Nearly a fortnight ago, I was surprised to receive a mail from Puneet Gupta, the author of ‘The Suicide Banker’ telling me about himself, and that he had read some reviews of mine on my blog.

Coincidentally, I had been surfing my current favorite book store - Flipkart.com and was on an Indian author trip and had already ordered his book.

Read the rest of this entry »

It was a Sunday, some weeks ago, a rare day when we decided to meet up with friends for some drinks and dinner.

Gathering at a friends place, after a couple of drinks, the usual questions of ‘What shall we order? Where shall be order from?’ arose and D said let’s try our China 1 but they don’t deliver, but since everyone was in agreement, somebody would go an pick it up.

However, I prevailed on everyone to go there and eat, especially since, I was trying it out for the first time and wanted to check out the ambience, service et all. Read the rest of this entry »

I had visited this more than a year ago for drinks and had liked it. We had been planning to go out for brunch and decided to try it out, as it came recommended by a couple of other friends. We made bookings for 12 by Saturday evening.

On reaching there Sunday afternoon, the place was crowded and the desk was puzzled with our reservations. The manager had no clue, whilst the waiter ‘Vikram’ tried to ask somebody to vacate/move so that our party could be accommodated. The reason given was that a lot of these tables were filled with “SnapDeal” offers. Read the rest of this entry »

Suhas & Deepa Awhcat trio of restaurants came to Lokhandwala, in their usual band baja style with a barrage of leaflets, that impressed the wife so much that she decided “We need to try this out” No amount of persuasion works (as I’ve learnt over the years to my detriment).

So one fine evening, off we went, to an evening of Yo Yo….. Valet was yawning away to glory, but ran up and collected the car, on entering the gate, were stopped as if terrorist were about to strike and asked ‘Do you have a reservation’ I said No, but are you really full? because one could see empty tables. One of their senior person walked up and asked “What’s your mobile number?” On being asked Why? the response was “In case you forget something here, we would need to call you” No thanks and we were whisked inside ‘downstairs or upstairs’ came next, with us opting for downstairs. Read the rest of this entry »

I had earlier blogged about my problem with Costa Coffee here

After sending a text & reminder to their CEO Virag Joshi who promised action, it took them more than a week to remove the offending part of tile. Post this their Regional Head Kaushik called up to invite me to visit them again etc. Being in no mood to entertain, I had however promised that if and when I felt like it, would visit one of their cafe and contact him.

Finally, on a store visit last week at Inorbit Malad, waiting for someone to arrive, decided to have coffee at Costa. Ordered my regular and gave my card for payment, telling the person at the cash, that someone would be joining me soon. I was told that they would collect it together.

After we had finished, went to settle at the cash, but was informed that I would have to pay cash, which normally should not have been an issue, however had used up most of the cash for fuel earlier. When I expressed helplessness, was told that somebody would accompany me to the ATM for withdrawl, which was a no starter, on account of not having an ATM card.

This is when the two young lads - Sunil & Aasif - won my heart ” Sir, don’t worry, please settle next time when you visit” Mind you, I am NOT a regular at Inorbit Malad.

The friend who was meeting me turned up & I quickly borrowed and settled the due, besides writing a note for Kaushik.

Same company, different locations, different service, how does a brand target & maintain consistency?

I remember this place from the late 1980’s but somehow missed visiting her even when I was based out of Ahmedabad, and on subsequent regular visits.

A couple of months ago, on a visit for a friend’s daughter’s wedding committed myself to trying out the pizzas.

So one evening pushed my friends to visit the place. Hordes & hordes of Amdavadi’s were gorging away as if it was already 2012.

Keeping in mind there were 25+ people at home for which we had to pack, we decided to partake one on the spot, whilst the packing was happening.

Biscuit bhakri, soft with veggie toppings, cheese and in less time than Domino or Pizza Hut can roll out the dough, we were biting into it.

The Italians, and so called connoisseurs would never understand - the gravy/sauce; toppings; cheese but then Hey, what do they know about life!

A full value for money place and must visit, if you are in Ahmedabad.

Century Bazaar, Ambawadi,
Ahmedabad
Phone: 26407525

I have been hearing about this for a long time and had been wanting to give it a try, but BKC is not a place that I need to visit regularly.

However an opportunity arose last week. After enjoying Jagjit Singh mehfil in MMRDA decided to try out CPK (as California Pizza Kitchen is more popularly known).

Though located at the corner, signage is a problem, so much so that had to tweet/send BBM to get direction and finally reach there, passing thru security (maybe carrying pizza hut menu?).

Walking in, the first thing hit me was - Noise - sounded like a matunga shetty joint or definitely a McD. Being led to our table realized the noise level was due to yuppie parties going on - all youngsters with a candian-ireland-USA-gujju/panju/tamil (take your pick) accent.

Settled down, the water (after the usual mineral or regular) was quick. And then the patience was tested……

The servers floated around, not meeting eyes, gathered near the side table, rushed everywhere like wanting to catch the virar fast at 6.04 pm. Politely, said excuse me a couple of times (No response, maybe my accent less English could not be understood). On the verge of giving up, when my wife called in a stern tone (similar to when she uses with me, when I screw up) and boom, service began.

We ordered a Fresh Lime Soda (no liquor because that would take time) which was not too fizzy, Margherita Pizza (my test at every pizza place - because if they cannot make that then they should not be in business. This barely passed muster); Spaghetti in garlic sauce (nice, with actually taste of garlic flowing thru, not too runny) and Sandwich Salad (Ok, sandwich was not too good, salad better, but could have done with better dressing). Since this took a lot of time & we had to reach home before midnight (daughter’s birthday) we carried a chocolate banana cake (very good, but still not something I would travel all the way for)

They have a service charge for the ‘Service’ too.

To sum it up - Nothing out of the ordinary, since the area does not have anything similar, so will do well. Does not seem vegetarian friendly. Personally would not go all the way, would prefer visiting pizza hut.

3 North Avenue, Maker Maxity,
Old Drive in Theatre
Bandra Kurla Complex, Bandra (E), Mumbai
Phone: 65588888, 65606560

I had meaning to go to this place, irrespective of the thrashing it had been receiving for service, attitude and at times food also.

So gathered a friend, his son & my father in law as guinea pigs landed up one sunday afternoon.

It was around 12.30 and we were the first people there, so the service was prompt and efficient. After looking at the menu, we decided to go the whole hog ordering everything that looked nice.

Mutton galawti kebabs (excellent, soft and just the thing with onions & roti), kakori kebabs (excellent with roomali roti), wrap mutton sheek (good but can be avoided if ordering other kebabs) along with the healthy whole wheat roomali rotis.

This was followed up by Machli lasooni tikka (amazingly moist, succulent); murgh golmirch kebab (very good with the tikka just done right & spices seeping thru), Haleem (can definitely give Paradise in Hyderabad a run for their money) and Nihari ghost (I did not taste this personally, but the orgasmic look on the face of others told me how good it was). This was followed by the Dum ghost lucknowi biryani which was again excellent, though personally I prefer the calcutta version of biryani myself:).

By this time we were stuffed completely with no place for anything else. However, my friend has a sweet tooth and wanted to try the shahi tukda, but the captain & server were persuasive enough to push - shahi tukda, zaafrani malai phirni and Jaamun - o - gul which was ecstasy personified.

We left fully satiated with promises of coming back. Whilst I have not had the time to do so, we have definitely ordered during the recent India vs England match and the service as well food was superb.

Shop No. 4 & 5, Building 25, Linkway Society,
New Link Road, Near Oshiwara Police Station,
Oshiwara, Andheri (W), Mumbai
Phone: 64539951, 64539952, 64539953, 64539954

A month or so ago, I had either received a tweet or mail from Abhay Nagarajan, wondering if I had read the above mentioned book.

Frankly, it was of no interest to me and had forgotten, till last week, looking for a book on flipkart saw the book and price (Rs. 100/-) ordered it along with Witness the Night by Kishwar Desai The Premier Murder League by Geeta Sunder.

Aha, well back to the afore mentioned book. A sort of poor @sidin about investment counselor from two tier B school and his boss, with too much jargon and extremely thin story line, trying to encash on the so called ‘market melt down’

Personally, I think it should have had a better story line, with less jargon and more humane touch.

Also for me the fact, that everyone wants to write, manage to write publish is ‘courage to follow your dreams and realise them’ is cheers time.

And hey, it may probably work for that age group, B school people, with a great price point.

I had heard that Crystal had opened in Lower Parel, having had to shut down at Chowpatty due to redevelopment or lease expiry.

Last fortnight en route to work, saw the board and decided to try it out, but did not know the number, so tweeted about it and promptly someone provided the number.

Called them up, ordered Paneer bhurji, jeera aloo, chapatti, mix raita for a couple of us. The delivery was prompt, less than 30 minutes.

The aroma took me back years to my first job, where Crystal used to be the place. The food was very good and either they do make all of it with less oil or they listen when they are told.

The jeera aloo was just right - crispy, tadka, spicy; whilst the bhurji had a nice bambaiya punjabi taste, whilst the chappati’s were actually phulkas.

The second time around Chana Masala, Paneer Masala & Dal Fry with chappati were ordered and the same service, taste remained.

My colleagues tried out Kheer & went orgasmic over it too.

So, if you have your office in Lower Parel, want some good ghar ka khana then Crystal is your best bet.

Address: Shop No 2, Building, A Shinde Building Compound,
Next to Phoenix Towers, S. B. Marg, Lower Parel, Mumbai
Phone: 24990099, 24990077, 9820512551