was crunchy, yet bite-able. Many restaurants end up serving Bruschetta/Crostinis with bread so hard that would give you a toothache when you bite into them.

Chicken and Cheese Crostini

Then came the delectable Pork Ribs which I was grateful for (pork is my favourite meat). The sauce was absolutely delightful (but also had that store-bought BBQ sauce taste) but the texture of the meat was a total let-down. The meat should have been far more tender and have that wonderful fluffy, fat bits. Unfortunately, the meat was a lot tougher and seemed dry. The sauce more than made up for it though.

Pork Ribs

Finally, another veggie starter was brought about (I feel bad for vegetarians anyway, but just TWO veggie dishes seemed like open discrimination to me). These were simply fried potato wedges, lightly salted with a dash of herbs. Nothing to write home about. The final starter was a herby green chicken served with Thousand Island sauce, which like the potatoes, lacked a strong flavour, and wasn't highly memorable as such.

Potato Wedges

Herby Chicken

The service was swift, and courteous. Every server had a smiling face and patiently waited for me to take food photographs (you see, there were ALL bloggers in the house armed with cameras the size of their heads). And the ambience created for a nice place to catch up with large groups of friends. The view of the metro and MG Road makes it pleasant too.

This isn't entirely an honest review of Blimey, as this event was pre-planned and there were only a certain number of starters that I did try, so I'm not going to rate it. I did want to share the experience of trying out their food though, hence this blog post. Hope you enjoyed it! :) For more info on Wooplr, this event, and pictures from the event, you can click here. You can also follow my foodie recommendations on Wooplr here.

P.S. My blog is officially one month old. Yay! Thanks for all the love! :)

Shiro

As part of the Citibank Restaurant Week India, my sister decided to book a table at Shiro, one of Bangalore's favourite pan Asian restaurants. Restaurant Week was started in 2010, and the concept revolves around offering a 3 or 4-course meal for Rs.999 or less (excluding taxes) at each city's top fine dining restaurants. The idea is to reach a larger customer base who could enjoy a restaurant's signature delicacies at insider pricing.

We went as a group of 4 and booked a table for a Sunday night dinner. We chose the fine dining area instead of the outdoor area as the weather in Bangalore is currently very torrid and humidity is the last thing we wanted to deal with. The first thing that will strike you about Shiro when you enter is the massive Buddha sculpture that is suspended majestically which lends the restaurant an eery omnipresence. Also present were other equally large sculptures and some carvings, that make you marvel at the architecture and interiors.

The Restaurant Week menu was limited for us to choose any one dish from each course of the 4-course menu provided. Since there were 4 of us, we had an advantage of ordering a unique dish each and sampling each one of the highlighted dishes. We started off our meal by ordering the Chili Lemon Soup with Chicken, Thai Kwai Soup with seafood and an Apple Tomato Cinnamon Soup. The Thai Kwai soup was lovely, and fully loaded with prawns and crab meat. The Chili Lemon Soup with chicken tasted like a pot of comforting spicy, chicken tea, if I'm making any sense. It was delicious and the flavour was beautifully strong. The Apple soup disappointed me largely. It was sweet, which was expected, but it had a thick consistency of that of a curry and tasted like those typical ketchupy water soups.

The appetizer menu was extensive and we ordered the Fish in Chili Mustard Sauce, Thai Grilled Prawns with Wasabi Mayo, New York Maki Rolls and Tuna Mayo Sushi. The fish was cooked perfectly, was tender and the flavours of chilli and mustard were nailed with this appetizer. The prawns lacked a bit of seasoning for me, but that delicious Wasabi Mayo more than made up for it (we used it for dipping everything after that).

Fish in Chili Mustard Sauce

Thai Grilled Prawns with Wasabi Mayo

I have one word for the New York Maki. Orgasmic. Really. I can't describe the party in my mouth that I experienced when I popped that sushi in. I would probably go back to Shiro just to try this again. The Tuna Mayo Sushi was equally good, and it was wrapped with a thin sheet of cucumber. With the mayo and cucumber, this was very fresh, but not as good as the Maki for me.

New York Maki

Tuna Mayo Sushi

For the mains, options were pretty limited. We ordered the Chicken Laksa and Fish Laksa accompanied with Japanese steamed rice, and the Indonesian Grilled Chicken with Avocado Salsa and Grilled Chicken with Citrus Tamarind Glaze, accompanied with Hibachi Rice and Yaki Udon Noodles. The Fish Laksa was yum and paired beautifully with the steamed rice. The Chicken Laksa didn't fare that as well as the Fish Laksa for me. We found the  Indonesian Grilled Chicken a little too dry and lacking in terms of zing and flavour. The avocado salsa seemed to have been added as an afterthought and we didn't find much of avocado in it anyway.

Indonesian Grilled Chicken with Avocado Salsa

The Grilled Chicken with Citrus Tamarind Glaze was nice and tender and the tanginess of the tamarind with the acidity of the citrus made for a wonderful marriage of flavours. The meat was also moist and was served with charred corn kernels that had a nutty sweetness along with that 'burnt' flavour riding through them.

Grilled Chicken with Citrus Tamarind Glaze

By the time we reached our final course, we were pretty stuffed, but we always have room for a little dessert ;) Their dessert menu is strangely only full of chocolate based desserts, which doesn't leave much for the non-chocolate lovers (yes, they do exist). Strange. There were only two options for us in our set menu and we ordered one of each - the Velvet Chocolate Cake and the Coconut Pecan Tart with chocolate chips.

Coconut Pecan Tart

The Velvet Chocolate Cake was just as described - soft and velvety. It had a nice consistency and a texture that simply dissolved in your mouth. And once that velvety softness melted, crunchy butterscoth bits are a mouthy surprise, and added great texture to this dish. Everyone loved this. The Coconut Pecan Tart was not too sweet and had that nice dessicated coconut taste running through. The chocolate chips and pecan nuts brought out a new dimension, but I would have liked more textures - I would have liked the filling more soft and molten on a crunchy tart. Flavour wise, I liked the tart more. Consistency wise, the cake fared better.

Velvet Chocolate Cake

This 4-course meal with the Restaurant Week offer, costed us Rs. 980 per head (inclusive of taxes) and was totally worth it.

Food - 9/10
Service - 8/10
Ambience - 11/10
Verdict - Sushi it up!

I would definitely go back to Shiro's for a Sushi overload, and possibly when the next Restaurant Week happens :)