Durga Lunch Home (Mahim West)

Tolerable - not too bad if they've got your order right

The single most dimly-lit eatery in all of Mahim, Durga may be forgiven for the stewards not quite being able to see what they are carrying. This is a mistake often made in vegetarian dishes, where atrocities like Aloo Tamatar have been served instead of Aloo Gobi. The steward might also emerge 20 minutes later and tell you that the gobi for your aloo-gobi is not available, and you may choose something else. When it comes to the non-vegetarian dishes though, promises are mostly fulfilled in terms of the food item, though not necessarily the food quality. The chicken lollypop, served with some extremely intense chilli sauce, hardly evokes any taste except what is absolutely necessary to accompany beer. The same may be said of the Chicken 65 - the flavour of the chicken gets lost amidst all the allied things that get added to the plate. The only dish worth its salt is the Boneless Chicken - a completely unpretentious, blunt name, and accompanied by no separate salad either. Enjoy your beer and fork up pieces of shredded boneless chicken in the dark - at Durga, that is the definition of 'Bliss'.

Ambience                ★★ 
Service                    ★★
Presentation            ★★
Taste                      ★★★★ 


http://mumbai.burrp.com/listing/durga-lunch-home_mahim_mumbai_restaurants/17311337336

Sheesha (Bandra West)

Class on the...floor

It starts with a transparent-wall elevator that opens up more and more of Bandra and adjoining areas to your eye as you go up 9 stories to the iconic rooftop restaurant. The experience is ironically elevated when you bring yourself to the floor, and sprawl on the carpet next to your common  table, where the hookah is being passed around. And do not hesitate to take a whiff of the rather moderate and absolutely harmless smoke, unless you are too much of the food sort not to order a few mocktails and appetisers instead. Among the mocktails, the House Special Sheesha Thunder is easily the best pick, with its soda-induced fizz complemented by vanilla ice-cream leaving you in a pleasant dilemma between getting the best of the fizz in a hurry, and waiting for the ice-cream to melt into the drink. The virgin mojito is another good option on the lighter side, as the soda helps you get into the mood for food. The best appetisers at Sheesha are easily the ones influenced by middle-eastern cuisine. The Murgh Lebnani Tikka is a wonderful adaptation of Lebanese seasoning to suit the Indian palate, with a good smattering of yoghurt that takes away the dryness of quintessential Lebanese cuisine. The Murgh Tarki Kabab also keeps the diner interested with its soft and succulent interior delightfully camouflaged in the brown sauce. The Vegetarian Kabab Platter, however, fails to impress with only the potatoes being noteworthy by virtue of perfect boiling. If you are a non-vegetarian,  therefore, just get more starters, maybe with rotis, and have a full meal. If, however, you cannot not have a main course, the iconic Murgh Tikka Masala is a good bet with the right combination of spices, although it appears much below the two appetisers mentioned earlier in terms of taste. Not to be forgotten either is the Roomali Roti which is not just bigger than at any other restaurant in the country but is also extremely tasty  by itself and forms a perfect accompaniment to both gravy dishes and kababs. Everything here - the food, the drink, the seating and even the laid back stewards - are indicative of the fact that Sheesha is where you come in a group of 5 to 8, spend the evening eating, drinking and making merry, and get refreshed for another hectic day at work. If Sheesha was indeed a dance bar earlier, as the story goes, the euphoria hasn't really diminished since those days.

Ambience                ★★★★★ 
Service                    ★★★★
Presentation            ★★★★
Taste                      ★★★★


http://mumbai.burrp.com/listing/sheesha_bandra-west_mumbai_restaurants/1302079__CA__menu

Punjab Grill, High Street Phoenix (Lower Parel)

Where innovation complements the traditional

Celebrity chef Jiggs Kalra is presumably most confident when it comes to whipping up delicacy after gastronomic delicacy from his native Punjab. At Punjab Grill, the restaurant he owns at the Palladium Mall in Mumbai, the level of comfort reigns supreme as traditional Punjabi fare is effortlessly tweaked to appeal to a wider clientele. One example (and a highly recommended one, too) is the chicken and litchi salad, where the sweet fruit slice combined with the cold and tangy chicken produces just the perfect taste when rolled together on the tongue. The soft and succulent chicken kebabs in a garlic-based sauce also make for excellent starters. For the main course, a good idea would be to switch back to the good old Murgh makhani - butter chicken which can double up as an Indian version of Sweet and Sour Chicken thanks to the synergistic coexistence of cashewnuts and tomatoes in the gravy. Accompanied by a naan baked fresh in the oven, it can take you rather close to perfection inside your mouth. Where Punjab Grill fails to live up to its reputation is in the dessert department, with rather bland phirni (advertised on the menu as a rice souffle capable of making the best French patissiers blush!) and malai pudding; and completely tasteless chocolate gulab jamun - a rare case of an experiment gone wrong here with the essential flavour of the gulab jamun itself being hijacked by the not-so-exotic chocolate. The finale, however, is a triumph for Punjab Grill, in the form of the complimentary paan (betel juice) shot that is offered in lieu of after-mint. The food apart, Punjab Grill also scores high on table service, although there are clear areas of improvement especially with respect to the time being taken to serve some dishes (which literal gap you are given the complimentary papad to fill). The noiseless, soothing cascade down the front window just adds to the overall experience. Little wonder then that despite being situated right between Rajdhani (the undisputed master of Rajasthani fare) and Asia Seven (arguably the best oriental restaurant in the city), Punjab Grill is where you need a prior reservation on any given evening to be able to get a seat in the first place!

Ambience                ★★★★
Service                    ★★★★
Presentation            ★★★★
Taste                      ★★★★

http://mumbai.burrp.com/listing/punjab-grill_lower-parel_mumbai_restaurants/1644982445__UR__reviews

Mocambo (Kolkata)

Khush Nahin Hua

With so much fanfare in Kolkata about Mocambo being the premier continental restaurant in the city, once can be expected to walk in with sky-high expectations. Unfortunately, the offerings leave a lot to be desired, and are not even close to those of the Leopolds and Mondegars of the world. The mushroom soup is much too bland to be relished, while the Risotto alla parmigiana - a Southern Italian rice-based pasta with pan-fried cheese fillings -  is a good dish for the main course by itself, but does not really interrupt your conversation by virtue of just superior taste, as one is wont to expect here. The agonising lack of options among vegetarian dishes in almost every section of the menu is also a deterrent in Marwari-strong Kolkata. Where Mocambo scores, of course, is the experiential aspect of dining, with soup being served in lidded metal bowls and miniature lamps being suspended above every table to add to the mood. The stewards compliment this with some outstanding service, and it is a delight for any customer to see even his own ordering mistake being condoned and the dish being replaced free of cost. So do step in, not necessarily for the continental cuisine but for a dash of this city's inherent taste for fine dining, and unmatched hospitality.

Ambience                ★★★★
Service                    ★★★★★
Presentation            ★★★★
Taste                      ★★★

http://kolkata.burrp.com/listing/mocambo_park-street_kolkata_restaurants/190350019 

Mustard (Kolkata)

The joker in the pack

Would you ever get on to the Eastern Metropolitan Bypass just to eat at a restaurant there? And even if you do stop on the way back from the commercial area of Salt Lake or Rajarhat or on your way to the airport to grab a bite, would you expect anything better than a roadside dhaba. Welcome to Mustard then - a complete surprise package thanks to the superior quality of its food. The chicken reshmi kabab, served with a mean salad, is the softest and tastiest kebab you would get in Kolkata, and is reminiscent of what you get at that undisputed champion of kebabs in Mumbai, Kakori House. Add to that some very soft naan with mouth-watering Chicken Lazawab, and you have a perfect meal. The latter is essentially chicken in peanut gravy, which administers sweetness to the dish without taking away the flavour of the chicken any bit. Like its famous cousin the Chicken Badami at Khyber in Mumbai, the Lazawab too has gravy that would constitute a standalone dish, and may even be consumed as dessert once you are through with the rest of the meal. The enjoyment of the meal is accentuated by the peace prevailing in the large dining hall with mustard-coloured (well, of course) walls, thanks probably to the aforementioned problem with the location of the restaurant. One area where there is still some scope for improvement is the presentation of the food. While the naan is served in a quaint basket, the Lazawab certainly deserves to be a better looker before the deflowering than the oddity it appears to be, with the chicken pieces looking lost in the gravy and almonds and pieces of peanut sticking out at crazy angles in different places. Everything is, of course, forgiven once the food reaches your palate – there is no surpassing Mustard there, at least in this part of the city.

Ambience                ★★★★
Service                    ★★★
Presentation            ★★★
Taste                      ★★★★★

Gypsy (Kolkata)

Why not to wander here

Gypsy is one of the scattered eateries you encounter in the by-lanes of Chittaranjan Avenue, in the very heart of the city. Unlike some of its more famous peers in these parts, however, Gypsy is not a particularly popular lunch hangout for office-goers, and a visit there makes it clear just why. The stewards, without exception, are lax and have complete disregard for the customer’s time – it is not unusual for them to demand more time rather impudently since whatever you are ordering is reportedly being prepared from scratch. What makes things worse is that the wait is not worth it at all. The chicken pakoras are much too bland, and cry out for some onion rings to make them taste a little better. The chicken cutlet, albeit comparatively better, still leaves a lot to be desired. The food being presented on tea saucers does not help either. Thankfully, the prices are reasonable, and the only satisfaction one gets while walking out is that of not being cheated on the financial front. That said, it is virtually impossible for Gypsy to have repeat customers, for even a Kolkata office-goer cannot spend so much time away from work just to grab a bite.

Ambience                ★★★
Service                    ★ 
Presentation            ★★
Taste                      ★★

Fifty-Five East, Hotel Grand Hyatt (Santa Cruz East)

Every bit worth the financial indulgence

Let's face it - a Sunday brunch at a premium restaurant inside one of the city's leading five-star hotels is not going to come cheap. What you can rest assured of though is that the exorbitant amount will be well-spent here unlike at Marriott's Lotus Cafe. Named evocatively after the PIN code (400055) of the Hyatt and the fact that it is on the Eastern side of the Santa Cruz Station of the Western Railway, Fifty-Five East is where you go for the choicest in both oriental and occidental cuisine. In terms of the look and feel, the restaurant is the ultimate in the open kitchen concept with virtually everything (barring the Indian main course) available at live counters. The chefs are also extremely cooperative when it comes to customisation - you can actually choose a sauce from a different counter, and it will be willingly served you. An obligatory start would be at the sushi counter, where the tuna sushi with wasabi sauce delights in its perfection while the traditional hotategai (scallop sushi on rice) appears much too pungent for the Indian palate (and may therefore be assumed to be the real thing). If you want scallops at their best though, they are available at the next live counter where they are served whole in a glwith a sauce of your choice (lemon garlic or cocktail is recommended). The tuna or chicken cold salad is best left alone thanks to its dryness, and a good idea now would be to pass on to the western counter for the excellent chicken thigh in fried onions, best enjoyed with barbecue or Dijon mustard sauce. Among the other commendable western delicacies is the chargrilled prawn, which starts right where the scallops left off. Unfortunately, the same cannot be said about the chargrilled fish which reminds one suspiciously of the hilsa from Bengal; or the chicken counterpart which you may try with any sauce you like but always with the same result (you do end up admiring the different sauces though, mushroom being the best of the lot). The roast chicken with potatoes too fails to impress. Among the more traditional Italian dishes, the cannelloni with minced meat is decent, but the chicken sausage and pepperoni pizza is absolutely delectable in its simplicity (sausages and pepperoni slices neatly arranged on a wonderfully prepared crust). To come back to the oriental side, one thing you should not miss is the Thai shrimp ball noodle soup - a delicious broth containing flat noodles, shrimp fillings inside dough balls, and sprouts that is as nutritious as it is tasty. If you still have some space left for the main course, you can try out the pan-fried noodles with the chicken thai red curry, a tried and tested combination at various places. To get a little more experimental, the stir-fried vegetables and fish are quite brilliant, and the slightly pungent aftertaste of the fish will disappear with a generous helping of the dim sum sauce. Add the Asian favourite lobster crackers to that, and you have it all. By the time you reach the dessert counter, which is the largest of the lot, you are about to explode but try and hold it in looking at what is on offer. A perfect ending to a perfect meal comprises the seductive strawberries or chocolate mousse in vanilla ice-cream or a crepe with whipped cream and strawberries. The ice-cream, served from a dispenser, is incredibly soft, and some chocolate sauce added to it can make for a libidinous cold drink as well. One very significant positive on the buffet is the inclusion of beverages (both alcoholic and non-alcoholic) as part of the package, and it is difficult to resist the Duc de Roucher Brut champagne that you can have with your meal. Just make sure you have a bit of the champagne left by the end of the meal - for the strawberries in cream are best enjoyed with champagne, especially if you are here on a special date. And even if you are not, the very fact that you have paid over INR 3000 for this meal does entitle you to a little bit of food porn after all!

Ambience                ★★★★
Service                    ★★★★ 
Presentation            ★★★★★
Taste                      ★★★★★


http://mumbai.burrp.com/listing/fifty-five-east_santacruz-east_mumbai_restaurants/1585341851__UR__reviews

Spaghetti Kitchen (High Street Phoenix, Lower Parel)

Tolerable in parts

Spaghetti Kitchen is probably the least popular of the 4 big Blue Food restaurants given the number of empty seats even during peak hours, and it is not too difficult to ascertain why. Food here is simply inconsistent in quality, ranging from good classy stuff to the borderline unpalatable. Cheese garlic bread works for a good starter (being the one continental thing one cannot go wrong on), along with the delectable Cappuccino of Four Mushroom Soup (served rather evocatively in a coffee cup with a very soft crouton topped with minced mushroom pieces which makes the entire thing even tastier). Thereafter, one may try the starters: the Parmesan Cream Cheese Baby Potatoes - oven-roasted potatoes cooked with parmesan, cream and fresh herbs - certainly sound very appetising (in a rather synaesthetic way), but do not seem worth the money once you have tasted the fare. Among the pizzas, the thin-crust Pizza Primavera, with a good selection of olive, artichoke and asparagus toppings, is worth a try. Not so much so is the Pizza Giardiniera, where bell peppers, artichoke and jalapeno do not combine well at all.This inconsistency stretches on to its flagship pastas as well. The Asparagus and Spring Vegetable Risotto, made of premium Carnaroli rice and served with a green sauce, convinces you of the merits of this restaurant. Meanwhile, the Lasagna verde alla Bolognese di pollo, a spinach-flavoured lasagna with a whiff of chicken (and recommended by the chef), is extremely shoddy in its execution and presentation; and the taste too is far below Spaghetti Kitchen standards. One rather unique feature at the Kitchen is the steward collecting a payment card from the customer (for available discounts etc.) at the end of the meal and then swiping it at a terminal before even presenting the bill to the cardholder - a practice that is usually not followed anywhere in India. And mind you, those aforementioned discounts will be important - you need to comfort yourself on getting a fair deal at last!

Ambience                ★★★
Service                    ★★★
Presentation            ★★★
Taste                           ★★★


http://mumbai.burrp.com/listing/spaghetti-kitchen_high-street-phoenix_mumbai_restaurants/15558554__CA__menu

Lotus Cafe, Hotel J.W. Marriott (Juhu)

Exodus Cafe...Of money, that is

Whoever believes that all reputable 5-star hotels have top-class restaurants with excellent ambience and mouth-watering delicacies is yet to visit the flagship restaurant of J.W. Marriott. At Lotus Cafe, the only thing matching 5-star levels is the charge for the brunch buffet - you can eat all you like to make the most of the obscene amount you pay, but the quality of food does not live up to the quantity consumed as a result. The salads, especially the chicken and seafood ones with a dash of Thousand Island, Mustard and Cocktail dressing, ensure your meal starts with a lot of promise, as does the rich and smooth Cream of Chicken Soup; but thereafter, things only go downhill. Among the other starters, the Alu tikia is soft but not particularly appetising, while the braised chicken breast in completely bland. The Tangri kabab, a tandoori preparation of a chicken leg, is quite palatable, but whoever went to a 5-star hotel in Mumbai to eat Tandoori chicken? And so you come to the live seafood counter, where the tiger prawns, groupers and salmons look quite delightful; and you order a sizable helping of each. Unfortunately, once they are prepared and brought to your table (i.e. a good 30 minutes later, by which time you may sample the Beef Wellington - made of pork - and get nauseated anyway), the taste has been done away with - the prawn, though served in quite a regal fashion, is inordinately bland (roadside Chinese eateries handle prawn better); the grouper is chewy though somewhat tasty; and the much-heralded salmon has a faintly putrid aftertaste. The live spaghetti counter disappoints just as much, as the penne in cream sauce turns out to be the same as that you would get at any other continental place in Mumbai, and the promised pink sauce turns out to be nothing better than the tomato-based red sauce that is widely available everywhere as well (with the notable exception that it is utterly unpalatable here). A disgruntled customer may choose to walk out now, or pay a visit to the desserts counter with his / her dignity still intact. Some solace may be found here in the chocolate pastry and the rather variegated collection of Baskin Robbins ice-creams that are on offer. For all the bad food that is served here at exorbitant rates, Lotus Cafe may be recommended for a decent offering of mocktails. While the Virgin Mary (with unnecessarily pungent tomato juice) is best avoided, the Virgin Pina Colada, Virgin Mojito, Dune Runner (mango and cranberry juice) and Salient (mango, cranberry and lime juice) are absolutely delightful and cheer you up even as you struggle to ingest the abysmal food spread. In fact, in case Marriott allows it, a splendid way of spending the lazy afternoon would be to curl up beside the pool adjacent to Lotus Cafe with a glass of Pina colada. If for nothing else, one is spared the overcrowded interiors and Epicurean disasters within.

Ambience                ★★★
Service                    ★★★
Presentation            ★★
Taste                      ★★


http://mumbai.burrp.com/listing/lotus-cafe_juhu_mumbai_restaurants/197125712__UR__reviews

Status (Matunga West)

Was this a restaurant then?

You may pass the white 2-storey building a number of times as you walk from L.J. Road to Cadell Road and admire the way 'Status' is embossed on the top right corner. However, unless you are attentive enough to notice the words 'Refined Gourmet' below the title, it is very easy to mistake Status for an automobile or hosiery showroom. That said, if you do happen to go inside for a meal, you do get a favourable first impression from the interior decors, especially the interestingly sculptured showpieces that adorn the niches in the walls. In a full 4-course meal, you may find the beginning a trifle disappointing if you are the soup sort - the vegetable sweet corn soup is rather ordinary. However, you are left spellbound by the starters in both their vegetarian and non-vegetarian variants. Among vegetarian starters, the Paneer hariyali tikka is a good pick with extremely soft cottage cheese spiced up to perfection and duly complemented by fried onions. But even that is overshadowed by Tandoori mushroom, an unusual preparation of marinated giant mushrooms baked to softness over a clay oven and served red-hot. The non-vegetarian starters are no less, as both the Murgh Malai Kabab and Murgh Achari Kabab please the taste buds with some finely cooked chicken in freshly ground cashewnut paste and brown masala respectively. For the main course, with a slightly overpriced and strictly OK tandoori roti, you may want to consider just the Dal makhani, whose aroma of butter mingled with freshly cooked pulses is often enough to satisfy you after the variety of the starters. However, if it is the non-vegetarian fare that interest you more, go no further than the popular Murgh makhani, a dish of shredded and barbecued chicken cooked in a delicious butter and cream sauce - the perfect accompaniment to the bread and easily consumable thanks to being boneless. While the desserts are certainly not the specialty of Status, the Sizzling brownie, with sizzling hot chocolate sauce seductively poured over a freshly cooked brownie, is an excellent finale to a meal. Not so is the Caramel custard, which appears slightly under-prepared and leaves a putrid aftertaste. At Status, therefore, you choose carefully - certainly more carefully than the designer of the restaurant has chosen the look of the place.

Ambience                ★★★★
Service                    ★★★★ 
Presentation            ★★★
Taste                      ★★★★


http://mumbai.burrp.com/listing/status_mahim-w_mumbai_bars-pubs-restaurants/166788643__UR__reviews