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

Health Food

I am not writing here about the list of health foods for all and their benefits. There are any number of websites and publications that address all kinds of health foods, and I keep seeing a number of articles in local news media in India, as India is developing a fascination for such health aspects of life at the affluent community level. People seem to be worried about their health, and the number of heart-attack and diabetes patients at the sub-30 age level is fast increasing causing fears in the minds of the younger generation.

I thought that we should start following good eating habits right from the young age. I am on the losing side of this fight even with my own kids who are ardent junk food eaters. I am not able to wean them away from the McDonalds and KFC. I won the fight against the bad sugary soft drinks though only partially. These are now banned at home, though I cannot stop them from consuming these bad stuff outside home when they are on their own.

It is hard to avoid eating rice in India. I have almost completely stopped, except for certain occasions. The combination of rice and fragrant ghee (melted and heated butter oil – don’t know how to describe it better) is the reason why we put on weight and it is also bad for the heart. Both rice and ghee are out from my food for a long, long time. The best is wheat and that too without adding butter to make the chappathi or naan fluffy to eat. I know that even here a tough looking naan won’t be acceptable at home, but I try to get a variation done for me somehow. At restaurants, they often cheat you when you order a “plain” roti or tandoori naan and then go on to specify you want to have it without butter. They just cannot do that and deliver to you in the way you desire. So, whenever I go to restaurants, I eat even less – I prefer to order rotis and some vegetables. Now comes the vegetables – all the curries in the restaurants have butter for their smooth texture and creaminess. So one has to consume less of this stuff. At home of course we can make dry vegetables with some spicy masala and that would taste great. One needs vegetables for sure, but without the extra addition of butter on top of it which will have a bad and long-standing effect on one’s health. You won’t be able to fix the damage later on, despite what you hear to the contrary in the health media.

Completely avoid the sugary soft drinks. Banish them altogether. Do not order mocktails at the restaurants, they almost always have sugar and bad alcohol. The restaurants do not like patrons who avoid drinks, even if the customer is a tee-totaller. The fact is that they make more money on drinks as compared to food.

Lots of nuts – almonds, walnuts – and lots of fruits – pomegranate, apples, kiwi fruit, pears, blueberry, peach and the like – will be great to have for anyone. There is no hard and fast prescription. Keep eating fruits and nuts as long as you do not have medical conditions which might preclude these food items. Unfortunately, fast food snacks have taken over our evenings – the samosas, fried chicken, masala peanuts and the like – which are really bad for the heart. Avoid all fried substances, banish them. I know it is really hard to do all this stuff, but given the way our lifestyles have changed, do we have a “bad” and at the same time “good” alternative ? Anything which tastes great is not necessarily bad, though often they are !

Enjoy healthy food, but check with your doctor always before you change your regular food habits, and mind your BMI (Body Mass Index) and your waist line. Better to be healthy than to be sorry later in life or even in the near term as it is happening increasingly in India.

Cheers

Vijay Srinivasan
3rd July 2011
Mumbai

Tipping Point

Tipping in the U.S. for almost any consumer-oriented service is mandatory. In cases where there is any doubt that the patron would pay a gratuity, there is a forcible addition to the bill !

I was surprised (for the first time ever) to find such an estimated addition (some 15% of the bill) at an Indian restaurant recently. It is virtually forcing the patron to pay whether the service is satisfactory or not. I have always paid anywhere between 10% and 15% of the bill for service. 10% is more for average service and 15% for good service – that has been my practice so far, even though I don’t agree with the philosophy of tipping as such (we don’t tip in Singapore and rarely in India).

But forced tipping ? How about tipping at gun point ? That would be next, I guess. Just nothing short of ridiculous, but that is the way it is, and so it is better to adapt oneself to the new practice of inserting a pre-computed tip in the bill at most restaurants very soon.

Let me reiterate that I always tip in the U.S. and also tip for excellent service in India. No problem with that, but I believe that tipping has to come from one’s heart, rather than from just the wallet. Recognition and praise of good service should be part and parcel of everyday life, like we do in corporate life. But it cannot be based only on money only and that too, on a pre-calculated amount all the time at all the places. Good words are also expected.

In India, there is a 10% service charge on top of a 12% VAT, which is increasingly becoming the practice in restaurants. With that, I do not see any reason at all to pay an additional tip. I only can hope that the 10% service charge goes to the right folks in the restaurant !

Cheers,

Vijay Srinivasan
16th April 2011
Miami

Lousy Naan – Experience at Copper Chimney

We (my family and I) went to the relatively new Copper Chimney restaurant at the Oberoi Mall last evening.

My recommendation – avoid it.

Well there are several reasons why I am not suggesting this restaurant to my friends.The first thing I noticed was the heavy ambient noise – I thought this was a “fine dining” establishment, with a quiet and elegant surrounding – but it is not. There was a lot of noise form the diners of course, and there was heavy traffic of waiters congregating around you, and repeatedly opening and closing the doors to the kitchen. Further, the noise from the mall side was also streaming in constantly. But I guess we can live with these noises and waiter traffic for some time.

What I couldn’t live with was the poor quality of Tandoori Naan – my staple restaurant food ! Also, the heavy masala content of the two side dishes we ordered showed that the cooking is more centred on excessive add-ons, embellishments, too much salt making you drink cold water repeatedly, rather than on “enhancing” the vegetable dish and the chicken curry (I am not naming the exact dishes). The only saving grace was the butter naan, which I am being told was good.

Mind you, these types of restaurants are anyway overpriced. So, the least a customer would expect is (a) some quiet environment ; (b) impeccable and polite service of the non-intrusive type ; and, (c) very high quality of food which is the fundamental and probably the only major reason why we are there at the restaurant anyway, sacrificing the fantastic home-cooked food. This logic is NOT understood by 90% of the restaurateurs in India. They run overpriced restaurants which serve average food – they think that the guests have NO choice !

I also had a funny experience last evening at this over-hyped restaurant – when the head waiter came to ask me how was the food, I replied in the negative, pointing out at the black pieces from the Tandoori Naan on my plate and the reminder portion of the same item lying still unconsumed in the Naan Basket. Not sure of what he heard from me, he sent the other co-head-waiter (!) who repeated the questioning and I responded more strongly this time – asking him would he eat what was in the Basket which was looking blackish…..asked him to take it to the chef and show him !

Even the “roomali” roti was not served properly – it should have been separated out in a different kind of packaging (like foil paper) and not mixed with the rest of the “rough” surfaced naans.

Instead of waiving off the cost of the poor quality items, the folks were asking whether they can get something else – I told them that I am done and would not return to their “famous” restaurant.

Well adieu Copper Chimney !

Cheers,

Vijay Srinivasan
8th May 2010
Mumbai

Coffee Talk

Coffee at Five-Star Hotels in India has always been a rather expensive affair. I have seen ridiculous prices of some USD 10 per cup of coffee. But then, we happen to be at the hotel, and the meeting needs to happen for a purpose, so why bother ? There is not much of an alternative, and even it it were there, one needs to drive out in most cases.

How about coffee shops ? In Singapore, a decent cup of coffee would cost less than USD 1.50 in most places. In the western-style coffee shops, the price could be higher, somewhere in the region of USD 2 to 3. In India, coffee prices have been raising, and the typical pricing has now crossed USD 1.50 ! With the VAT (Value Added Tax) of 12.5%, you get to pay some USD 4 for one small-sized latte and one regular-sized capuccino ! Obviously, coffee shops are able to get this kind of price realisation from a rather purely domestic market in a suburb of Mumbai – it is quite surprising. I did not see open laptops and intense business discussions at the coffee shop, so there were not many people who were looking for a place to sit down and sell insurance for example !

So, this tells me only one story and gives me only one message – India is indeed becoming upscale, and there are many, many people who can afford expensive coffees (may be they are all mostly dating where expenses do not matter !), and have the affinity towards a western-style time killer. In percentage terms, it could be a very miniscule figure of shoppers and coffee drinkers, but in the target market focused upon by these coffee shops, they indeed seem to be having a captive market full of such spenders, who do not have to hark back to those days of scarcity where you drink coffee only at home or at places which provide coffee at USD 0.25, these people are younger and are crossing the chasm of incomes which differentiated their parents from the current income levels. Well, it feels good as I have seen the coffee shops full of such people in Singapore and Hong Kong, as well as in Malaysia, and it does feel good that India has arrived with a lot more numbers to tackle – which is always a good problem to face.

Ofcourse, there are folks who just move away after looking at the prices, they will always be there in any of these markets. Upper middle class people do not really care, as they tend to go after specific tastes which could be expensive or cheap depending on their preferences. I have also seen fathers lecturing their sons at these coffee shops (never the daughters, don’t know why ?!). I have also seen wives who sit and ask their hubbies to get some “coffee” – they are invariably middle-aged.

What I hate in these coffee shops is that they call out their name – “Mr Vijay, Mr Vijay” – as though we were waiting in the Court Room waiting to be called by the bailey – and almost everyone in the shop hears the name. I take some time to react as mostly we are in some intense conversation. Our names are collected while ordering, and even if there is absolutely no crowd, the shop takes some 10 minutes to get the coffee ready and then calls out the names !

Well, I haven’t remarked on the quality of the coffees – in general, the quality is good – I believe that they should cater to local tastes rather than purely adapting the western models of coffee. Very few such upmarket shops provide the “Mysore Coffee”, or the “South Indian Coffee”.

Enjoy your Indian latte friends,

Cheers,

Vijay Srinivasan
28th March 2010
Mumbai

The Westin Mumbai Garden City

This new hotel opened just next to the Oberoi Mall and very close to where I live.

The hotel website can be accessed via the Starwoods website : “The Westin Mumbai Garden City”

It is a nice-looking hotel, more business-like, with some cool efficiency. I liked it. I went to have some Sunday Brunch Buffet at the Seasons Restaurant, at a very good price of Rs 600 (a little over USD 13 or SGD 19), which is unlikely to last long. It will take some time for the hotel to be recognized by business travellers though, as it is some 30 to 40 minutes away from the airport, which has nearly 10 good hotels around. So, the spillover traffic might come here to this new hotel. The area in which the hotel is located is not exactly a business destination. But I think the IT crowd might use the hotel as it is located just adjacent to the Western Express Highway and next to the famous Oberoi Mall, popular with youngsters.

The Buffet was very good, I will give it a four-star rating. However, when I went another day to the Prego Italian Restaurant on the ground floor of the hotel, I was a little disappointed. It did not live up to the reputation of the namesake Prego Restaurant at the Westin Stamford Hotel in Singapore, which is an excellent Italian eaterie. The Prego at the Westin Mumbai needs to do several things better, especially in the food (!) area to make it palatable and appealing to customers. Now, I have decided to stick to the Seasons and probably would drop in at the Kangan Indian Restaurant sometime.

In any case, this hotel is a very welcome addition to the Western Suburbs of Mumbai which haven’t had the pleasure of a nice five-star hotel so far. And, the food is not bad at the price (current) !

Cheers,

Vijay Srinivasan
20th March 2010
Mumbai

KFC on XMas Day !

Merry Christmas to all of you who happened to drop by !

Today being XMas, my kids wanted me to take them to some special dinner combined with some amusement. We collectively thought hard and fast, but could not come to some agreement which would have met both objectives today.

So, we first decided to select the amusement type – we selected “Funtime” in a nearby mall. OK that done, we left at close to 6 PM in our car. Even though the mall is less than 5 minutes drive, it took a while to get past the thick traffic and get into the car park after all the security checks. A simple auto ride would have been better, faster, and less tense than a car ride, which also costs more to park than the return fare on auto rickshaw !

Well, we managed to park and got into the mall. It was so overcrowded that a security person was posted at the beginning and end of each escalator, to ensure that there is no mass overloading ! Amazing, this should be happening only in India. There were probably 3,000 people in that mall, all escalators were in full swing with probably more than the rated load, there was no shop without shoppers, and the food court was crammed. This has nothing much to do with the economic recovery as such. People are just bored staying at homes and watching TV, I guess. Everyone and his/her mother wanted to get out and get some fresh air, and also do some shopping, and more than anything else, avoid cooking at home !

We straight went to the food court, hoping it would not be that crowded. But, alas, it was super crowded. My kids had pre-decided on KFC, of all types of food. I just can’t stand KFC or McDonalds’. It took nearly 20 minutes of waiting before we could grab a table, and then the kids ordered their preferred KFC stuff. I sat thinking for a while, but had to make some quick decision, otherwise I would miss my dinner. I looked around at the crowd all over thronging not just the fast food outlets, but also the traditional food shops. I decided to do the unthinkable at last.

KFC !

Yes, after a very long time, probably 6 years or so, I decided to eat what I can from what I consider a junk food outlet. I studied the menu carefully and selected the “Toasted Twister”, which apparently looked somewhat healthy. With that, I joined my kids who were enjoying the famous Dr KFC chicken. The Toasted Twister was not bad – no one can blame a KFC or a McDonalds’ for lack of taste optimised for Indian tongues – but I know basically the whole thing is bad, what with its sodium content, lack of veggies, deep fried chicken types which is basically very unhealthy, etc., I could not believe I was eating this stuff, but I had no choice on that crowded evening.

(I came home and had lots of fruits to compensate !).

Then we went into Funtime and had a gala time – there too, it was overcrowded, to be expected I guess. I was amazed at the number of folks waiting in queue to charge their cards at the Funtime counters. No dearth of childish business and brands in India today.

And, there ended our XMas evening. KFC on a XMas Day ! Unbelievable !!
The main reason of course is that we did not want to go afar, and get locked up in traffic jams.

Cheers, and a Merry XMas evening to all of you readers !

Vijay Srinivasan
25th December 2009
Mumbai