Showing posts with label Restaurant. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Restaurant. Show all posts

Wednesday, September 16, 2009

Great restaurant for Fish eaters.

When I classify fisheaters I put them into 2 types, 1 fisheaters – those who genuinely enjoy fish and some others who are comfortable with ‘seafood’ in fancy restaurants. For some time now in Pune the lack of the first type of restaurants has meant that I had to frequent the second type more often.
The only one I had visited was in Deccan and near the bus depot and I don’t remember the name – maybe because the experience was not the best. Others like Mahesh lunch home probably started as a fish eatery but then is a wannabe fancy seafood joint.
So recently when someone mentioned a fish restaurant in the city, I was not too hopeful – as I could not imagine what was a good fish restaurant doing in Shaniwar Peth / Narayan Peth. But then I decided to travel the long distance just to take a chance – so bored I was with the other type of seafood.
This is a hardcore eaters place – clean but no fancy decoration, just a line of tables and benches – in the classic udupi fashion in Mumbai.
The Menu has many parts – but we focused on the fish part and gave the chicken and veg part a complete miss. You can go for A la carte or then a fish thali + a la carte. Our family had parts opting for both options and you can also go either way and try the other next time around.
The food is good and more importantly authentic goan / maharashtrian kokan / karwari and should satisfy a good fish eater.
Great items to try – Bangda Karnataka and Pomphret Pedavan. Tandoori crab was good – but then you will have patience and strength to break the shell with your hands and teeth.
The owner is helpful with suggestions and you can listen to all of them – but follow your heart (or should I say toungue). It is next to Kanyashala in Narayan Peth / Shaniwarpeth.

Monday, February 16, 2009

Barbeque Nation - Good food but ...

This Feb 14 we had planned for a family outing at Barbeque Nation on Nagar road. A slight delay in booking and a 50% booking only policy meant that we were left to try our luck. But then our early lunch habits meant that we more or less assured of a seat or so we thought.
Unfortunaltely the gods had conspired and the route we took had load of traffic jam and we reached the place only at 8:00 pm. Our heart sank, when we saw the long line of cars outside the restaurant. But we were somewhere on the waiting list and were asked to wait for 15 minutes for some new on dinning tonight.
We sat there and waited only to hear people coming after us discouraged to wait and told how people were waiting from 6 pm for a seat !!!
Well luckily for us, a family decided to have their dinner elsewhere and we got a seat within 10 minutes of arriving at the restaurant. Now for the actual review.

Ambience - I would rate it good, seating area is large with large free areas, looks modern and has a certain signature (probably common across the chain) look. There was live music and though we were near the singer, the music did not seem too loud.

Food - For me the most important past. "Apparently it is a concept - which if I describe in plain English - 10 Starters and a Buffet comprsing of Soup, Main course and dessert.

Starters - as the best part, it is a mixture of Veg and Non veg and within Non Veg - chicken, Fish and Mutton. The spread is good, but then there is a weak point - I would have preferred a smaller choice but maybe outstanding taste (instead of the good taste on an average that I got). I liked the Prawns, Sheekh Kabab and Mushroom the best. Potato and Paneer were below average.

The soup was OK and the main spread disappointing and seems like a afterthought.

The desserts are great - both the spread and the quality.

Pricing - for dinners it costs rs 450 per person. The drinks though are costlier than what they would cost you in the Taj.

Service - It seems to be good as long as the starter routine lasts. However the moment you want a selected dish like say in our case the fish, it can take for ever. They took very good care of our little one's peculiar eating habits - I would rate the service good for that alone.

In short I felt the place was good - but then pity the ones who were waiting from 6 pm. One look at that place and the slowdown seemed like an illusion.