Asli Punjabi Rasoi, chennai

Walking down from the gym after a good work out, my friend and I began talking about what's up for dinner.. With no mood to get home and cook, plus we had an almost hungry ready to get cranky nearly 4yr old with us..

My friend asked if I was up for dinner at the place across the road from our gym.. It was the Asli Punjabi Rasoi, a pure vegetarian restaurant..

She went ahead to check out the place and what they had on the menu..

The guy (manager/waiter/bus boy all rolled into one) told us it will take about 20mins as the kitchen was just getting ready..

We placed our order and told him "we'll be back in 20mins" in true Terminator style and wandered off to explore a store my friend had spotted nearby..

And there we were, in the eat out that offered almost no ambience, just a few tables and chairs out in the open and random Hindi movie songs (most were from remade Hindi movies) in the background..

On came a plate of salad- heaped to the top- carrots, cucumber, radish, onion, tomato an grated cabbage..

We had ordered-
Garlic naan
Aloo parantha
Saraon ka saag
Daal makhani
buttermilk

The food was piping hot; naan & parantha came with a good dollop of butter( which on request they avoided on subsequent orders)..

Sarson ka saag has been one of my favorites ( have had it earlier at Bpmbay halwa house and Icarus) - it was good..

Daal makhani- well, it was good but very different from what I've had earlier

Buttermilk- too watery, but heck, was good after the crazy workout

The man in charge was sweet enough to ask if the kiddo would like some rice and daal.. And they prepared the aloo parantha without any chilly and spice..

Overall, a good fun evening! Will I go back here? Sure, why not!

Ambiance- umm, well, nothing really but atleast no mosquitoes

Price- the meal for the 3 of us cost Rs484

Service- 9/10 ( that evening we were the only ones in the place)

Address:
Asli Punjabi Rasoi
Opp Indian bank/ State bank of India ATM/Blue Gym
Few doors down from CP art center towards teynampet
Eldams road
Chennai

Peacock, Bangalore

Hey, do you want to catch up for dinner?

Sure,  suggest a place and tell me when, shall land...

ok, there is this restaurant called "Peacock" on 100ft road, just come over there around 8, i should reach then.

And within seconds, a plan was made...

It took me a little longer than 5mins to find the place and then to spot my friend V, who was err enjoying some retail therapy at Pavers on the ground floor. I vaguely remember there being a Reliance Footprint at that exact place and a Gloria jeans coffee nearby. That night i noticed a transformation had happened in the year or so..  Pavers and another outlet had taken the place of Reliance, while Gloria Jeans had become a small bistro of sorts. We had walk through the place to find a stone staircase leading to Peacock on the 1st floor.

There was an interesting waterfall structure near the path, with an elevator alongside. The entrance into the restaurant  was quite extravagant, dark lighting and swanky furniture, fittings and art. We were shown to a table along a wall, where a plush sofa ran along the length of the wall. The ambiance seemed quite posh...

The waiter {forgot his name, such a darling he was, serving us, making sure we were taken care of} came over and announced there was a Happy Hour deal on Wine. Well, we wasted no time in ordered a glass of Sula white wine.. Umm, the only faux pas of the evening was that my glass of wine had an ice cube floating in it. We squealed on seeing it, and the waiter was quick to replace with another full glass of wine ;)

After catching up on our lives, work and what not, we got down to ordering food. A starter that was paneer tikka that was so soft and filled with flavour. For the main courses-- mine was Lettuce wrapped around stir fried veggies [it was in the salad section, but i decided to try it out] and my friend ordered a Fish sizzler [though she wanted it on an ordinary plate passing up on the smoke filled hot sizzling plate option]

The dishes were divine, starting with the starter to the main dishes..... We did pass up on the dessert as we were fairly stuffed. I did chat with the waiter on the restaurant's background, and if they had presence elsewhere. Apparently its fairly new, and only in Bangalore, but the brand had 2 more eateries in Bangalore- one on the ground floor of the same building- Cream & Crust and the other one was Woodstock [Thanks @Deepakao for this updated information]

We walked out grinning- good food, good company and lovely weather.... Was good meeting my friend who'd recently moved to Bangalore [yes, new job] Here's to exploring new places on every visit to this familiar town...

Ambiance: 8/10
Price: 7/10 [ the meal we had cost Rs1780 incl wine]
Service: 8/10

Address:
Peacock
+91 9686377553, +91 9686377667
57, 100 Feet Road, Indiranagar, Bangalore 

Sunny's, Bangalore

The one restaurant that has created waves, both high and low in my circle is Sunny's in Bangalore. 

So, as luck would have it this time when i was in Bangalore, a friend of mine asked if i wanted to head there for lunch. She too had been hearing reviews and wanted to check it out [before she packed her bags and moved outta Bangalore for good]. Gave me the UB City as landmark and i promptly landed there around 1noon, subsequent to which i walked it down the few steps to Sunny's.

This Sunny's is the original one she said, apparently there is another outlet in Bangalore, but this one came first!! :-) 

The 1st thing that caught my eye was the doggie sleeping near the entrance, wearing a blue collar, curled up on a small door mat oblivious to the bustling noise around. I then spotted another cutie pie under a table, with a red collar. Both dogs were black, and looked like they were used to people, completely unperturbed. 

We decided to sit in the outer area and were received by the Maitre'd who led us to a table for 2. There was a lovely canopy of sorts, adding to a bright sunny sort of atmosphere. The seating was casual, and were given the Menu card to choose from. 

There were pages and pages of dishes, ranging from Sandwiches, Soups, Sizzlers, Pizza, Pasta to Sea food platters. I chose a Grilled vegetable & Sun dried tomato Sandwich while my friend opted for the Prawn platter [forgot the name of the dish]. We also asked for a Pepsi/coke each.  A plate with warm buns and a butter made with pesto arrived on our table. The bun was warm & soft, while the butter was oozing with flavour. As we caught up on our lives, her job hunt, the decision to move back home, half an hour must have passed. Sometime during our chat, both our dishes were brought out to the table.

They looked good. The prawns were huge, served amidst a tomato based sauce and served along side a small Red Chilli in oil of sorts[a dip perhaps]. My Sandwich looked simple served with a side of boiled potatoes in cream/herbs.

The sandwich was ok, felt bland, salt and spice was missing completely. But the potatoes- Oh they were divine, just beautiful....

My friend said her prawns were good, but a bit oily. I did notice there was some oil leaking from somewhere running all over the plate.. And she said it was a huge portion for one person.... The dip was ooh la la, spicy [like you will hit the roof if you were Tom in Tom & Jerry toon]

To see if we could change our opinion about the place, we decided to order a dessert- My friend chose- Rum soaked chocolate mousse.. Yumm, it was good, but then again nothing OH WOW about it... Overall, we were quite disappointed with the food, especially when they have priced it so high and felt it was too much Hype, and below Quality.....



Will i go back? Nope, dont think so, especially when there are far better places around town..

Ambiance- 7/10
Price: 6/10
Service: 7/10
Overall Rating: 7/10


Address:

Sunny's
#34, Embassy Diamante, [Just ahead of UB City, near the Shell Petrol bunk]
Vittal Mallya Road,
Lavelle Road,
Bangalore
Phone : 080 41329366, 080 22243642

Dominos, Bangalore

The minute i mentioned book store, my cousin chimed in "can you pick up an order of Garlic sticks from Dominos along with some cheese dip please, her face broke out in the biggest grin i'd seen"

  

I smiled and nodded watching her beam in joy.. She was 8+ months preggers and had a craving for garlic sticks... 

Headed out to explore a few book stores in the neighborhood before hitting Dominos. I was accompanied by my other cousin R, who asked if we could have something to eat while we waited for the Garlic Sticks order to be processed. We ordered a medium thin crust Mexican veg pizza. The entire outlet was decked in standard red colours, with quite a few balloons and posters of new items on the menu...

 

The pizza was quite delicious.. It had tomatoes, capsicum, Jalepenos, onion and cheese. The base was thin crust, well cooked and not crunchy like chips. The pizza was filled with flavour and quite yummy. By the time i reached out for my 2nd slice, the Garlic sticks arrived in our table. I was at Dominos after ages, and discovered they had stopped serving the Wraps [ have had them earlier in Chennai, and enjoyed them]

The Garlic sticks came home and within minutes a box was empty. The sticks are so soft, and ooze with garlic flavour. 

Price: 8/10 [The Pizza, 1/2 lt coke and 2 garlic sticks worked out to Rs525]

Ambiance- 8/10

Service- 8/10

Address:

The outlet i visited in Bangalore is near Frank Antony School, Ulsoor

You can also order online-   http://www.dominos.co.in/