Omlette! Perfect breakfast, ideal lunch or a light dinner – the one size fits all meal!
Cabaret, with its slick interiors and black n red furniture screams class. Its diverse menu with an emphasis on east asian food has been taking baner by storm over the past few months since its opening.
They have started an Omlette Festival this month to add a few interesting eggy delights to their menu. I was invited with my family to try out some of these preparations.
Baked Western Omlette:
Baked Western
In all honesty, this was a regular cheese Omlet, with all the bells and whistles. A generous amount of cheese, topped with veggies, the baked omlette is fluffy, and delicious. Served with garlic toast and baked beans, this is one Omlette that you can’t go wrong with.
Morroccon Omlette:
Moroccon Omlette
A sunny side up, topped with cherry tomatoes, this does have a hit of spice to it. Chilly oil and chilli flakes made it spicy. Not one for the faint hearted, this one a definitely worth a try.
Japanese Omurice:
Japanese Omurice
The Omurice at Cabaret consists of Chicken fried rice topped with an omlette and barbecue sauce. The bbq sauce was a bit too sweet for my palate, but the fried rice was yummy, leading to this being an excellent brunch item.
Opening hours for Cabaret Baner are 7am daily, making this the perfect breakfast place. Priced at 200/- a pop, the omlette Festival items are at par with all other similar joints in the area.
Definitely one to visit in the near future. The Omlette Festival is on till 28th of Feb. This menu is available at all the Peter Donuts outlets as well.
When you hear ‘BRUNCH’ you visualize eggs and toast, biryani and pizza, fruits and salads, grilled meat and veggies and paneer, beer and wine, and a forest of desserts. Everything one can imagine from breakfast to lunch.
Well, take all that, add a magic show, a foot massage, sprinkle some amazing music coupled with a super chill ambiance, and you get the Sunday Brunch by Playboy Beer Garden.
As I entered, the seductive fragrance of sweet sticky barbeque sauce on thick sexy pork ribs pulled me right in.
Pork ribs on the grillPork ribs, loaded with bbq sauce!
Flanked by chicken sausages and basil chicken thighs, the grill section is certainly the highlight of the brunch.
Grilled meats
Right next to the grill section is the Mimosa bar. A Mimosa is a cocktail composed of champagne (or other sparkling wine) and chilled fruit juice, and these are absolutely delectable! With orange, apple, and cranberry options, I just couldn’t stop at one!
For the uninitiated, here’s the 1-2-3 of the Mimosa bar:
Pour the bubbly (champagne ftw!)
Add some juice (Fresh fruit juices – Apple, Orange or Cranberry – take your pick!)
Top with fruit (Cranberries, kiwis, Orange, etc) #DoNotMiss
As you walk into the plush indoor section, you are greeted by a vast selection of salads, cheese, fresh fruits, cereal (yes there’s breakfast too, remember?) and breads. I particularly relished the Tenderloin Roulade – A beautiful roll of meat with sultana and rosemary inside.
The Tenderloin Roulade with Sultana and Rosemary
An array of salads
They also had some delectable kebabs, springrolls, pizzas and starters served at the table.
The main course included a veg khow suey (they made a chicken one for me on request) which was surprisingly good, though a tad spicy due to the green chilli – that being said – this is entirely customizable; just ask for the condiments to be served on the side!
Khow Suey, made to order
Chicken biryani, thai red curry, and chicken macaroni were nothing to write home about, but the Chicken Fricassee with mashed potatoes was nothing short of excellent.
Chicken Fricasse with mashed potatoes
When I was taking break from the hogfest, i sat at the foot massage chair, and got a complimentary foot massage – much needed for my sore feet due all the walking around the buffet counter An illusionist impressed us with some surprising card tricks as we were chilling with the mimosas
The Magician – AP (Image courtesy Facebook – Playboy Beer Garden)
I could go on and on, but this just turns out to be the perfect way to spend a Sunday afternoon. Chill, drink, listen to some good music, eat some great food, relax and just have a good time over all with friends and family.
Amazing live music by Jameer from #theStage2
Packages (All prices are inclusive of taxes) –
Only Food = Rs.1073
Food +Beer+ Sangria = Rs.1480
Food + IMFL + Mimosa Bar is Rs.1829 – Highly recommended: the Mimosas are worth the extra $$
A big shout out to Ashutosh from TLND for inviting us and Team PBBG for hosting us. #TheBTeam loved the entire experience!! #TheBTeamRecommends
Note: This review is a combined experience of three visits to the PBBG Sunday Brunch, which include two blogger invites and one self sponsored family visit, over a period of four months. Surprisingly, all the experiences were equally good, however, for all intents and purposes, The Usual Disclaimer applies.
This Sunday evening saw #theBTeam heading to the newly inaugurated Bombay Diaries at CityPoint, DP Road. This is located right next to Mainland China, where Oh! Calcutta and Bombay Brasserie used to operate a few years back.
Bombay Diaries runs on a very Mumbai oriented theme. With waiters dressed as Mumbai taxi drivers and the captains managing them dressed as traffic police officers, it has a very fun vibe overall. Completely open air, they also have live music playing on a daily basis. Beautifully lit up, the decor feels pretty chilled out for a nice evening with drinks and dinner.
Waiters dressed as Taxi Drivers and the Captain is the Traffic Cop!
Bombay Diaries is the brain child of Chef Deepu Alamchandani of the Cafe Mestizo fame, so great tasting food is a given! The surprise here are the range of cocktails – super innovative, with an excellent price point (all between 150-300 for cocktails). The cocktails are served in quarter (180 ml) sized ‘desi daru’ / ‘tharra’ bottles, and salt rimmed chai glasses, leading to a very cool feel
Cocktails : Chulbul and Chikni Chameli
Going with the Mumbai feel, the drinks are Bollywood themed. The collective favorite, Chulbul (150/-), a grenadine, lemonade flavored vodka based cocktail, with a strong flavor of jaljeera – felt like a kala khatta soda and was brilliant. Multiple rounds were ordered for this one.
Giving Salman company was Katrina, as Chikni Chameli (150/-), a strawberry, cucumber vodka based cocktail. This was lighter, but just as enjoyable.
Cocktails: Drink Master Gogo
Drink Master Gogo (150/-) came to the table with a ‘Dhakki Chiki Dhakki Chiki Dhakki Chiki Dha!” This took us back to the Andaz Apna Apna era with a Rasna flavored vodka mix! My personal favorite, this is a must have!
Cocktails: Bombay Thumakda
The Bombay Thumakda was a surprise for me. It is described as Strawberry, Roohafza, milk concentrate, vodka. I am not a fan of rooafza, but this was superb! Almost on the lines of an Irish Cream, this truly proves that – Doodh hai wonderful, pi sakte hai roz glassful! 😉
Cocktails : Paaji ka Panja, Bol BacchanCocktails: Desiwala MojitoCocktails: Rangeela Driver
The other cocktails we tried were also pretty innovative and delicious. Each cocktail is also available in a mocktail version, so the sole teetotaler was happy too.
Mocktails
Giving excellent company to the drinks were a whole range of delicious starters
Mutton Seekh Lucknowi
Mutton Seekh Lucknowi – This was my favorite! Boasting some beautiful smoky flavors, these tender skewers of mutton were a delight to eat.
Smoking the Seekh KababsTBD Special Murg Tikka – From the Diaries
TBD Special Murg Tikka – Succulent kababs of chicken, stuffed with chicken kheema and melted cheese. Absolute delight to eat! Break open one and you can see the cheese oozing out. Sigh….
Stuffed Paneer Tikka (From the Diaries)
The stuffed paneer tikkas are, in simple terms, a bread pattice with extremely soft paneer tikkas. An excellent option for the herbivores inclined
Murgh Seekh Galafi
The Murgh Seekh Galafi is a chicken seekh kabab, served on a wooden truck! The kababs were succulent, though slightly overpowered with elaichi
After the heavy barrage of appetizers and cocktails, we finally mustered the courage to move on to the mains. We started of with the Dal Bukhara. Dal Bukhara, the grand-daddy of the Dal Makhani, is a creamy, slow cooked black dal with rajma / black bean. It is characterized by the smoky rich flavor it carries due to the traditional coal fires it is cooked on. The Chef at Bombay Diaries managed to incorporate the smokiness into the dal using a chulha, giving it a near-authentic flavor. This is a #MustTry at Bombay Diaries.
Dal Bukhara
Paired with the Chilli Cheese Garlic Naan, the Dal Bukhara was at another level all together.
Chilli Cheese Garlic Naan
Another spectacular vegetarian item I tried here was the Kurkuri Bhindi Masala. Crisp fried Bhindi over a layer of delicious thick gravy – this is a must for every bhindi fan!
Kurkuri Bhindi Masala
One dish I had my eye on was the Nalli Nihari. And I was not disappointed. Perfectly cooked mutton, rich, creamy, thick sauce, chock full of a pure mutton flavor. You could distinctly taste the flavor of marrow in the sauce.
To end this glorious evening, we were served some delectable soft sexy voluptuous Gulab Jamuns and some surprisingly not too sweet Gajar ka Halwa, putting a perfect end to a kickass dinner!
This write up is based on my experience at a Blogger’s table invite. The Usual Disclaimer applies.
*Bombay Diaries is operational from 5 pm onwards, with live music on a daily basis.
Barbeque Ville opened their doors at Kaspate Vasti, Wakad on Valentine’s Day. In just 1 week, they have managed to capture the imagination of food lovers in the area.
Location: Kaspate Vasti, Wakad, Near Hotel Ambiance Excellency (Google maps)
#baconbaba was invited for an exclusive tasting last night, and the sight of a jam-packed restaurant on a Wednesday evening was testament to the fact that BV has tasted early success.
Barbeque Ville, in their words, is a ‘Grille-on-table’ restaurant. We have a few other examples of these restaurants, where you have a coal-pit on your table, with meats brought on skewers and grilled right there. What sets them apart, is the competitive pricing – the Non-Veg buffet costs a very reasonable 550/- INR! This includes all taxes, service tax, VAT etc.
The decor follows more or less the same ‘template’ as other similar barbecue restaurants. Large open space, grills on the tables, bright lighting, and excellent service. At this price point, this place is perfect for corporate parties and team outings – it should fot most corporate team budgets.
The grilled section includes Chicken, Fish (basa), Prawns, Mushroom, Paneer and my ‘guilty pleasure’, skewered Pineapple 🙂 All the grilled items were delicious, my favorite being the basa fish. Crisp on the outside, soft inside – perfectly cooked.
On the downside, I found the prawns slightly overcooked. Also, apart from the green chutney, the dips served along with these didn’t really go with the Indian flavored barbecue meats. I wish they had included a couple of more Indian style chutneys to compliment the kababs.
The Maratha Tangdi is a rather innovative way to serve the Tangdi kababs. The chicken legs are served, skewered across a sword! Juicy, beautifully coated with mild spices, perfectly grilled.
Maratha TangdiMaratha Tangdi
They also have a chat ‘thela’ serving pani-puri, dahipuri, sev puri, bhel and spdp. Once specialty is the Pineapple puri – pani-puri with pineapple juice inside. I personally found it way too sweet.
Pani-PuriPineapple Pani-Puri
The starters also included a Chicken or Veg sizzler. I didn’t really care too much for this as the chicken just missed the ‘sizzle’. It was more of a pan tossed chicken starter thrown onto a leaf of lettuce on a sizzler plate. The steamed veggies served along-side were delicious though!
Chicken Sizzler
By the time we were done with the starters, we were almost full! However, we moved on to the mains. And I was captivated.
The Mutton Paya Shorba was quite tasty – lightly flavored mutton stock, with a nice spice hit – exactly how a shorba should taste! The Malwani Fish curry and the Chicken Kadai – overflowing with pieces of fish and chicken respectively and the mutton Rogan Josh with bien cuit chunks of mutton went perfectly with the soft naans.
Chicken Kadai
Mutton Rogan Josh
Malwani Fish Curry
But the magnum opus of this gastronomic symphony was the Mustard Crabs. Aaah, the mustard gravy – exactly like a bengali ‘shorshe-bata’ curry. The mild spice hit of the ground mustard sauce along with the generous amounts of crab was just sublime.
Mustard Crab
The mains also had Barista Pulao, Steamed Rice, Veg Mushroom Noodles, Salads, Dal Rajma, Dal Palak, Thai Yellow Curry, Aloo Lasooni, Paneer Badashahi, Veg Makhani and Veg Garlic Soup
Paneer Badshahi
Veg Makhani
Aloo Lasooni
Salad bar
Rice / Noodles
Barista Biryani
The Aloo Lasooni and the Dal Rajma were my personal picks among the veg items
Aloo Lasooni
By this time, we had almost no space for desserts! But I simply cannot pass up a gulab jamun or caramel custard. Ended having 2 of each, and bits of the other desserts.
Caramel Custard
Punjabi Phirni
Besan ke Laddoo
Chocolate Barfi
Assorted Pastries
The Dessert Range
Overall, Barbeque Ville provides an excellent dining experience, at almost half the rate of other more ‘established’ chains. To serve such good quality sea food at these prices is what gives this restaurant a super-duper-double-decker high-five! Definitely a must visit if you are in this part of town!
I was invited to try the buffet. While the buffet I was treated was the same as that provided to the general public, The Usual Disclaimer applies.
Irani chai is ubiquitous with old pune. Vohuman, Good Luck, Kohinoor, Diamond are some of the classic age-old Irani chai joints. This was something the residents of Baner, Balewadi, Aundh, Wakad, PS etc. were sorely missing. Aur Irani Chai does well to fill up that gaping hole.
Nestled away in a corner across Nagras Road, near Rahul Restaurant, Aundh (click here for G-Maps), Aur Irani Chai is a cozy little joint with brick walls and stone tables. Shaded by trees around the perimeter, they do a surprisingly good job at isolating the noise from the very busy junction just outside. Apart from the huge menu board, its a very chilled out atmosphere.
Irani Chai and Bun-Maska: An obvious start to any meal at an Irani Cafe. A typical Irani chai – light, sweet and milky. Super soft bun. Gloriously lathered with butter. I was dipping the bun-maska into the chai, and had the time of my life. My chai-loving wife ended up drinking 3 cups!
PS: The bun-maska found on the streets of Vadodara or Ahmedabad are far more generous in terms of the maska. But then that’s Gujarat!
Bun Maska
Bread Butter: 2 slices of bread, generously buttered. What more can you expect?
Bread Butter
Bun Cheese Omlette: You can’t go to an Irani Cafe and not have the Omlette! Oodles of cheese trickling out! Super soft bun, lots of butter, loads of melted cheese.
Bun Cheese Omlette
Kheema Pav: The pièce de résistance. Light, flavorful, perfectly cooked mutton kheema. Not overloaded with spice or oil. Absolutely perfect for breakfast (or any meal!)
Overall, I love this place! Nice ambiance, good service, and excellent food. The trifecta of a great restaurant. Oh, and to top it off, entirely budget friendly. The entire meal cost us less than 300/- bucks!
Definitely a place I am going to be visiting again and again.
Grillicious, Baner
Last Thursday we decided to use the 50%-off offer going on through the Dineout app to try the new restaurant near our home that’s been creating quite a buzz in the recent times. Rave reviews across the board drew us to the rather cool looking Grillicious, Baner. Man, were we in for a shock.
Right off the bat we ordered the masala papad platter. At least 3 other tables around us that day had this, as well as every review I have read of this place features a mention of this unique dish. And it was impressive.
A cornucopia of papad, with glasses of chopped onions, jhini (fine) sev, boondi, dry chilli powder masala, green pudina Chutney and a garlic yogurt. DIY masala papad – An over all tasty and surprisingly fun experience.
The Masala Papad Platter
This was accompanied by a variety of sauces – barbeque sauce, mango-chilli mayo, mint chutney, garlic yogurt
From top right, Barbeque sauce, Mango-Chilli Mayo, Mint Chutney, Garlic Yogurt
I got the Watermelon and Hazelnut Caprioska. Watermelon and mint are usually a match made in heaven. Or so i thought. Bitter, weird masalas (i think) overdose of mint… This drink was a disaster. Someone recently posted on peo saying that just serving drinks in mason jars and fancy bottles does not make them tasty. I’m sure he was referring to the Watermelon and Hazelnut Caprioska of the Grillicious fame.
Watermelon and Hazelnut Caprioska
Next up was the Paaya Dhania Shorba (menu description – “lamb trotters simmered overnight for a signature broth”). The moment the server passed the bowl of soup to Sangeeta, I knew there was something very very wrong. The soup had a layer of fat on top. It was emanating a putrid stink – similar to what you would get in the back of a butcher’s shop – rotting meat. One spoon of this concoction confirmed my initial impression. It tasted rotten. Sent it back immediately. The owner was gracious enough to strike it off our bill.
Paaya Dhania Shorba
The Murg Adraki Rogan Soup, despite being oily to the point of looking like a gravy, was decently seasoned and had a generous portion of boiled chicken.
Murg Adraki Rogan Soup
They served both the soups with papad (see pic). I guess its their version of croutons. Didn’t work for me.
The Afghan Drumsticks : Similar to a Makrana kabab, this was really well marinated, and perfectly cooked. Soft, juicy, delicious chicken leg with bits of malai, and a slightly charred end (much like a traditional tandoori) this was my favorite dish of the evening.
Afghani Drumsticks
Murg Kalimiri Kabab Pie: served in a thick brown gravy, the pie had like a coarse chicken kheema stuffing inside, topped with papad (yes… Papad…) . The stuffing was delicious and the sauce was superb. The pie crust, unfortunately, was rather thick and dry. I would have much preferred to have the same meat and gravy with a naan instead of the ‘pie’.
Murg Kalimiri Kabab Pie
Butter chicken lasagna : this dish conformed that they were having trouble in the kitchen. While the butter chicken it self was pretty ordinary, the lasagna was an absolutely fail. A lasagna should have layers of pasta, sauce, meat and cheese. This was more like a sandwich of butter chicken between to very thick sheets of ‘lasagna’. Any thicker and i could have mistaken it for 2 sheets of naan! Disappointing is an understatement for this particular dish. (Ps: the lasagna too was topped with, you guessed it… Papad!)
Butter Chicken Lasagna
Seemed like their ‘continental’ chef was doing everything Indian style, making the pie like a bhakri and the lasagna like a naan. Well… The silver lining was that the meal was almost over.
We ended the meal with the Dark Chocolate Salted Caramel Oreo Pie. A beautifully prepared dessert with layers of chocolate, caramel and Oreo. The caramel was spectacular. I wish the chocolate used were a bit bitter to better balance the bitterness. The overall flavor was super sweet. That being said,it was a surprisingly satisfactory end to a rather substandard meal.
Dark Chocolate Salted Caramel Oreo Pie
It might have been an off day considering the kind of glaring issies in the food,but with the kind of competition cropping up in and around baner, they cannot afford off days. Hoping that they pull up their socks soon…
Polka dots – bistro & bar, Westend mall, Aundh
A couple of days back Polka dots started their much awaited Bistro at Westend mall. Located next to Shoppers Stop in the GF section, this is a huge step up from their original site. Swanky, classy, high end are words that pop into your head as you walk into Polka Dots Bistro and Bar. Do not get mislead by the term ‘bar’ – they serve only mocktails for now.
While they have retained their ‘Polka Dots legends’ like the Gescnetzetes and Paprica Chicken, their expanded menu boasts some amazing sounding dishes.
We started off with a White Orchid, a guava and lime based mocktail and a lemon iced tea. Both were beautifully made, refreshing to the core.
Lemon Iced Tea
White Orchid
For starters, we ordered the Thai pork Balls – mince pork balls served with a light fish sauce. I wish the minced pork had been a tad more moist.
Thai Pork balls
Fish and chips were excellent as always, with the tarter sauce playing the perfect accompaniment. Pihu wiped it off.
Fish n Chips
Main course included the Bratwurst with Onion relish – delightful presentation, sticky sweet onion relish, classic as always
I ordered the Buffalo Tenderloin Steak. All i say is I am still looking for a chef in Pune who has the guts /talent to cook a medium rare steak. Here again the steak turned out slightly tough and medium well. I could possibly blame the quality of the meat though. Served with and onion jam, veggies and a cheese covered baked potato, the accompaniments were excellent.
Buffalo Tenderloin Steak
We ended the meal with the absolutely phenomenal Philadelphia Blueberry Cheese cake and a rather runny Red Velvet Lava Cake.
Philadelphia Blueberry Cheese CakeRed Velvet Lava Cake
While Polka dots has a new avatar, it retains its old charm,with familiar faces to take your order. Stick to the old favorites. The new items, while beautifully plated, are a hit n miss.
I’m lion – strictly Non-veg, Bavdhan
For the longest time I’ve been hearing this restaurant being named amongst the best seafood restaurants in Pune. Today this belief has been confirmed.
Pomphret Fry. The best pomphret fry I have ever had. This is all I can say. A fresh, fat pomphret, fried with a coating of rava (semolina) and mild spices, with fried garlic and chopped coriander sprinkled on top. A squeeze of lemon and i was in seafood heaven. It tasted better than it looks.
Pomphret Fry
Bangda fry. 2 medium sized bangda fish fried to perfection similar to the pomphret.
Bangda Fry
Prawns curry. Lovely coconut based curry, cooked in a Mangalorean style. Goes well with neer dosa or steamed rice (complimentary)
Mutton sukkha. Mildly spicy, tasted beautiful with the neer dosa
Mutton SukkhaMutton Sukkha
Madosa Fish curry. The curry was similar to the prawns curry. Turns out, I’m not a fan of the madosa fish, as it was slightly tough. The curry tastes top-notch, so choose the fish wisely.
Mutton Mangalorean curry. Another superb Mangalorean preparation, this time with tender chunks of mutton
Ended the meal with their signature mud pie. Warm gooey sinful goodness. Sealed our heavy tummies with chocolate brilliance.
The restaurant it self is small and cozy – the feel matches the warm service. The recipes are all by the owner, Ameya’s mom. Authentic Malabar flavors run through the dishes. Most of the dishes are Mangalorean, Goan and Gomantak.
Club29 is a recent entrant in the growing list of restaurants in Wakad. This is a standalone building that houses an entire sports club, a roof top Indo-Persian restaurant, 3 halls, a hotel as well as an all day restaurant called Twenty-Nine
#FriendsOfTheBTeam had been invited for a food tasting at Twenty-Nine, as they have recently started off with a new buffet menu. I did not know about the existence of this restaurant cum clubhouse located in Wakad-Kalewadi area.
Coming to the food, lucky to get invited on Christmas day, we got to try the beautiful dessert spread designed especially for the festive day.
The buffet spread was huge and varied in both veg & non veg. We started off with salads and starters.
Started off with cream of broccoli soup (tasty, even people who do not quite like the vegetable, might end up relishing this).
We were also offered a glass of Fratelli wine as part of the buffet menu
Salads had 3-4 different kinds, out of which I found the Turkish Calamari salad pretty interesting and creative. Tasted great as well.
Calamari SaladSalads
Moving on to the starters:
Veg Shammi kebab- Were okay-ish. I found then a bit too dry.
Paneer Honey chilli- This was well made. Beautiful paneer pieces tossed in yummy honey chilli sauce.
Murgh angara – Succulent pieces of Chicken in a fiery coating of Indian masalas. Loved this one.
BBQ Chicken Wings – The BBQ sauce was superb , sweet & sticky,exactly how I like it. However, the Chicken were a bit under-cooked. Wish the Chicken was cooked to perfection, and this could be a cracker dish on their menu.
Starters done and dusted. Time for the main course.
Moroccon Lamb Stew: I have a love for stews, so I digged straight into this one. The stew itself tasted really good with all the meat and the veggies. However, I felt the lamb pieces needed a little bit more cooking, I found them slightly chewy.
Steamed fish Ala Greque: A very light soupy preparation with big chunky fishes and vegetables. Very mild continental flavors.
Butter Chicken : This was good, but could have been better.
Fish Santa Fe: A different kind of fish preparation, mildly flavored, decent taste wise.
Dal Makhani: This was really good. Licked the last spoon off my plate completely!
Veg Au Gratin : This dish, even though veg, is worth a mention. I personally relished this one. It was perfectly cooked veggies in a yummy cheesy sauce topped with a beautiful layer of cheese. Delicious.
Now it was time for the desserts. Since the time we had entered, my eyes were all on those yummy looking , super inviting dessert section.
So yes, I jumped like a kid towards them at this moment.
Mango saffron cheesecake: Looked so pretty. Tasted good too. Just that the cheesecake needed to set a little more for that perfect texture.
Plum cake: This was topped with a layer of whipped cream, could have done very well without it too. Decent taste wise, but I have had better.
Yule log: Lovely looking again and pretty decent tastewise. I have to give these guys full marks on the presentation for sure.
Indian desserts: Moong dal halwa and mini gulab jamuns dipped in rabdi kind of a rich milky base. Both tasted superb!
Last but not the least, most inviting looking section was their Christmas special dessert spread. They were soooo pretty I wanted to eat everything up. Yes, the kid in me said so! 😀
A variety of cookies, with colorful decorations on them, brownies,choco balls, apple pie, cupcakes, red velvet… I know I know, the list really is long..! Mini Apple pie was wow!
More or less, pretty much liked their spread as everyone will get their fair share to choose from.
The buffet is priced at 650/- plus taxes. I think it’s decently priced.
Also, the restaurant is just a very small section of this huge club. They have a beautifully done up roof top restaurant , with live music and middle eastern theme food.
Pub/lounge with bowling alley. Fun place to spend time with friends.
Lots of sports activity areas like squash, tennis, video game zone, shooting zone (yes, with real guns) ,swimming pool, gym, private party area, hall for rent and much more. Many of these facilities are for only members to avail. Anyone who is interested can take a tour and look at the club packages.
We enjoyed the hearty meal and came out happy
Thanks Club 29 for hosting us and for the amazing service. Good luck!
Last week, I had the pleasure of visiting Apyayan, Aundh to try out some of the special bengali cuisine that they offer. Apyayan has one of their outlets on DP Road, Aundh, near Ambedkar chowk. Bright interiors, beautifully decorated with authentic bengali handicrafts, and warm service make me feel right at home as I settled down
We started off the meal with a cool refreshing glass of aam-panna – made from raw mango pulp. What followed was a barrage of bodacious bong food!
Fish Kobiraji: A deep-fried fillet of Bhetki maach with a coating of egg batter. The serving was huge (a rather large fillet) and the coating was almost like a tempura batter – super light and airy. Served with the legendary Kasundi (mustard sauce), this is a must try!
Fish Kobiraji
Mochar Chop: “Mocha” is nothing related to coffee and chocolate for a Bengali, but is the local name given to banana flowers. When you taste this Vegan starter, the texture and taste remind you of a pulled-mutton kebab.
Mochar Chop
As we moved on the pièce de résistance – The Kosha Maangsho – This Spicy Bengali Mutton Curry is the epitome of the perfect Bengali main course. The mutton was beautifully cooked, and the dark brown masala was just delectable. Enjoyed best with hot soft Luchis (aka Poori). I personally like my mutton to be a tad spicier, but that’s probably my inner Puneri speaking 🙂
Kosha Maangsho
Next up was the Bhetki Paturi – a fillet of Bhetki steamed in a banana leaf, with dominant flavors of mustard, coconut and green chillis. This was just a bit dry by my standards – probably left in the steamer for a minute too long. Either way, it was delicious and light – perfect after the indulgent Kosha Mangsho.
The last ‘main course’ to hit our table was the Daab Chingri – Prawns in a green Coconut based curry – served in the Coconut shell itself! The dab chingri has an inherent sweetness owing to the coconut malai and coconut water that is predominantly used in the preparation of this bengali delicacy.
Daab Chingri – Prawn curry served in the Coconut shell
This is best enjoyed with plain rice, though the vegetable pulao served along with it was rather tasty as well.
Daab chingri with Vegetable Pulao
No Bengali meal can possibly end without a sweet. We ended up having 2!
Dudh Puli, a coconut stuffed rice dumpling, aka a bong version of the popular modak 🙂
Paati Sapta: Thin crepes stuffed with Jaggery – the “gud” is the dominant flavor here. Another must try!
If you are looking for authentic Bong food – Appyayan is the place to be!
I’ve been visiting Effingut Brewerkz, Baner at least twice a week since it opened. My usual order? Strawberry cider and bacon wrapped prawns. And the jerk chicken, if I’m hungry. And, the chicken khow suey, if I’m super hungry!
Khow Suey
Bacon Wrapped Prawns and SausagesStrawberry Cider
Yesterday i tried the pork ribs and man it was mind blowing!
Meat falling off the bone. Sticky sweet spicy sauce. Mashed potatoes. Veggies. And the fat…
Oh the fat
Melts in the mouth, super soft, absolutely perfectly cooked. So well cooked, that you can cut it with a spoon!
All you pork lovers out there must have this! Arguably the best pork ribs in town!
Pune has its own share of Irani and Parsi food establishments such as Goodluck cafe, Kayani bakery, Dorabjees, Blue Nile and George restaurants. Vohuman cafe along with its bun-maska, chai and cheese omelette are a long lasting part of this illustrious list – a bite out of Pune’s food legacy.
This was my first visit to this iconic eatery (thanks to my dear friend Payal who literally kidnapped me at 6.30am to drive there for breakfast!)
We started off with the double cheese omelette and toast butter. The omelette was yummy! I liked the distinctive masala that they used in the omelette, plus who doesn’t like cheese!
Cheese OmeletteToast butter – generous enough with the butter!
Ordered the fabled Irani chai – nice and light. This was round one.
Then we ordered the double cheese toast, and another round of chai, both of us being chai lovers 😉
The Irani Chai
The double cheese toast had a thick slab of cheese sandwiched in between the slices of toast and I gobbled it down it by dipping it in the hot tea, guess that is the right way to have it. My only gripe – I wish the cheese was melted instead. The cheese slabs made it a tad dry
Double Cheese ToastMounds of ‘maska’
At the end of this all, we were quite full. but yet, we had to have another round of chai. Or maybe just an excuse to sit for a bit longer at the legendary place…
baconbaba 