Yesterday morning a friend from the Press, made my day by sending this lovely photograph early in the morning.

Opening Ceremony BWSL Mumbai Ishtyle

This has been tweeted, long hard & fast….renamed PeeLink etc.

Having been meaning to visit the Speciality Mall Ishanya managed to do so on the recent visit to Pune.

A lovely Mall, with ample of space, set in one end of Pune near the golf course is a very nice piece of architecture. And there ends the good things.

Some points that one notices….

• Directions are a bit vague if you go from any other road
• Security is a bit lackadaisical
• Lots of Parking
• Mall seems to be only 1/3 full

Desperation seems to be evident, because renting out the space in the atrium to churan stalls & some low competition is just not happening.

Yes, the recession can be blamed but there is a lot of catchment driven activity that the mall authorities need to undertake now especially to make it happen for the tenants.

Saturday evening in Viman nagar, Pune - absolutely not happening & had to wait to pickup my daughter from Symbiosis test.

With a bit of asking around on twitter, found Zara - The Tapas Bar.

Directions were a bit lopsided, however reached there quickly. Drizzling, we were happy to find parking, peaceful with OK music, something we were looking for.

Zara, the chennai based new Spanish restaurant, tries to look exactly like you expect with photos of matadors, flamenco dancers adorn the walls. Menu pretty nice, but not quite there, maybe we did not order extensively though it serves nachos, lasagna, Stroganoff. Service was attentive without being intrusive.

We ordered Queso Frito Con Salsaq Pica; Vegetable Nachos & found all of them equally good.

A total of Rs. 1300/- for all of this.

AND yes definitely on my to visit place when in Pune

Lunkad Skycruise , Near Symbiosis International School, Off New Airport Road, Viman Nagar, Pune Tel:40159511

A lovely location; right across the road from Gold Adlabs, is a fairly large place, but the AC section is comparatively small.

Standard Shetty stuff with quick service. Tried out a bit of south indian & north indian.

The mocktails were pretty decent to begin with, but the starters were not too happening. The rava sada dosa was crisp, with good chutney & hot sambhar.

The Amritsari Chole could have been spicier but Dum aloo kashmiri was pretty good. It went just right with pudina & methi paratha.

All in all a nice place to have quick lunch/dinner, but parking can prove to be a nightmare; though the Pay & Park guys can be of help with a tenner.

Fortaleza, Opp. Gold Adlabs, Kalyani Nagar, Pune Tel: 64004965

During my recent visit to Pune, staying in Kalyani Nagar, where I did not see too many restaurants & more so who would do home delivery. However, having seen this a couple of times en route to Symbiosis Campus decided to try it out one night by ordering Home Delivery:

Channa Masala
Lachhedar Paratha
Aloo Cheese Roll
Egg Roll

Delivered in 20 minutes; HOT & amazingly fresh. The order was perfect - where without onions - was remembered, et all.

Try it out because it is surely now on my redial list for my visit to Pune.

Shop No 12, Hermes Paras, Opp Fortaleza, Kalyani Nagar Pune Tel: 020-65226806

A week ago, had Sanjar Imam a foodie friend come over from Bangalore in the afternoon flight, with plans of going to Trident & leaving by the evening flight but wanting to meet up for Lunch.

After exploring but deciding against the usual suspects, decided to try Masalacraft out - in the worst case - Candies is right next door:)

But turned out to be quite a surprise - Not too full at 1.30pm also, we quickly got a table, ordered F/L soda & water, which was served quick enough.

On perusing the Menu, decided to try out starters, main course together as we were short of time. So we ordered

1) Afghani Fish TIkka
2) Burrah Kabab
3) Murgh Lahori
4) Naan & Laccha Paratha

All of them were extremely delicious….in fact as my friend said, it was a long time since he liked meat, chicken & fish all at the same place & time.

The only regrets:

Service: Needs to be a bit more attentive & this when it is not full.
Ambiance: Afternoon had some lovebirds & a group of ladies imbibing, shouting at the top of their voices. In spite of us & another table requesting, no attempt to speak to them was made.
Time: The lovely starters should have been eaten with beer in the afternoon or nice rum when it’s raining outside, but alas Time did not allow us to do so.

But, return I shall with some more friends….

21-B, Santhal ONGC Complex, Opp. Lilavati Hospital, Bandra West, Mumbai Phone: 26452031/26439239