BM Review: Aioli

In the month of December, VP had told me that there's a new place called Aioli that's opened up close to where he lives, and a few days when he was home alone, he'd visited the place for dinner and absolutely loved the place. So one day when I had journeyed to his place (trust me, when you travel from BTM layout to that halli of his called Kamanahalli, that IS a journey!), we went to Aioli for lunch, and I liked the place myself and thought it was a fit case for a review. So the review given here will be a combined review of sorts - dishes from both visits will be under the spotlight.

The first time we went there, and since it was just the two of us, we ordered a plate of chicken wings, and for the main course he had the prawns with rosemary dunked in olive oil served in a terracotta dish while I had the Moroccan lamb chops. For desserts, we had a pot of happiness (made from hung yogurt), and grilled pineapples with chocolate sauce.

The chicken wings tasted really nice, and the smoky taste from grilling them over a charcoal fire was superb. However, the usual levels of spiciness that of these wings was enough to get my nose running, so you'd do well to tell them to serve them to you a notch or two lower with respect to spiciness - 'medium spicy' as we so eloquently say in Bangalore (probably India).

Chicken wings

For the mains, VP decided to go in for the prawns with rosemary in olive oil. Olive oil is the only oil VP can have without his stomach going for a toss. Now the thing with rosemary is that it's one of those herbs that either you like it or you don't, and if you do happen to like it, then it's very easy to start disliking it. Too little of it and you'll wonder what the big deal if, and too much of it overwhelms the dish to the point where you'll wanna push the plate away and rinse your mouth with water or something. So the time when Prash had visited alone, I think they'd got the amount of rosemary right coz he loved the dish, but his time around, he said it was 'OK', and both of us felt the rosemary was a touch higher than what we'd have liked. Also, I'm not sure, but some of the prawns didn't seem the best in terms of taste, although I couldn't be certain if this can directly be attributed to the rosemary, or something in the prawns themselves.

I had the Moroccan lamb chops. Though the snap isn't the best I could've taken as it doesn't show sufficient amount of flesh on the chops, suffice to say that they tasted good - well flavoured with herbs, and accompanied by some herbed rice. You can ask for pita bread, fries, or rice for the carbs, although the herbed rice was more Indian-esque than Moroccan, but it served its purpose well.

Grilled prawns with rosemary in olive oil

Moroccan lamb chops

For dessert, the pot of happiness made from hung yogurt seemed a good one, and along with that we decided to have a plate of grilled pineapples with chocolate sauce. The pot of happiness was nice, but a lil too sweet for my liking, while the grilled pineapples were quite good, save for the tutti-frutti that's added to the top.

Grilled pineapple with chocolate sauce

Pot of happiness

The review that I wrote for the Bangalore Mirror can be read here. During the review, we started off with a plate of chicken wings, and this time around, I made sure I asked them to make a little less spicy, and it turned out to be a good thing. Along with the wings, we also ordered a plate of hot dogs with salsa rossa (and later we ordered another plate of the same). The hot dogs came on skewers with a few grilled veggies - the standard lot of peppers, onions, tomatoes, and the likes. These turned out to be quite a hit at the table, hence the repeat order. The final starter was a baba ghanoush, a creamy, flavourful mush of brinjal served with one of the softest baked breads I've ever eaten. Order this dish just for the sake of the bread that's served with it - bliss!

Baba ghanoush

Hot dogs with salsa rossa

With the starters out of the way, we worked our way through the menu for the mains. We ordered the Moroccan lamb chops (again), the Jamaican jerk chicken, two fish preparations - sear fish in lime aioli, and another one with a red-chili marinade, and a vegetarian dish comprising of stuffed peppers and tomatoes.

The lamb chops were just as good as they were the first time I came - well cooked, sufficient meat, well flavoured, and a good number of chops. The jerk chicken tasted good and was nicely cooked, although I thought the jerk flavouring could've used a little more of the Scotch bonnet pepper (a key ingredient in jerk seasoning) - or whatever pepper they were using in their jerk seasoning. The stuffed peppers was just plain insipid and boring, and I don't think we got to see,hear, taste or smell any of it after it came to the table.

Jamaican jerk chicken

Stuffed peppers and tomatoes

The two fish dishes were instant hits and were the highlights of the meal that evening (in the main course). The fish were fresh, the marinades perfect, the cooking done just right and the taste was quite superb. A point to note was that the red marinade didn't seem to be very Mediterranean, although I could be wrong since I don't remember everything that went into it. Midway through the meal I realised I wouldn't be satisfied with what I'd eaten (quantity - I have a deep stomach) and so I ordered a Turkish doner as well. Click the link to see what it actually is, and for the lazy, it's very similar to the Arab shawarma, where meat is sliced off a vertical spit and filled into a bread pocket/made into a roll. This was nice, but could've be better in terms of adding a mayo-based sauce or something since the meat was getting drier by the minute.

Sear fish with lime aioli

Sear fish with red marinade

Turkish doner

For dessert, we had three dishes, of which, sadly, only one was good, while the other two were, quite frankly, bad. So let's start with the bad - the chocolate somethings, made from powdered chocolate and set in the shape of hearts. Taste and texture wise, this just didn't do the trick for any of us. The other dish that could've been good but ended up being not so great was the crème brûlée. The top wasn't fired crisp, while although the inside did try to make up for it, it was falling short of the mark in terms of texture. The one saviour for the desserts was the panna cotta, which was neither too sweet nor too hard and did manage to salvage a little for us after the meal.

Panna cotta

Hazelnut creme brulee

Chocolate something

All in all, a very nice place, good concept, and although it actually isn't a near smoke house, the grill house part of it does make it seem a viable option for a good meal once in a while.

Food: Very good
$$$: Rs 500 - 600 per head for a full meal
Service: Good, but could use a few more hands on weekends
Verdict: Must visit if in the area

Aioli Bbq and Grill Smoke house, #409, 1^st Floor, 5^th Main, 2^nd Block, Kalyannagar, HRBR Layout, Bangalore. Phone: 42984259

Strawberry Soufflé

A couple of weekends ago, mom and I made strawberry soufflé at home. She was expecting guests - a whole lot classmates from her days back in med school. So apart from the rest of the stuff that was made, the soufflé was one of the main draws that evening. Traditionally, soufflés contain eggs and are baked dishes, but mom's been calling this soufflé since I was a kid (back then she used to make one using pineapples) and so I've continued to call it soufflé.

Ingredients:
2 boxes strawberries (box = the small plastic boxes available nowadays)
2 packets cream (200 ml packets)
Gelatin
Sugar to taste

Take strawberries from one and a half boxes (leave half a box for garnishing and popping them into your mouth for an oh-so-lovely feeling). Wash them thoroughly. Take a vessel with about 3/4 lt. of water and dump the strawberries into it, put it onto the stove and bring to a boil. Add enough sugar to the solution/suspension until it's sweet enough (remember, we'll be adding cream later, which will further reduce the sweetness, so be generous). Once this is done, strain the liquid and set aside. While the strawberries are being boiled alive, add about 6 teaspoons of gelatin to a glass of water and allow it to swell. [Note to reader: The 6 teaspoons of gelatin is the proportionate amount needed for 400 ml cream plus nearly 1 lt. of water] Put the strawberry pulp into a blender and b(l)end it like Beckham until it's nice and smooth (mind you, when I say smooth, I mean it shouldn't be chunky). Add this pulpy awesomeness to the liquid strained above. Once the gelatin has swollen, add it to the strawberry + water mixture and allow to set (it would be hot, so let it rest in the open and then move it into the fridge).

Strawberries

After the suspension has set (around 6 hours, give or take a little), take the packets of cream and blend it into the suspension using a hand blender. Be sure not to whip the cream too much too soon or it'll become butter! Pour the new mixture into a large dish you wish to set it in, or into individual cups/bowls and smoothen it. Garnish the top with slices of strawberries. If you've got chocolate sauce at home, you can work your magic and create heaven in your home.

Soufflé

Soufflé - close up

Enjoy it cold, and if you think you like it a little runny, allow it to thaw a little - the gelatin loses its hold on the suspension and it becomes creamier and runnier.

BM Review: Chamomile

Wow, it's been a full month since the last post. Sorry for the delay, but after shifting to a new house, there are soooo many tasks that crop up every now and then, at times I've even wondered if it was worth it. Well, just so that I don't leave that dangling, it is. So a while back, I visited Chamomile again, this time to review the place for Bangalore Mirror. The review that was published can be read here. As I had already visited the place during Christmas, I knew what to expect from the place, but since we were in a group, and it was essentially going to be a collective opinion, I didn't see any points of potential conflict. Moreover, when P, VP and I had visited during Christmas, we ordered from the special Christmas menu, while this time around we were ordering from the regular menu.

There aren't any snaps of the starters that we had, so apologies for the same. For starters, we selected dishes from the regular menu as well as the bar menu. So the dishes we had from the regular menu were shrimp and avocado salad, honey mustard chicken, herb marinated prawns, and chicken wings and mushroom & Parmesan cigars from the bar menu. The only disappointment here was the salad, with the avocado being old and soft, 'sagging' being a word used at the table by someone. It surely could've use a shot or two of botox. The wings and the honey mustard chicken were nice, both with suitable amount of seasoning and flavours. The hits at the table that evening were the herb marinated prawns - large, chunky prawns marinated in a mixture of coriander, basil and perhaps mint (green stuff), and the mushroom cigars - these were phyllo stuffed with mushrooms and Parmesan cheese. The mushroom cigars were a pleasant surprise and were actually quite delightful and we couldn't seem to have enough of these.

For the mains, we selected one dish from each 'section' that we were able to form after looking at the menu. So Italian saw us ordering the aubergine lasagna (also doubled up as the vegetarian option) and the seafood cappelletti (cappelletti is a stuffed pasta, and means 'little hat' because that's what it kinda resembles), proteins were going to be the T-bone steak and the rosemary flavoured leg of lamb, and then there was grilled salmon in an orange sauce with a whole lot of other things.

The salmon was the only disappointment - almost no seasoning, bland, and the fish actually seemed old. The rest of the dishes though, we quite superb. The T-bone steak was a lovely cut of meat, and I'd for it to be done medium-rare, and it was done to near perfection there, well seasoned, and the mashed potatoes served with it were also very nicely done. The only grouse - they gave us a stainless steel table knife instead of a proper knife knife, and cutting a medium rare steam with such a knife is quite an effort. The cappelletti was a pleasant surprise - didn't have a fishy smell to it, tasted good, and although the texture of the stuffing inside wasn't very 'firm', it tasted good nonetheless, and so got the thumbs up.

Grilled salmon with an orange sauce

T-bone steak

Seafood cappelletti

Usually, whenever someone uses rosemary, they tend to screw up the flavour by using too much. If you ask me, adding too much rosemary often kills the dish, but these guys had managed to get the amount just right for the leg of lamb. What's more, the meat was cooked well and it wasn't chewy, making it a good selection, and a better dish to eat. The aubergine lasagna was a smashing hit at the dinner table that night. Who'd have thought a bunch of carnivores would be raving about a vegetarian dish, but that's exactly what happened. Although the lasagna looked a little disheveled, when it came to taste, it was quite exquisite.

Rosemary leg of baby lamb

Aubergine lasagna

Desserts were a bit of a mixed bag, tending more towards bad than good. The strawberry cheesecake was the same as the last time, good to taste, but hard and not creamy and soft (however, I've been reliably informed that they have now changed the cream cheese they use for the cheesecakes, and so it's supposed to be better now), the hazelnut brûlée had a nice crust, but what lay beneath was nowhere near the custard-like texture that a brûlée is supposed to have. The vanilla pannacotta was just waaaay too plain and insipid, and I'd have liked to see a little less gelatin used so that it is a little more 'creamy' when spooned out. The saviour of the night was the triple layered chocolate mousse, rich and chocolaty and not disappointing us any further.

Strawberry cheesecake

Vanilla pannacotta

Triple layered chocolate mousse

Hazelnut brulee

Food: Good. Need to work a little on the desserts and this place can be a winner.
$$$: Slightly expensive. Approx Rs 1000 per head for a full meal.
Service: Good
Verdict: Can visit for a select few dishes.

Chamomile, #4031, 1^st Floor, Above Bombay Store, Next to Domlur Flyover, 100 Feet Road, Indiranagar, Bangalore. Phone: 42156000, 42167000

Phobidden Fruit

A classmate of ours, who'd come down at the end of 2009, had come down again at around the same time in 2010, but got to Bangalore only last week. He was here to get engaged, and the wedding is scheduled for Jan 2012. Let's call him PiousDope. So P, VP, PiousDope and I visited Phobidden Fruit, a new Vietnamese restaurant in Indiranagar. So far, Taj West End is the only place with a Vietnamese restaurant called Blue Ginger, and from many accounts, I've heard it isn't the best you can get. So when I heard there's a new Vietnamese place close to where I work, I had to try it out. And so the four of us went there on Thursday night.

The restaurant is set at two levels, with more seating capacity on the first floor. The lighting is pretty dim (not something I like, especially when I'm trying to take snaps without using my flash), but one look at the menu and I knew that the food should more or less make up for the disappointment [however, please note, henceforth the flash shall be very generously used when there are issues with lighting - trying to capture the aesthetics in a photograph will be a thing of the past].

After a thorough examination of the menu and it's contents, we ordered the following: pork spare ribs (Duh! This was almost taken for granted that it would be ordered), Vietnamese spring rolls, Banh Xeo [a Vietnamese pancake], lettuce wraps, Vietnamese lamb, and veg momos. The photo of the ribs didn't come out too well, and was badly blurred (I know, I almost make it sound like a burn victim!), and so isn't put up. So since we're on the topic of the ribs, these were very good, but I think for the money charged, the portion was, let's say, tiny. I think when you charge around Rs 250 for a dish, it shouldn't get over in jiffy. Soft and succulent, the sauce was a darker than most places that make spare ribs - more soy, but tasty nonetheless.

The Vietnamese lamb (now I don't know if there is a local name for this or not) wasn't too different from any lamb starter I've had at most places that serve Oriental cuisine. This was nice as well, and since VP couldn't eat it due to his various funny allergies, PiousDope and I had the task of finishing it.

The last of the non-veg starters was the lettuce wraps, filled with bean sprouts, shrimps, and a couple of other veggies. This was served with a fish sauce and a soy sauce. This dish was very nicely done - crisp lettuce, with some nicely flavoured shrimps and crunchy sprouts, along with a fishy fish sauce made this a wonderful wrap. The flavours and the texture were quite good and the combination obviously works - worked for us at least.

Vietnamese lamb - wasn't too different from any other lamb I'd eaten before ;)

Lettuce wraps

Among the veg dishes, the momos were like at most other places, and there isn't much to say about them that no one already knows. If it helps, I'll also add that they weren't bad. For the other two dishes (almost the rock stars among the starters), the spring rolls and the Banh Xeo, I almost wished we could go there again just for these dishes. The Banh Xeo was a nice, crispy pancake - more of a crepe actually, had a nice taste to it. The rice flour used itself must've been seasoned quite nicely, and the stuffing of crunchy bean sprouts and other veggies added to texture as well as the taste. The veg spring rolls, although a tad difficult to hold in the hands (kinda flimsy), were quite superb when it came to taste.

Banh Xeo - Vietnamese stuffed pancake

Veg momos

Veg spring rolls

When it came to our main course, PiousDope said he was full and wanted only dessert and had a lemon grass ice cream (sorry, no snap), that turned out to be OK. P decided to go in for the national dish of Vietnam, Pho, which is essentially a large bowl of watery soup with noodles and veggies (and also meats of various kinds, but P had the veg version). VP, although full, made claims that he'd be in a position to eat a full main course dish (which is when I realised I'd be needed to finish off what he leaved behind to avoid wasting the food). So while VP ordered a jungle fish curry, I wanted to have a Vietnamese pork sandwich (which turned out to be 'over') but settled for a Vietnamese red curry.

All three dishes were nice, but I won't be able to comment on authenticity too much as the knowledge I have about Vietnamese cuisine is theoretical. The Pho, though, had a strong doze of cinnamon in it and I'm sure if that much was needed (personal preference - I love cinnamon, but in moderate quantities), while the two curries were quite good. I thought my dish could've used a bit more chili in it, but I'm not complaining.

Pho

Vietnamese red curry

For dessert, we ordered a coconut sorbet and a hot corn soup in coconut milk. P and I immediately guessed the latter to be a form of payasa, which is pretty much what it turned out to be, and tasted almost as good as the ones that our made in South Canara and Udupi districts of Karnataka. The sorbet though was kinda disappointing for me, although P liked it a little more than I did. The taste was not of fresh coconut, but it had the taste and texture of coconut fat that's solidified and then used as opposed to mixed and blended into the sorbet. Those of you from Mangalore and South Canara, in case you've eaten semeda addye (say-may-da add-yay) with coconut milk mixed with jaggery and sliced bananas, you'd know that if the milk is kept in the fridge overnight, in the morning the 'fat' solidifies on the top, and it's the taste of this very fat that I encountered in the sorbet.

Coconut sorbet

Hot corn soup with coconut milk - a Vietnamese payasa of sorts

Overall, quite a satisfying meal, although, for the prices charged, I wish they'd increase the portions a little bit. As it is I was a little sad that they didn't have bún chả, on the menu, and on top of that they didn't have the pork sandwich, which sort of made me feel worse. And since they're new, and we're very forgiving, we'll excuse them this time, but on the sauces served with the dishes (a waiter, upon being asked, checked and told us it was a chef's special sauce) actually contained fish sauce in it (not very pungent, or we'd have guessed immediately), and P ended up eating it. Luckily, he isn't the kind of vegetarian who'll want to go and jump into the Ganga to cleanse himself after eating meat. I just hope such fishy tales are repeated by other diners.

Food: Pretty good, although portions can increase
$$$: A touch on the higher side, considering the size of the portions served. Around Rs 600 - 700 per head
Service: Good
Verdict: Must visit, for it's probably the only affordable Vietnamese restaurant in town.

Phobidden Fruit, #965, 12^th Main, HAL 2nd Stage, Indiranagar, Bangalore. Phone: 41255175

BM Review: Dine With...Panache

On Christmas eve, I visited this restaurant called dine with...Panache in Koramangala. The review for Bangalore Mirror can be read here. There are no photos for this review as I wasn't able to get good snaps with my point and shoot (didn't pull out the SLR for fear that the staff might get a little curious). Panache is a restaurant that served north Indian food and claims to redefine your dining experience.

For starters, we had one veg dish, and three non veg dishes. The veg dish, called kurkure khumb, was a smashin' hit at the table. Initially, when I read the description of mushrooms stuffed with bell peppers, I thought it would be stuffed into the 'cap' of the mushroom; however, the dish was made by halving the mushrooms, arranging 4 pieces one after the other, bell peppers added between them, and the whole thing had a base of bread crumbs, making the end result look like a boat - a mighty colourful boat I might add. The bhatti ki machli was a nicely marinated fish finished off in the tandoor, and was quite nicely done - cooked just right, tasted just right, and the fish flaked away inside the mouth...just right :)

The lagan ki boti were chunks of mutton marinated in onions, coriander, garam masala and yogurt. these were nice, but nothing great. The doodhiya murgh was just a fancy-shmancy name for malai kabab, and this was also OK. The disappointment came with the taimoori ras, supposed to be a mutton soup with hot spices. Granted, we made the mistake of assuming it would be like a paya, but the shorba was loaded with spices and just didn't cut it when it came to letting us get the taste of the mutton.

On to the mains, and here we felt we'd be better off and probably the dining experience would actually go a few notches up. We knew we were going to try the ghosht biryani for certain, and the biryani was quite nice, although I'd have liked it if the meat were a little more tender - not that it wasn't tenser, I just thought it could've been tenderer. Among the main course side dishes, the one that caught our fancy was the murgh shalgam ka mel, a seasonal chicken dish that incorporates turnip in it. This was quite different from anything I've had, and also since I'd never had turnip before, this was a first for me. The dish tasted a bit sweet though, and I kinda assumed that turnip would have given the dish a little 'bite'; this kinda tasted like pumpkin. Bottom line, it was a good dish.

The raseeli boti - mutton cubes cooked in a thing sauce was decent, but the taste wasn't mind blowing or anything. The 'sauce' seemed like an onion-based sauce (given the price of onions, I guess it was a nice touch!). A bread basket helped us mop up the dishes.

Dessert saw us having a litchi kulfi, made in-house, that was quite superb and all of us were leaning over each other to get a spoon of it. The kesar phirni, on the other hand, was quite thick, more like a custard and not the sweet,grainy delight it's supposed to be. Overall, decent place, but it certainly did not redefine my dining experience.

Food: Decent
$$$: Around Rs 500 per head for starter, main course and dessert
Service: Very good
Verdict: Can visit if in the area.

Chamomile

It was Christmas day, and I had just moved into my new house, and what's more, along with VP, I'd visited the house of one of his colleague's who stays very close to where I live. So after some nice homemade wine at her place and some appams and stew, VP and I headed back to my place and started wondering where to go for dinner. P was down with viral fever, so it would have had to be at a place close to Indiranagar. Looking into the newspaper, we saw this new place called Chamomile and decided to head there for dinner.

Chamomile, named after the tea, is located on 100 Feet Road, and serves European cuisine. For Christmas, they has a special menu (apart from their regular menu), and since the items on it were 'special', well, so was the cost. But I guess they were banking on the fact that the merry season would have people in high enough spirits to splurge a little...at least, that's the principle we were dining out on :)

We started with a drink that we seem to have made our very own - a virgin Mary. Our principle of testing a barman's skill by the way he/she makes a virgin Mary can tell you whether he/she knows the business still holds good. This one was very good - not the best I've had, but very good nonetheless. And not surprisingly, there was soup that we had as well. P and VP settled for the special soups from the Christmas menu: braised red pepper soup with balsamic vinaigrette foam for P and a shrimp and crab bisque for VP, while I settled for one from the regular menu - a roasted sweet garlic and rosemary soup. Although the soups sounded grandiose, they actually fell flat a little. The red pepper soup didn't have any zing or heat in it, the bisque didn't quite give out the yummy flavours of the crab and the shrimp, while my soup was just way too course and grainy.

Virgin Mary

Braised red pepper soup with a balsamic vinaigrette foam

Roasted sweet garlic and rosemary soup

Shrimp and crab bisque

We decided to have one starter, and so went for the twice cooked mushroom. Not sure how many times it was cooked, but it tasted quite good, with the little smudge of cheese on top doing it a world of good.

Twice cooked mushrooms

VP and I were in two minds when it came to the main course: we wanted to have the turkey for sure (part of the special menu), but apart from that there was also a pork dish on the special menu that we wanted to try out, but weren't sure whether we'd be able to finish all the food coz VP was already full, and usually I end up eating what he leaves, and I didn't want to stuff myself like a pig that night, so we settled on a single main course dish for the two of us - the stuffed turkey roulade. P decided to skip the special from the Christmas menu and settled for mushroom stroganoff.

The turkey's stuffing was quite good, but the meat itself seemed to lack some basic seasoning. That, combined with the fact that we weren't given separate steak/serrated knives and had to use the usual stainless steel crap that's kept by your plate meant we struggled with the meat a bit. P ordered the stroganoff thinking it would be light, but with mushrooms and cheese making most of the stroganoff, it was anything but light. Taste wise, again, the cheese and the mushrooms seemed to have a taste that can best be described as one that you need to acquire, but being a sucker for mushrooms, I didn't seem to mind it too much.

Stuffed turkey roulade

Mushroom stroganoff

For desserts, again, two from the Christmas menu (apple pie and Christmas pudding), and one from the regular menu (strawberry cheesecake). I think desserts is their Achilles heel of sorts; while the apple pie was sinfully good, the 'pudding' (more like the rum cake we get) and the strawberry cheesecake were a big let down. The pudding was way too dry, while the cheesecake was just too hard and not creamy enough.

Strawberry cheesecake

Apple pie

Christmas pudding

Overall, a satisfying meal, but by no means a memorable one. The service was pretty decent, and so was the ambiance. And given that the seasonal menu was a 'special' (along with 'special' rates - read expensive), one would've thought that there'd be some extra effort put in to make all the dishes memorable. Since this was an outing where we essentially had stuff from the Christmas menu and not the regular menu, I'll leave out the 'ratings' that I give. Another visit perhaps.

Samarkhand

Firstly, the delay in the posts coming up was because I have shifted to my new house, and there's no net connectivity for a while. And also, the fact that the USB drives at work have been disabled, which means the methods of uploading pics and posts needs to get a little craftier. Sometime back, VP said he got a decent hike and so he took P and me out to dinner. After watching a movie (One of those Narnia movies) at Garuda Mall (where they've put up miniature models of famous landmarks like Statue of Liberty, The Kremlin, Eiffel Tower, etc), we were wondering whether to have dinner at Kobe's, or to go else where, when finally VP said he wanted to go to Samarkhand.

A miniature model of the Kremlin

Hey, he was paying, so who were we to say no :) and so Samarkhand it was. Saturday night, no reservations, the trio enter and are told to be seated in Hypnos (same management, and they also told us same food would be served here as well). It was nice. A mixture of rustic and crude, old school au natural. The air inside was cool, bordering on damp/dank, depending on where you're coming from.

The complimentary bread sticks with the dip is usually a big hit, and there was no exception to the rule here. and what's more, apart from whetting your appetite, they photograph pretty well too! We also decided to have something to drink, and since we were driving, you guessed it, no -OH group compounds would be entering our bodies that night. All I remember now is that I had a passion fruit based rink, P had a pineapple based drink, while VP settled for some raspberry based one. My drink turned out to be the winner for the night :)

For the food, we started off with shorbas - tomato, chicken, and mutton. All turned out to be really good.

Bread sticks

Shorbas

My mutton shorba

For starters, we had the Peshawari paneer tikka (something I'd had 5 years ago when I first visited Samarkhand) - 3 large chunks of creamy, juicy paneer blocks that just crumble into divine oblivion inside your mouth. And I didn't ask whether they make their own paneer or source from elsewhere, but this thing was rich - like to the point where you eat one and you'll go "oof, that's filling!". Apart from that, we also ordered a plate of cheese balls or something like that from the Hypnos menu. These were OK, and P stated that he was quite full already and may not be able to eat too much. I think he's getting old - I mean this is the guy who once ate two main course dishes at Miller's 46 (so what if they were vegetarian, it was after a full round of soup and starters).

Peshawari paneer

Cheese balls (middle), with our drinks

For the non veg option that VP so badly wanted, we ordered a dish (whose name now eludes my fragile memory) that comprised of chicken breasts stuffed with minced chicken. This looked awesome when it was served, with steam coming out of the sliced breast pieces, and it tasted just as good. P was a little flabbergasted at the prospect of food being stuffed into food, but we didn't bother humouring him with explanations.

Chicken stuffed with minced chicken...awesomeness!

Another shot of the above

P said he couldn't eat another morsel after the cheese overdose, and so VP and I ordered a mutton biryani. This biryani was not as flavourful as it was fragrant, but even I was a bit stuffed, and since VP doesn't eat the meat pieces in biryani (he usually tosses them into my plate), I had to contend with some extra protein and at the end of the meal, I wished we could carry extra storage space for our stomachs - some kind of a compressible unit that can be attached to our bodies like a USB...those of you rolling your eyes back, hell, I'm an engineer and I know my breed (engineers) can do it, but we just choose not to at the moment (unless someone's already done it and I don't know about it).

Mutton biryani

Food: Wonderful
$$$: Slightly pricey...with non-alcoholic drinks, a full meal could cost you about Rs. 1000 per head.
Service: Good
Verdict: Go, go, go already if you haven't. They have valet parking, and go early on weekends...like at 7:30 itself if you don't have reservations...or just make a reservation, but still go early.