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.

Hungry in Hyderabad: Ohri Rubaiyat, Hi Tech City

Imagine a place with food so good, it makes you come out of your blogging semi retirement, past bad memories of pre - carpel tunnel syndrome to  write about it. Past few months have been eventful, so anything average pales in comparison most of the time. Tonight's dinner made me write about it promptly, which is unusual.

My comrade in fork and spoon, Kartik the localite took us to his 'Number1' place for food in Hyderabad - Ohri Rubaiyat at Hi Tech City. I have always enjoyed the food here in Hyderabad everytime I have been here. Now that I am a resident atleast for the next 8 months, I have been discovering this city is so consistent with its food.

Bangalore may have a lot of variety, though Hyderabad has its quality. I have had countless Paneer Tikkas at innumerable restaurants in 2 countries including once made by a chef who once served Bill Clinton. I know the build up is a tad too excessive, but the Paneer Sufiyan here was really really good. Never had Paneer of such an amazing texture and taste. Definitely top notch.

We ordered a Peshawari murgi, Bhara Tamatar which of course after the wonderful starter were also great. The Murg was superb, the Bhara Tamatar even better.

Rotis. Had them everywhere. Never had them like here before. Flaky, soft, flavorful and of a unique consistency, I enjoyed this simple component of the meal a lot.

2 Mocktails. I am tired of saying awesome. A mint masala cooler and a orange twist were remarkable.

I feel the bench mark has gone way up when it comes to Mughlai cuisine.

Hungry in Bangalore: Madras Central JP Nagar

Jitain vs food

Its Saturday evening in super cool Bangalore and it can mean only one thing. Temple Hopping! Terribly short on cash and tremendously large on pot bellies, we roomies decided the evening was perfect to pay homage to the gods and try out some great vegetarian food. I read an article somewhere that Indian IT males are aging prematurely, I feel that's nonsense.

So we headed to the beautiful Balaji temple in JP Nagar which was decked up in all its electrical finery. As with most Balaji temples, this one too is opulent, beautiful and attracts a lot of devotees. I dont have much patience for standing in lines, but the darshan took hardly 5 minutes in all.

Photo captured with a potato

Right opposite the temple is the Madras Central which is very unlike a lot of South Indian eating joints at least in the evenings. We could sit down a welcome change unlike the usual eating grub standing up like horses. The waiter quickly took our orders which were for this place obviously Pongal Vade.

Pongal is a kind of Khichadi (kedgeree) spiced with peppercorns and  soaked in Ghee. A nice comfort food from Tamil Nadu which is light, filling and also curative. So I learnt today. All these years I have been having an insult to this dish. As Jitain, who hails from Tamil Nadu, explained Madras Central served a good example of a Pongal. Served with different kinds of Sambars and Chutneys and in our order a crispy Vada to make things more interesting. The Vada nice crisp and fluffy went like a duet with the white coconut chutney. The entire combination of Pongal Vada makes an excellent breakfast choice which I was very happy having at 7 PM.

So often we fail to acknowledge some dishes just because we have been eating the wrong versions. Now I feel the need to seek out great renditions of everyday food to make everyday a great day.

Jitain as usual knew the fellows at this joint, who were warm attentive and really enthused to serve their customers. I was shocked. In Bangalore getting a smiling service is truly rare.

Coffee the right way

 
A Madrasi restaurant worth its salt should have good coffee and this place does a killer coffee. Served in the traditional 2 tumbler system, with sugar at the bottom, this coffee is fueling this blogging fury. Doctor Jitain showed me how to deftly decant and drink this coffee which would make even 007 have his Martini decanted not stirred.

Hungry in Bangalore: Variety Dosa at Koramanagala Park

This weekend also turned out to be fortuitous. After another great session at Writer's club, the ride back to my end of Bangalore is usually pretty painful in Saturday evenings given that people head out all at once to Carpe Diem the weekend. It took a small accident to stop and smell the dosas.

I wrote a big paragraph to explain how an idiot on a Honda Dio (no surprise at the choice of vehicle) executed a minor hit and run on my bike ironically right in front of the Koramangala police station. I think this should suffice. Good thing we have gun control in India, otherwise guys like these would get lit like Diwali.

I stopped near the Koramangala park to asses the damage on my left foot, which was negligible since I was wearing some sturdy shoes. The park was full of evening walkers, kids and few conscious couples - supposedly a prosaic sight but hardly acknowledged by me or most of us. I dont remember the last time I went to a park like this, choosing the confines of my cold apartment. Partly because of the lack of good parks my side of town.

But what enthralled was the food. It was 6 pm and the vendors had just started to gear up for the weekend evening rush. I remembered I was hungry all of a sudden. I had had a brunch which was long digested. I was thinking of mounting up and going home, my stomach didnt let me.

I had heard a lot of this place, Koramangala Park for its amazing street food, but majorly for its variety dosas (not dosa varieties). Basically dosa varieties, simple. But this here was special, this stuff I havent found in the tens of restaurants I have been in Bangalore. But surprisingly last in Mumbai. I can guess back in 2000 in Borivali, we have a varieties dosa guy who gets swamped with customers to try out his chinese, pav bhaji and other tasty varieties.

Fortuitous, as I mentioned I parked right in front of the 99 varieties lip smacking dosas. They have 6 charcoal fired tavas to craft the dosas which were fired up in anticipation for the rush. I remembered I had attempted eating here but the rush was unbelievable and had quit.

'Chinese, Mushroom, Paneer, Masala, Mysore Masala...' , definitely not 99 man. More like a figure of speech. But the offerings exceeded more I could remember, which I didnt care cause I was ravenous. The aroma, oh man. Imagine a smorgasbord of aromas from chineese, south indian, pav bhaji, spicy and savory.  'I dont care just give me anything' I said. Still he demanded' 'no choose we have chinese, mysore masala, paneer..'. 'Aah Paneer and make it quick'.

I found a plastic stool and with my back against the park boundary I observed the two cooks work deftly with the dosas. Its a modified rickshaw with a long cargo bed decked with charcoal stoves, containers and cubby holes for condiments. A boy was constantly shredding veggies and ingredients on the foot path and I saw Paneer getting grated for my dosas. 'Is it clean' I asked the boy. He just smiled at me. Good enough.

I got served within minutes. I tried to dig in, but my fingers got burnt. Burnt meaning painful for the next 2 hours burned, it was that hot. The filling seemed tomato curry based , with a load of veggies and paneer added to it. They were using bricks of Amul butter and generously at that. I have noticed many a times people add cheese, or butter or 'chinese' up any dish the flavors dont gel, dont harmonize. This dosa got it just right. The flavors were synchronized perfectly and yet you could taste everything. The Paneer was nicely distributed, the veggie base perfectly spicy and the butter was like a great bass player in a rock concert. A green coconut chutney and a mint chutney were good. However a red sweet and savory Hyderabad style chutney could have been a better accompaniment for this particular dosa, but since it was my first variety I am not the expert.

The sweet spot is when the dosa cools down just enough for you to access its masala innards. It took me merely a minute or so to finish the rest.

At the start I thought I would eat 2 varieties, but it was very filling. For 50 bucks, it was more than worth it. And looking at the crowd that had suddenly assembled, I was lucky I came in at the right time.

Darjeeling style Momos were next stall which I heard were pretty decent. So were chaat, fruit salads, ice creams and juice. But enough for today since I had to a waiting matters.

All this and not a drop of sweat, enjoyed in the shade of a park tree in a relatively clean place. I think Bangalore scores really well in these aspects as compared to other cities. Street food is more enjoyable with the weather being so great and city being clean in many places. I wish it stays the same or gets better if possible.

Hungry in Bangalore: Lunch at Mavalli Tiffin Room (MTR)

It took me 5 years, a cracked motorcycle fiberglass cowl and the magic of technology to enjoy the hallowed MTR meal. And one does not simply walk into MTR, one has to go through the arduous task of waiting in serpentine queues which could take up atleast an hour in the crowded portal of MTR. I have tried thrice previously and having exhausted patience had their sandwiches and desserts to satiate my hunger, which were pretty decent. Not worth the wait I decided, this place and Maiyas Jayanagar which are managed by the same family, I wouldn't eat at all.

I had to get a replacement for a part for my motorbike. A fiber glass cowling which wraps around the headlight, useless vanity and over engineering at work, but nevertheless required for a neat looking vehicle. The only place to procure this was JC road. Dusty and extremely confusing with its one way roads and multitudes of auto shops, I spent all noon getting the part and finding a decent service centre to install it for me. I was famished. The Mechanic told me it will take them 2 hours to get to start work on the bike and another 1 to finish. I had to kill 3 hours at a minimum.

Thank god for google maps. The search nearby function showed up Urvashi theatre and MTR. MTR impossible, lets head for the movie - Life of Pi. Looking at the crowds at the theatre I had a better chance at a ticket there than the MTR lunch.

It was 3.30 pm and haven't eaten since 11 am had made me super tired, hungry no more. MTR was the nearest source of nourishment and so sandwiches and ice cream it is. But there was no line at the coupon counter! Note  there are 2 stages of lines, one at the counter the other at the dining hall.

180 Rupees and dining hall waiting 30 mins, I couldnt believe my ears. I was afraid I would lose my appetite by the time I get served. And so I stood in line. 15 minutes later I was sitting in the old style dining hall sharing a table with a couple and their little daughter who weren't interested in small talk.

The fare is typical Kannada Udupi Brahmin style which is light vegetarian and closer to the 'sattvic' principles. Its healthy and when prepared well with the best ingredients is very delicious. Served in several courses, having lived in the south so long and having eaten this particular style of cooking several times, I knew exactly what to expect.

Round one

Steel plates instead of plantain leaves was disappointing but made sense given the ongoing garbage fiasco in Bangalore. And the onslaught begins - round one - puris with potato curry, mint and coconut chutney, crunchy carrot and lentils, thin payasam of coconut milk with cinnamon and cloves and a beans gojju. Great great taste. The food was really fresh and well prepared. Very less oil, simply prepared and everything rightly balanced. Oblivious while eating, I was served a super milk halwa dish I had for the first time, lovely semi caramelized dish of which I had two helpings.

Next came the star of the show - Bisibelle bhaat. This is the second best I have ever had which is a high compliment cause I have had this dish many times before, this here was a masterpiece. Really nice and thick with the correct spice balance - people mess the spice balance badly but this was on the dot. Served with a thin raitha and some crunchy mini papads. This Bisibelle bhaat was the high point of the meal.


Rice Sambar, Rice Rasam followed which were textbook dishes. Usual, but the quality of rice and preparation were top notch.

At this point, people around me were very stuffed. Still the food didnt feel so heavy at all. Louis CK said 'The meal is not over when I'm full. The meal is over when I hate myself'. There is no hating here, just the feeling of contentment.

Almost, I still have to try out their breakfast...

Hungry in Mumbai: Sammy Sosa Andheri/Oshiwara

I love bowling. The idea was to go bowling but Mumbai seems to have forgotten 10 pin fun. The closest and most proper bowling alley at Fun Republic has 2 lanes out of 4 working. It has people wearing all the wrong footwear dancing around the alley. Coconuts are more rounder than the bowling balls there. As expected a frame costs an arm and a leg and insult to injury a 2 hour waiting time. So its straight to dinner.

But choosing dinner isnt easy in this city. Fortunately I was in the company of 2 life style experts who amongst them would know all the way from good vada pav stalls to the worst mistakes you could do while ordering food in Beijing. Still we had the relatively easy task of locating an eatery in Andheri west. After a flurry of names I was less familiar with (and I call myself a foodie!) we decided on Sammy Sosa.

A Mexican and western casual eating joint in Mumbai would be the USP of this place. Warm comfy ambiance with a lively crowd, this place has a selection of imported beers which are pretty pricey. Of course there are the locals to give company. We started with the godzilla garlic bread and spicy bean tortilla which were very nice and quite filling. The portions are big so sharing would be a good plan.

While the main course was to come, I was enlightened what not to do in restaurants in China - dont share a table with other people or they might stick you with their food bill, you might get arrested and you surely dont want to do that. Also scratch out your CVV number on your credit card in that country.

Back to main course from the mexican part - Burrito - very very nice and the World Cuisine Main - Hommade Tortellini Stuffed Pasta was great for me but my pals didnt like it as much. The accompanying garlic breads were a bit too much to eat so again the main course is meant for more than 1 person easily (with normal appetites).

The only other mexican that I know of (not to be confused with Italian or Continental) is Taco Bell. So obviously this place ranks high for getting some change in your dinner routine.

No place for any desserts unfortunately, so definitely coming back again to try the other dishes on offer.

Hungry in Bangalore: Kakori Kababs and Curries JP Nagar

The life of Bangalore restaurants usually goes something like this:

1.      New eating joint on the Bangalore eating block so all out efforts. Good food, reasonable prices, excellent service and the good reviews come pouring in – lasts about a year max
2. .       Now that all the nearby IT offices have had their lunches and far off ones tried and gone, service is strictly OK, prices jacked up and the food doesn’t quite hit the spot – lasts a long time say 3 years
3.        Patrons just want to get drunk, change in management, all the good furniture sold off, staff is  basically all the street egg roll vendors in bigger kitchen and– 6 months tops and then a new restaurant or shady local liquor den in place.

But the very few good ones last. Although business seems great in Bangalore, its probably tough to compete in this city with the steady inflation and fickle eating interests of patrons. 5 years in Bangalore (A term I will now use more frequently) I have seen this life cycle and happy that my favorites have stuck around.

Kakori Kabab is probably at stage 1. New on the map, a good addition to South Bangalore. A bit inconveniently located in JP Nagar but that’s good. Fewer crowd in the joint hence more attention for us.

So like almost all big eating events it was my teams jaunt for a Birthday celebration. After having tried and tired of all the nearby restaurants we decided to go for this. Kakori Kabab is a specialty of the Nawabs cuisine from UP state in India. It’s a rich soft lamb kabab composed of a special secret mixture of lamb meat, paneer and spices.

Though I don’t think we had any of that. We had the Kabab platter which costed around 900 rupees but was total bang for the buck. An assortment of really really good fish, chicken and lamb kababs. I couldn’t make out which was which but the fish and chicken kababs were off the hook. I feel sorry that I didn’t take a pic, cause I would have hung it on my wall. The kababs were that good. The name suits the game.

The veg starters were disappointing.  So that was a big let down. I didn’t have any so no complaints from me.

But it got better again after that. Up next Dal Makhni, Nargis Kofta and Nawabi Haandi along with rotis, kulchas and phulkas. Dal Makhni so good. Nargis Kofta so so so good. Nawabi Handi meh.

The portions average. The ambiance comforting and pleasing and the price was a bit above average. We returned back to office super full and happy and ready to nap with our eyes open.