Hungry in Bangalore: Sattvam, Sadashiv Nagar

The starters roll in

Sattvam is a buffet only vegetarian restaurant which focuses on Sattvic food - sattvic meaning good for the body and soul. Located in Seshadri puram, it is a very unique restaurant experience with one of the best tasting food in Bangalore. In a nutshell, the food is excellent, the service great and you really don't feel heavy after the meal - which my Family unanimously felt makes it a good restaurant.

Buffets almost always evoke a groan in my house. Same old tired concepts of the usual starter+roti sabzi+rice+gulab jamun with ice cream which were perhaps from the wedding hall down street or the barbecue Non veg buffet which doenst work in my household rule by majority vegetarians.

But Sattvam creates a unique twist to the buffet experience with a very tasty, wide and impressive spread. The several starters are just superb, the masala puri with tiny bottles of pani to start with comes with a dry ice presentation. The buffet spread is huge covering a lot of Indian salads, starters, sabzis and rice dishes. All of them great. The few chinese are continental dishes were above average. The deserts were numerous and extremely well made. Plus there was a live cold stone ice cream counter and a live pasta counter. The Pizza slices were really good!

For Rs.630 per person on weekend for Dinner, this is a very satisfying restaurant.

Great presentation

Balinese Paradise: Part 1

Aneeshka Bali 2017!!

I was sweating "Uhhh Umm where would you like to go for honeymoon" - "Bali!" came the immediate answer as if it was telepathy.

Getting married has, from my perspective, a wonderful plus - you get to take a very nice foreign destination vacation without fretting about budget, time, company or worrying about 'what would people say'. Company, Family and spouse sanctioned, Bali it was.

After having heard only good things about this place, we didnt have the slightest doubt where to plan our vacation. It took just a day of research and asking around, almost a no brainer why couples with a decent amount of budget would want to miss this place for their Honeymoon. If falling short of budget, I highly recommend trimming your wedding budget but saving for such a memorable journey together.

We spent 5 blissful days in Bali, each and every day beautiful and memorable. The island has a very beautiful culture and is welcoming of tourists of all backgrounds. Yes Bali does have a lot of touristy stuff going on with tourists filled to the brim, yet has nature intact and has enough space so that it doesnt get onto your nerves. As newly weds, we didnt feel even a bit hassled or inconvenienced in any aspect. Budgetwise, everything was value for money from and Indian standards. The hotels we booked were decently priced, about 6K per night , gave us amazing service and  were superb properties. The food was priced on the high side but was amazing. The taxi service, after we made a choice from 5 different taxi recommendations cause all of them are so good, was reasonably priced.

The only bad experience we had was the 10 hour layover in Kuala Lumpur airport and the monkey bite at Ubud monkey forest (I think its a good part of the experience , but worried Anushka to no bounds I will turn into a bigger ape)

We stayed in Bali in 2 parts - at the beach - Seminyak for 2 nights and 3 nights in the mountains of Ubud. Seminyak is the touristy beach part and Ubud the cultural centre. I will detail our experience in further blogs.

Good waves, better waves: Surfing at Mulki, Day 2 and 3

Day 1 Blog

Day 2: After having a solid 9 hours of sleep post day 1– I started the day with a quick short breakfast of fruits then geared up to head for a different beach today. The high light of the day were the photos we could finally take and the amazing waves courtesy of the full moon.The rash shirt and board shorts I bought at Decathlon have paid off well over their worth, despite the super tight shirt accentuating my paunch.

Reading the waves

We had Gautam and Shyam today teaching me which meant I had a dedicated photographer. Seriously I had 2 pros dedicate their time and attention at me. Today we headed to a different spot called as 'Baba's left'. We tied up the  small motor boat to a puny but strong tree branch on what I would describe was a big sand bar. The beach was ours. Not a soul in sight. I has almost white pillow soft sand. The wonderful view was jarred by large swathes of trash dumped back by the sea onto the beach. We had to tip toe around lots of bottles with the board on our heads to get to our spot. 

Shyam read the surf to be perfect for learning and I was to find out, how good it really was. It was goooood. I looked up to the heavens to thank for this amazing day. The waves were big, of perfect speed and were breaking regularly, for a beginner this was the perfect step up. There quite a few glugs to be had with some powerful waves wiping us out even before I could point my board towards the beach. This day had the best waves of the 3.

Gautam was my trainer today, he had brought along his own surf board, which meant I was going to be more on my own today. Waves were breaking 40 metres off the shore. Unlike yesterday my first wave was a dud, I stepped too wide instead of inline with the board. Spreading your weight side ways means you tip off real quick. But the second one and subsequent ones were brilliant quick rides to the shore. 

Coming straight for the camera

The sea changes its mood. There were changes in the pattern of the sea with bigger waves coming in intermittently and breaking closer to the shore. These were quicker too, so I had to be fast on my feet and paddle really hard. Paddling was a big thumbs down. Paddling lets you speed up, get some momentum and be ready when the wave reaches you. My arms weren’t letting me do that in time unfortunately so I missed out on a couple of waves. Homework for me – swim regularly. It was overcast, with fluffy clouds muffling the Sun's intensity. I rode quite a few waves for about 1.5 hours. Then called it quits. All those long surfs, means long treks and paddles back to the break point. 

We returned to a sumptuous brunch of Mangalore buns, chickpea subji, simple flavored rice and gulab jamun prepared by Kirtan. Then it was a long siesta time. I got up with the pangs for some seafood, so I headed out to the town to try some local oysters (Marwai) and boiled rice (a variety of brown rice). Once I headed back, I thought might as well take a second siesta. I love this vacation! After tea, I decided to hitch a ride with Rasik to the town to purchase some fresh cold pressed, organic coconut oil. I heard a lot of benefits from using cold pressed unrefined oil so am packing some for home. I noticed the town of Mulki is really clean and orderly in a certain way. Generally 5Pm is time for Kayaking or stand up paddling, but I skipped it given I had a little excess exertion today, which I am not used to yet. I had another tranquil sunset at the dock clicking picture, while Jaymo from ‘walking on water’ surf club joined in to click photos himself. The red sun dips into the far away tree line on the beach separated by the big backwater channel. Dinner was simple rice and lentil sambhar and pakoras. End of another amazing day

Day 3: Final day of the course hence I was psyched to give my best today. I spent some time doing yoga to prep. Having a relaxed mind is very important, being in tune with the waves is necessary and timing is the key. Waves were lazy and low and conditions were perfect for learning. I was able to ride some long rides, with multiple swells hitting my board. 

Dosa for Brunch

Parathas, Mexican hot sauce?! and Rice

A sumptuous brunch of Dosas, chutney, brinjal sambhar and apple juice. I slept hard for 4 straight hours. I skipped a planned SUP session and had a restful evening watching the sun go down while the gang relaxed in the backwaters, swimming SUP. Very idyllic. Had a 63 year old Kiwi guy share his stories. We ate a healthy dinner of parathas and rice.

Sittin on the Dock of the Bay

Time to leave to catch the bus (fingers crossed the bus doesn’t give me a miss! Back to Bedlam, back to Bangalore

I am a Goofy! Surfing at Mulki Day 1

As the small motor boat carrying our boards glided over the serene Shyambhavi river, I finally took a deep breath. Finally a break. After a gruelling 6 month spree of work and hectic pointless weekends I took days off to finally visit Mantra surf club. I was planning this visit for years, when I finally got a chance for this solo trip. I had surfed before at Shaka surf club in 2013. This was my second foray into surfing. I also wanted to immerse into the Mantra way of life. I had signed up for 3 days of awesomeness, at the end of which I felt so fortunate to have experienced. Surfing, food, unique and very importantly stepping aside from the usual.

After a bad night of sleep in a bus from Bangalore to Mulki, I reached the Ashram at 7.30. Yes its a Surf Ashram, not a resort or a hotel. I checked into a nice clean room which accommodates 3 people, I was lucky that I got it entirely for myself. After a quick change and breakfast of bananas and pears, we got to the main event. 

The schedule is flexible but usually goes like:

• Surfing from 7.30 – 11 (or till you get tired);
• Brunch 11.30 then siesta
• 4.30 ~ 6.30: Kayaking, Stand up paddling (you can also do some jet ski, wakeboarding, etc), but the main event is watching the beautiful sunset from the tiny dock
• Dinner 7.30
• Conversations with Guests who are from myriad backgrounds, countries and hold interesting views  

So we begin day 1 - we took a boat ride through backwaters, walked through mangroves to ‘Swami’ beach. This beach was discovered by the 'Surfing Swami' Jack, the head of this Ashram. After the Ashram brought this place on the surfing spotlight with a surf competition a few years ago, its now being developed as a tourist spot by the local administration. My instructor for the next 3 days is Swami Sham who has been surfing for more than 13 years. We start with basic warm ups and yoga. Through my previous experience with surfing, I had retained my lessons on pop ups’ which is getting up from a laying down position to a standing / crouching position on the board aligned with its central line with proper weight distribution. You need to swivel your body, hips especially from a flat prone position to a crouch. Thats the whole point, but it takes practice to time your pop up, align your weight and shift your position in the rapidly moving water. The stylish low crouch that you must have seen in surfing photos do, is to keep you from majestically hitting the water, fun though as it is.The water temperature was perfect, and I mean the right hot and cold. The chest high water was clean, though wasn't transparent. Sham studied the waves and we waded to a point where the waves parted and was relatively calm, but we had to float or jump up when waves did come. I laid flat on the wide beginners board (damn! I wanted a narrower board,makes for cooler photos) and we waited for the first big wave to come through.

The first wave hit us fast and I caught it before I realised! The sheer thrill as the wave caught up to me and I was flying over the water was absolutely exhilarating, it was almost perfect except for the dismount. And I was hooked again. I caught many more, some long rides, some wipe outs. Every ride to the beach means a wade back lancing your board through waves, which takes work and quite a bit of paddling - I realised I was woefully short on stamina. Each wave I caught and ride made me go back, the adrenaline making the trudging wade and paddle back through crashing waves easy. I called it quits around 10.30 as I wanted to pace out my 3 days of fund rather than max out and lie in bed.

Oh and I realized I am a Goofy! One who surfs with his left leg back. Its an unconventional stance but it came natural to me.

Sham let me steer the boat (has an outboard motor) some of the way, and its pretty fun. Remember turning left makes the boat go right and vice versa, its difficult! When we headed back an amazing brunch was waiting. I was ravenous. Great food – idli, lemon rice, fruit juice, gulab jamun. I had mailed in advance of my peanut allergy which they gladly accommodated. The food was simple, tasty made with a lot of devotion to the Lord. A fellow guest from Brazil also liked the food a lot. 

Simple Food on Day3

I slept like a log made out of lead ; I was sleep deprived and had just surfed 3 hours. Woke up late in the afternoon had a second helping of lemon rice.  I headed up the small dock of the ashram with a a cup of tea to drink at. A sailboat was casting off in which a few guests and Swami took off. 5PM, time for kayaking or stand up paddling. I chose kayaking, while the Brazilian guest who was a seasoned stand up paddler (SUP) chose to do just that. I came back after 30 minutes for some more fruits, and went down to the dock to watch the beautiful sunset. The sailboat came in to dock. It was one of the best sunsets I have seen so far in my life.

Dinner was a sumptuous spread of fried sweet potato, vada, chapathi, veg curry, lemon rice. Some other guests joined us for great long conversations at the dinner table. Perfect end to day 1.

Link to Day 2 :Day 2 Blog

Hungry in Bangalore: Delite Chaat House at Indiranagar

Delite is a bonafide Gujju Chaat place (got directions to their new place in Gujarati) which serves 'authentic' (as per me) chaat. So Mumbaikars in Bangalore might travel through 1 hour of traffic to get here for Delite's really amazing and authentic fare. The Dabeli is incredible. For 30 bucks in Indiranagar, you will fill up and just get a cold drink at all the snooty places you were planning to hit when short on cash.The sev puri, bhelpuri are great. Except the Pani Poori which was disappointing, which they promised to fix. Great place, well setup, good tasty chaat and very reasonably priced. In short, unmissable.

Now the long. Chaat (or Chat) is subjective. Different people, different tastes. What the hell is wrong with Chaat in Bangalore, the general chaat fare to be precise?! I know, Mumbai would hear the same from a Bangalorean when the said Bangalorean samples a Dosa Sambar. Its kinda a dosa and remotely a sambar. But it works! We have authentic Croissants and Baos and bubble teas but no, not the chaat in Bangalore. Curry / sambar powder and boiled peas gravy (that mysterious green stuff ) in 'Chaat' gives me nightmares. My brethren from the Eastern belt equate Golgappa with Pani Poori in Mumbai (blasphemy!), yet every corner in Bangalore has a Golgappa guy handing out insipid watery stale pooris and call it Pani Poori. My reaction is over the top, but I been avoiding Chaat in Bangalore for years. Its bad, to my tastes. And so agree a lot of other folks. We just give it a miss, unless its at a wedding. Respectable mentions - Anand Sweets, Calcutta Victoria Chat (yet to try) and a few others who do get it just right.

The flip side, Bangalore has incredible indigenous chaat  - Bullet chaat, pineapple chat, congress chaat, nippat chaat, capsicum chaat (entire globe of fried capsicum stuffed with chaat) are outstanding. If not tried cause all you come across when talking about chaat is bhel puri etc, these have to be sampled. I would recommend getting this fare from VV Puram, Jayanagar (near the playground behind Amoeba) and Banashankari where I discovered this stuff.

Hungry in Bangalore: Majlis Kamannahalli

Muglai..tried and tired, the tastes same all over. No matter how good a restaurant you end up, tastes the same with varying levels of butter to drown the palate. But then thats what you get when you go to a local darshini and ask for Roti curry, its not quite Mughlai. But the same occurs in high end restaurants, not just in Bangalore, but all over. Or is it that the taste of Mughlai has become very common, so over done and similar, again same all over.  The only respite might be if one goes to expensive places like Bukhara or Samarkhand.

But Majlis breaks the mold. The food is different yet what I felt was essentially Mughlai, a fusion of Indian Mughlai (or I guess Awadhi) and Arabic cooking and at the end of it not very expensive. The Roti itself, the very basic is superb. I think one of the best Rotis I have ever had, its wholesome, fluffy, layered good and not drowned in fat. Tasty as it is, dosent have to be anything more, but its so good. The spices are different, not accosting your stomach with too much garam masala, but a balanced fresh bouquet. Overdoing Majlis might cause the same ennui, but as a one off once a month event, this place rocks.

The restaurant proudly displays its lineage with photos of Padma Shri winning Chef Imtiaz Quereshi. Read the Chef was very particular about the spices he used, which was evident here. Its very easy to miss on the now maddeningly congested Kamannahalli  road, on the roof of a gym building. A friend recommended it to me, which made me get a take away Kabab - which came with a wonderfully fluffy Roti, Hummus and salad. The Kababs were few, but the accompaniment really was good and it made for a good meal, I was very happy with the Roti. Good enough to get Mom along for dinner the next evening. Mom who is a tough critic to please when it comes to North Indian food, she absolutely loathes egregious amounts of butter and over spiced conveyor belt fare.

We ordered the Kadai veg, Warki Paratha (fluffy cross between Roti and Naan with Ajwain on it) and a Veg Biryani. The portions were very generous which made us parcel more than half of the stuff back home, except for the Paratha which was delicious. The Kadai veg was balanced, unique and tasty. The Biryani was nicely spiced, again unique with hot undertones, not the Chillies spice, but a heady cinnamon, anise and perhaps 'dagadphul' (kind of lichen which heats up the palate) with a 'Kevda' aroma in the background.

Its open air on the roof with fabric top. The ambience is decent and comfortable, but its on top of a 4 storied building on Kamnnahhali so you do get subjected to a little cacophony spilling from the road, which can be ignored. Cannot imagine how it would fare in a hot day during lunch, but the evening was pleasant. Perhaps its obscurity makes it relatively under attended.

A telling sign this place is good, Mom cannot wait to go back to this place...

Hungry in Bangalore: Chaaye Stall

MBA types call it luxury positioning. Old wine in a fancier bottle but served in a swanky place with fancy plates and edgy names. Chaaye stall, in my opinion, does this well enough to charge 243 bucks for two decent chais and one excellent sandwich. Ambiance inside is good for conversations, but the open windows and terrible traffic outside kills the vibe. Place has good choice of teas, a few coffees but a nice spread of tea time snacks like Pakodas and Sandwiches. We went with the Queen of spices and elaichi chai which were pretty good and decently priced. The waiter recommended a Mumbai Manoos sandwich which was yummy but a tad expensive, it did have the authentic Mumbai sandwich taste (Yay!) which will bring me back. Being  close to Garuda mall is good location and will make a visit here a good idea once the ongoing construction ends.

On a side note, blogging after such a long time is to be attributed to pals from Writers club which I been hanging out on Saturdays on and off since the last 4 years. Great way to get over writers block.

Going Nuts

Peanut a super snack. My superfood for my mostly vegetarian diet, great source of protein, convenience and deliciousness. I ate it roasted and salted (my favorite), in 'Shenga Holige'  (Shenga = peanut in North Karnataka Kannada parlance) 'Shenga Laddu', 'Shenga Chutney / Pudi', Chivda, Chikkis (original Snickers), Snickers (duplicate Chikkis), Reeses etc and Pad Thai! I seriously dont remember long stretches when I didnt eat any peanuts.

A persistent gastric condition and focused diagnosis later, the Doctor pronounced me allergic to something. Something was my beloved peanuts after a selective exclusion exercise and eureka moment.

The amazing realization set in me and my Family was that I have been allergic (and also was my Father) to peanuts since my teens. I suffered mild stomach upsets, aggressive and consistent skin breakouts and sluggishness. The transformation was semi miraculous when I stopped immediately.

Mild jokes here and there thrown about being a 'Firang' and having a fashionable 'American' condition. Worse when someone serves something traditional which cannot do without peanuts (Chivda, Poha for example) and you gotta eat around it leaving nuts at the end like a bad mannered kid.

I wish I could show them the scene from Hitch.

Hungry in Bangalore: Quaint little Kammanahalli Part1

"Where for lunch man". "I don't know, how about Andhra? or Mexican or Darshini (Dosa, Idli South Indian Fare etc) or Subway or North Indian (separate list) or Mac or KFC or Chinese or Empire (mostly non veg fare and Malabari cuisine) or Momos or Arabian or Continental or Pizza....". All this within a Kilometre. Typical eating out conversation within us room mates, its a glorious problem of plenty close to our Humble abode.

I moved into this area about 6 months ago and have been loving this quaint, well now recently popular place. About a Kilometre around the Kamannahalli main road lands you smack in the middle of youthful energy and foodie delights. I am gonna write about this place in parts, cause there is so much to go around. There is a huge foreign student population here, mostly from Middle East and North Africa and a upper middle class population which creates an interesting food situation.

I will start with Breakfast. So recently I was in Delhi, the options - Paratha, Idli, Uttapa. Repeat. In Pune - Poha, Idli, Vada. In Mumbai - Poha, Idli, Dosa. Typical Indian restaurant in the US also served  Idli, Vada and Dosa for breakfast. Get the drift. So after an entire week of eating Idli Vada in office I cant wait to have the superb combo of Idli Vada and Coffee at A2B (whose Vadas are wonderfully fluffy and spiced) or at Adigas whose Dosas are superb or at Filter Coffee (another Darshini style restaurant) for its unique Tamil fare. Any trip outside Bangalore, I cant wait to come back and have the proper breakfast. I am more inclined to Adigas cause they always seem to have a newspaper lying around to read.

My Favorite

Best Coffees to be had

Now not everyone is a fan of South Indian food (or developed such a strong taste for it like me) so there are other great options. If you say Cafe, this place has a lot of them.

Au Bon Pain is one such, the proper Bagel Cream cheese is really good and the Cappuccino was surprisingly wonderful.

Au Bon Pain

The Middle Eastern and (lemme qualify)  North African Students particularly enjoy their coffee so you will find a lot of them enjoying cafes in the relaxed way they are used to, none of the hustle of Darshinis. 

And yes Donuts!

So pretty much every franchise owner wants to open a shop in this area. Not much from the 'local' aspect or street varieties like other areas. As expected the prices are on the higher side. But its pretty good that things are sanitary (yep nothing wrong..so far) and standardized and a lot of options to be had. 

Come a long way from having a solitary Darshini ( small South Indian joint with very limited options and some times sketchy hygiene) to international stuff available at a stones throw away.

Its lunch time, thats another blog...

Viva la Vile Parle Again! Gajalee

Four years and six months ago I had written of this place, it was the same dinner with Brother while on a vacation from Bangalore. No difference this time around - which is a good thing. Meaning the food was as again really awesome.

This place cant go wrong with anything that thrives underwater. Don't know much about the ones living above. Gajalee does crustaceans really well. They get a whole plate of live ones you can choose for your meal and after just a few minutes it arrives steaming and delicious on your plate.
Plus a brief cameo by the actress Raveena Tandon, who is stunningly tall and still pretty(not included as part of the package).

Always a joy to be back home for Diwali. With such separate lives, its great to connect over some great food.

Whew! Blog after a good 10 months. Great to be past this writers block. Plus I hope it helps put down doubts that I am vegetarian. 

Hungry in Hyderabad: Rayalaseema Ruchulu Jubilee Hills

Rayalaseema Ruchulu (RR from now) is a chain of Local Cuisine focused restaurant serving food from the Rayalaseema region in Andhra Pradesh. A good break from the usual fare of tried and tested. Generally restaurants cater to a 'generic' taste. Their food is designed to appeal to palates with strict attributes of sweet, spice and so on. It comes a good relief to find a place which takes you to the edge, some may find it good like we did, or utterly bad. The fun is in trying it out.

RR specializes in the super spicy domain. The cuisine is extremely spicy (I mean pungent in a good way) with some dynamite chilies to make your nose run rivers. The other accompanying spices are also on the very higher side. Still its damn tasty.

Since unluckily they didnt serve their famous Thali on Sundays we ordered ala carte. We had the Jolle Roti (millet roti), Bhindi kaya curry (Okra curry), Palak Pappu ( palak daal), the RR Kodi and to save our stomach linings a glass of Majage (buttermilk). The waiter thankfully asks how much heat would we like in the meal. We mentioned medium since we wanted to go authentic. The dishes were hot as in temperature and very hot on the scoville scale. But the taste was amazingly unique and the combination of heat and spices were enjoyable.

Definitely not for a daily fare, but for a change from the usual, this place is a must visit. There is a Dadu's downstairs in case desert is due which is unmissable after a meal at RR. Another reason to come back.

Hungry in Chandigarh: Pal Dhaba

My short and hectic stay in Chandigarh Mohali started with a wonderful lunch at Pal Dhaba. This iconic eatery is famous for its Punjabi Dhaba cuisine. Its a favorite of locals and tourists who make it a point to visit this place every time they come to Chandigarh. Me and my pals were famished after a long flight. A friend, familiar with the terrain, suggested we hit this joint. What followed was a discovery of the amount we could actually eat when the food is so good and an array of superb Punjabi surprising food.

Surprising because I never had punjabi food this way. This was the authentic dhaba version. Take for instance Tandoori chicken. I have had literally a hundred variations of this stuff. But almost nobody made it so tender, not-overtly spiced and flavorful. Its the same stuff yet different.

The butter chicken we ordered next is huge. The photo dosen't do justice, but the serving is massive! Same thing, never had butter chicken made this way. This wasn't sweet at all and really yup. We also had the mutton and chicken curries. Mind you thats 4 non veg dishes and we were totally digging into all this stuff and almost finished.
Obviously we had the lassi and that sealed the fate for a dreaded 2 hour siesta.

I can't wait to go back to this place after things chill a little bit.

Edit: I ate here 5 times in 3 days. I had butter chicken 3 times. I have loosened my belt a notch. It gets boring after a while cause there isn't much in terms of variety of offerings and you surely wouldn't wanna have this as regular fare. Its definitely a must visit in Chandigarh, but the dhaba fascination wears off quickly. I wouldn't repeat a visit, rather spend the time looking for some more rustic offerings. For example I heard of some Dhabas on the highways who serve really good everyday Punjabi food. There are some sweet shops and upper scale restaurants in Chandigarh you should check out rather than repeat eating at a place 5 times. Now I am really hungry for some succulent tandoori from Pal Dhaba....

Hungry in Hyderabad: Little Italy at Hitech City (finally!)

Can't escape the buffet

There are some places which are ubiquitous, everyones been there done that a million times. Eating at Barbecue Nation for one is as usual routine for techies as getting a haircut. But there is of course chance of  one odd which gets left out.

Same it seems is for Little Italy, I seriously don't know why I missed it. The countless eating excursions as part of the IT industry to the same old tired and tasted venues, its so bad I never got to try Little Italy in Bangalore.

Its a vegetarian Italian restaurant with very good and wide options. Ordering a la carte doesn't make sense here when compared to the buffet. So if its lunch time, it has to be the buffet. A wide spread of soups, salads, breads, starters, dips the list goes on. Plus you get to order a starter, pizza course and pasta course at your table.

The desert array is pretty good. The Mousses and Panna Cotta are great! We were warned to make room for desserts and its to be taken very seriously.

OK thats done, next stop long pending visit to Hard Rock cafe.

Hungry in Hyderabad: Dialogue in the Dark at inOrbit

Yes that's how it looks

This is my best shot of a restaurant ever, actually its just black color image. But that's exactly what is Dialogue in the Dark all about. Its a dining experience in absolute darkness, and a unique experience it is. You absolutely cannot see anything. All you have to guide you are your other senses touch, sound, smell and would you believe - taste.

Unlike a usual restaurant you pre-pay for your meal from the combos on offer, check in your phones (I like this a lot, I hate phones during meals), your watches and basically any light emitting device. You also get frisked by a guard for good measure. Past thick curtains you meet your server, a very capable and warm blind person who leads you to your table and looks after you for the meal.

You constantly remain amazed at the lack of sight in the new, almost alien environment where even discovering there is a plate and fork, spoon placed in front of you and how you and your friends sound. Those senses are highly amplified. I couldnt wait for my meal.

The server serves your meal deftly, and its a complete surrender to the food. Despite my unwashed hand, I had to dig in to feel what I am eating and taste it and know it minutely. As I said - amplified. I could really taste how good the various items on my plate were. Very nice experience to have.

Outside,  some of the staff leaving for the day in the background

And I really liked the fact that this idea benefits the blind, gives some of them a role in such an experience and some of the funds go for their welfare.

Its also a very good corporate team building activity I came to know, so I might get my future colleagues to a similar place later.

Whats for lunch?

'So how did it go?' I asked a A friend of mine who had just got back from an interview. 'Aaah pretty OK, lets see, I am not too excited' he replied nonchalantly. 'But isn't it your target company and best fit job?' I asked. 'Yeah well it was until this afternoon'. 'So what changed?' I asked again now irritating this guy who was focusing on his Chhole Samosa. 'Arre yaar, unka cafeteria main khaana achha nahi thha, thhoda enthu kam ho gaya' (The food wasn't good in their cafeteria, I lost some enthusiasm for it ) he replied between breaths.

So after a few more minutes of pointless banter over jobs and the relation of food with it, we decided we should send a mail to career services to include the cafeteria menu of the recruiting company along with the job description. Though at the serious thought of pissing off the career services, I chickened out.

But food in a company or organization does come up in conversations. Company feedback from seniors end conversations with 'things are good...but the food sucks'. Hey but, I am going to work there and build a career, not check into a restaurant and comment on their idly vada sambar.

An army marches on its bulging stomach. Food comes as a break from stress and rigour. Taste is one of the senses which we can pamper and something which we can control and affect. and it needs to be pampered. Health of course is of course a big outcome of what we eat, and if we don't have healthy tasty choice, we are in a soup quite literally.

And blessed are the ones who get a delicious dabba (lunch box), once in a while. Prepared by a spouse who is in the exact stage of lateness to office or a dabba delivery service which drowns their veggies in copious unrefined oil.

Beggers cant be choosers most of the times, but when the opportune moment comes and I get asked 'so do you have any questions for us?' I shall probably reply 'khaan main kya hai?' (whats for lunch?)

Hungry in Hyderabad: Flavors of China at Madhapur

An empty restaurant on a Sunday afternoon is an ominous sign. Or an awesome opportunity. On a very strong recommendation from my well traveled pal, we moved our lunch plan to this place. After a scrumptious trip to Pondicherry, my tastebuds expected something really nice to get a blog post out of the experience.

This restaurant looks pretty well appointed with plenty of space and comfy seating. My pal, who literally lives across the street, had had food here several times so directed the course of the meal.

The jade chicken soup - a unique green soup was a very tasty way to start the meal. The starter was a taipei chicken which is OK, not that exciting. But the star was the Pan fried noodles, we had it with the black bean sauce though I strongly recommend the dragon sauce.

The reason why this place is worth a mention is cause the food is really good, the servings are generous, very reasonable (3 dishes + drink 650 bucks) and only incidentally and not to be taken into account, this is the first time I had the entire staff at my service. Plus complimentary ice cream for desert for my pal who is a loyal customer, can totally understand why she is loyal.

There are certain places which become good finds, cheap, less crowded , great for a meal, you might go there occasionally and recommend your friends to go and . I hope this turns out to be a good find.

Viva la Pondichery, seconde partie

'Sunburnt and pot bellied', apt description as I stepped back into campus for the remaining 5 terms of MBA from a wonderful break to Pondicherry (now officially called Puducherry). Still stuck with a ridiculous patch of un-tanned skin around my eyes due to sunglasses, currently making me like a comic book super hero, I aimed to write this article down before I lost the tan and the memories.

My second sojourn to Pondicherry, this time with a much more boisterous group bent on vacationing with a vengeance. We did a lot which cannot be accommodated (or should be mentioned) in one blog

So heres a quick write down:

Where we stayed:
L'ESCALE Pondicherry - a quaint and surprisingly affordable boutique hotel on the street parallel to the promenade. Superbly located in the french town (white town), very close to the best attractions in the town and well connected. That is, if you are looking for a Pondicherry experience and not a resort experience for which there are plenty of resorts along the coast. But thats no fun since you cant swim in the waters due to the dangerous currents and narrow beaches. L'escale  is definitely a worth stay and a worth revisit.

Where we ate and what did we eat:
As planned, all we did was eat, relax and ride bikes around town. So chronologically:

Baker Street: Ironic, its a french bakery named after a fictional english scene. Nicolas the hotel landlord recommended  as with all of his  accurate and helpful suggestions, for a quick lunch. It seems to be 

a popular boulangerie with a wide selection of baked goodies and snacks. In total, we visited this place 3 times.

Le Vietnam: A vietnamese joint, my pals tried while I napped - pretty decent for a bit of the variety. The 'Chaiyo' - fried vietnamese snacks got good reviews here.

Rendezvous Cafe Restaurant: This was one of the highlights of our food journey. Very good and wide selection of food. A bit on the expensive side though really good food, service. Unfortunately, as with several things in Pondi, this place closes early so make sure you reach early.

Satsanga Restaurant: Its a big open air restaurant with ultra slow service, bad food and loads of mosquitoes for company. Though it seemed to attract a lot of foreign crowd, I guess the place appealed to a different crowd from us perhaps, though this place I feel was a mistake.

Le Cafe

Le Cafe: The Historic cafe located on the promenade, I made up for missing this must do in my last visit. Its a cafe situated at a wonderful location built a rustic way. The place was run tardily though which was a shame. We had the usual breakfast and though breakfast over looking the sea in a french cafe was pretty unique.

La Terrase: This was the best food I had in Pondicherry and the last meal of the visit, which was lunch. Diagonal to our hotel, right next to the iconic Le Club - which we skipped, something for another visit perhaps.Tasty, quick food and great service from this place. I wished we had heard of this place before. What was especially good was the offerings for the vegetarians, the freshness of the food, the juice and the taste again worth mentioning. Though there is a difference of opinion with a few of my friends, the desserts for example didnt match up to the other courses that we had.

While not eating:
Apart from earning the tan on our two wheelers, the compulsory visit to auroville was accomplished. Auroville is an impressive achievement for the followers and I feel a visit inside the Matrimandir (the meditation dome) might be worth experiencing.

Surfing - was sorely missed. I wanted a go at round 2 after my initiation to surfing in Manipal. The Surf school was closed due to a surfing competition which was quite a spectacle. It was held near the pier close to the rocks off the promenade which made for a thrilling photo opp.

The french style architecture of houses with wide doors set against bright and long pastel colored walls with framed windows, the prevalence of artsy nooks, almost cobbled streets and stylish cafes  makes for a great photo essay. The above picture captured by Pranay, one of many good ones.

There are probably other activities to be done, all aimed at leisure and variety. Though expecting a lot of action and excitement in this town might be a bad idea. So with the right expectation, time and right amount of Sun screen lotion , this is a great place for a weekend.

Hungry in Hyderabad: Chutney's at InOrbit

All smiles, thats how Amit smiles

 Hype can be a bad thing. Too much and I get turned off about going there. Chutney's is a classic case till today. The waiting hall was always packed, I had never felt like going there. The food had looked mundane from outside peering into its glass enclosure. Its a South Indian cuisine restaurant in the mall with staid ambience full of the usual & boring families.


Well don't judge a book by its hype, this place is really good, which makes the people in the waiting hall come here again and again; like I said in my previous Hyderabad blogs, food in this city is taken seriously. The quality and output is more often proportional to the price in this city.

Obviously the place has a lot of Chutney's on offer. There were 6 of them on the table, each of which were unique and wonderful were the cynosure of our meal; everything that we had were just a means to getting the Chutneys to our stomach's end. The Guntur idly -idlis patted with ghee and dusted with yummy chutney and slightly toasted was really good, didnt know this variation of eating idlis and its something I will go back for. Dosa, mini Uttappams were great.

Special mention was the rassam. Potent, tasty and a great upper for the meal, the Rassam was refreshing. Buttermilk was presented in milkshake type glasses, pretty imaginative and damn tasty. The Biryani was authentic Hyderabad, meaning I didnt like it much cause of my inclination to the more spicy Bangalore version. Honorary mention, the Jeera rice and Dal tadka were decent.

Formidable Khubani ka Meetha

Desserts - Gulab Jamoon - really great and the local Khubani ka meetha - rich, very sweet and perhaps excessive.

There's a sale going at the Mall, have to take a guntur idli break,

Hungry in Hyderabad: Hotel Sitara Grand

Unfocused on Paaya and Haleem

Its a common dilemna when it comes to entertaining new comers to your city. You would like to take them out to lunch or dinner to a reputed place representative of what the local unique and delicious.

My gracious host, Deviprasad took me to the classically renowned Hotel Sitara Grand lunch. The offering here encompasses much of what Hyderabad is famous for. I especially was looking out for the Paaya and Haleem.

Straight of the bat, the first thing we saw when we entered the dining room were the superstars Haleen, Paaya and Biryani. The Haleem is an interesting super tenderised lamb cooked with lentils and wheat. I was surprised by its unique taste and texture. I liked it quite a bit, but Devi told me its not upto the mark as compared to what is during Ramazan. The Paaya is a spicy lamb soup which is had for breakfast. Again a new experience, it was really hearty and meaty. Since I go easy on the meat, I had a bowl but Devi was tucking into it full on. Paaya & Haleem, check. The Biryani is authentic Hyderabadi, it comes mildly spiced. I realized a bit late I have to go heavy on the Mirchi Ka Salaan to spice it up. Though the cynosure were the Paaya and Haleem.

The rest of the fare was usual Mughalai and Indo Western, tasty though. The Chinese dishes were boring. Deserts were great and several. I was delighted with the Double ka Meetha, another local specialty.

So next time, I have to entertain someone who comes to this city, I know where to take them.

Hungry in Hyderabad: Biryani Challenge

Fruit Salad after a cleaned out plate of Biryani at Bawarchi

I have been in Hyderabad more than 2 months and I have pretty much given up on the Biryani dream. Blasphemous, perhaps. Not due to the lack of Biryani, but due to lack of good Biryani. I am sure I am endangering myself by declaring this, but Bangalore had better Biryani than what I had so far. Sorry.

I have given it a good shot at that, I have had the Bawarchi biryani, the legendary Paradise Biryani, Hotel, Sitara Grand Biryani  and several others many times over. Beauty is of course in the eye of the beholder, my taste buds and of a few non Hyderabadis I know still cant believe the Hype that was afforded to the Biryani here as compared to Biryani from other places. Localites share my opinion about the falling quality of Biryani in many older reputed joints.

My take on the best so far has been Meghana Biryani in Bangalore, not authentic but a version nevertheless.

So the challenge remains, find a good Biryani, or a version of this in the Nizam's city so I enjoy its due. Perhaps Ramazan, as always, might provide a delicious answer in Hyderabad.