American

Description:

As a pizza lover, I have eaten pizza at almost every place in Mumbai.. (psst.. I dont rate the stuff dished out in the countless UDIPI-s in the name of 'pizza', cheese 'pijja'.. stay clear of them)

Till recently, the tragedy of eating pizzas at places like smokin joes, dominos and the other chains was that their pizzas were invariably 2 cm.s plus thick bread-y base (aaargh !).. rendering pizza eating a punishment rather than an enjoyment.

This is precisely the reason we (spouse and I) hopped on five-star restaurant to another.. in search of the perfect pizza, really really thin crust, with gourmet cheese/toppings...

Of course, we did come across some good ones price around Rs 350-500 for a standard 12-incher.. thin-thin crust ():

- Oberoi Hilton Nariman Pt
- Taj Lands End Bandra
- Hyatt Vakola
- JW Marriott Juhu

non 5-star
- Don Giovanni Juhu
- I-forgot-the-name-of-restaurant in the Pantaloons shopping complex in Lower Parel
- Penne Juhu (yes.. their pizza is indeed good !)

Recently,

- Dominos (try their thin crust pizza)- I have become their latest fan
- Garcia's (try their whole-grain healthy thin crust.. its amazing)

But pls pls AVOID the following places for PIZZA. Once bitten, forever shy !! They made me think if these guys knew anything about pizza at all !!

- Le Meridian Sahar
- Trattoria (yes..Unpleasant surprise..I was shocked beyond belief !)
- Leela Sahar
- Hyatt Sahar
- ITC Sheraton Sahar
- ITC Sheraton Parel
- Intercontinental Sahar

non 5-star

- smokin joes (god !! they do not understand the concept of thin crust.. hope they do sooner.. for their toppings are pretty good.)

- the various udipi eat-outs in mumbai (their standard 5 inch 'pizza' or 'pijja' is about piling up some grated cheese, capsicum, onions over a readymade 1-inch thick disc of maida)

If anyone has come across really good thin crust pizza-s other than the above, pls let me know. Happy navratri.

Description:

The M is an "american grill restaurant" and has an accompanying martini bar.

The entry to to restaurant is narrow and has and open martini bar right at the entrance. the restaurant itself is one level lower. Very nice open decor, big and spread out.

We asked them to recommend some starters, and the came up with a smoked salmon on rice cake, shrimp cocktail and crab cakes. The salmon was the best of the lot, but still pretty regular. Thin slice of smoked salmon were served on a non savoury/non sweet rice uttapam, and the combination wasnt offensive, but didnt appeal either.

The shrimp cocktail was terrible. The shrimp weren't fresh, the flesh was a little frayed, and chewey. there was absolutely no garnish/salt/sauce, and was as bland as bland can get. ebi tastes so much better.

Was expecting something on the line of maryland crab cakes, but that was a let down too. the crab meat was soft, but no flavours, and the breading on top was indian.. didnt have any of the tabassco/mustard/dijon tastes that you'd expect.

main course we ordered some lamb chops and chicken. The lamb chops were excellent. A bit fatty, but nicely done (medium), juicy. the accompanying sauce was nice too. The chicken had an odd orange sauce to, neither american nor indian. very ordinary. The mashed potatoes were ok, loads of butter, but not creamy and fluffy, more grainy and starchy something which i personally don't like.

For dessert we ordered some lemon cheesecake. It was good because it was made from authenic cream cheese (unlike most place which pass off mousse or whipped cream as cheesecake) but it was cold and compacted solid, so not as much fun as it should have been.

The wine list was impressive. But outrageously pricey. a lot of wines were listed but not available. We were ordered a Tarapaca Pinot, and it almost had an off taste in the bouquet. was light bodied, but was a plain jane wine that refused to get better even after an hour of breathing and swirling in a glass. The most annoying part was this attempt to classify and sell wines on the basis of their being "old world" or "new world".. i didn't get the point at all, and wonder why a 5star restaurant would resort to such irrelevant gimmicks.

overall, i'd recommend the place only for its ambience for a quite dinner or meeting. the bill for 4 came upto 10K, and don't think the dinner was worth that much at all.

Description:

If you're looking for a nice place to unwind in the evening and of course - if you have much cash to spare, Bennigan's is the place to go to.

The first time I went there, it was because I had never been to a 'Tavern' and the name fascinated me. Great ambience, very prompt service and good portions of food...

If you're there, do try their Daqueries and Martinis (the Death by Chocolate Martini was what brought me back to Bennigan's thrice) The crisp chicken wings are very tasty and so is the chicken platter - grilled to a tangy perfection... I also enjoyed the fetuccini alfredo which was quite delicately laced with a taste of garlic and mushrooms. Quite nice I tell you.

You might come out feeling a big dent in your pocket though... but if it's a once in a while affair... it's worth it!

Description:

I discovered this place by pure luck.... must saying lady luck was similing on me. The waffles with Maple Syrup are YUUUMM! So are the Omlettes.. they have a Spinach and Mushroom Omlette and Cheese and Mushroom Omlette. Amazing muffins. The Breakfast Combos are great.

They serve huge mugs of coffee with every breakfast combo... beats a CCD coffee anyday :)

They also have an unbelieveable collection of comic books. Some of them are really old editions..found a lot Tintin books that I leafed through. Great place to spend a Sunday morning.

A must visit place. They are closed on Monday though
Here's a link to the poster of this place.. the address and directions :)

http://belgiancafe.blogspot.com/2006/07/cafe-poster.html

Description:

Promising to keep up with the popular diners brand, this place serves some nice pancakes, toasts , burgers and all that makes up for an american breakfast along with some seldom found main course items.

I found the potato/veg pancakes rare and quite satisfactory to my taste buds. The food is fresh, less spicy(even the spiciest might not be spicy for indian taste) and looks exotic in presentation as well.
The drinks cover almost all cocktails,mocktails and general hard drinks but also include some innovative alcohol-coffee combinations which look very tempting to be tried.

The decor is made up to suit the 50-60's retro look, what with some red-ed setup and everything matching up to it and while you dine, rock'n'roll with Elvis :)
Official site

Description:

The best 5 star coffee shop in the city as of now. Expansive menu with multiple options across the cuisine lines.

Anyway we got this veggie Kebab platter thing which is paneer, bread, tikkaish sauce, small cups of biryani, salan and raita. Fantastic little thing this. Great taste, for the accompaniements, the paneer itself was soft, velvety, very good.

Mushroom Wrap, not very interesting, it was tasty but just no real love, it came with a tomato sauce which didnt help it much.

Lasagna, not bad actually, tasty, tangy, enough veggies but the pasta layers itself were very tasty. Nice stuff.

The drinks were terrible. The Lime soda was ok, the bloody mary served with no ice, tasted below par, the Margarita was just plain BAD. they dont know how to make drinks over at ITC.

Service itself was slow, menus took a while, drinks too longer, the chaps were polite and nodded, but didnt understand much it seems.

So it is a great place for food but drinks are terrible as is the service as is the location.

Our meal cost us around 2900 (2 cocktails, one soft drink, 3 entrees)

Description:

Crepe Station is a nice breakfast place and they serve a wide variety from Pancakes (absolutely avoid at all costs) to multiple egg breakfasts from English to Spanish. Although breakfast is only served until 11am and includes, toast, potato/mushrooms and watermelon juice.

They also serve a lunch menu which includes, bruschetta, pastas (Penne Arrabiatta is not bad) The portion is quite large and comes with a side of garlic bread.

They also have nice sandwiches with different choices served with cole slaw and french fries.

The beverages are limited and lot of times they are out of something or the other that you are ordering.

I would reckon a meal for two to be between 300-500

Description:

Pop Tate's is an American style restaurant in R-Mall. They serves Pizzas, Pastas, some mexican food, burgers, cocktails, beer. All in all a nice place with a lot of choice. The place is surprisingly big despite appearances. They have about 20 tables, slightly close together, but no matter. The place is apt for a bite or drink before the multiplex movie or in between shopping.

The starters and pastas are really good. The pasta is slightly too soft and not crunchy enough, but their sauces and gravies make up. Maybe not gourmet stuff, but value for money - large portion of a good non-veg pasta and garlic bread for 125/-. Cocktails are good. Indicative price is 110 for a Long Island Ice Tea. There is decent college classics or new pop like music blaring away and 3 TVs play music or sports. The ventilation is slightly non-smoker repelling. The service is decent. There is a large yuppie college going crowd in gangs sipping away draught beer which, incidentally, is flat and sad to be avoided even if it is given to you for free.

Description:

The Grill is a decent enough sizzler joint in Thane and Mulund. The Mulund branch plays excellent music which would put some of the rock pubs to shame. Hopefully our evening wasn't a one off on the music front. The sizzlers themselves are decent and priced at about 200. These guys only serve chicken and mutton sizzlers. The ambience and decor is good, but they have made a phenomenal blunder in ventilation. The place is sealed shut in a sizzler joint which leads to a lot of smoke sometimes.

Good food apart - we are pissed off at the shady business policy these guys seem to have. They take cash only, no cards. That in itself is ok. The bill looks very shady and is hand written, not printed on a computer. The menu says, 'prices exclusive of all taxes', and no taxes are added in the bill. All these things combined, the impression we were left with was that the owner pockets all the money and probably doesn't pay his taxes to the government. Decent food apart - we are probably not going there again.

Description: Yep, the same Ruby Tuesday. I can't really confirm, but the outlet here—at InOrbit mall—is probably the first one to open in India (and surely the first in Mumbai). Two of us (my brother and I) went there after watching a movie in the mall. The ambience is decent—they could do with some tinted glass, though: it's kinda irritating to be able to see the mall from inside. The lighting is just perfect. The interiors are good—very artificial, but good. They've got skate boards, old photographs, jerseys, etc. put up so randomly that it's perfect. I mean it's not like Peco's, or Toto's. But good still. There's a separate (kinda) section for smokers. I wouldn't go here just to have a few drinks. The food is really good. Cocktails are good too. (Didn't have any this time; the last time a bunch of us were here, we had only cocktails.) The place is kinda expensive, though. Our bill came to 1082 bucks—two bottles of Kingfisher, a Long Island Iced Tea, chicken wings (really good), and a chocolate short cake. A pitcher costs 350 bucks—same as Geoffrey's. By the way, they have some membership thing where you pay 3500 bucks anually—you get a 20% discount every time you go alone, a 50% discount when you're with a guest; that percentage progressively decreases as the number of guests increase. Oh, and when you sign up, you get a bottle of house wine, and a few vouchers worth a few five hundred bucks. Ruby Tuesday will be opening an outlet in Bangalore some time in October.