Wok the walk.

   Wok, a couple of years back, was a delicacy only enjoyed while opting for fine dining restaurants like All Stir Fry.

   Thanks to places like Wok in the Box, you do not have to shell out 700 - 1000 bucks for some quality Chinese food. Wok in the Box, serves fresh, healthy, and delicious food, prepared right in front of you, without burning a huge hole in your pocket. 

    The concept is no rocket science; you pick a base, your preferable veggies, protein, sauce and garnish of your choice. The wok is prepared right in front of your eyes, where you can add things if you don't like the taste/flavour. It is served in a easy to carry box, which makes it easier if you want some delicious food on the go. 

   Priced at Rs. 180 for a vegetarian box, one box satiates two and is worth every penny. With 6 outlets already being the talk of the town, they are soon planning on opening many more. All in all, it is a brilliant concept and offers some amazing food.

Gobble On!

I scream, you scream, we all scream for ice cream.

There's a new ice cream parlour in town (well, literally) and it's nothing like your conventional ones. 

 
   PapaCream, is a parlour where the main component is liquid nitrogen, a trend not unknown lately. Their biggest USP is the fact that they have turned the wackiest combinations into some beautifully prepared ice creams. Some of the flavors are so beat you wouldn't even have dreamed about them. Who would've thought of classic old pani puri being turned into ice cream would've actually tasted so good? They have savoury, signature, premium and classic, all of which are so different from everything the other places have to offer. 

   Our favorite out of this crazy mess has to be the Mexicano. Four types of nacho chips - plain, cheese, spinach and beetroot, served with ice cream that tastes exactly like cheddar cheese and jalapeno. It's like eating frozen cheese. One minute you thing you're hogging down some nachos and the other minute, you get a brain freeze! We know it sounds horrible, but you won't regret ordering this one.

Mexicano

Other dishes we would recommend would be the pani puri, ferrero crunch, horlicks ice cream with nutella pancakes and red velvet ice cream. They also whip up some mean sorbets which should definitely be on your list. Our favorite was the spicy guava one. It gives you exactly what you expect from a sorbet; no surprises here! The sweetness of the guava is what you first take in and then the spices really hit you in the end, leaving a pleasant aftertaste. 

Spicy Guava Sorbet

   Another quirky thing they’ve come up with is thai sushi ice cream. Fulfill your sushi cravings for only Rs. 260. A chocolate crepe roll infused with coconut lemon grass ice cream and a kiwi and passion fruit jelly in the centre. 

   Another signature creation is the doughwich. A humongous dish, it is a homemade donut layered with belgian chocolate ice cream, whipped cream, oreos, fudge sauce, caramel sauceand dipping chocolate. 

   

   However, both of these seemed to be major disappointments. The sushi was highly overpowered by the lemongrass and ruined the taste of the entire thing. The doughwich was too huge to be bitten off of or to be humanly completed by someone who doesn’t like excessive sugar in his food. The chocolate did no blend well with the ice cream and the bananas aren’t necessary.

Thai Sushi Ice cream

Doughwich

   The owners of PapaCream do not believe in delivering the same old product that is available all over the market to their customers. That's why even their classics have a few twists. For eg, vanilla is with bananas in it, and Belgian chocolate has crackling orange chocolate in it. If you're not willing to try any of these flavours, you can pick up a flavour of your choice and spice it up with a few toppings.

   The place is a 100% pure vegetarian and has some really good stuff to offer at moderate prices. However, it is not your normal go-to ice cream parlor. It is not something you would visit when you have a craving for classic ice cream. The location might just be in its favour as it is the hub of 3 premier colleges. Whether this place works or not, is something that only time will tell us. 

   A few of the other ice creams we sampled - 

Pani puri sorbet

Horlicks ice cream with nutella pancakes

Peach and nut

Chocolate ginger creme brulee 

Ferrero crunch

Red velvet cupcake

Salted caramel

Keep gobbling!

   

The 'Grand' Thali

Tip Top Plaza, known for its Indian sweets and has 10 branches across the city of Thane, started the Grand Thali in 2003 in their hotel. Alongside is also a all you can eat buffet including only live counters serving items from pav bhaji to pasta, from piping hot pizzas to hygienic street food. 

A couple of bloggers were invited for the thali one Friday afternoon. As soon as I walked in the restaurant, one word came into mind - grandeur. The hotel, has a royal look to it. No wonder this place has witnessed so many weddings! 

According to the owners, there are a lot of places serving the regular Rajasthani/Gujarati thali. They wanted to come up with something unique and hence, he came up with the fusion thali, which benefits kids as well as breaks the monotony. They include a few Chinese and Italian dishes in this scrumptious thali consisting of 30 different items.

The picture does not include a few items - jaljeera, 4 types of rice and a Chinese dish.

The thali can be divided into 8 types, ie, starters, Indian breads, sides (vegetables), fusion mantra, rice, dal, extras, and last but not least the sweets.

We started our meal with some soft drinks and jaljeera doing the rounds.

Starters - 

Starters comprised of corn pattice, malai dhokla with mirchi ka thecha and dahi bhalla. Our favorite among these would be the dahi bhalla. Two types of wadas, covered with rich, perfectly sweetened dahi, topped off with some chutneys for the added zing. The thecha too was commendable and loved by everyone. 

Indian breads - 

They served us three types of breads to accompany our sides - a chapati, palak puri and cheese garlic naan. The naan was the hero of these three as the garlic was neither overpowering nor undermining the side elements. 

Sides - 

Our favorite here would definitely be the valoor muthia. A Gujarati dish, this one was a really winner. It was cooked perfectly and went well with all the three breads. Another one which tingled our taste buds would be the paneer mastani kofta. Absolutely delish!

Fusion mantra -

3 fusion items were served to us, namely veg stir fried rice with cottage cheese gravy, paneer in schezwan sauce and alfredo pasta. It was a nice break from all the items and added that surprise element. The pasta and the paneer in schezwan rice were your typical dishes, nothing extraordinary there. The rice, however, was disappointing. The gravy was very bland and needed a tangy element.

Rice & dal -

There were 4 types of rice for every kind of palette - darbari pulav, steam rice, mogar khichdi and masala khichdi which were accompanied by dal fry, and gujarati dal & kadhi. The gujarati dal and kadhi were a bit too sweet for my taste, and the mogar khichdi was something to be served to patients. The dal fry, on the other hand was delicious; well blended dal with a good spicy quotient. The masala khichdi was one dish that absolutely stood out. It wasn't just some rice stir fried with vegetables. The spices were mixed into the batter and resulted into the delicate outcome.

Sweets -

The sweets were my favorite part of the thali, they being the best too. We devoured 5 types of these sinful plats du jour - rabdi, dry jamun, akhrot halwa, cream roll and angoor basundi. Oh my, I'm salivating just thinking of these delights. The dry jamun, akhrot halwa, cream roll and angoor basundi were spot on and were gobbled down within moments. Every bite left us wanting for more of these flawless delicacies. The only glitch here would be the undercooked rabdi. Well, everyone's allowed one mistake!

We also had buttermilk to wipe off all the food we gorged upon.

The service was brilliant. They literally believed in the phrase, 'Atithi Devo Bhava,' and were given utmost importance and special care was taken of all our needs. The place was jam packed with a few patrons waiting outside for a table on a Friday afternoon. Well, I guess that speaks a lot about the reputation, hospitality and the food of the place. 

We would like to thank Arvind and Nisha of Guiltless Foodies for organizing this wonderful meet. You can follow them here -  Instagram | Twitter | Facebook | Zomato | 

The damage for one thali is Rs. 475. It's a bit expensive, but well, its worth it.

Would I go back? If I'm ever in the vicinity, then definitely!

Healthy munchies?!

Yes, you read it correctly. Now say goodbye to the deep fried midnight snacks and binge eating on loaded cakes/ice creams, Snackible is here!

Snackible solves all our snacking problems with their wide range of healthy munchies. It offers all-natural and healthy snack options from dehydrated fruits and roasted chickpeas to easy to grab whole-wheat waffles.The snacks are prepared using innovative methods such as dehydrating and baking (instead of frying) some of your all-time favourite snacks. To ensure you have easy access to the right kind of snacks, the team of ‘snackologists’ at Snackible put together a box of healthy and tasty snacks using the best quality ingredients.

This is what a weekly box looks like. Consisting of pizza sticks with dip, granola crunchies, jalapeno peanuts, oat, honey and raisin cookies and a whole wheat chocolate waffle, this will suffice me through the entire weak without leaving me guilty or with added inches on my waistline. One thing we really liked was how they served everything in separate air tight pouches.

'A moment on the lips, forever on the hips.' Well, none of us want that, but now with Snackible, we can munch our way to happiness!

They deliver all across India and offer various plans and payment options too. Our favorite would definitely be the jalapeno peanuts. Spicy, full of flavor and healthy - that's the dream!