Review - Veranda, Bandra

Food: 5/5
VFM: 4/5
Ambience: 5/5
Service: 5/5
Veg friendly: 5/5

This place is pure elegance. It managed to change the associations of North Indian cuisine in my head. Not very many places can pull off such deliciousness with panache, but Veranda does it. And how!

Pro tip: Make sure you have a full tummy before reading this, or you're going to get hungry. Very hungry.

This was what greeted us on entry. Isn't it beautiful?

This is a little home decor store called 'Cocoon'. Isn't that just so cozy? These knick knacks as well as the paintings there are for sale. Paintings like the one pictured below. Isn't it breathtaking?

As I reached my table, this is what I saw:

Every table had people's names written on it on a tiny blackboard. Isn't that so thoughtful? 

Then, we met Chef Monish Rohra, who had very kindly invited us and specially curated a menu for us! We were really excited to see what was in store. The restaurant is barely a couple weeks old, and yet I noticed that each table had names written on the little blackboards. I think it says a lot about how quickly the word spreads about a hot new place in town. And that just raised my expectations more. Add to that the beautiful ambience and my obsession with pretty lights.

Chef Rohra took us through each course, and explained each dish to us personally. That level of commitment is really impressive. Without further ado, on to the food! 

This beauty here is the Dravidian mini idlis. Piping hot, ghee soaked, gun powder coated, topped with pumpkin puree and microgreens. To be washed down with a test tube shot of chilled Aam Panna. In an actual chem lab test tube! I absolutely loved this one, in terms of presentation taste, the medley of flavors - everything. Perfect.

It is an Amuse Bouche, which is basically a bite-sized hors d'œuvre, served at the chef's discretion. This is complimentary to all patrons, but you can also order off the menu if you'd like. I know I will.

Next up, roasted Pumpkin Soup, called Kin Su. Because pumpKIN SoUp. I loved the naming. That was made of pumpkin, which was roasted before it turned into this delicious soup. With sour cream on top, and chives. Served with a little tray of blue cheese croutons. Those croutons were to die for. And the soup! So hearty and appetizing. 

Fancy a closer look?

Next up, our drinks.  As we were teetotalers, we got mocktails. Tamarind Virgin Mary, Watermelon and Basil Mojito, and the Classic Mojito. The Tamarind Virgin Mary with that impeccable salt rim was just awesome. The Classic Mojito was pretty good too. 

But my favorite was the Watermelon and Basil Mojito. It tasted like Watermelon fruit roll ups, which is just the best thing ever! I finished it way too quickly.

Now, for the salad. A standout dish. 

Beetroot with hung curd inside. A bed of quinoa, and arugula leaves topped with citrus malta and a honey mustard sauce. Feta cheese spread all around. And those little dots you see? That's carrot gel and beetroot gel, made with agar agar. Who knew beetroot was so delectable?

Now for the dish I had heard wonders about. People have been raving about this dish. This is a deconstructed version of the ever popular and much loved dahi bhalle. It consists of two main parts - the baked yogurt, and the fritters, ie, the dahi and bhalla. The baked yogurt is infused with tamarind gel and a pomegranate reduction. The fritters are made of urad dal, soaked in yogurt and topped with potato slivers. All on a bed of mint chutney. Chef Rohra suggested we take some yogurt and bhalla in each bite to get the full flavor of the dish. My God, every mouthful was an absolute delight. It was even better than what I was anticipating, and my expectations were already sky high for this dish.

I must say, Chef Monish as well as his brother Rahul were super attentive, and we had a great time, not just because of the food, but also because they were just that sweet and hospitable.

Next, the Palak Bhindi pakora, topped with chutney, tamarind sauce, and yogurt. Also, tomatoes. I love tomatoes. I swear, these were the most delectable pakoras I've ever had. 

Soft yet crisp, with the optimal amount of topping in every bite. I could not find a single flaw in this dish. Actually, I have not been able to find a single flaw in a single dish so far.

Next up, Paneer Trilogy. From left to right, it is tulsi, zaffrani, and malai. The zaffrani one has a little pipette stuck in it, which contains spicy makhani. Topped with micro greens, this was absolute melt-in-your-mouth. Impeccable quality.

Next up, Sabz Galouti. 
The red one - beetroot topped with sundried tomatoes. I'm telling you, this place makes beetroot awesome.
Dark green - Spinach galouti topped with mango chutney. 
I don't know how to describe that color (grey? brown? brown-grey? ) but it was a mushroom galouti, tooped with Shimji mushrooms.

I'm not even a mushroom fan, but I know galouti is traditionally super melt-in-your-mouth soft, so I couldn't resist trying it. They were all great, but my favorite was the beetroot one.

By this time, we were quite full, and we told Chef Rohra as much. We requested a really small portion of the main course that he had lined up. But as you can see, it was still a lot! On the left is the mouthwatering baingan bharta, and on the right is their special version of the dal makhani. Served with kulchas. 

Both the sabzis were great, and I do love both of them. It's difficult to choose, but at Veranda, I preferred the baingan bharta. It was so flavorful and optimally spiced. As was the dal makhni. Ah, I can't choose. Here, you can see the sun-dried tomatoes kulcha. Keeping in line with their innovative take on traditional dishes!

And now, *drumroll*, time for dessert!

As Chef's brother Rahul said; however full we are, we can always make space for dessert!

This is the gulkand choco bar. It looks like ice cream, it's served like ice cream, but is it ice cream? No! It's chocolate coated mousse, with a hint of gulkand, topped with slivers of almonds and coated fennel seeds. This one was yummy, with just the right amount of gulkand. Any more, and it would have overpowered the mousse, hence it was a perfect balance.

Next, last, and the opposite of least; the white chocolate soufflé. Served with chocolate ice cream, both topped with almond slivers, with a side of caramelized 'chikki'. This was one of those beautifully inviting dishes, reminiscent of a cozy bakery/dessert parlour.

But, take a bite, and what's that? White chocolate oozing out! I have no idea how I controlled myself enough to take a picture of that beautiful beautiful deliciousness, but I did. You're welcome.

That brings me to the end of a supremely satisfying meal, and Mr. Rahul very kindly let me check out the kitchen. As a pleasant coincidence, I ended up at Mr Dayashankar's work-space, and I got to see him make the beautiful soufflé that I had just devoured.

The kitchen is spacious, neat, tidy, and all the chefs inside looked really happy to be doing their job, even at 11 pm.

That's a mark of a good place, and of course there would not be any disappointing meals there.

A big thank you to Chef Rohra for inviting me to Veranda. I thoroughly enjoyed it.

*This review was on invite, and the meal on the house. However, all views are unbiased.

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Review - Wok Express, Bandra

Food: 4.5/5
VFM: 4/5
Ambience: 4.5/5
Service: 5/5

Sudden cravings for bubble tea. Friend wanted Chinese.
What combines the two? Wok Express, that's who.
(I'm sorry. I had to make it rhyme.)

In all fairness, this was my first time at Wok so I didn't really know if the bubble tea would be any good or not. Plus I'm not a fan of Chinese food so I was really taking a risk here. It was not bad at all though!

I'm vegetarian, so I expected limited options but I was pleasantly wrong (that is not an oft-heard combination of words, mind you.) I chose the medium size wok box, and picked the flat wheat noodles with black bean sauce. Now, one of the adjectives written below black bean sauce on their board was 'spicy'. I do not like/eat food that is too spicy. But I do like black bean. I asked if they could tell me how spicy it would be, and they brought out a little of the sauce on a spoon for me to taste! I think that was good service. They didn't have to do that. Well, it wasn't too spicy, and I was more than happy to add that to my meal. As for the veggies, I got tofu, French bean, red and yellow bell peppers, broccoli, and carrots. My add-on condiments were cilantro, fried onion, and burnt garlic.
 

My non-vegetarian friend got a medium size wok box too - with prawns and Udon noodles. She picked teriyaki sauce to go with it. She doesn't really like vegetables so she got just baby corn. He put in a very generous portion, maybe because he felt she needed atleast some veggie goodness. For add-ons, she picked Cilantro and crushed peanuts.

The box is deceptively small but oh so filling. And the portions are so very generous. One box is more than enough for one person. We had to take breaks from eating, I kid you not. All the flavors melded really well and I was glad that they didn't skimp on the portions of the veggies even though I got quite a few added. They even added a little extra if we requested them to.
 

Since we have to create our own by picking and choosing our ingredients, it could totally be a hit and miss. That's why at such places, in my opinion, it's important that you know what you would really like, even all thrown together. You could just add every single thing you like and hope for the best. It's really upto you. But they do make it better - just ask them for suggestions in that case. I did see them offering suggestions to people who seemed a little confused by the array of available options. Also, the veggie boxes are black and the non-veg boxes are red. That's a pretty nice touch.

Friend wanted crystal dumplings. They did sound interesting. I still don't know why 'crystal', but okay. To be honest, I thought they were missing something, but I couldn't really say what exactly. Now, Wok Express gives these little containers of sauces at each table to add to your meal, if you are so inclined. Since we thought it was missing something, she decided to dip the dumplings in the garlic sauce container. And then we just dunked the whole thing inside. She loved it. I thought it was a little sour now.. I think it's a matter of preference in this case. But try it if you feel it's lacking flavor. You may just like it.
 

And finally, what I came here for. French vanilla milk coffee. With boba pearls! The bubbles I wanted! I know it's not tea, okay. I know I ordered coffee. But come on - its French vanilla. Plus, it was more about the bubbles and not the tea. So, there.
 
And when I got the drink, guess what? There were no bubbles. They'd plain forgotten. This would absolutely not do.
 
I went up to them and said, 'excuse me, there's no bubbles in my bubble tea.'
And they say 'no ma'am, it must be there.'
I silently handed them my glass.
They opened it and checked.
They added the boba pearls in.
They apologized.
I came back.
I drank the bubble tea.
 

 It was every bit as good as I wanted it to be.
Yummy chewy boba pearls. And when can one ever go wrong with French vanilla?

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Review - Between Breads, Bandra

Food: 4/5
VFM: 3.5/5
Ambience: 4.5/5
Service: 4/5

It's a little place and you might just miss it if you don't keep an eye out. We almost didn't find it! Though we walked a little bit along 16th Road and saw it tucked away.
 
It's a cozy little place - not too much space inside though. But with real estate prices being what they are, it's alright, I'm sure. And the lighting is such that it throws direct focus on the food.


There is just one menu in the joint - blown up huge and put up on the wall. Each offering is creatively named and the fixins' described below the name. You will want to order all of it.
 
There are way more non vegetarian options as compared to veg, so that's not very good in my books. But the drinks! Divine!

First we ordered the French Fries BB style. That was easily the best part of the meal, for me. They could have added a little more grilled onions, though. And just a suggestion, but why not add poutine to the menu? I would come there just for a well made poutine, and going by the quality of their fries I'm sure they could do a damn good poutine.
 

Next, I ordered the Farm Fresh. Not enough spinach, too much green bell peppers. Slightly dry, but it was alright. I like cheese and olives, I'm sold.

 

My friend got The Morning After and loved it. Bacon, ham, fries, fried egg, grilled tomatoes. But as you can tell from the menu, their main focus is on non vegetarian dishes, so it stands to reason that it would be their strong point. 

Ordered the Strawberry Cheesecake milkshake, which tasted exactly like a strawberry cheesecake. So that's awesome. We later ordered the French Vanilla milkshake, which was also good. I would prefer the cheesecake one any day.
Oh, and I almost forgot! They have comics that you can read while waiting for your order. Or even while eating. Whatever you like. I picked Archie's :D 

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Photowalk at Bandra!

Last Saturday, that's the 16th of Jan, there was a photowalk at bandra organized by MumbaiIGers - it was my first photowalk and I was really excited!

 I knew only a couple of people there before I went - and trust me, there were a LOT of people. I wasn't sure how the day would turn out, but I needn't have worried. Everyone was so warm and welcoming. 

Photographer : satanssj

Everyone was following a particular theme for the walk - Mumbaiwala.

But I am not an accomplished photographer like most people that day were. I just wanted to capture the photographers themselves. We always see the breathtaking shots they take. We do not see how much trouble they go to in order to do that. I've tried to show you guys a bit of that effort. 

Oh, and before you see the pictures - let me know who you are in the comments below and I will link back to your handle/blog. 

Do let me know who you are so I can link back, and whether you like the picture. Do comment below and tell me what you think. I hope you all like it!

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