Pizza by the bay

So, J and I wanted to have the traditional Bombay dinner at Pizzeria sitting by tables overlooking Marine Drive. Our timing though was horrible. This section is now shut for renovation. We decided to go ahead and sit inside what was formerly Jazz by the Bay, but has now been renamed (repositioned?) as Pizza by the Bay.

I haven't been there before, so I can't write a before after piece. The interiors were white and blue and the place had a distinct corporate air. Such places tend to scare me, but with the thought of pizzas we moved on. We found a table for two.

A not here about the tables which seat two, they are rectangular and not square one would be used to and the length is longer than the breadth. So J and I had to sit at the far ends. After a few minutes he got up and moved closer to me (we were sitting on adjacent sides now). The staff promptly moved his plate and cutlery. (+1 to the service)

The menu according to BPB (Brown Paper Bag, no? Go to their website now!) hasn't changed much. I was ultra excited to see the Pizza Pot Pie section. Fellow TLC viewers would have seen the segment in Best Food Ever where they cover a Chicago joint which offers the best Pot Pies. Having seen the episode often, I have dreamt of having the pie.

But before I get to the mains I'll get to the starters. In true J and S fashion, we ordered Garlicky Potatoes (so I forgot what it was called but it is the usual spicy garlic potatoes.)

The serving was more than this, ok? We ate some before J reminded me about pictures. So they were chunky wedges which actually had grated garlic in the batter. It was yum and garlicky but I had to add a little salt on mine. The mayo alongside was nice according to J. The tomatoes with herbed perfectly and weren't limp. 

We next had the rissoto with parmesan, eggplant and zucchini. It was one of the first rissotos I had had which wasn't overtly drowning in sauce. The parmesan flavour was strong. I loved it. The zucchini and eggplant well done. It was so yum. Sigh!

Now the Pizza Pot Pie. It was served in the same manner as TLC (yay!). Excitement mounted. As we tried to cut a chunk we found a watery mess running out. We soldiered on. But well.. it was quite disappointing. It was called Great Balls of Fire.It wasn't spicy and the balls (chicken meatballs) weren't properly cooked. I think the watery mess was due to baking it with the tomatoes. I wonder why they had to add them if they already had tomato pesto in it. Anyhow it was a big disappointment. 

The food overall was great. The service better. I hope all the pot pies aren't like the one I had. 

Buttercupp Bakery

Ahmedabad is a nice city. Great infrastructure, nice places to eat, shop but it has one deficiency (apart from the lack of alcohol), this place doesn't have a nice cupcake place.

Forget a dedicated cupcake shop, not even one bakery that did cupcakes. Coming from Bombay with the convenience of Theobroma, Candies, 210's and Butterfly; this Gujju land was devoid of any cupcake happiness.

Till about two weeks ago.

Buttercupp: A Cupcake Shoppe was started by Amar and his wife. They flew down from the US to start this place. Not professional bakers, them, the wife (sorry, I didn't get her name) has done a baking course here and there but is an engineer by profession.

So, we (J and I) entered this place at 5 pm, and saw this:

Empty shelves, but you can see the Banana cupcake, can't you? Say hi!

empty shelves. 

Panicked we ordered 1 each of everything we saw; red velvet, oreo and banana bread. On enquiry we found that lemon cupcakes were on their way out and there was one last double chocolate dip. We ordered those as well. 

Lemony Love

So here goes,

Red velvet: the cake tastes nice. Though it could have been a nit more moist for me. The icing was nice, but it could have tasted more of cream cheese. 

Oreo: No one can ever go wrong with oreo. 

Banana Bread: Aah! These stole the show. Gorgeously moist, with the slight banana flavoured icing and the caramelised banana on top. *Sigh!* We had two of these. (It is nice how much J indulges me when it comes to food). 

Double Chocolate Dip: Oh so moist! our teeth go right through. With a light chocolate butter cream frosting, this on was chocolate heaven. 

Lemon: J and I love lemon. And it is so easy to go wrong with it. But this one was perfect. Not overtly sweet or lemony. 

The empty wrappers. Phone calls went unattended as we sat in silence for a minute savouring the  last crumbs. 

We ate six cupcakes while we were there. Took ten back to campus. Apparently, if you eat as much as we do, they throw in a lemon cupcake and also give u a discount.

So dear Ahmedawadis. Go there. Please! Go early. Call before you go, Amar will save some for you.

The cupcakes here vanish before you can say, "Wow!". Around 20 people would have walked in the 30 minutes we were there. They were met with empty shelves, but wait, no one goes back empty handed (or stomached). They make sure you get to have something or the other.

Here they are on Facebook show them some love. 

List of places to eat in Bombay: Part I

A couple of days ago I started to work on my list of places to eat in Mumbai before I leave for Ahmedabad. Though what I had in mind for the day didn't work out, I went to a couple of places on my friend's lists. 

The first one was Vini's favourite frankie guy. Aga Brother's at Colaba. You know a joint is right for you when you see this sign in their shop. It definitely goes in line with my philosophy of : Eat Hard, Workout Harder. 

It is a nice cozy Parsi joint which serves chaat and other usuals. 

 Do not be fooled by the Tibbs ka stall outside, because this frankie is definitely fatter than the Tibbs ones, which look like they have been dieting. The veg one was nice and tangy with the right amount of masala in it.

We next went over New Kulfi Centre at Chowpatty at bhavna's insistence. Apparently you have not had Kulfi if you haven't had it there.

i managed to get Bhavna and Naqqiya in the frame. 

The have a long menu which had me thoroughly excited. Long menus are bittersweet in my opinion. You have a long list which excites you and then you have to choose one dish and then left to wonder what the others would be like.

We all chose 4 different kulfis, so we got a decent idea as to what was on offer.

Clockwise from top left: mango Kulfi, malai Kulfi, Lychee Kulfi and the NCC special or the dry fruit Kulfi. 

The mango one was nice, but typical mango kulfi like, tasted of alphoso mangoes. Nothing out of the ordinary, but it was in season and there can never be too much of mango.

The Malai one was nice and creamy. the dry fruit was the malai kulfi with well dry fruit in it. the anjeer parts tasted excellent, so the next time you go there do have the anjeer one.

The show stealer was the Lychee Kulfi. Many desserts with lychee in them tend to taste artificially sweet. But this beauty used real and fresh lychees. There were pieces of the actualy fruit in it and it did not overpower your senses. It was subtle and brilliant.

So on the list:
Frankie at Aga Brothers
Lychee Kulfi at Kulfi Centre.

Candies, Pali Hill. A Review

Everyone who is a student in Bombay, knows about Candies or has been there. We (myself and my group of friends) went there yesterday to celebrate a friend's 21st.

The first thing that strikes you about the place is the ambiance. It is apt for people who want sit outside, in the Bombay sun and not feel hot, there are shades and trees you see. You have to climb a many short stairs to get to the various levels. It has a an old Bombay Villa feel. There are Beatles tile mosaics, brightly coloured doors, quirky lanters and secluded seating areas.

Cozy location and quirky wall fixtures

There are also these hidden tables for two, which are ideal for dates. I know I want to go there.

Table for two

Now about the Food. I had the Salad Bar (Rs.120) which is a selection of salads and you can load as much onto one plate.

They give you only one serving, so make the most of it

The salad bar has the usual macaroni, potato, corn, green salads. There was also the waldorf salad. What they could have done was provide more salad dressings and also stand alone salad vegetables. 

The pre-cooked mini meals at Candies are a complete disaster. They pre-cook them, so I guess you get the picture. They cost Rs.150 each and come with a serving of salad and tiny pieces of Garlic Bread. We had the Spinach and Mushroom Canneloni, Macaroni and Veg Bake and American Chopsuey. The first two Italian meals were terrible. Made with white sauce that had kind of split and re-heating it just pisses you off. 

I reccomend the salad bar and the sandwiches, which they have to freshly prepare. 

We had a few coolers there. 

Clockwise from top left: greengrass cooler, Pink lemonade and Bombay Blue

They were priced at Rs.50 each. the Pink Lemonade was too sweet with strawberry jelly in it. The Bombay Blue and Greengrass cooler were nice and refreshing.

The desserts! 

They have an extensive menu. And they are very cheap and taste amazing. 

Top to bottom: the array of small choclates and tarts. The Red Velvet cupcake. The chocolate eclair with custard.

We had the Red Velvet cupcakes (small for Rs.20 and the medium one for Rs.30), the Chocolate Eclair with custard (Rs.40) and the mini tarts (Rs.6 each). The cupcakes are divine. The Eclair was nice as well. Though i though the custard could have been better. The jam tartlets are tiny and so cute! They were so small that I felt bad asking my friend for a bite, as they are smaller than a bite.

The red velvet bouquet

Now the best thing about the dessert display were the cupcake bouquets. Anyone who wants to woo me ditch the flower bouquets, get me one of these.

So if you love to hang out and have ample time, not an ample budget, this is the place for you. Also it is so pretty that if you are a sucker to facebook, then you can take millions of pictures here.

So the final Ratings:

Ambience: 5/5

Variety: 3/5

Taste: 2/5 (we only had the mini meals)

Dessert: 4/5

Value for money: 4/5

This blogger is not paid to review and reviews anonymously.

"life needs frosting" - Cinnabon

I love Cinnamon. I love the texture of the bark, the colour, the smell and spicy after-taste, in short everything.

I secretly wish my future boyfriend smells of cinnamon, because the last time I baked a Cinnamon cake, I didn't wash my hands well because I loved the lingering smell of Cinnamon. So one can only imagine what will happen if I come across someone who actually does smell of cinnamon.

So now that everyone knows how loco I am about Cinnamon, I just lost it when I saw Cinnabon on the way to our PUKAR meeting. On our way back I made the autowallah stop while I went in and bought my very first Cinnamon roll from the very famous Cinnabon. 


I have had Cinnamon buns before. But at Theos (Theobroma) there wasn't any frosting (I know!) and I had heard so much about Cinnabon. So, I was very excited when she went all happy on the frosting.

Source: internet. For representational purposes only.

I wasn't let down at all. It wasn't overtly sweet. It was very spicy at times. So yes, it was perfect!

Now all I need is that cinnamon perfume I have been looking for and a guy who smells of Cinnamon.

So what spice or smell of food turns you on the most?