Chetan Ram is the Man behind this small cart that serves mouth watering Kachori, Samosa and Jalebi every evening between 5pm-10pm. Chetan Ram cames to Bangalore 5yrs back from Jodhpur, where he lived and worked in a chat shop. This cart has been around since 2009. He makes around 100 kachori’s, 60 samosa’s and 5-6kgs of Jalebi’s everyday. Which is totally sold of in 4-5hrs.Fresh Kachori’s being  made in front of out eyes.My chashmish assitant reporter who helped me with this assignment.Small little clean kitchen.Chetan Ram’s Assistant.Chetan Ram busy at work.This is the super star dish that got me to write this blog. I have not had jalebi’s warm crispy and juicy like this one all my life.The fried green chillies that are served with the Kachori.Me with the Master chef.The kachori’s before being fried.Jalebi’s being packed for us.People waiting to ge their share of the yummy yummy bite.I am happy to have discovered a place that serves clean and hygienic kachori, samosa and jalebi’s. Kachori’s and Samosa’s are priced at Rs.15 and Jalebi at Rs.80 per kg. Total value for money. Must visit place for people who live around that place and also for people who will visit Bangalore. The address to this place is :

Rajasthani Kachori samosa centre, gnanabharathi Main Road, Nagarbhavi, Bangalore – 5600072. Opp. Palate Family Restaurant.

Cock Ra co  a must visit place for any person who lives in coimbatore and who looks at visiting coimbatore. As referred by most of the cbeites and kovai foodies visited the place for dinner last night. They have started a new branch at tatabad. I loved the food, never knew that there is  a concept of plain biryani, my niece at cbe introduced me to it and its amazing, when you do not like the big chucks of meat in your biryani, you can enjoy biryani without the pieces and also pay less! so we had the plain mutton biryani. It comes with a gravy and raitha. The chicken 65 was something that jus melted in our mouth. Its been long since I had such food fresh n just made after it was ordered. Roomali roti with gravy amazing. Chicken lollipop unlike other place were its made of chicken wings this was made of nice fleshy leg pieces. Ambiance 9/10, hygiene 9/10.The rates are very moderate and pocket friendly. I will rate it at 4 1/2 out of 5.

Movies at  The  Spring Hotel. I went to this place with zero expectation. I had never heard about this place before, when I planned to go there, I did not get great reviews about the place. I still wanted to go and check for myself. When I entered the restaurant ,I felt I entered a pub, the place has dim lights, I personally love bright light places. Since I reached a bit late I missed on the soup and salad and did not want to go back to having them since I already had a mini dinner somewhere else. I was told by my friends that chicken wings were brilliant and not to miss, so went ahead and order for one. They were right the chicken wings were indeed not to miss, well spiced and well cooked. I also got to have the Bhutteyan Kebab (made of corn and potatoes)  a very good starter for Vegetarians.

The salad dressing was cool, I loved the one which had sundried tomatoes with mayonnaise.  By now the main course had  started flowing, it started with the Zafarani Veg kofta, this had a subtle flavor and was nice and smooth right balance of richness, spice and tinge of sweet , my first main course was excellent and so now my expectation was going up . Next the Veg thai curry Phad Pack Tho had the very authentic Thai flavor, which is not found in many places in Chennai. The chicken Indian curry was not to my liking it was a tad sweet,the kalan Pattani chettinad  (Mushroom peas) was good, but if the garam masala was reduced a little it would have stolen the show. The Kongunattu Irichi was the show stealer, the gravy was nice and very south Indian and the meat was well cooked and soft.  Balti chicken (made of browned onions and tomato as the base) was excellent. The flavor was rich, guess that comes from the browned onion. Blacken Fish was liked by all, this is not a dish that  is commonly found in restaurants in Chennai . The fish was fresh, but a little hard, this would have tasted even better if it was  made with the day’s catch, the marinate was excellent. Next was the Hunan chicken, the chicken were as thin as a noddle, the gravy  was good, it went well with the fried rice.  The main dish that everybody was  early waiting to taste was the Mutton Biryani  and it did not let us down. Excellent Mutton Biryani, with tender meat and nicely spiced, the rice well cooked. We all loved and enjoyed it.

The Finale of the dinner was the dessert. There were quiet a few desserts but my favorites were the baked gulan jamun in Rabri, Roosapoo Gulkand (it’s a ayurvedic dessert with rose petals and pumpkin) and the Banoffee sundae.

I would rate it a good place and pocket friendly too.

One summer evening at Tuscana, Chennai. For a change it was not a big crowd and we got to meet a few new people too. The moment we reached there, Tatva (my 10yr old son) wanted to get his hands on making pizza for himself. While he hurried to make  his Pizza. We got some  Primo Baguette Focacce . Baguette all’Aglio  Mozzarella  (oven baked garlic baguette with Mozzarella) was nice, I like it better then the garlic bread.  The others that we got to taste were – Peperoni e Formaggi with melting Cheese, peppers and green olive. Spinich e Gorgonzola- Cheese, spinach, onion and blue cheese. Pollo Affumucata – smoked chicken, cheese and button mushroom. I loved all these baguette, only I found it to be a little salty and I was told that they use sea salt for all these, not sure, if that’s how it is meant to taste.

We were served Antipasto (meaning of Antipasto – An appetizer typically consisting of olives, anchovies, cheeses, and meats.) Arancini do Riso (saffron infused crispy rice balls with peas and mozzarella cheese on warmed tomato basil with shredded parmesan) The rice balls were nice and crispy from outside and melted in the mouth from inside. Next came the Spiedino Mozzarella (Skewersmof buffalo mozzarella, cherry tomatoes, breaded ricotta balls and crumbed fried zucchini). The Purea di Tonno e Pane Croccante ( Pate of fresh tuna, cream cheese, paprika, lemon and cream served with capers,olives and salad with toasted walnut bread) what makes all these dished so nice and healthy are the fresh vegetables, cheese and herbs that go into making them.

Next we moved to the pizza. Ofcourse I love the one that my son made with Chicken, olives, Zucchini and cheese. My next favorite was  Roma ( Fresh Mozzarella, marinara sauce, oven-dried tomato, prosciutto ham, kalamata olives  and rocket leaves.

Moving on to Pasta I loved the Primavera Verdi e crema allo Zafferano (spring vegetable of zucchini, green peas and asparagus with saffron cream sauce. I thought it was different from the usual white sauce pasta. My all time favorite All Arrabbiata (sauce pasta of tomatoes , flat leafed parsley, crushed garlic, red chilli flakes and extra virgin olive oil with fusilli pasta) The non veg pasta pollo Affumicato con salsa di capperi (smoked chicken breast, cream, pancetta bacon, button mushroom, caper and sun-dried tomato) was just ok for my taste, nothing different.

Moving on to the sweet part of the showcase we moved on to the Dolce which means (Sweetly and softly) We had the most lovely Tiramisu which I have always loved in Tuscana. I think they have the best Tiramisu in town. The Torta soffice di Mele (Italian apple cake with zested lemon and cinnamon served with custard cream sauce) was nice and freshly baked.

Overall the Best showcase with Vipin being the perfect host. Guess they should Restart the weekend breakfast soon.

Pani Puri Recipe

Ingredients

1)   2 Packets of Pani puri (25 puri’s in each packet)

2)   For the filling – Boiled aloo with chat masala OR Soaked Boondi  OR Chopped Onions OR Boiled aloo with soaked and boiled brown channa with chat masala OR white dry peas soaked cooked and sautéed in oil jeera, salt and turmeric powder OR Green Moong Sprouted and lightly steamed (this is what I use for my family- healthy and tasty).

3)   For the Water – 1 ½ bunch of Pudhina (mint leaves), 1 bunch Coriander leaves, 125 gms tamarind, 250 gms grated jaggery, 5- 8 green chilly, 2 tsp Jeera. 1 inch ginger, Black salt 2 tbsp, normal salt according to taste, roasted jeera powder and bay leaf.

Method :

In a plan take the jaggery, tamarind, bay leaf and 3 green chilly slit. Add some water and leave it to cook. After 10-15 minutes take it off the fire and let it cool.

When its cool, remove the bay leaf and slit green chilly from it and with your had sieve the mixture through a strainer.  Keep it aside.

Next clean and wash the mint leaves, coriander leaves, green chilies and ginger. Put all this along with jeera and grind to a chutney consistency. Now have chill ice water ready. Sieve this chutney through a strainer along with cold ice water. Mix the jaggery tamarind paste with this mint chutney. Add powdered black rock salt, jeera powder and normal salt for taste.  Vola its ready to make and eat.

Tip – leave the water in the frezzer for sometime before you are ready to use it.

Ma Tint Tint – Had been planning to go to this place for a month now. Fixed with my friends twice and did not end up going, due to various reason. Today also my visit there was just because we wanted to go to Ajnabi at fountain plaza, but when we went there, it was closed. It seems Ajnabi is closed on Sunday’s L Well not knowing where to go  (luckily I had my niece with me who does not mind experimenting new cuisine) stopped by this place at 6.30pm, not sure if they would be open. Walked in and checked if they were open and they said yes. Now the biggest challenge was on what to order. Only 2 things that I had tasted till date as far as Burmese food was concerned (Athow and Khowsuey),so everything else in the menu looked like greek and latin J We ordered for chicken Athow and a meat platter which consisted of Athow, some meat and noodle soup, rice with mutton, the boiled egg with masala and a dessert.  When we were waiting for our food, we got 2small bowls of yummy clear veg soup which was complimentary. I must admit the food was excellent. It was like home food, which would not give you that bloated feeling. Spice and other masala were just right. The place even though small is neat and clean. I would definitely refer this place to people and am surely going again with my bunch of friends. Glad I discovered another lovely place not too far from my home.

Sukh Sagar has been a very well known brand, which was started in 1962 as a juice shop in Mumbai, which later on ventured to be one of the well-known fast food places not only in India, but also in a few Countries around the world.

This was an outing I was looking forward for after 4days of being at home with viral fever. Thanks to my friends who insisted that I was good to go.

We were welcomed with a chilled glass of fresh watermelon juice.

Followed by soup of our choice Manchow/ noodle /mushroom. I opted for the  Manchow soup and was not let down, the soup had a very balanced and nice flavor.

Next were the starters. The starters stumped us. The Paneer Achari Kebab was the stealer as far was the Indian starters were concerned.

The Corn Sheekh Kebab was next in line. Why next cause I thought it was a little dry.

The Mushroom Bhara Kebab was not my type, it was sweet and did not go well with most of us.

The Chinese starters were good too. The paneer chilli was better than the crispy veggie, simply because the crispy did not have any flavor and was a bit salty. Paneer chilly was simply awesome.

Next came in the chat. Dahi puri was good and according to me cannot go wrong. Behl puri had too much Mint flavor. The pani puri water was the high light. In most of the chat places, my guess is they use ready made powder to make the water. This water tasted as if it was made with fresh mint leaves/pudhina. That was a pure stealer. I loved it! Pav Bhaji was good. Chola Batura, the chola was a little salty, but else was good. The veg grilled sandwich took the cake. Super nice taste and Excellent flavor Loved it!

The south Indian tiffin was next . The Sambar vada was good, I like my sambar with that little jaggery taste. The Idly was excellent, I have never eaten a rice idly like that in Chennai. It was just like rava idly. I loved and loved it.

By now we were all too full and were not ready for more. But there were still many more dishes to go. We planned to go slow. So the main course was one spoon each of Dal Makhani, paneer butter masala and mushroom masala with roti and Nan. Followed by Veg Biryani. The Dal Makhani was a little salty and the richness of makhni was missing in there. The Paneer and mushroom was good. The Biryani was the only let down. It was more like a pulao.

Desserts that I tried out. All 1 spoon each. Royal Falooda – Nice and as good as any falooda I have had in town. The gadbad is a very mangalorean dessert and have not seen it anywhere else other than in Karnataka. Mangalore gives the best gadbad, so I would not compare it to that one in mangalore. The malai kulfi was rich and had a smooth texture, one of the best kulfi’s that I have had in Chennai. The Sukh Sagar special dessert was nice too. I loved nice and colorful.

Over all experience was very good.

Car park – Good

Ambience –  Good (it’s a new place)

Food – Good

Service – Good

Fun evening with like-minded people.

Sweaty summer afternoon in chennai and we were invited for a Royal lunch at Rajdhani that opened its 3rd outlet in chennai at the Phoenix city Mall at Velachery. This is the first time I was tasting the much talked about Rajdhani food. And what a way of doing it with like minded people. The Thali consisted of many items that  I had tasted in the past when I was in Mumbai and all these were more of home made authentic food. My reviews of the lot that I had in Rajdhani were  Welcome Drink – Both the Keri Panna and  the Thandai was good, expect that keeping the chennai heat in mind could have been served chilled. Farsan – Garlic Dhokla and the cheese pakoda were not only good, but was something different from the usual run of the mill menu. Special of the day – Dal Dhokla was nice, but the Aam ki Launji was divine. The dish that i thought was a little different and very good, since i have never tasted it before was Koyya Roti with Aam ka chutney, awesome combination and Fab taste. As far as the main course was concerned, frankly there was nothing that was bad, but there were so many items guess i could not figure out one from another  The gujarati Kadhi and Dal were wee bit sweet. I know they are usually sweet, but these were very sweet, but that was not a concern, since they did have the normal dal and kadhi. Coming to the Desserts – The Pineapple Halwa and Crispy Jalebi stole the show. The Aam Ras though we were told were made of fresh mango did not taste so. Overall Experience was good, Hospitality was very good, ambience was decent too, Kitchen was nice and clean is what i was told by my friends. My two bit  –  If menu could be of multiple choice instead of forcing all dishes on a person in one visit. The person can eat a few dishes and enjoy it and come next time  for more. The prices also could be reduced accordingly. Thank you and all the Best!

Royal Thali at Rajdhani