burrp! Stats
- 68 Reviews
- 26 First to review
- 57 Places Added
- Been to 203 Places
- Yet to try 31 Places
- Burrping since Aug 15, 2006
- Burrping fromAndheri (W), Mumbai
aarti's Lists
Reviews by aarti
Apr 08, 2008
2 Vrindavan, Lane No. 6, North Main Road, Koregaon Park, Pune
Average
Hmm.. Let's See..
So, the hardcore foodies that we are, my husband and I made a special trip to Pune this weekend - just to explore food options in this buzzing little town. Since we had just two nights to eat out we narrowed down our options to Malaka Spice and Arthur's Theme, after reading al the brilliant reviews on burrp. While we absolutely loved the vibe and food and Malaka Spice on Saturday night, dinner at Arthur's Theme was a bit lukewarm.
Firstly, the service was pretty sloppy. Let aside recommending, our waiter could not even converse confidently. The menu had just sooo much to offer that even after browsing through it for 15 minutes we couldn't decide what we should have. We ended up settling for Cecilia (some bruchetta with olives and sundried tomatoes) The tomatoes were very chewy but the preparation tasted good on the whole. Alongside, we asked for two glasses Chantilli which was the only red wine available. Next we ordered broccoli soup. This one was excellent - thick and flavourful. For dinner we wanted something light. We asked for herb tossed vegetables but the waiter didn't get it. So we asked for Columbus which was herbed vegetables on a bed of spinach with Florentine sauce. We said we did not want the sauce. The waiter insisted we get brown sauce instead. We said we did not want ANY sauce but the waiter STILL insisted have with 'brown sauce'. Whatever is this 'brown sauce' made of, prey tell me??
We gave in to pressure and ordered for two of the same dish. It didn't taste bad - just wasn't what we wanted that night. Tired and disappointed a little bit we asked for the bill. It came to Rs. 1600 for -
1 starter (cecilia)
1 broccoli soup (1 by 2)
2 Columbus
3 glasses of wine
We paid Rs.250 per glass of wine! We thought it was outrageous especially since we had bought that very bottle of wine from the chateau indage vineyards in narayangaon for a meager Rs. 500 earlier that day. Also, we had had a much bigger and better meal with a whole bottle of wine at Malaka Spice the previous night for the same price.
The strangest part was that we did not even get a bill for the wine. The amount was hastily added to the total in pen. Later it occurred to us that we were not even given a drinks menu. Everyone that asked for a liquor menu was told everything is available but 'there's no menu'.
Perhaps a good way of making some money on the side - Off the record!
Three stars to this experience only because we were really there to have a good time, enjoyed each other's company and the food was acceptable.
Mar 31, 2008
Fun Republic, Level 3, Opposite Laxmi Industrial Estate, Andheri (W), Mumbai
Poor
Disappointment x 2
We were turned away twice last weekend.
Day 1 - Friday night - my husband and I walk in at 10:00. The east indian girl at the desk asks a manager if they can accommodate the two of us, he flatly refuses on hearing 'two people' and says 'tell them the wait is one hour'. The tone in his voice and the wave of hand gave me the impression that he would have been more kind had we been a larger group.
Day 2- Sunday night- Shameless foodies that we are, we want to give this new place in the neighbourhood one more chance. To be safe we get there at 8:30, arranging to meet some friends directly outside the restaurant. But since one of our friends was wearing shorts we were refused entry yet again. Ironically, that friend is a firangi.
Hostility personified - that too twice! But unfortunately, for lack of better places in our neighbourhood, I cannot say I will never visit this place again.
Mar 31, 2008
Rodas Ecotel Hotel, Central Avenue, Hiranandani Gardens, Powai, Andheri (E), Mumbai
Poor
Victim of racism in my own country
After an exhilarating response at an event, my office colleagues and I decided to celebrate somewhere with beers. Since Parabola was the nearest to the event venue we decided to give it a shot. I have been to Parabola before and haven't had the best experience but I did not want to dampen the high spirits of the team and act like a forever-opinionated-spoilsport. And in any case we were only going for drinks, what could possibly go wrong with that?
We enter the restaurant at 4:00ish and it seemed pretty full. The food on the other tables looked appetizing at least. We were asked to wait for a few minutes till our table got set. 3 waiters hustled around to get the 7 of us seated, gave us menu cards and disappeared.. we already knew what we wanted but still had to wait a good 5 minutes before an order taker came by to take our order. We settled for 2 fosters, 4 coronas, (they don't serve kingfisher!) 1 fresh lime soda and a chilly cheese toast (I was starving as usual). The order taker took off. We waited another 10 minutes. He comes back after 10 minutes to tell us that coronas are not available. But there were 4 americans sitting on the table next to ours gulping away their coronas! When we pointed that out he promptly said oh, those were the last few they had. Unbelievable coming from a 24 hour coffee shop. We fathom it may have something to do with the fact that we were a joyous bunch of indians occupying a largish table without ordering any food and there were probably more white people waiting to be seated so they could be served chilled Coronas and beef steaks.
Mar 17, 2008
The Ozone Club, Rang Sabade Marg, Siddharth Nagar, Billabong/Vibgyor Lane, Goregaon (W), Mumbai
Excellent
More Kudos to White's Brunch
As if there hasn't been enough said about the excellent brunch here I am still reliving my tantalizing experience. We were contemplating where to go for lunch after a busy shopping morning in Malad. Our choices were Machaan and White. Saffrontrail's review of the White brunch last weekend made our pick very easy.
A 5 minute drive south of Inorbit mall with a left at Vibgyor school landed us at White. The hostess asked us if we were invitees (I am assuming the owners had invited some people over for brunch) We were promptly given a quiet table by the side. Almost all other tables were taken, mostly big families, a few couples. There were finger foods laid out on the bar and alongside the open kitchen. The dessert counter was strategically positioned in the center of the room so as to get you hungry even if you had just finished a 7 course meal. The made to order eggs/salad and cheese counters were outside in the garden.
There were a ton of drink options and about 6 main course options in the preset one page menu. The deal was 450+ taxes for an unlimited brunch, 450+taxes for unlimited beers or wine. Pretty fantastic!
I chose to go for Sangrias, an egg white omlette with sun dried tomatoes+mushrooms+olives, a ton of finger foods (that I don't remember the names of.. there was a turkey salad), some excellent carrot and orange soup and a tomato risotto for main course. Other orders on the table were- a yummy pineapple + lychee +ginger mocktail and a couple of Vegetable stacks, one with Asiago Cheese. All of it excellent!
For eating like pigs for two hours, the three of us paid all of Rs. 1953 (included 3 Sangrias).
The orders were brought out promptly. One of us on the table was vegan and it's usually pretty hard for us to convey this to the restaurant staff, but not this time. There were no goof ups with specific orders and no delays. Just when we were finishing up, Aditya, who owns the business came by to our table to greet us and asked us if we had enjoyed the meal. Just the final touch we needed to keep coming back to this wonderful little hidden treasure.
Only gripe - There was no coffee. Aditya said they were having problems sourcing consistent coffee beans. Hat's off for maintaining such great attention to detail. A brunch is just completely perfect if it can end with a cup of steaming espresso - so hopefully when we go back next time we'll get some excellent coffee to wash down our great italian brunch.
(We had no room left for desserts and regretted that all the way till dinner time but alas that would have also meant another 30 minutes on the treadmill )
TIP: Don't have ANY breakfast if you plan to head there for lunch - perhaps have a light dinner even the previous night if you really wanted to enjoy this brunch- there is just a ton to feast on.
Dec 06, 2007
Juhu Scheme, V.M. Road, Next to Options & Kala Niketan, Vile Parle (W), Mumbai
Average
Good Old Days
Food_God's review of Hotel Radhakrishna made me think of my first restaurants as a child. The first name that comes to mind is Woodlands Garden Cafe. Those days there wasn't much else to do around Juhu in terms of dining out besides the area around Sahakari Bhandar, where woodlands is located or the 5 Star hotels on the sea front. My mom loves South Indian food, so it became our official hub for any family celebrations. On weekends they would have huge queues outside - mostly foodie gujjus from the neighbouring juhu and vile parle areas. We had to get coupons and await our turn for almost an hour. Back then, even seeing the red token numbers rolling on the black LED screen was enthralling enough to keep my sister and me busy during the long wait. Then and even today, they have two seating areas; one's enclosed and the other's a terrace garden. We always preferred the terrace. You would get steaming idlis and crisp piping hot dosas with unlimited tasty sambhar and chutney. Their sambhar got so popular, they started selling the sambhar masala. The best part of the meal was the pan they served at the end of the meal. I would be tempted to take two from the dish that sat on an old fashioned cash counter upstairs and the madarasi uncle on the counter would always nudge me to go ahead. :)
At first glance, not much seems to have changed about Woodlands. But unfortunately, the staff is no longer friendly and the food doesn't taste half as delicious. Perhaps with several outlets across the country they don't see the need to retain a customer. How wrong they are! Hence, the Woodlands of sweet childhood memories now remains just another restaurant.