I normally do not like to order pizzas from Pizza hut as home delivery, however the family has always ordered and last Friday, the urge to order in after an exhausting day was extremely strong.

So I was designated as the order giver, with specific instructions. Called up Pizza Hut.

PH: Thank you for calling…………
ME: Hello, my number is 26xxxxxx and I would like to place an order please.
PH: Sorry sir our systems are down, may I have your address please.
ME: Can you please take my order
PH: Sorry sir, our systems are down, may I have your address
ME: Sure, but can you first take my order
PH: May I have your address
ME: Of course, I’ll provide that since you would need to deliver, however take my order down.
PH: Your address
ME: (Sternly raising my voice) Young man, Please take the order and then ask for the address.
PH: OK, as you wish
ME: ABC pizza; xyz bread; what is the offer of the day etc…..& I have xxx coupon
PH: Ok sir, your address please
ME: *deeply sighing* 111, abcde, mmnop, opp. aaa,
PH: Sorry sir, our system shows that this address is in Goregaon on the link road.
ME: That must be the same building name, but I do not stay there
PH: No Sir, your address in our system is there only.
ME: (Beginning to lose my cool) Young man, on one hand your system is not working, so that you cannot accept my telephone number; on the other hand, when I am providing my address, you say it is listed in another suburb altogether.
Can I speak to your superior.
PH: Yes Sir, but can I have your correct address.

I disconnected and ordered from my neighborhood shetty - delivery time - 15 minutes.

And this is where the story ends, MNC, high expectations, let down and by the by did not even bother to call back, but I guess ‘Why bother with a person, who is not a regular, does not know his address?’ How about you? Have you had a similar experience? Do share it.

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

Passing by the road, saw Rolling Beans had been replaced with a more sedate color and a new name, but looked still in the opening stage.

A week later, on a Sunday, decided to try it out, thinking it was a south indian restaurant. We walked in to a warm place, with just 2 tables occupied, one of them complaining about delay in service. But consoled ourselves 1) It was still early - around 7 pm 2) new place, teething troubles, hence took a seat.

Looked through the menu and were pleasantly surprised with the menu which was a mix of gujarati and rajasthani. Being a sunday evening, decided to try out some light eats and hence went with Bhel (quite a nice taste, though they gave us sukkha bhel); Khapoli vada (excellent preparation, yummy, with just the thin batter coat like the gujarati vadas); Patra ( good taste, a tad oily) Dal dhokli ( ok taste, not really the gujarati kind, but a thicker combination) finally topping it up with methi thepla (excellent, thin, gujarati style with the right amount of masala.

And, yes the service was excellent, more tables filled up quickly too. Whilst waiting for the desserts, unfortunately they did not have the kulfi, the young owner Bhakti came to chat up and take feedback, which gave me an opportunity of giving my marketing gyan:)

A good place with bit of teething problem, given the fact that it is just couple of weeks old, but a must visit.

Address: One, Aram Nagar, J.P. Road, 7 Bungalows,
Andheri (W), Mumbai Tel: 9819032132

A book by a doctor from Ranchi…most likely autobiographical, nothing to write about, more like a B minus bollywood movie.

Begins well and then loses its plot, meandering towards it’s closure of 450 pages.

The only reason I ordered was the deal on flipkart and my enthusiasm to see if Indian authors are making the cut.

After passing by the store number of times, I decided to finally check it out.

Walked in around 8 pm on a rainy Thursday and was attended by a friendly staff who shared some taste and knowledge freely with me.

Tasted bite sized Chocobons etc found them extremely succulent, sinful and can give an instant sugar high.Decided to go ahead with the most popular (by way of requirement) Chocobon which was actually a bribe for my colleagues at work the next day.

They come in a box of 4 (unfortunately only one flavor) or a box of 9 (three flavors).

Also picked up a packet of Cinnabon stix 8pc which were kind of bread twisty with sugar coating.

All in all a worth adversary to Mad over Donuts though not as much variety.

Address: Cinnabon, Shop No. 1; Sagarika Hsg Society, Opp. Ramada, Juhu, Tel: 66716789/66716784

A place that had been hearing a lot about from friends; but was always avoiding thanks to not being really a music lover, so to say.

Finally Dharmesh a permanent forced me to land up one day a couple of months ago.

Landed up, paid the cover charge and went in, to be hit by a blast of air conditioning and music.

Had a couple of beers, an old fashioned & some french fries & left by 9 pm.

The next time around went when some football match was playing, tried it again.

Skipped the beer, since had like the old fashioned earlier, went straight for it accompanied by some mini burgers and assorted platter of veggie stuff.

Tried their Mojito also, which was good and so now can really conclude:

They make some of the best cocktails in town, finger food is good, whilst may not really be a place to try out for dinner; music & sound is good.

Will definitely recommend and visit again for an old fashioned:)

Mathuradas Mills Compound,
Opposite Kamala Mills Compound,
Entrance from Tulsi Pipe Road,
Lower Parel, Mumbai
Tel : 61586158, 65251716, 4033230

A place in Raghuvanshi mills, right opposite our office, but had never got a chance to visit the place, till a friend from Bangalore popped over.

Off we went, took a professional look at The Good Earth store and then climbed up the stairs. Loved the old warehouse feel & look of the place. A blast of chilled air with variety of perfumes hit us as soon as we entered the place, looked like all the SoBo ladies had decided to have their Kitty parties that day.

Got a table quickly and ordered a glass of red and some bruschettas, whilst reading through the menu.

We ordered the Paprika dusted grilled chicken - creamy, mildly garlicky with potato wedges. The chicken was soft & succulent, worth trying. A Chicken sandwich which was just perfect, with tomato and mascarpone cheese risotto which was more or less okay, but needed some chilly flakes & Tabasco.

All in all a good couple of hours spent over lunch. And that reminds me, that I had promised my wife that I would take her there.

Raghuvanshi Mills Compound,
Lower Parel, Mumbai
Tel 65285284, 24951954

A couple of days back my Man @b50 sent a despair that the soup I had tweeted was not available and I had promised him that, if not the same, similar soup would be available in Lower Parel.

The Mumbai Deli is one such place. Whilst we have only ordered from here twice, it is good food at reasonable prices. It’s a small place with 3/4 tables, bright cheerful with Khsitij one of the partners available to help you out.

Besides trying out the soups (which were pretty okay) we tried out No 27 Lebanese Pita Sandwich which was an good healthy option (compared to the so called Lebanese food I’ve tasted in Bombay) No 32 Jalapeno Cilantro Mayo Chicken Sandwich - again pretty good with mayo not creamy or sweet but just right & No 36 Spicy Italian Panini which everyone enjoyed.

We have this on our regular list.

Madhav Bhavan (Next to Jai Hind)
Opp. Kamala Mills
Lower Parel Mumbai

Tel: 65293154/156

On a recent visit to Hyderabad, spending time at the airport, chanced upon Indian authors and picked up some books out of which two ‘The Young Turks’ & ‘Delhi Durbar’ by Krishna Pratap Singh; The Betelnut Killers by Manisha Lakhe; The Game Changers by Fake IPL player.

In terms of grading, the books are no literary marvels, however the ones by Krishna Pratap Singh were worth the money paid.

They are well written, the characters being brought alive & you can recognize the tongue in cheek references to the past & current crop of politicians as well as the incidences referred to. They lighten your mind and the author manages to entertain the masses.

The Betelnut Killers by Manisha Lakhe is a mish mash of American Born Confused Desi with decently etched characters which neither entertains, but you just suffer through the laborious story.

The Game Changer is just a rehash of last year’s blog, but shows how Perception is different from reality. Better books than this have sunk without a trace whilst this is supposed selling well.

It is good to see that there are numerous Indian writers coming up and writing over a plethora of topics. Now only if enough Indian readers read:)

Disclaimer: This comparison is from purely a customer perspective & neither airline or any other airline paid for my tickets.

After a long time, I had an opportunity to fly on SpiceJet & IndiGo thanks to the organization who had invited me & booked the tickets.

I flew IndiGo Bombay - Goa whilst Goa - Bombay - Chennai was by SpiceJet whereas Chennai - Bombay was by IndiGo.

The parameters on which I evaluated both of them were Baggage Handling, Check in, Transport, Seats, Service, Food, Flight

Baggage Handling - Both airlines were good, given the fact that space & other restrictions

Check In - SpiceJet was good in Goa, whereas in Bombay was not energetic enough. Allotted seat was different from the one asked for & confirmed. Information about Flight Delay was not forthcoming at both places. And the refrain was “Due to incoming flight coming late”
IndiGo was Perfect from both Bombay & Chennai, polite, seat allocation was perfect & Flight on time both ways.

Transport - The IndiGo buses were new, better, height of step perfect, a great help for those with knee trouble & old people. Another excellent aspect was the stairs to the aircraft, they actually had a ramp instead of stairs - very easy & convenient. SpiceJet buses were nice, but wonder if they were expecting floods everyday, since the height was very much, though in Goa there was a additional wooden step kept that helped. But the stairs, I presume were rental from Airport were horrible.

Seat & Service - Seats were equally good in both, as was inflight service. IndiGo offers water from a Jug in a glass, whilst SpiceJet offers a bottle & though having heard about water being refused a second time, this was not the case at all.

Food - The quality of food was good on both airlines, however IndiGo offered more variety, whilst SpiceJet offered discount if booked along with the ticket, which was a good idea

Flight - This was good on both airlines, with competent crew, aircrafts and all.

IndiGo gets my vote & edges SpiceJet due to On Time flight, small extras such as the bus, ramp which is welcome.