Indigo Restaurant

This was only my second time at the Indigo Restaurant in Colaba (right behind the Taj Mahal Hotel).

Indigo is a highly reputed food place with nice ambience and “woody” decor. My wife and me decided that it is worth the long drive to Colaba.

Overall, it was a good experience, though the place was not crowded being late lunch hour on a weekday. The service was slow, and we had to give it an occasional trigger to push things through. Surprising, as there were only three other tables that were occupied at 2 PM.

The prices at Indigo are on the higher side, on the average a dish would cost USD 15 to 20. Some dishes could cost as much as USD 25 to 35 ! But it is the preparation and the manner of serving which distinguish this restaurant. The food is very French (for me !) and eclectic.

There are not a million items like in some of the other places which tire you out by forcing to read long menus in dim light conditions – there are only a few items, so the choices become clear in a few minutes. We decided to try the Chicken Broth to start with, and it was amazing. We are wondering how to replicate it at home !

We then ordered the Boudin Blanc, Vegetable Couscous and Green Garlic Chicken. All these dishes were unique and very good. Though the portions were of medium sizes, we felt “full” after the lunch. I would state that the food was very good, though not extraordinary. Since it was lunch time, we could not opt for some good wine – may be we would try Indigo on another day for dinner !

Once in a while, an Indigo experience would introduce the diner to a new level of ambience and exposure to some of the exotic fusion food combinations that one can hope for in Mumbai. But it does pinch the pocket, and may not be offering what one can get for less than half the price in some of the other famous restaurants in Colaba or Cuffe Parade or Mint area of South Mumbai. However, that is not the point, it does make a difference to enjoy some kind of different food occasionally – doesn’t it ?

Cheers,

Vijay Srinivasan
25th Feb 2013
Mumbai

CCD – Performance Issues

CCD stands for “Cafe Coffee Day” in Mumbai (also called the same in the other metros, I guess). For a fairly long time, it was the dominant coffee shop brand because of its decent quality, “no disturbance” policy, and market penetration with a number of shops in any large metro.

I have frequented CCD for a fairly long time as well, though occasionally I have shifted to a Barista or a Gloria Jeans or a Costa Coffee outlet due to their different coffee tastes, ambience, or availability. I have also seen that most folks always ask for the nearest outlet of CCD, so that was a commendable consumer pull built by CCD over the past several years.

Apparently, the CCD story is not going that well based on my recent personal experiences. For one, they are now coming under serious competitive pressures – many global coffee shop chains are coming into India, like DiBella from Australia and of course, Starbucks. The foreign brands have very low market penetration as of now, so there may not be an immediate impact on CCD. But that situation may not last long.

Another serious matter for CCD is its deteriorating quality. There is not much of a difference in prices – CCD costs only some 15% cheaper than a Gloria Jeans or a Starbucks for a like-to-like comparison with similar quantities of coffee. I am finding that the other coffees are tasting better – especially the BRU World Cafe coffees which are similar in pricing to CCD with a better ambience in their outlets.

Even worse, CCD outlets are not handling loyal customers well – one day, the Capuccino was not hot at all, and today, they ran out of Equal sugar in their Infinity 2 Mall outlet which has one of the highest traffic of footfalls I have seen in the Mumbai suburbs. The explanations offered for the coffee not being hot or for not having stock of Equal (or Sugar Free) were weak and was not communicated to me in an apologetic manner.

For a brand to sustain, loyal customers have to keep coming and buying the product. Today I decided that I will stop drinking coffee at CCD outlets. I need my coffee to be piping hot with sugar free supplied along with it, and all the other coffee outlet brands have no problem in meeting my requirement which is only but natural.

The other supplementary point (though not a deciding one) is that the pastries in CCD are very sweet, with lots of sugar in them. The other brands of outlets are more sophisticated and offer even sugar-free chocolate cake, including a completely sugar-free capuccino like in the BRU World Cafe (without the need to add a sugar free sugar).

It is critical for CCD to re-invent themselves. I am proud of them since they are a completely Indian-built brand, but I am afraid they are losing their direction, passion and motivation to compete for coffee drinkers (who happen to be somewhat finicky).

Cheers,

Vijay Srinivasan
10th Feb 2013
Mumbai

Bangkok Cuisine and Cafe de Thai

Some more restaurant coverage………

I had the opportunity to go and have dinner at two amazing Thai restaurants in Reno this past week.

They are two very different restaurants in every way possible – Bangkok Cuisine Restaurant appeared a bit more casual, with a relaxed ambience. The food was delicious and I would say somewhat better than the other restaurant. We had a great time at the Bangkok Cuisine, where a bit of noise was tolerated ! The papaya salad was excellent. When we told the taxi driver to take us to this place, probably he was confused about the two different locations in which this restaurant operates in Reno. He took us to the distant one (I think it was South), but nevertheless the place was great, with a queue of people waiting to get seats ! However, we got seated in less than some 20 minutes or so. I can also comment that the waiter service was non-intrusive and very good.

The other restaurant, Cafe de Thai, is a modern-looking Thai restaurant with a bar at the entrance and more business-like in service and ambience. The food was good, no doubt, but the authenticity of Thai food was missing. However, the service was decent and our group of people liked the place for the privacy it offered. It is a good place for a company get-together. The bar was outstanding with excellent wine selection.

Both are recommended ! They offer very different overall experiences.

Cheers,

Vijay Srinivasan
14th December 2012
Mumbai

Rapscallion and Arroyo

I enjoyed some excellent seafood at the Rapscallion Seafood House and some fantastic, authentic Mexican food at the Arroyo Mexican Grill – both at Reno.

While I am not a food writer, I can comment on the ambience and generally the quality of the service in general.

The Rapscallion Seafood House is a fabulous seafood place, having been around for more than 3 decades……probably the most well-known seafood place in all of Northern Nevada. Great ambience, excellent service and some great wine selection distinguish the place.

I had the New England Clam Chowder Soup (on the recommendation of my Venezuelan friend from Mexico City), and the Alaskan halibut – both were amazingly delicious. I forgot to make note of the wine variety they served, but again it was a great Cabernet Sauvignon (probably Californian). I also took note of the fact that almost everyone around was enjoying the food greatly.

What struck me most was the classy ambience of the place and the outstanding service level. I guess the most important thing in a high-end restaurant is service and the need for the waiters to watch out for the needs of the diners and instantaneously appear nearby to take care of that need. Food only comes next, though it cannot be compromised.

No compromise was necessary at the Rapscallion as the food was equally good.

The other place which blew my mind was the Arroyo Mexican Grill. I had been telling my friends that I would really love to have a 5X food – really spicy to the maximum, and one of them found this place through an internet search. We were a bit worried when we arrived at the restaurant in downtown Reno on a Saturday evening – there was no sign of people and no activity. In that respect, Reno differs from most large American cities. It is a quiet place.

When we walked into the restaurant, there were just about couple of diners in a large-format place, and we were a bit worried. But then we got around to tasting the nacho chips with some outstanding sauces and dips that they had, and our doubts started to slowly vanish. We had a most spicy dip (don’t remember the name), which bombed all of us. Complete knockout was possible with that one.

I ordered the Molcajete with chicken and added further spice to it to make it even hotter. It was a blow-out concoction of a fabulous Mexican chef, punchy, extremely spicy (meeting my specification of 5X) and almost managed to knock me off. I truly relished this dish (being the first time I have ever had Molcajete). Actually, Molcajete is a Mexican version of the mortar and pestle tool – a stone device used to crush and ground spices. It is used to serve dishes in restaurants and the dish itself came to be known as Molcajete. The food stays hot for a long time in this stone utensil.

Overall, both restaurants are great places to host folks and enjoy food while enjoying the companionship of friends. Strongly recommended !

Best Regards

Vijay Srinivasan
8th December 2012
Mumbai

Best Mumbai Dosas

Today my wife and I took a ride to Marine Drive and Malabar Hill in South Mumbai, just like that, with no specific purpose in mind except to laze around a bit and have a bite.

The ride took an hour and 25 minutes, and that on a Saturday morning ! Well, normally I use the Bandra-Worli Sea Link which cuts the travel time by about 20 minutes or so, but today I decided to see the other route into town.

So, we saw Mahim, Dadar, Prabhadevi, Parel, Worli, and then reached Chowpatty…..something like that ! I had a restaurant in mind, and that was Sukh Sagar in Girgaum Chowpatty, which is a famous vegetarian restaurant chain. On the way to the restaurant, we drove slowly from the Pedder road end, and drank in the sites of some of the oldest buildings you could see in old Mumbai. I saw a fascinating building called “Jehangir Mansion” (which I also saw last week during one of my business trips into town).

We then turned into the short road which leads to Marine Drive, with the “Ideal Restaurant” on the left and Sukh Sagar Restaurant on the right. I understand that the Ideal Restaurant is a hangout for the backpackers, but so far haven’t had the chance to try out their dishes.

So, here we were at Sukh Sagar, and climbed the steps to the first floor “air-conditioned” area (the ground floor is not air-conditioned and open to the pavement side. It was not crowded at all at 12:30 PM – there was just one other family having their lunch.

Since I knew Sukh Sagar fare from my last week’s trip along with a business friend, I decided what I wanted very quickly – it was the “Onion Rava Dosa” with the masala on the side (rather than on the inside, as is the usual way it is made and delivered). I learnt this small variation from my business friend, and I like it !

My wife ordered the “Mysore Sada Dosa”. I suggested that she try their Pomegranage juice, which I found refreshing.

So, the dosas arrived (it took some 20 minutes !). They were crisp, fresh and looked good. They were delicious too. It is difficult to get a strong endorsement from my wife, but this time around she liked the dosa so much, she told me that the dosa was “very good”.

There you go – we have had dosas in other places in Mumbai. For example the Cafe Madras in King’s Circle in Dadar is good, but their dosas are traditional – a bit soft, not crisp. Their dosas are also good to eat, but they are not big and solid like the Sukh Sagar ones. Of course, one has to pay more at Sukh Sagar for their dosas, but we thought it was worth the trip of some 35 KMs !

Strongly recommended – but do not venture into their Italian or even traditional rice-based items. Dosas remain their strongest fare and it is surely worth the attempt to try them.

Cheers,

Vijay Srinivasan
27th October 2012
Mumbai

Pizza By The Bay

Earlier called “Jazz By The Bay” & “The Pizzeria”, this restaurant has now been renamed as “Pizza By The Bay” – located on Marine Drive just at the corner when you would turn towards Churchgate. This has been a family favourite for quite some time, so we decided it is worth the while to drive more than 75 minutes on a Saturday evening from home. I was just hoping rain would not start pouring, making the traffic all the more difficult, but luckily there were not even rain showers.

Previously, we used to enjoy the salad bar at noon time on the weekend – great stuff, but now that bar is gone. Somehow, I did not like the “white” colour everywhere – the earlier performance area was like a musical instrument (Jazz) and that’s where the salad bar was located. Now it had a modern French look, like the ones you see on a Paris sidewalk. Getting a table overlooking the sea is almost impossible (only a few tables get the view anyway), so we had to go inside the airconditioned area.

I know the food will be decent (it was), but the service was terrible. There were too many waiters, but no one was focused or getting directed towards serving the waiting customers. Exactly 10 minutes passed before a waiter attended to us, though many saw us taking up the table under the guidance of the girl from the entrance. So, what is the issue, I wondered – it is just the culture, I had to conclude. The waiters and the management know for sure that there is no lack of business – indeed, there was a steady stream of people coming in. When we reached at 7:40 PM, there were people waiting outside the restaurant. And, when we exited the restaurant at 9:10 PM, there was a bigger crowd of people waiting outside, trying to get a table. So, the issue is not demand, so why bother about service when the food is good anyway ?

I do not think it is a wise conclusion, but I am not in the restaurant business, so I do not really care. May be next time, we would choose another restaurant when we visit SoBo (South Bombay). In my opinion, service is as important as the food variety and quality, and ambience.

Well, we ordered some salads, pasta and pizza. My new favourite is the Oriental Spicy Mushroom Pizza – this is really spicy stuff and done very well. But my wife did not like the fact that the salads were a bit sweetened – the Broccolu Pinoli & Pasta Salad was a bit sweet, don’t know why. That’s not the way they do salads in other famous Italian restaurants in town.

Overall, the food was fine, but there were several drawbacks – for the prices they charge, the quantities were small, some 75% of what others provide ; they do not have much choice for starters – one has to eventually settle for the same stuff, the Bruschetta – and the drinks were exorbitantly priced. Of course, the service was nothing short of terrible – we had to keep gesturing many times before we could get a waiter, and the original waiter who took the order did not continue serving us. Not a professional establishment.

Give it a try, but I would not recommend if you do not have patience.

Cheers,

Vijay Srinivasan

10th June 2012

Mumbai

Pebbles

Pebbles is a seafood restaurant in Andheri West suburb of Mumbai.

I had the pleasure of having a dinner at this fine dining restaurant recently.

For any connoisseur of seafood, this is an excellent place to go to. The only downside is that the pricing is some 50% more than the usual seafood places, but then this is more of a corporate kind of restaurant with very good ambience and attentive waiters, who keep their smile all the time !

The unique ordering mechanism (which is fast becoming standard at many fine dining restaurants in India) is via Apple iPAD with a customized software which allows you to run through the entire restaurant menu, view the items, take a look at the prices, and then place your order. Young or old, man or woman, all the diners are handed the iPAD and then asked to place their order.

While the idea is cool, it does not in any way replace the intricate details / data that can only be provided by a waiter. Of course, he is always on hand at this restaurant and will come to your side quickly should there be a problem (technical or otherwise) or a clarification has to be obtained. For example, you would ask for the spicy side-dish to be prepared in a medium spicy manner – while that can be asked of a waiter, the iPAD software does not have that kind of flexibility. You might want your soft drink in ambient temperature rather than in the usual ice-cold condition, or you might want ice cubes in which you would pour your coke from a room temperature can, etc., etc., The software would not provide for those kind of options.

I browsed through the iPAD software and in a few minutes returned the same to the waiter with a smile – he understood because he was rather smart. The implication is that I like to order in the usual “in-touch” manner, or I would ask others in the table to add on my order. In the situation in which I was dining in, it was easy for me to share the common items being ordered so there was absolutely no issue at all. I specifically wanted one chilli fish basil dish and that I got by talking to the waiter with no reduction in its chilliness !

Overall, Pebbles is a very nice restaurant with courteous service and some excellent seafood. I suggest the full Basa fish which is served in fillets – absolutely delicious.

Apart from the price issue, the other problem is the exorbitant price of liquor – there is no question of ordering some good wine – the prices were mindboggling.

May be the good idea would be to focus on some soup and starters, and the main course. Drop the rest !

Highly recommended (at least for once !).

Cheers,

Vijay Srinivasan
22nd April 2012
Mumbai

Grillopolis

I had dinner with family this evening at Grillopolis, a classy Mediterranean restaurant located not far from the Infiniti Mall in Andheri West suburb of Mumbai.

Don’t miss this place ! We were a bit early, around 7:45 PM, so we received special attention, I guess. In any case, the service was good.

The starters (10 different varieties, which you could repeat if you wish !) were mouth-watering. The unfortunate part of the starters business was that we all got so full, there was not much space left for the main course !

The salad area was not well addressed in the buffet dinner, but the main course items were all very good. The food comprised of Indian, Mediterranean, Spanish and Lebanese items, and the availability of Indian food was a surprise, I was not expecting the same. You could even get naan and dal makhni should you choose to go that way.

But the main focus of the food preparation was Mediterranean and that was quite evident from the choices available. The family enjoyed the food.

Desserts are not a strength at this restaurant, though one gets to taste the Balaklava, rice pudding, et al. But just OK, not really amazing like what you get to see in Dubai at dinner time.

Overall, I would give an 8 / 10 for this very good restaurant. When we came in, there was just one other table occupied, and within 45 minutes of our arrival, almost all the tables were taken up, showing their increasing popularity.

I only hope that they are able to keep up the quality, enhance the varieties, improve the salad and the desserts areas, and ensure that good service is always delivered to their patrons.

A tall order, for sure, but an important and critical one at that, right ?

Cheers,

Vijay Srinivasan
14th April 2012
Mumbai

Tonkatsu Ginza Bairin

You must be wondering what does that mean ?

It is a famous Japanese restaurant chain present in several countries around the world.

Here I am talking about the one at the ION mall at Orchard Road in Singapore.

First, what is Tonkatsu ?

According to Wikipedia, Tonkatsu (pork cutlet),is a Japanese cuisine invented from cutlet. It consists of a breaded, deep-fried pork cutlet one to two centimeters thick and sliced into bite-sized pieces, generally served with shredded cabbage and/or miso soup.

I did not go for the pork, but went for the chicken. The sticky rice with the fried chicken is absolutely delicious and you must try it. First of all, I love the Japanese sticky rice, and the Curry Udon that I have had in the past in Japan always entices me a lot. It felt like almost having a curry dipped rice dish when I tried the Udon in Tokyo. And, it did not have any meat at all !

But the same thing now with chicken is simply outstanding. I am sure that there are actually many Japanese restaurants in Singapore which serve this kind of food. But this one at ION is good and worth trying.

The sticky rice here was not so sticky, it was glutinous all right, but tasted good with the chicken curry. It was served with miso soup and ginger on the rice. Easy to eat, nice when you are slightly hungry and goes well with green tea.

Overall, this restaurant was a new find for me, and I am sure I will visit again during my next trip to Singapore. Remember, one has to queue up in the evenings, but I can tell you it is worth the try. Japanese restaurants take the pain out of ordering by showing colourful pictures of the dishes, so you got to just point and order ! Enjoy the food !!

Cheers,

Vijay Srinivasan
7th April 2012
Mumbai

Don Giovanni

Pondicherry has several exotic-sounding French restaurants, that is just to be expected in an erstwhile French colony. Readers who are not aware of Pondicherry should read up on its unique history, dominated by French culture and language. It is located some 167 Kms (around 100 miles) south of Chennai along the eastern coast line of India.

I was looking for a nice restaurant for lunch (today being my birthday) along with my family, having just returned to Pondicherry from a short trip to Chidambaram temple. Located Don Giovanni via TripAdvisor and then checked on it through couple of other websites. Though we had a few selections, decided to go for Italian lunch.

Don Giovanni is a roof-top restaurant located on Mission Street (around 50 feet from the Nilgiris shop corner). It serves Italian cuisine from the northern part of Italy (Bolognese) as the owner (Chef Massimiliano) hails from that region. He was friendly and sat down with us for a chat. He is married to an Indian and has been living in Pondicherry for the past 3 decades ! Knows a bit of Tamil as well !!

The food was simple and excellent. We had spaghetti, grilled chicken, greek salad, tiramisu, etc., Don Giovanni is different in providing authentic Italian taste with no flourishes and a nice ambience. The owner told us that the evenings are too full and today being a weekday at lunch time, there was not many people.

We took our own time and enjoyed the lunch. This place is reasonably priced and had a homely decor. The owner told us that he has the best Italian food in India !

If you are going to Pondicherry, do not miss a meal at Don Giovanni. You will enjoy it.

Cheers,

Vijay Srinivasan
27th December 2011
Mumbai