Explorer of Experiences

Everyone’s favorite hangout Brooklyn Shuffle has gone a notch up turning from ‘Diner’ to ‘Bar’. The lighting is dimmer, the up-tempo music played louder and kids don’t fit their target audience especially after 5pm. They have what are probably the city’s longest Happy Hours from 11AM to 8PM to cajole the tipple-lovers into busying their bar. On offer are beer, vodka and whiskey for a stunning Rs 99, unlimited draught mug for Rs 500 and cocktail pitchers for Rs 700. Now that’s what we call a sweet deal. 

My review for Time After Time was published on Burrp:  http://www.burrp.com/know/review-time-after-time-65995 It’s not everyday you come across a restaurant named after a popular Cindy Lauper song. We visited recently to see if it lives up to its funky name. At the end of a musty lobby at The Central Park is  Time After Time . Walk in and the bold red walls come alive as they soak in the yellow lighting. Bamboo plants outside the windows add a serene touch to the view outside the restaurant window. Browse through the menu and there’s plenty to pick from their European, Oriental and Indian selection. At the recommendation of our server,  we ordered the Mushroom Sukkha Kalimiri (Rs 260) and a virgin Cosmopolitan (Rs 220). Sautéed in mustard seeds, fresh curry leaves, chopped ginger and garlic, the mushroom starter was an aromatic dish with distinctly coastal flavours. It needed a little salt, though a squeeze of lime juice seemed to instantly lift the dish as well. Packe...

Nico Bombay (Image courtesy: Mumbaiboss.com) I recently spent a brief amount of time over the weekend in Mumbai, a city I previously lived in for four years, to catch up with old friends and try out new restaurants. Mumbai is big on the food scene. Restaurants pop up and fizzle out so very often, you really need to be on the ball and play catch up if you are the type to explore new dishes at new restaurants. So whilst I was at lunch with my friends at one of my favourite restaurants called 'Salt Water Cafe' in town (their honey cinnamon roasted chicken is avoidable, go for the Kingfish instead) , I was told that a new "up scale" dining spot called 'Nico' was only recently launched and the food there was "on a whole different level"  (well, at least that's what my friend claimed). So, that was that, I wanted to experience some culinary elevation. Located in Kala Ghoda, we did have to walk around a bit to find Nico. Of course we trie...

How many times has it happened that you are not quite happy with what you've ordered at a restaurant? That what you thought you'd get is not what's in front of you waiting to be eaten...how often has it happened that what the people seated on your adjacent table are eating looks way more scrumptious  than what lays on your table? How is it that you can never identify the beautiful dish that the waiter who passed by your table just carried? And how is it that you can't figure out which dish that was when you were scanning the menu? Why do the dishes your neighbouring table dwellers are devouring smell so good? How do the portion sizes of their dishes look SO worth the money? Why does your dish arrive after the one that the table next to you ordered for even though they arrived AFTER you? How is it that you don't find any waiters there to take your order, while so many other huddle around other tables! How man, how! Maybe we should wear blinders when we walk into...