Saturday, March 7, 2009

Back Again !!!

Its been really so long since I updated the blog. Matter of fact, the complete 2008 went away without any updates. Blame it on work, or laziness or plain losing of novelty value of blogging. Perhaps, I am not one of those creatures who like to share so much.

Now, its not like I have stopped venturing outside to eat, it's that I simply lost interest. But, yeah, reduced going outside as well..you know, recession fears, etc.!! Also, I joined an orkut forum " Pune Eats Out" or PEO as its is fondly called. It provides restaurant reviews from all parts of Pune. Very informative, and it subdued my urge to write as well. But, now that urge is back again, so lets see how long it continues.

So, back to business..let me see how many restaurants I can count and remember as well from last one odd year. I am not going to put in reviews of franchisees or chain of restaurants simply because, I believe, the taste is uniform and same and they don't offer any thing unique. So, in spite of having visited McDonalds, KFC, Pizza Hut, Dominos a number of times and Papa John's, Subway more than once, I am not putting them here.

100 Biryanis (Katraj)

With about 15 biryanis on menu, they should seriously consider renaming their place. And with Chinese Biryani (??!!) on the card, who thinks it may have been anything different than a Fried Rice. So, we dared not try it and stuck to standard stuff. Though Luckhnavi Chicken Biryani (Rs 160) and Hyderbadi veg Biryani, (Rs 140), which we tried were good but I guess, standard. Overall, the menu is pretty limited but food is ok. Seating is spacious. In the same vicinity, there is a bar, so drinks menu is pretty varied with lots of choices.

Supreme Corner Paav Bhaji (JM Road)

50 minutes of waiting starting at 8.30 on a mid-week Tuesday, 5 minutes after placing order and 20 minutes for the dinner to finish. I can safely say I have never bothered to wait 50 minutes at any restaurant. For Supreme, I had made an exception..and Belive me, it was worth it. During all my stay in Mumbai/Pune, I have not tasted a better paav-bhaji. Probably, the right combination of spices and vegetables, probably a huge dollops of butter in the bhaji to give is a smooth consistency, or may be , it was slightly spicier than the ones I have tasted..but it was simply superb. Prrof : I had 7 paavs that evening..just could stop pushing it down..!!! At Rs 60 for a plate and Rs 15 for additional paav, it looks slightly expensive but scores much ahead than the regular joints. There are pulavs and pizzas as well..which looked pretty much in demand, though did not have an opportunity to taste them.