Tuesday 10 September 2013

Frenchilicious!


Wow! What a transformation! Visitors to N block, GK 1 market will remember "Bread & More" ,an eatery where you could get fresh breads , pastries, low cal salads and an odd pizza.Now, at the same venue, has emerged a renovated avatar and what an avatar it is!


To begin with, the outlet  looks like a tea house in London.The shop window design is very intriguing, , featuring an all white plastered look.At first glance it looks unfinished, but then you realize that it's the design element.

The patisserie/delicatessen has a narrow , vertical look.The shop has half of it's previous space.The sections are neatly divided into a fresh breads section, dessert section with a variety of assorted pasries , chocolates & cakes.

Divish, the owner ,explained that the breads are baked in a stone oven and are not sliced so that the moisture and aroma is retained.We saw a variety of croissants, focaccia bread, baguettes.
The dessert section has it all from red velvet cake to mille fueille to lemon meringue pie.

Divish was extremely proud of colourful macaroons that are extremely light and fluffy in texture.He claims to use the finest ingredients -Belgian chocolate and French butter!

Well, Delhites never had it so good.Suddenly, the city is inundated with confectioneries selling red velvet cakes , macaroons and if you have a place making all these with the best of ingredients at extremely pocket friendly prices then you couldn't ask for more!
A word about the staff -very upbeat!









Saturday 2 February 2013

Imagine!!

Imagine you were roaming in the streets of Rome and all you could see were these quaint little eateries all serving Indian food : puri bhaji, idli, dosa, chana bhatura.

This is how a tourist in Hauz khas Village,Shahpur Jat or Meherchand market(all in Delhi) must be feeling considering the mushrooming of restaurants all vying with each other serving lasagna,pizza,ciabatta bread,capuchinos and lattes of the world.

If this tourist wanted a taste of a typical Indian cuisine,chances are he wouldn't be able to..at least not in these areas.And this is when India has a heritage of an extremely rich  and a versatile cuisine.

So where have we gone wrong?Failure in taking pride in our Indian-ess or eagerness to ape the west?

Why do we consider to be hip equals to be not Indian?Whether it is in dressing,food or language.

Mumbai to a certain extent takes pride in its local cuisine and there are innumerable paubhaji,vada pav joints that are hygienic & quick to serve and their hand churned ice creams are to die for and can give a run for their money to any Italian gelato.I went to an eatery having a khichdi festival..out of the world khichdi served in authentic brass thalis with brass katoris..now that's what I call taking pride in being an Indian.(I can't see a Delhite going to any restaurant having a khichdi festival).

What I would like to suggest is a restaurant in a typical tourist area serving Indian snacky food like poha,matra chaat,idli,dosa,pau bhaji,vada pav..we do have Haldiram but it's not a sit down and is not in these areas.

Experiment with new ideas,there's nothing wrong in starting an English style tea house or pizzeria, however, do not look down upon anything that is Indian...take pride in your roots.



Tuesday 29 January 2013

A Poser !!



Let's say you go to a restaurant on a nice wintry,balmy afternoon for a leisurely lunch with your family...the place is buzzing and you are looking forward to a nice time.However the waitress informs you that due to lack of tables you will have to be seated indoors.

Then you notice a table outdoors and request for 2 more chairs.Surprise, surprise! when she is adamant on seating you indoors.You are puzzled and ask her to just organize 2 more chairs..she reverts saying all the chairs are taken.

That is the time you loose your cool or do you???

At this juncture what would you do?

Would you just exit the place?

Would you insist upon having a word with the floor manager and lodge a formal complaint?

It would be interesting to know.

Sunday 27 January 2013

Foodilicious!!

Okay so we decided to celebrate republic day by going out for coffee and desserts and decided on Harem at Garden of five senses...It was quiet deserted which was surprising..the waiters were quiet listless and we felt as if we were a burden on the staff...however of the two desserts we ordered one was divine and the other we wished we hadn't ordered...Molten chocolate with vanilla ice cream was brilliant but ice cream was replaced by cream and Chocolate hazelnut fudge brownie served with choco rum mousse was anything like the description...the brownie was absolutely tasteless and couldn't taste any rum or mousse..

The other place we visited was Magique at the same place..with the exception of initial hiccups in being seated the experience was extremely pleasant and the coffee brilliant..calls for a repeat visit.

Happy restaurant hunting!!

Saturday 26 January 2013

Treat for the eyes!

I generally just stumble upon gorgeous sarees in a mix of the ordinary. The beautiful ones just stand out there and lure me to them. Sometimes I dig at the right places, ok fine! But something similar happened to me two days back. I found three awesome sarees at an unexpected location. All traditional, ethnic and reflecting the diversity of our culture.

One is a vibrant, riot of colours with a beautiful interplay of orange, fuchsia pink and ochre with the pallu inspired by a traditional kanni shawl.







The other is a serene black and white with a graphic print......





And the third is a colour palette of pink and black interspersed with paisleys...





I'd love to get a feedback from you: good, bad or ugly!

If you want to know about the availability of any one of the above, drop me a line at smaithelmandal@gmail.com. :)

Look forward to my next post on food!