Jun 23, 2008

Del Italia

Juhu Tara Road, Next to Mocha, Juhu, Vile Parle (W), Mumbai

Poor

Don Giovanni any time please

So hubby and I decided to be a bit daring and try something other than Don Giovanni for Italian in spite of being Don fanatics. The thing is after eating at Mr Giovanni's, it's very difficult to get used to any other Italian cuisine. We like the real thing you see and can't bear the poor Indianized versions. However, we heard about Del Italia opening in Juhu and so Friday night decided to spend it over a nice Italian meal with a friend.
Unfortunately, it couldn't live up to Don's standards. The ambience is very nice, I'll give it that. A prime corner location with what could have been a great view had we not been looking right into the kalakhatta and pani-puri wallahs of Juhu beach. We were sitting outside, and I liked the rustic decor of the outdoor seating. The fans served the purpose but I can't blame Bombay's humidity and lack of rain on the restaurant. I ordered a mushroom and porcini soup and hubby and friend decided to share a salmon bruchetta starter. My soup was a good size and decent tasting although they didn't give a lot of porcini in it and the porcini didn't taste right. Hubby and friend were shocked at the starter...it was two measly pieces. Grossly overpriced at that too.
For main course, hubby ordered parma ham pizza which he loved. I ordered a smoked brinjal lasagne which tasted like baingan bharta with cheese. There was really nothing authentic about it. Friend ordered a grilled chicken which looked and, according to him, tasted like any grill chicken you would get at any passably continental place for much less.
So why am I giving only two stars?
Pros: Ambience, taste of parma ham
Cons: Measly portions and absolutely no value for money. I'd rather pay slightly more at Don's and get better portions and better taste.
I don't think this is authentic Italian...my baingan bharta type lasagne is an ode to that.
We ordered no drinks and 2 starters and 3 main courses cost us 1800 bucks. Not cheap.
And to top it all, the food didn't sit right with us and we had to take some digene to help. Definitely a no no. Not going back there again.

Jun 13, 2008

Mabruk

Sahara Star, Western Express Highway, Domestic Airport, Santa Cruz (E), Santacruz (E), Mumbai

Good

Good Lebanese finally!

Marhaba! Went to Mabruk 2 days back for dinner with hubby. He knows my passion for Lebanese (having once waitressed at a Lebanese restaurant- I love the food and am very particular about the authenticity of it). I have tried in vain to eat at so-called Lebanese food joints around Bombay and have been served more often than not some white goop of hummus and some dal balls for falafel. And yes apparently the entire Lebanese cuisine in such places is just hummus and falafel. The only place that I can say serves good Meditteranean is Moshe's; and it is fantastic but not pure Lebanese.
Well then, welcome to Mabruk. I must say when they say looks can be deceptive they were right. I had never been to the Sahara Star and it is such an eyesore from the outside I always shuddered to go in. And considering it took me 1 hour to reach the place from Andheri east (ideally a 10 min ride) with our wonderful never-to-be-completed-construction of the airport flyover mingled with a torrential downpour, I was not in a good mood. Firstly the ambience. They have such comfortable sofas and cushions that you can just sink into them while you nibble on their wonderful mezze. It's near a pool and surrounded with palm trees.They even have a lazer light show thrown in. It's very different from all your other five-star type restaurants. They actually have a beautiful Lebanese lady as the hostess and she obviously knows the food and gave fantastic recommendations. The drink selection is as to be expected at such places. They have a good wine selection. They did it right by bringing out some kalamata olives to nibble on along with some excellent feta cheese and some pickled veggies.
I finally found the amazing stuffed vegetarian vine leaves done the Lebanese way that I was searching for, for a very long time. The Lebanese vine leaves are very different from the Dolmathes of the Greek so with every bite it was bringing back tons of good memories of the original Lebanese food I used to have while studying in college. Their moutabel was authentic and traditional and of course how can I forget their really good hummus. Their fattoush was not what I'm used to but good nevertheless. Their moudadra was excellent. Hubby being a non-veggie had some amazing chicken grills and finally someone serves it with toom! (garlic butter). He also tried a Moroccan tagine chicken with cous cous and prunes and he thought the flavours were different and something he's never tasted before. He stuffed himself which I take it as a sign of him having enjoyed it tremendously. Oh and they actually brought the tagine to the table which I thought was really nice.
Sore point: Quantities are small--each dish of hummus and the other mezze items are for one person only, which is not easy on the pocket considering that a hummus for one costs 600 bucks.
It's good to go to for a special occassion. It's a nice ambience with great food especially if you are into authentic Lebanese and Meditterranean cuisine

Jun 12, 2008

Magic

12-A, Ground Flr, Hornby Vellard Estate, Lotus Cinema building, Next to Vitesse Motors, Worli, Mumbai

Good

Not a teeny bopper place thank god!

Is it just me or are all the lounges/discs infested with some-teens? Trust me at 26, I'm not old. But when you're surrounded with guys who have the hots for Hannah Montana you feel like you've just crawled out of your Neanderthal period cave. It's with this feeling I went to Magic with the hubby after reading its review in Time-Out as being the place to go to for 30 somethings. I've got some time to go before I reach that grand old age however, we decided to give it a try. And it was definitely a good choice. Firstly...the red carpet welcome. Very New York. Makes every one of us feel like a celebrity.I loved the ambience. The place is huge. With really high ceilings. The staff was friendly. I went on a Friday night. The cover was 1000 for a couple and it was a complete cover which was good. We each had a drink. Tried the martini. Wasn't quite there. Hubby had a wine. We tried a snack some mushrooms. I didn't quite like it which is why I've docked off one star from this review. Music was good and they have a huge projection screen...went there when the 20-20 was on so its really good for sports viewings.
If you want to escape the hormone driven adoloscents, I would recommend this place.

latss

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