Pune

Hi Foodies,
I thought this should be my first post.
http://picasaweb.google.com/jagansayshi/Food/photo#5237327791276963106

Cheers,
Jagan

Ever been in a situation where you were hungry and needed good food from your favorite joint, but yet were not interested in or in a position to make the trip to the restaurant? Didn't know if they delivered home, or if they did, who to call? Or just wanted to try out a bunch of different restaurants but didn't want to take on the increasingly annoying Hyderabad traffic? Well, I've been in all of these situations, and on multiple occasions and wished there was an easy way to order my food and get it home-delivered. Not always was it easy to remember the number of every restaurant, and even if I did, some of my favorites such as Chutneys and Ohris don't really deliver at home. They gave me the option of ordering on the phone but I'd then have to go pick up. i confess to having used this take-out option more than a few times, but surely, life isn't supposed to be this hard. More recently, I discovered this online option of ordering thru Ordermonger.com and it certainly solved a lot of my problems. They list over 50 restaurants in Hyderabad and you can browse their menus online and place the order. I like the general look-and-feel of their site and the menus etc but they certainly need to work harder at making the site more intuitive and easier to use. For one, I'd like to be able to more easily customize my order, right now that seems a challenge. They also only seem to operate in certain areas of Hyderabad, think they need to reach out to Secunderabad, Himayat Nagar and the like. And lastly, they also tag on a delivery charge - i guess this is not such a bad thing because their charge seems reasonable and it would cost me more to go there myself. Overall, a pretty decent option. Call me lazy, but i love the luxury.

Very nice place to visit. Also has valet parking, you will generally need it on weekends when long queues are inevitable too.

All the veggies are nice. I was also recommended non-veg dishes by friends. The Dal Sigree is awesome. Combine that with one of the biryanees and you are setup for a sumptious dinner. There is a particular starter made of Bhindee (Lady's Fingers) that is so good that it makes you wonder whether you are really eating Bhindee ! Good desserts too.

On weekdays, there is the sit-down buffet available for lunch, for about Rs. 300.

Overall, its a bit pricey but worth it. Don't go there if you are looking for a 'light meal'. Enjoy !

We went to Abhiruchi Village Cottage Restaurants (look up their site www.abhiruchivillage.com) for a saturday night's stay.

Pro-s
======
Tracts of greenery.

Well constructed swimming pool. (read on)

The air smells green. Relax in hammocks.

The AC Room was freezing without the AC on (perhaps due to the Pune January season).

Cons
=====

The story begins.. brace yourself..

VERY VERY VERY VERY POOR maintenance.

If you want to see a first class swimming pool (well tiled) with carpets of moss and scummy water, then this is the one.

CAVALIER attitude towards customer service; ranging from the farm gate sentry to the room boy. Everybody from the office, watchmen and room-boys address you in singular ('Tu') while you address them with respect ('aap')... cantankerous ! Talk about customer orientation.

One is reminded of Gandhiji on the 'customer' - the most important person on our premises.... Abhiruchi does everything opposite to that. This requires special talent.

Food is a simple non-pompous veg fare. But INR 150 (USD 3.75) per head for what they dish out is DAYLIGHT ROBBERY.

Enquire about their horse ride, camel ride etc. 'First pay and then talk' seems to be their credo.

TV sets are available for as low as INR 2000 (USD 50). They have one grainy TV common for all guests. It doesnt receive ANY signal. So no way of knowing a quick update of whats
happening in the world. "Cable waale ke paas light nahin hai" comes the careless reply. A scrutiny reveals the presence of a dish antenna !

The filthiest bathroom/toilets you would have ever seen, replete with the latest and unseen species of mosquitoes and flying pests. Let me reserve my vocabulary.

They take pride that they have NEVER washed the bed covers or the pillow covers since inception. They forewarn you to bring your own towels, napkins and bedsheets. So you really can't fault them on this.

The website boasts of facilities not to be found at all. Try to procure a bucket of hot water for a shower. The roomboy conversation goes like this..
===============================================
With a grumpy irritated and disgruntled tone
"Why do u need hot water ?" (tula kaa paahije)

At my wits end
"Excuse me !?" (Maaf keejiye.. kya kahaa aapne)

With an expression as if he has been compelled to perform a rectal examination on a person with piles trouble
"To take bath or to drink ?"

"to take a bath"
On first thought - "to perform your coronation as the King of England at the Westminster Abbey" came to my mind; but I had to resist it.

"Wait till 7 in the morning" like a HC judge pronouncing a verdict..

Projecting an expression of urgency on my face "Sire.. I badly need a bucket of hot water pls.. I bathe atleast twice a day"

I thrust a tenner into his hands.

"You will get one bucket. wait for half an hour"

"Sire.. pls show mercy.. one bucket is too little"..
I thrust another tenner.

"Ok wait for half an hour.."

This was the ordeal for all the essentials.

===================================================

A stay at Abhiruchi is a humbling experience. You are humbled by the greenery and the staff who treat you like turd regardless whether you are a President or a peasant.

Are the owners (The Bhide-s.. I understand) even aware of the mess that is going on?

I shared these with a good Maharashtrian friend of mine, who guffawed "it happens all the time.. But you have to see / feel it to experience it".. My jolly good friend has strange ways of exacting revenges for past unpunished deeds.. Recommend Abhiruchi !!!

To end, Oscar Wilde had to say this about America -

America had often been discovered before Columbus, but it had always been hushed up.

Do we see a similarity?

place is bang opposite Gold adlabs on firstfloor where u climb using an electric escalatar..

have a very small tv hanging at the entrance.. for the kiddies,,etc.

food smells good. have wok where u can meet the cook [looks chinese or north eastern]n decide ur mix of munchies in your plate.

starters we tried italian chilli toast..garlic bread with coat of cheez [quite old n stale ] with some chilli green flakes.. my daughters didn't taste them due to their smell which was a put off
next was italian salad,,,good one with macaroni n sliced veggies n lots of mayonnaise or thousand island salad dressings quite sweet but well with black olives n brocooli it'll taste good.

we are Pure Vegs ordered siz with mushroom n noodles,,was too good served with a veg pattice on top u get a choice of 3~4 sauces. next one was aDAMP SQUIB..
some thing called veg ball sizzlers... contained cabbage base pakodas with some Yuck chinese sauces..which destroyed our bellies.

later we ordered something called hot nut fudge sundae which turned out to be 3 scoops of icecrems with hot sauce of chocs put on it...really disappointing with old icecreammm and we had discussion at the cash counter..about the fudge and hot what we expected.

another request which i do they are quite costly on parking alos 20bucks for a car and 10 for a bike.
the restaurant fellows should discount that amount it will be welcome..

bye for now..
more as i visit more rests..for u n me n my family.

There is no menu card, just the brightly shining thalis with vaatis lined up. And they start as soon as you are seated, clock work precision.
Here is what we got in our thalis, not in any particular they were served :

Sweet Gujrati Kadhi,
Typical Toor dal
Dahi Aloo
Chawli (Rajma/Lobia - similar to kidney beans)
Koshimbir(sweet mixed raita - tomatoes, onions, beetroot etc)
Pitle Bhaji - a spicy dish made of gram flour ,
Baigan Bharta
Chilli Pakora and some Dal vadis
Curd
2 types of chapatties - wheat and bhakri
2 types of rice - plain and pulao
Papad
2 pickles and 2 chutnies

I am sure the main dishes will vary with the day, but more or less, basic items would remain the same.

Decided to bite into chilli pakora and dal vadis first. soft and spicy pakora and crunchy vadis. ok, time to take the plunge. Bhakri with chawli and kadhi. delecious combination of sweet and spicy. Tried Pitale Bhaji next, i have never tasted this before. Spicy. Baigan bharta, spicy. Ok, time out. give it a rest. Try toor dal, pretty ok, Dahi Aloo, ok. chutnies, tangy and spicy. koshimbir- sweet.Alright, time to restart..yes..spicy..but the amazing thing is, I cannot stop myself. It doesn't seem if we are eating at a restaurant. No added colour, no artificial presentation. Just plain simple delecious food. I almost half filled up just while sampling the different combination of served dishes. The kadhi gets over faster than anyother item, since i have to take a spoonful after every bite.

The servers materialize again, for the next round. Take some more bhakris and kadhi, which are way too good to describe. Then, the rice and pulao appear.Pualo and rice, served with spoonful of ghee ( Of course, you can refuse the ghee..!!), are good to taste, but thats about all I can do. Taste, not eat. Stuffed till the throat. Rising up and leaving the table would require help. Lossen the belt a notch or two.

I do not have a typical experience of home cooked maharashtrian food. But, I am sure, it would not be any different than this one. For a simple reason - the simplicity of the food itself which lends it the authenticity. My maharashtrians friends vouch for the same. I would go by their words as well.

The service is fast, ambience well lit, neat, clean and hygeinic. So, for a typical home cooked maharashtrian experience, different than the regular punjabi paneer/mix veg/kofta/kabab/tandoori roti routine, try Shabree. You won't come back disappointed, and definetly not hungry. Better still, skip the breakfast/lunch, if you planning to go for lunch/dinner. You will do more justice to the Thali !!.

Wallet dent : Costs you Rs 100 per Thali. May be less for the non-A/c dining.

Rohit
http://thepunefoodie.blogspot.com/

The sheer variety of parathas or better still, the combinations are huge. But nothing outlandish.
Single filling for abt Rs 81 and Double filling abt 92. they also have a basket of mini parathas 4", 4 in number for Rs. 200-270. You can also have your own combination with upto 4 filings.(Rs. 104) and also Low Cal Tandoor paratha. But then, why will anyone go for an oil-free paratha ?

As, for starters, they have the regular chaat stuff and tandoor . So, we ordered a mini platter (Rs. 162) which had 2 pieces of 4 types, i.e. 8 in all.It was pretty ok, Paneer, Gobi, Potato. Also, some Mocktails. (Rs. 99 each). Now, the one I ordered, Honey Bunch was, simply unpalatable. Too sweet. It was suppose to be with vanilla icecream, which i could never see or taste.
I was kind of surprised at the size of the parathas. They were smaller than the ones I had at similar joints. The parathas are served with dal, chana masala, raita, onions and achaar. We had ordered 3 parathas of mix combinations and managed to sample all 3. But, as I found out, nothing exquisite about them. The chana was too salty, the stuffings were less than filling. The parathas in themselves would have been insufficient if we had not had the tandoor platter earlier and the mocktails.

The ambience is nice, spacious and well lit. The service decent. Surprisingly, no finger bowls. Now, you are eating parathas, not pizzas. Got to use fingers, else it wont taste the same. So finger bowls should have been there.

Meal for 3 would cost in range of 600-800, including taxes.

Finally, as I said earlier, the size of the parathas was dis-appointing and so was the filling, (tastewise and quantitywise). So, what else is there in a paratha ? The tandoor platter, i believe, was highly priced and mocktails unpleasant.

In all, a below par experience.

Now, I am comparing this with one I had at Real Parathas, Nr. Vasant Vihar, Thane(W). That is what I would call a real north indian paratha experience. There would be very few people daring to beyond 1 paratha, and yet the taste so enchanting that it would tempt them to do so. Thats what keeps people bring them back there.

Rohit
http://thepunefoodie.blogspot.com/

This is the least seedy bar I have found in Hadapsar. It has 2 floors with an air-conditioned room on the ground floor. TV exists.

Food is strictly mediocre. Most of the times they won't serve kababs and you have to make do with the Chicken chilly starter. But, the mutton thali is the saving grace. It has a "wati" of mutton broth, mutton kheema in addition to a very maharashtrian "liquid" mutton gravy - with chapatis and rice. Its a very satisfying dinner to have after a couple of beers.

Since, I am very sceptical at ordering Chinese at new places, but was also bored eating the same Schezwan-Manchurian, decided to try something new.
The menu certainly did offer a lot of varities and option, Starters, Soups, Veg, Chicken, Lamb. ( I even saw Squid mentioned somewhere !) Many varities of Rice and Noodles. And not the regular Schezwan-Manchurian-Singapore-HongKong types. Did not feel like experiementing too much so ordered Orange Chicken with Broccoli (Rs. 150) and Thai Chicken Friend Rice(Rs. 120)and a couple of cold drinks.

The food arrived pretty much in time. The Orange chicken was plateful of glazed chicken pieces in orange sauce, and thankfully, more chicken than brocolli. It was a different dish than usual and I liked it. As expected, it was sweet and tangy to taste and you could see orange pulp in the gravy. Thai Fried Rice, on the other hand, was a bit disappointing. It was more like Fried Rice I have tasted everywhere, but less spicy. But, went well with Orange Chicken, once you added a bit of Schezwan Sauce and Chilli Vinegar.

In all, it was good experience, though I found some shredded lime peel in the chicken dish,which added to the aroma but tasted bitter. Hope, it was a part of the dish, but I dont know if we were suppose to eat it.!!

In all, a filling experience. The above was sufficient for 2 people. Next time, which I would visit definetly, I would like to try Nasi Goreng. The service was prompt. Of course, nothing would beat Mainland China, its way too ahead, but Imperial China, this is a reasonably good option, at a reasonable price, at a reasonable location, if you want to try something different than you usual chinese stuff.

Rohit
http://thepunefoodie.blogspot.com/

Parihar Chowk has bars on two of its corners. Chandrama is one of them. It has seating outside - which I think is better if the weather is fine; and an AC section upstairs. The AC section has good subdued lighting - but the effect is somewhat spoiled by the noisy waiters.
The joint is a bit expensive though - Rs. 100 for a beer (KF).

Make no mistake though - this is a seedy bar. (A dog loitered into the AC section and calmly went to sleep under the sofa where I was sitting. When I told this to a waiter, he said "Kuch nahi karega - kaanta nahi hai bilkul". Apparently, the dog is a regular.)