Review - Clover Momos Stall

Settled in a tiny spot, banked by two wheelers on both sides, and drowned in the sea of over zealous hawkers selling everything from junk jewellery to magazines is Clover Momos stall on MG Road, Pune. The stall is opposite SGS Mall and near a boutique, Donna World. It can easily be missed because of two reasons - one, it is very tiny and thus would  normally miss anyone's eye. Two, the guy who runs the stall also has a sweet corn stall just 2-3 steps away from it. And since his sweet corn is more popular then the momos, you will most of the times find him there, leaving the momos stall unmanned.

Now I wouldn't say that Clover momos are amazing or the best momos I have ever had. But the point is that I never miss hogging on to these momos whenever I am in MG road no matter what. The guy sells 4 variants of momos - vegetable momos, cheese momos, chicken momos and cheese chicken momos. The veg momos are priced at 40/- for 6 momos and the non veg momos are priced at 50/-. I somehow don't enjoy his cheese momos and stick to vegetable and chicken momos depending on my mood - and ofcourse depending on what day of week it is :)

As mentioned earlier - the momos are not amazing - but they are not bad either. If you are someone who is a big momo fan just like me, you wouldn't mind spending 40-50 bucks to sink your teeth in these piping hot momos - especially during winters.  So next time you are in MG road, do give Clover momos a try. They might not match up to the dimsums you get at Mainland China or China Grill - but are surely worth their price and a treat during chilly evenings.

Review - Global Fusion, Bandra

After the disastrous experience with a stale chicken puff @ Cafe Sea Side, me and the boy headed to Global fusion, Bandra for lunch. There is just one one word for this place - AMAZING. Right from the decor to the food, this place has got everything right. The moment you enter the place it takes your breath away. And that's the reason why I wasn't able to click many pictures - because both of us were so much into the yummy food that we even forgot each other :P. However, you can read the complete review of this place by clicking on the link below.

                                         What Makes Life Tick - Global Fusion Review

The worst chicken puff of my life EVER!!

This weekend I was in Mumbai to meet my in-laws and hubby to be. My mother in law had made sindhi kokis and upma for me for breakfast. Now those of you who know me also know that I run miles away from upma. Somehow I have never been able to develop a liking for it even after staying in Bangalore for 6 long years of my life. So I took only a little bit just so that she doesn't feel bad. But surprise surprise ! One bite of that upma and I started wondering  why have I been running away from it for sooooo long. My mother in law makes the BEST UPMA in this entire WORLD and if she can make me develop a liking for it, no one in this world would be able to resist it.

After a heavy breakfast of yummy sindhi kokis and upma, the boy and me decided that we would find ourselves a good place to sit without any waiters pestering us. Off we went to bandstand. Now thankfully Mumbai wasn't humid this weekend but it was very sunny. As we needed a shady place to sit, we ventured inside Cafe Sea Side. Those of you who live in Mumbai would know that Cafe Sea Side probably offers you the best view in town overlooking the sea. The place was practically empty and we found ourselves a comfortable spot to settle down. After some time when the waiters started hovering around us, I promtly ordered one chicken puff because it was the cheapest item on the menu. But the moment I saw the puff, I regretted my decision. When I took a bite, I regretted it all the more :(. I can safely announce that Cafe Sea Side sells probably the worst chicken puffs atleast in Mumbai. The puff looked and tasted stale and honestly I couldn't even taste chicken in the filling. The filling was white in color and when I tasted it alone, it didn't even have salt! The texture was such that it reminded me of over boiled mashed chicken :(. If you look at the picture closely, you will notice some white colored substance on the sides of the puff...that is the filling.

Moral of the story - go hungry but never order anything from Cafe Sea Side.







This is what the worst chicken puff of my life looked like



Burma - The new food destination??

www.cecilimages.photoshelter.com

I was reading the July issue of Bonappetit when an article titled 25 food trends for 2013 caught my attention. On number 7 was listed Burma and the title was Burma - Go Eat there NOW. It seems Burma has the best street food in the world and their roadside meal of thick cut noodles & dried fish can turn out to be the yummiest meal of your lifetime. What say guys - anyone been to Burma and tasted the street food?

Review - Bakers Basket Pune

It was my friend's birthday on Friday and all of us gathered to celebrate it @ the newly inaugurated Baker's Basket store on MG Road. Those of you who reside in Pune would know that Baker's Basket is a bakery that has stores all over the city. We had ordered Chocolate Temptation birthday cake for her and it turned out to be the best cake anyone of else had ever eaten before. The cake was a chocolate overload and had this moist texture. The taste was bitter sweet which made me think that maybe they would have added some rum to it. But when I asked the chef he denied adding any rum to the cake. The staff had also made these super cute guitar shaped white chocolates with my friend's name iced on top. We then tried their Chicken Submarine which basically was stuffed with shredded chicken tikka. It was very yummy and reasonably priced too. You can definitely check this place out for their wide array of cakes & pastries

The birthday cake

The super cute guitar chocolates :)

Fashion Plate - Concept by Smoke House Deli

I was browsing through this month's Vogue India when this happened to catch my eye - ' Vogue co hosted the first edition of Fashion Plate - an inventive evening with the best minds in design diverting their attention to the kitchen.' Fashion Plate concept has been introduced by Smoke House Deli, in Hauz Khas Village, Delhi. The concept will be offered as a 3 course meal that can be customized for 30-40 guests. In addition, the restaurant has also launched Deconstruct, a monthly project that collaborates with a single designer to develop a menu. The even was attended by the  crème de la crème of the fashion fraternity including Rohit Bal, Pernia Qureshi, Manish Arora, Harmeet Bajaj, Priya Tanna & many more. The menu boasted of delicacies like Bottega Veneta inspired stewed rice with toasted coconut, assorted grain & nut granola, Chanel inspired Oreo & milk, squid ink & black olive biscuits, faux milk, Manish Arora inspired dessert of peanut butter & chocolate ganache with assorted berry & fruit gels etc. 

On googling the concept I got to know that the West boasts of many food designers - and I didn't even know that there exists a profession like this !!! The job of these food designers is to concentrate on food presentation. Cool na?? I mean think about it - we have so many good cooks in every household in India and they loose out on so many opportunities only because they are unable to make a dish look as appetizing as it is. If we have professional food designers in India, the chefs can concentrate more on just cooking while making the dish look beautiful & appetizing can be someone else's job :)

Image Courtesy : www.estylista.com & Silver Monkey Communications

 

Review - mumbaicakeshop.com

It was my fiancé's birthday last month and I wanted to give him a surprise. Normally I would have planned a candle light dinner and showered him with gifts - but that's what we did just 3 weeks before his birthday when he packed his bags and moved to Mumbai from Pune.My friends told me start sending him weekly gifts until his birthday - so I logged on to Flipkart to see what I could do about it. After spending close to 2 hours on Flipkart, this is what I realised - firstly it is very very difficult to buy gifts for men.. Duhh..just how many times can you gift someone shirts, cufflinks & ties...and now my fiance has started complaining that he doesn't have place for so many things in his cupboard :( He better do something about it soon or else where will I keep my things post marriage.....The second thing I realised is that sending him gifts weekly would burn a BIG BIG hole in my pocket - and with just 3 months left for the wedding, I am trying to get into that wise, practical samajhdaar biwi wala mode :P. So basically I was looking for a sasta, sundar takao tareeka to surprise him on his birthday.

And that's when I discovered Mumbai Cake Shop - these guys let you order birthday cakes online and have an option of midnight delivery. they have an amazing range of cakes and  you can also request for flowers, chocolates & even wine to be delivered to someone for their birthday. I placed an order for 1/2 kg Birdys Cake shop chocolate truffle cake (It seems Birdy's cake shop is a famous cake shop in Mumbai). The cake in itself cost me 950 bucks and I paid 200 extra for midnight delivery. The cake was delivered exactly at 12:00 midnight and thank God for that - you see I am one of those who can't keep my eyes open post 11:00 pm. So I had set an alarm in phone to wake up at midnight and wish him. But as usual, when the alarm buzzed,I dismissed it and went off to sleep. However, my fiancé was so suprised and touched at the gesture that he himself gave me call :) And even at that moment, instead of wishing him I said - please cake ki photo kheech lena for my blog :) - a sweetheart that he is..that's what he did.. So here's what the cake looked like - I must say I am pretty proud of myself for coming up with such great ideas :)