Home Flavour - Taste of home-made food

Do you stay far away from your home and you miss the home-made food??? Or, you just want to have some delicious veg items within a very reasonable price...

Just try this joint once and I am sure that you will be a fan of this joint like me!!!

I received an invitation from the owner of 'home flavour' Mr. Vikaas Verma. It was a food tasting session through 'Panch Phoron' group for introduction of new items to the menu.

It is located at CL block, sector 2, saltlake, beside Anandalok Hospital. It is very close to Karunamoyee bus stand, merely 10 minutes walk from the bus stand. Since I know almost nothing about saltlake and I easily get confused about directions, I decided to take a rickshaw from the bus stand as suggested by one of my friends.

Previously, they have served only thaali with variety. They have three types of thaali from which you can choose according to your requirement. These thaalis are still there ofcourse.

Being a hard core non vegetarian, I was not at all convinced to have veg lunch on a weekend and when I was on my way, I was missing my 'mangsho-bhaat' (rice and chicken curry).But as I was served with the food here, I had no regret to miss my non veg food at home.

Now the food--

Pav Bhaji- A Maharashtrian or Marathi dish as we all know since its origin is in Mumbai and a favourite one too. The pav or breads were well buttered and cut into two pieces horizontally. It was fresh and soft. Bhaji was a bit tangy,spicy blend of vegetables in tomato gravy with extra butter on top. It was served with spicy onions. It tasted amazing.

 

Special Pav Bhaji- Pav remained the same whereas the bhaji had some added cashews and nuts with extra butter and chopped spring onions on top. It was very rich in flavour.

Dum Biriyani- It looks exactly same as a non veg dum biriyani. The chicken or mutton pieces have been replaced by small potatoes, small pieces of cauliflower. The light yellow coloured rice was slightly hard but yes,that was the way it should have been and the raita or masala curd was served with it. It was delectable and a must try.


Shahi Biriyani- Yellow coloured rice was soft but didn't form clumps. It had small onions as a whole, small paneer pieces,small pieces of cauliflower and capsicums. It was again a thumbs up for me. It was yummy and can easily compete with a non-veg one.

Rosogolla- The dessert was everyone's favourite rosogolla. It was soft, spongy and well balanced in sweetness level.

We loved the food so much that we had to ask about the chef and here came the surprise. The chefs (not chef) are the ladies of the house. And then I realised how the food was not just cooked by them but rather, they cooked it with love and care so that it became 'ghar ka khana' and not a regular dish from any other restaurant. It just touched my heart(and my taste buds too).

So, if you truly want to enjoy the flavours of your home but you are unable to do, this take-away or home-delivery joint would not disappoint you.

THE CHAIWALA--- with tea and food

 It was one of my friends' post birthday celebration. Since I am known as a big foodie to my friend circle, I was asked to search for a cafe but there were some conditions which my friend asked me to keep in my mind while searching-- Firstly,it has to be near any metro station and secondly it has to be reasonably priced since it was month's end. So after going through several options i noticed this joint on this search engine and informed my friends.
  
     On a fine sunday afternoon, we decided to visit this cafe. We met at Tollygunj metro station. Since none of us had no clue about the exact location of the place, I found it better to ring them(the cafe) begore stepping into any transport. We were informed that it is 2-3 minutes walk from Tollygunj and it is on the first left when we are going towards ranikuthi.
       

The ground floor of the house has been turned into the cafe. A huge name plate on wooden plank cannot be missed. The balcony has been decorated with a bulleTEAn board where the guests have left some special messages for the cafe.One wooden round table and three stools have been placed here.On the right hand side,there is an apparel shop. The entrance gate or rather door is very narrow. All the tables and chairs are made up of wood.

Even the false ceiling is in sink with the theme. All the walls are in dark brown or biscuit colour. 10-15 people can sit inside and it is air-conditioned(thank god!). The glass of the windows has been decorated with pink stick-on papers with special notes forming a heart. A book shelf with few books is there,so anybody can sip on a cup of tea and read book.



 Now the food----
     
Since it was hot and humid outside we were sweating like anything and first we ordered for cold beverages. I thought there will be a wide variety of both cold and hot teas but I was wrong. I asked them to suggest. Sukrit(most probably)asked me to go for--

• lemon iced tea
• double choco-chip frappe and 
• oreo frappe

   
  

Oreo frappe was served with two oreo biscuits and it tasted good. The ground oreo biscuit and chocolate was blended well.







In double choco-chip frappe,I didn't get much choco- chip in it though
tasted better  than oreo frappe.
   

Lemon iced tea was truly a very good suggestion. It was tangy,cool and very refreshing with a perfect color and well balanced sweetness.

  







  Next we again asked Sukrit to suggest some dishes since his suggestion turned out to be a good one. He suggested us to have--

•  soy honey wings
•  smoked pork and bacon sandwich
•  bacon cheese sauce pasta

 Soy honey chicken wings were tasted out of the world.
Little bit spicy yet sweetness  of honey gave an amazing taste
to the chicken and it would force you not to  leave a
single drop of the sauce.

Sandwich was again a very good one with three layers. It was properly grilled and crispy and stuffed with pork,bacon,cheese,lettuce and served with french fries and tomato ketch up.

    
    

Though I am not a fan of pasta, but here i liked it. The sauce tasted
delicious and well mixed with penne. Penne was boiled enough
and soft. The whole thing just got melted within my mouth and as I
started chewing all the flavours started playing with my taste buds.

 

 In one sentence,it is a nice place to hang out and very pocket friendly. But there is a serious problem of space crunch and more variation in cold tea is needed. Service is good.But just don't stop ordering drinks only,they have much more to offer and don't forget to ask for suggestion. They provide honest suggestion!!!!

On My Way -- a unique concept

 And such a hidden gem with a unique concept it is. We were roaming around sector 1,saltlake kolkata in search of a dessert joint after a heavy meal when suddenly we found this joint near swimming pool.


  A small joint with some chairs outside
and inside and no tables at all.
At a first glance, it looked like a small grocery shop from the outside.
   But what drew our attention was the candies on the display.
   When we entered we got to know that apart from imported candies,chocolates,only litti(in food) and a variety of paan(betel leaves) are available.
 

 After going through the menu,we ordered  paan shots since we had never heard of such kind of thing;but when we tasted it we wanted it more. It was refreshing,chilled, light with a medium strength of paan flavour and mint which gave a cooling effect and it was very addictive. It was served in small shot glass.





    Next we had an ice gola with mixed berries 
(blueberry,blackberry and strawberry)flavour.
It was again good.The tangy ice with colorful berries was very attractive in looks too. It brought back my childhood memories.


 After a long discussion we ordered some flavoured paans and the shop keeper informed us that it would took some time and ofcourse we were in no hurry. And finally the show stoppers were served.
                                                                                                          

• Chocolate paan                        
• Butterscotch chocolate paan
• Chocochips chocolate paan

All of them were served frozen. All of them were very unique in flavour and presentation.
  A chocolate or butterscotch layer
covered the betel leaves which were filled with many masala(spices)
and chocolate chips.                                           
     

        This shop also sells several types imported candies, chocolates and coffees and hookah stands.

Price is very reasonable.And the good news is that they took small party order and serve  paans. The owner informed us that he had provided delivery of 50 flavoured paan and paan shots to Bangalore and it is a great job.A new kind of dessert you can serve to surprise your guests and I'm sure it will be a big hit and they will want more; so, be prepared and order few extra.

Alfresco- The Lalit Great Eastern

     A long wait ends finally. I badly wanted to visit this restaurant after I heard that it has been handed over to private groups and undergone a huge make over. I still remember those days when I used to come here with my parents since it was my father's favourite. A 174 years old Asia's oldest and longest operating hotel has its own essence no doubt.

The manager welcomed us at the

entrance of the restaurant and 

allotted us a table for two just

beside the small water pool. 

The ceiling is covered with glass 

and that day it was raining 

which gave a beautiful view and 

experience all together.
 

 

     Coming to the food, it was a lavish buffet spread. The waiter informed us that starters would be served at table others are arranged in the middle of the room.

    After 10 minutes, we were served with tandoori paneer and chicken nuggets.

Paneer was served with green
 pudina(mint) chutni where as
 chicken was served with
 mayonnaise. Both tasted good but chicken nuggets were a bit dry.

   Then we went for our main course and discovered that there were soups and salads in the starter which were placed along with the main course at one corner.

 
Chicken lung fung soup and
mixed vegetables with sweet
corn soup were really awesome. 
Several types of breads and

buns were there with soup.
The one I took was a bun made
 of brown bread but it was too
hard and I didn't like it.





A 'make-your-own-sandwich' corner was also there with sandwich maker. Salads were good too specially the chicken salad.
       In main course, they have a wide spread of vegetarian dishes 

among which I tasted few namely-

• exotic vegetables with ginger wine sauce, 
•  potato spinach masala,
•  kofta and 
• a recipe with ladies finger.

  I loved potato and mixed vegetable dishes, it was light and tasted great.


 In non-veg section, they have

• chicken biriyani, 
• spicy chicken, 
• mutton ghooghni and 
• fish florentine.   Fish florentine was so much in demand that i couldn't even taste properly since they took a long time to refill the container and it took seconds to finish.
  
  Biriyani was really nice but light whereas spicy chicken tasted fantastic. Ghooghni was also good but very rich in spices.
   
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  Two types of Indian drinkswere there-Kesaria thandai 
           and 
  Muskmelon lassi. 
  
  
  
  I just loved the thandai. It was refreshing,delicious in taste and smelt great.
  
  
  
  
  
  In dessert, we had fresh fruits-papaya, pine apple, 
  
  
  
  apple, water melon.
  Mishti doi, kala jamun, 
  chom chom and chandrakut were there in Indian section. 
  But mousse, brownie, pineapple tart, 
  pastry were also there. 
  All of them were just perfect to finish our meal.
   
  
  
  That day it was too crowded and the staffs face difficulties to attend everyone. Also there was space crunch and food items arrangement were very confusing. otherwise service was good and food too was good. And yes,it is a costly affair.
  
  

       .

Deli Cravings

  It was both Christmas and my birthday celebration. Having a large group of friends has its own problems along with hundreds of other advantages. And when it comes to birthday party,it just gets more difficult. First of all, you have to choose a restaurant which can accommodate all of your friends in one single table that too on a festive day. Secondly, the location has to be convenient to all of them since all of my friends stay at different locations and few stay far from the city. And finally the food preference had to match.
      I and my best friend together found this joint out on zomato and I decided to throw my birthday party here. It fit all my requirements and most importantly it is very pocket friendly.
 
      It's located near chrome hotel just opposite to La Martiniere for boys school,Kolkata. It can easily be reached either by bus or by metro-a 10 minutes walk from Rabindrasadan metro station.

We reached there at around 1.15pm and we were worried about the availability of tables. The staff assured us of that. There are two floors. The ground floor has no tables and is rather a waiting area with a sofa and a beautiful mirror with a basin. We went upstairs and it was so colorful.

 The red sofas and colorful cartoon graphics, wallpapers and strongly lighted interior gave a festive touch. The road side section of this floor is covered with clean glass,ideal for a view of the road.


   For starters,we ordered stuffed mushrooms, red pepper chicken 
 and garlic prawns.

 I could have never imagined that mushroom could taste so delicious.The outer covering was crispy. The filling with mayonnaise,spinach and corns was just awesome.

 The chicken is again a thumbs up for me. Tender boneless chicken pieces topped with red pepper coulis and mayonnaise was amazing in taste.

 Garlic prawns were served with various colorful capsicums and tomatoes and other herbs. It was good in taste.






 For main course, we ordered Shepherd's pie, stuffed chicken steak, prawn newburg, grilled fish with mango chilli sauce and zingara peri peri pizza.

Shepherd's pie was average in
taste.
 I like stuffed chicken steak. The breast piece of chicken is stuffed with mushroom and then grilled with white sauce and it was served with mashed potato and beans and tasted good.

Prawn dish was served with sautéed
vegetables and herb rice and a
very unique preparation and was nice.
  
Pizza was average and they took
 a long time to serve it. Pizza was
 topped with mutton,corn,chilli flakes,cilantro,mozzarella and tomato sauce.

But the show stopper was fish with mango chilli sauce.

It was out of the world.The aroma and flavour of the
dish was so unique and none of us had ever tasted such a dish.









The staffs were very helpful.
One of my friends brought a birthday cake. The staff took it
and when we asked for it, he made it ready on a plate and
 brought it with knife and some extra plates too.
  And what touched my heart was the background music
 'happy birthday' song was being played when i cut the cake.




So i loved the experience and not to forget, the price is very much pocket friendly.

Smoke House Deli

And finally I got the chance to visit this joint. I have heard a lot about this brand and was planning to drop in. I and my cousin decided to take a break from our hectic schedule and have dinner together. It is located at 5th floor of quest mall,Parkcircus, Kolkata.

It has both open area and indoor seating facilities. Very spacious, comfortable large sofas and chairs were arranged side by side.
The color code here is white. The soothing color brings an immediate calmness within you as soon as you get in. The outline of bricks and large windows drawn on walls and pillars make it look real. Geometric pattern of light on ceiling, self motif on glasses were very unique.



 Coming to the food--

For starter we ordered chermoula marinated grilled basa and panko crumbed chicken strips.

They served a bread basket first with two types of butter followed by Basa which was so soft tasty that it just melted in my mouth. It was served with mayonnaise dip. Crumbed chicken was basically boneless chicken with a thin coating and was given a shape of rectangle. It was crispy and tasty. It was also served with mayonnaise dip

For drinks we ordered sangria in melon flavor and summer crush cocktail.

The drinks were just mind blowing. Sangria was too good.
The quality of wine was really good and the ripe apple pieces soaked in wine created a magic.
 

Summer crush was very refreshing.
The mint, green apple and a dash of lemon blended perfectly with vodka was a thumbs up for me.

Then we ordered the main course.

 We kept it simple with grilled peri peri chicken with garlic mash and citrus pimento purée and since i got addicted to the basa after tasting it in appetizer, i settled with pan seared Cambodian basa with grilled vegetables and mashed potato.

 Both the dishes were outstanding. Basa,so tender but properly cooked with the sauce made the dish ambrosial. Garnishing was really good.
 


 Coming to the chicken, it was a huge piece from boneless breast region. The purée made a magical creation with chicken. It was so palatable and a treat to my eyes too.

Dessert was simple consisting of chocolate brownie with a scoop of vanilla ice cream. 

 The brownie was luscious and soft and tasted great. It was a perfect dessert to finish with. 

It was an expensive affair indeed. Service was average and of course could have been better.