Marriott India Chef's Workshop

JW Marriott was the host to an event titled "Marriott India Chef's Workshop on the 23rd of March and we were lucky enough to be a part of it.

The event consisted of 30 executive chefs from the Marriott properties all over India to discuss the culinary trends for the year 2016 in India. This marvelous competition took place at Lotus Cafe, where each chef presented their signature dishes and vowed all the diners, bringing the best of India's culinary state together, all at once. 

The spread obviously, was humongous, including an array of dishes from various cuisines. A few of the counters were local seafood, Asian, Indian Awadhi, local chaat, European, Italian and over 30 kinds of desserts, live counter for pancakes, ice cream and so on. We were each handed a token and were asked to vote at the end of our meal for the counter we thought most deserved to win. 

A few counters I tried - 

Chaat counter - 

The dhokla sandwich and the pani puri here were exceptional. The pani puri, served with sprite was a one of a kind experience.

Live pancake station -

We gulped down this beauty topped with banana toffee ice cream and drizzled with a generous serving of maple syrup within moments. Fluffy, light and delicious!

Italian counter -

The Italian counter allowed us to customize pizzas and pastas according to our preferences and needs. We had a serving of alfredo pasta with bell peppers, mushrooms and cherry tomatoes and pizza with toppings of our choice and we weren't disappointed. Our plates were wiped clean within moments and we were considering going for seconds.

Desserts -

One of the best things of a buffet is the unlimited spread of luscious, velvety, specially crafted sweet delicacies. We started off our meal with a serving of desserts and ended with another. Absolute heaven for people with a sweet tooth! 

Thank you, JW Marriott for letting us be a part of this wonderful event and for experiencing specialities from some of the most skilled chefs in the country. 

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Comfort Kitchen at Indigo Deli

    Indigo Deli has always been a favourite amongst our circle and the two words take us back to freshly baked, melt-in-your-mouth cookies and paper thin crust pizzas.

   Imagine our excitement upon being invited to the latest venture by the restaurant - Comfort Kitchen. It is termed to be a monthly concept that will travel across all the Delis in Mumbai. It was a 5 course meal with vegetarian and non-vegetarian options. 

    We started off with the minestrone with spanakopita, waldorf, walnut and spiced celery.

    One element we absolutely loved about the dish was the spanakopita. Not usually fans of the same, one bite into it and we were looking forward to seconds! All the elements provided great balance and complimented the dish amazingly well. 

    The next course was the Gruyere fondue, caramel walnut, and onion souffle. Always having eaten a souffle as a dessert, we were a bit skeptical about the combinations. 

    However, we were proven wrong and how! The souffle was one of the highlights of the dinner. We were left wondering how Gruyere, onion and walnuts worked so well as a souffle. Molten cheese poured over a piping hot mug of savoury souffle, absolutely decadent! 

    Then we laid our hands on the melanzane parmigiana. 

    An Italian dish, made with a shallow-fried sliced aubergine (eggplant) filling, layered with tomato sauce, grilled cherry tomatoes and cheese, then baked, was a light and refreshing take. 

    We were then served a risotto of many mushrooms and pistachio creme. 

    Being vegetarians, we're fans of mushroom in any form and we really excited about this one in spite of being nearly full after the first three courses. And, it was absolutely perfect; totally met our expectations. Mushrooms perfectly cooked, risotto in the a la dent form and pistachio creme being a shockingly smooth and delicious element.

    Last but not the least, the course most anticipated for - desserts! We were all surprised with our personal dessert platters, including sweet Madagascar manjari freeze, traditional apple pie and crepe Suzette. 

    The crepe was one that would melt in your mouth, however, was a bit too acidic for our taste. The apple pie was a classic apple pie but needed a bit of moisture. The ice cream, was the biggest highlight of the platter. Made of 66% pure Madagascar chocolate, it was churned into a beautiful, creamy marvel that sent our taste buds on a joyful ride. A definite must try for all diners!

    We ended our meal with a surprise element - An Easter Egg! 

    You too, can divulge in some chocolate and marzipan eggs and hot cross buns at Indigo Deli from 25th to the 27th of the month. 

    We would like to thank Indigo Deli, Tandem Communication and Degustibus for hosting us for this wonderful dinner and for the sweet gesture. 

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Sunday Brunch : Momo Cafe

    Sipping on a glass of Sangria, while basking in the beautiful view outside and letting all your week's woes and tension drown in the beautiful spread; yes, that's what Sundays are for!

   

   This Sunday, we had the privilege of being hosted by MoMo Cafe, Courtyard by Marriott for brunch. Courtyard by Marriott is a great property in the midst of Andheri and has 4 restaurants - MoMo Cafe, ARK, Red Zen and MoMo 2 Go. 

    The minute you enter, you see a completely different world inside with the beautiful MoMo Cafe on the left. There's a gorgeous spread with 6 live counters that change every week. Last Sunday, the specialty was cocktails. There were various flavours and different combinations and concoctions that one could choose from. We laid our hands on the dragon fruit mojito and flavoured sparkling water. 

    The dragon fruit mojitos were great. With just the perfect flavour, we were sipping away to glory. Not being huge fans of sparkling water, we didn't relish the sparkling water with cucumber and mint much. 

     Later, we moved on to the salads and soups counter. There were around 5-6 varieties of freshly baked breads, the sinful burrata, soups, various kinds of salads with fresh veggies, a delicious spread of cheese, live omelette and rosti station and so on. 

    Later, we sampled 3 other live counters - chaat, pasta and pizza; whereupon we tried the ragda pattice, dahi puri, penne in white sauce and the veggies pizza. All 3 were amazing and did not leave us disappointed. 

Dahi puri and ragda pattice

Penne in white sauce

Veggies Pizza

    

Then we moved on to the most anticipated part of our delightful Brunch - the humongous dessert section -

    With over 30 different kinds of desserts and Indian sweets, this section is a mini heaven for people with a sweet tooth. We being avid lovers of the same, helped ourselves to 2 servings each and still couldn't sample all of them. However, we couldn't get ourselves to try anymore as we had already satiated our taste buds. A few desserts that would make it to the top of our lists - Strawberry sandesh, chocolate square, chocolate pastry and the coconut peda. Absolutely delish!

    We would like to thank Courtyard by Marriott for hosting us for the wonderful Brunch. 

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A few over-hyped places in Mumbai you can miss

Ever been super excited for a movie or a book launch after seeing its presence all over and once it's all over, wondered what all the buzz was about? 

We have been there too. Repeatedly. Hence, the need to curate this list of a few places in Mumbai that you should definitely give a miss. 

1) Sardar -

Ask any Mumbaikar about Pav Bhaji and 8 out of 10 times, the first place they'd recommend to you would be Sardar. However, we didn't quite like the taste. The only reason behind its hype would be the sheer quantity of butter and cheese it is laden with. 

Image source - www.flickriver.com

Heart attack? Umm, no thanks. 

Brown in colour, as opposed to the red colour, this bhaji did not match up to our expectations. Better alternatives would be Maji Sagar, Amar Juice Centre, Santosh Sagar or Achija.

2) Merwans Cake Shop -

This is one legendary cake shop that's been around since years. It had been on our bucket list since years due to all the praise and reputation is has created. Located amongst the hustle and bustle of Andheri, is this tiny shop, always flooded with customers waiting for their orders or tucked away in corners, enjoying their food.

 We tried their chocolate cake, chocolate square, mawa cake and pizza. The only thing we liked out of the lot was the pizza. The mawa cake had far too much cardamom in it, thus killing all the other flavours; the square got stuck to our tongues and refused to go down our throats. The chocolate pastry tasted stale and inedible. With such a horrible experience, we failed to understand how the overfull bakery was yet working so well. A better option would be B Merwan.

3) Grandmama's cafe - 

Grandmama's cafe is so pretty; Grandmama's cafe is the place to be at; Grandmama's cafe is so vibrant and lively; the food at Grandmama's cafe is absolutely ravishing. These are just a few of the things we heard about this place. Hence, we couldn't wait to visit it.

However, I would like to strongly disagree with all the hype. Yes, the place is one of the prettiest we've laid our eyes on. Yes, it is vibrant and it just makes you want to sit and admire the beauty of it all. However, it all ends there.

We decided to visit the place for breakfast. It was totally packed and we had to wait for 5 minutes to get ourselves a table. We called for waffles with nutella and whipped cream and french toast. 

The waffles were soggy and were torn apart from the middle. One bite into them and we couldn't down them any further. The nutella and whipped cream, we helped ourselves to. 

A basic French toast is bread soaked in eggs and then fried or roasted and served with maple syrup/cinnamon/any other topping of your choice. The one at Grandmama's cafe was a complete disaster. Normal bread toasted sprinkled with some castor sugar and butter is not French toast! 

Post two horrendous dishes, we decided to continue our breakfast someplace else. 

A friend of mine, on another occasion, was served non-vegetarian food instead of the vegetarian she ordered.

4) Di Bella - 

The most photographed and talked off waffles in the city! Di Bella, an Australian coffee brand was introduced to the Indian market just last year and their ridiculously photogenic waffles have already carved a niche for themselves. 

The waffles are loaded generously with the desired topping and served with 2 bowls - ice cream and whipped cream. However, the waffles are soggy and undercooked and reallly difficult to break into. Better alternatives here. 

5) The Fatty Bao - 

This Delhi chain, recently opened its doors to Mumbaikars. And since the day it has, it is always filled with over-enthusiasts. After trying for weeks, we managed to finally book a table here to check out what all the buzz was about. The waiter had given away our table without informing us about it, thus making us wait for a good 40 minutes. 

The food is really ordinary, staff pretty okay, ambiance nothing great. Can totally give it a miss. 

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Keep Gobbling!

Imagica!

       A few of us, bloggers and food enthusiasts had the privilege of embarking on a one-day trip to Imagica. This was a full paid trip to Imagica by Seatrr, including deluxe passes, pick up and drop facilities, and reviews at 5 different restaurants. 

      First off, let us explain what Seatrr does. It is an online food discovery platform for the foodie in you. It is like a database of users reviews and ratings, based on which different lists are formulated. For eg, if you're craving a plate of some mouth-watering pav bhaji, Seatrr will give you a list of the best places for the said dish based on all the information uploaded by the users.

      We started our journey with everyone being picked up at different pick up points by the bus and we set off. As soon as we reached, we were given our deluxe passes and we then went to our first destination - Roberto. Here we were greeted by the Chef Mr. Veeraj who explained the basic concept behind the place. It was a set breakfast menu to get us started for the day, including aloo parathas, vadas, bread butter, juices, herbal tea and so on. The food was pretty average. There was one particular dish which everyone loved - chocolate brownies. Some sugar rush to start our day with! We also met Mr. Manish, the Vice - President of Adlabs Imagica who gave us a brief introduction and welcomed us to the place.

      Then we all went to explore the theme park. It's a huge space with a lot of rides and other attractions. There are a few informative rides too, like one which helps us understand the beautiful culture of our country. The other ones are for the adrenaline rush and the thrill of it all. We experienced all the  major rides before lunch so as to not have any stomach problems later on. The best ride, according to us would definitely have to be the 'Scream machine.'

      We now headed off for lunch at Zeze - The African Grill. The entrance to the restaurant is that from a hut and the place is really well made. The decor is really beautiful and gives a typical South African vibe. No prices for guessing the cuisine! For the vegetarians, the options served to us were really limited - fries, barbecued paneer and rice. And, kulfi for dessert. The food again, was pretty average. But again, the fare served to us was different from the actual food served in the restaurant.

      Our next restaurant to review was Red Bonnet. The place gave us really strong 70's American diner vibes and we enjoyed every bit of it! Here, we could order straight from the menu and we ended up ordering a lot of variety. Here, our taste buds were satisfied with the awesome sauce cheesy fries, zesty burgers, thick shakes, rolls and other American fare. Our favourite thing to gorge on here were the strawberry shakes. So thick, so flavourful and so delicious!

      Post such a heavy lunch, we all were strolling around, clicking pictures and admiring the beauty and the scenery of the place; the lake in particular. The lake is one of the most beautiful attractions here and gets even more gorgeous in the evening with all the fairy-lights. We also went and enjoyed the other, more subtle rides post this. 

       We then witnessed the much-talked about Imagica parade. It had all the characters of the shows, a few dancers, and a few Disney characters. It was vibrant, lively and had us all tapping our feet to the groove. Felt absolutely magical and was one of the highlights of the day.

        Despite being so full, we then visited Arrmada for high tea and snacks. Arrmada is famous for its cocktails and snacks. It is a restaurant based in a ship - some level of creativity! We were whisked to the topmost level where food was already set up for us so that we could refresh ourselves while enjoying the beauty of the entire place. 

      

      As the sun set, we finally saw how much more beautiful the entire place could look. Fairy lights all over, it felt like a magical land. One other thing I would love to mention is the Christmas decoration. There was a huge life-size setup of Santa, his helpers, Rudolph, and elves. It just elevated the entire Christmas and winter spirit. Then a few of us went to enjoy other rides and a few of us just sat admiring the beauty.

      Lastly, we headed to Imagica Capital for our final stop. It was time for dinner with the Disney characters! A small stage in the corner, one by one, the characters kept pouring in, allowing us to interact with them, or even go and shake a leg. There was a huge spread of aromatic food, calling out to us. With a variety of Continental and Italian dishes, we stuffed our stomachs. Nearby, the host was asking us a few fun questions entitling us to a few vouchers and gift prizes. 

      We headed to our bus, all tired and carrying back all the memories of the day. It was an amazing one-of-a-kind experience where we got to mingle with so many like-minded people and enjoy the beautiful theme park while enjoying the food at 5 different restaurants. We would like to heartily thank the entire theme of Seatrr and Adlabs Imagica for such a wonderful day with loads of pleasant memories which we will reminisce upon later.

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Gobble On!

Cook-off with Sonali Bendre!

      Going for restaurant reviews day after day, week after week, can prove to be really monotonous. That's why this particular invite inviting us for a food cook-off excited a lot of us food bloggers and food influencers. 

      All geared up for a fun evening, we all reached the venue, Hoppipola. A brief introduction of the product was followed by the CEO and Mrs. Sonali Bendre whipping up a few simple yet delicious dishes for us. The most awaited masterclass followed suit. 

      16 participants were selected and divided into teams of two each. There was a huge spread of ingredients, a few recipes and all the variants of Fun Foods mayonnaise at our disposal. Given a span of time, we were asked to prepare whatever we wished to and the creative juices of all the participants started to flow. The judges were ofcourse Mrs. Sonali Bendre, and the CEO, Mr. Oliver Mirza. We managed to put up a mayonnaise pasta roll. 

        The winners, obviously, were rewarded handsomely with a basket full of goodies and vouchers. 

      Our take on the mayonnaise - We tried our hands on all the different kinds of mayonnaise they have to offer. And, we were pleased! As goes, it actually does turn boring food into beautiful delicacies. Every flavour has a different taste and a different use. Our favourite would definitely be the tandoori one. We know have the secret ingredient to make everyday boring food into something mouth-watering!

       A big thank you to Edelman and Fun Foods for having us over and for all the hands on cooking experience. 

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Gobble On!

Sunday brunch at Fratelli Fresh

    Whenever I heard the word Sunday, the first words to strike me are laziness, relaxing and brunches. Now a perfect brunch according to me would be one where you're having a quality time with a few loved ones, sipping on some great wine/drinks and gorging on some delicious food whilst enjoying the pleasant view outside. We were able to do all of the above with some amazing artwork on display during our recent Sunday Brunch at Fratelli Fresh. 

       First off, we definitely must start with the ambience. The sheer beauty of the Renaissance is such that as soon as you set foot inside, you're bound to never come back. The Sunday brunch at Fratelli Fresh is one of its major attractions. We were invited to Art and Lunch - R Art Series by artist Ram Kamath, followed by an exotic Italian Sunday brunch by Chef Cristian. 

       Here is some of his well-known work -

       The spread at Fratelli Fresh is a humongous one, including some gorgeous breads, cheese platters, salads, pastas, pizzas, cold meats, over 30 varieties of desserts and what not. It is an absolute treat for the eyes and the body and the taste buds. The spread is beautiful and leaves you tantalized.

       Our favourite out of these would be the jalapeno ones. Bread with a strong flavour of jalapenos, topped with cheese and an jalapeno in the middle didn't need any other component alongside and were baked to perfection.

       Out of the main course, the best would definitely be the Chef's specialty - the ravioli. One of the best things about them is that they make their own pasta in their kitchen. Their pizza, lasagna and pasta were pretty ordinary and didn't meet our expectations. 

        Next, we moved on to the desserts. Just looking at the variety took us on a sugar high. We had to take 3 rounds of the entire round to taste even 1/4th of the desserts. Did I mention that they have a chocolate fountain too!? Here a few pictures of the desserts to leave you drooling -

        Lastly, we would like to thank FBAI and Renaissance for organizing this lovely meet. 

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Gobble On!