The Eatery - Four Points by Sheraton

The Eatery - Four Points by Sheraton - Review

Viman Nagar 

Our spontaneous dinner plan led us here – the menu looked promising. It’s on the ground floor of Four Points by Sheraton, Nagar Road, tucked away into a corner. Afghani fish tikka, grilled chicken, paneer schezwan and  masala aloo were the starters which they served on the table. The tikka was simply delicious; cooked to perfection with impeccable flavor. The chicken we found to be pretty dry and dull, paneer was fine and I didn’t even taste the aloo. I had the pumpkin and chicken soup, which was pleasant and wholesome. The basil-tomato soup did not attraction my attention and neither did the huge array of what could have been freshly baked breads. A major disappointment was that there was no cheese platter, which I look forward to at such buffet places. However, there was a lot of variety in salads – egg salad, paneer with mustard sauce and capsicum were the ones I liked the most.

There were live stations for pasta and Kolkata roll. We ordered white sauce pasta, it was decent. I did not fancy kolkata rolls, I feel they could have been much, much better. Main course had chicken chettinad, Mediterranean polenta, fish prepared in a way I do not remember (but was nice!), vegetable gumbo (complete with okra), paneer, lauki with moong dal, yellow dal, jeera rice, Singapore noodles, etc. We ordered butter laccha parathas to go with the Indian curries. Paneer was good but the chettinad turned out to be the best of the Indian preparations. I have never really liked polenta, but this time I enjoyed it.

We quickly moved on to the desserts which was their most elaborate section. There were 10 or more desserts and we had the honor of cutting the black forest cake. Moong dal halwa was way too rich and cardomomy for my liking. Brioche bread pudding was brilliant – both in presentation and flavor. Apart from these hot desserts, the cold desserts had something distinctive - a Spanish coconut dessert which I loved.  Dutch pastry with papaya, red velvet cake, dark chocolate brownie, kiwi mousse were the continental desserts. When I was helping myself to a second serving of some of my favourites here – particularly the red velvet cake -  the manager noticed and remarked how I am enjoying the desserts more! I would have liked to enjoy main course as much too if only there would have been better options. 

Service was dutiful.  For this price, I wouldn’t go there again.  

(Dinner buffet per person: 900+ taxes)

Sigree Global Grill - Review

Sigree Global Grill - Amanora, Hadapsar - Review

Having been regulars at the DP road branch, we are always welcomed here with warm smiles. We went here after a long time and found some minor changes but the service was just as good as it used to be. 

A small glass of complimentary mocktail is served upon seating (this time it was coca cola but we have had orange, jaljeera flavoured ones as well), after which a bread platter is served to your table with 4 different types of dips –usually salsa, hummus, flavoured butter and something else I cannot recall. There are 5 veg and 5 non-veg appetizers, the veg ones usually being herbed pudina aloo, tangy pineapple, veg tikki, succulent paneer in either red or green marinade, roasted cauliflower/broccoli on skewers which are served afresh to your personal barbeque box in the centre of the table where they get the smoky flavor. Non-veg ones include varieties of chicken, fish, mutton and prawns. I have always enjoyed the veg ones more but that’s just me – although amritsari fish and fish cakes were something that I liked the last time. Three different types of chutneys and dressings are served in addition to the earlier mentioned dips to go along with these starters. They also serve the pizza of the day which is surprisingly good, but this time we found it to be a bit chewy. The taste, however, was good enough.

I remember they used to serve a freshly tossed salad at the beginning of your meal before offering the starters which they have done away with as of now. This salad was added to the buffet section instead along with the other usuals – pasta salad, chana/corn salad, beetroot salad, etc. but the freshness of the lettuce leaves was not maintained. There were atleast 6-7 varieties here along with a veg. soup but I did not try them all. In the main courses, veg. section had a much larger variety – with North Indian, Thai and Continental cuisine. Thai green curry was quite runny – more than what I had expected and more than what I’ve had here earlier. I’ve been an advocate of “dal sigree”, their signature dish before they ventured out into Global Grill outlets – although this time even that was not as rich as it used to be! But it still remains my favorite preparation over here and I could easily finish a bowl within no time. Spinach rolls with cheese were quite nice. There were 4 or 5 different types of vegetables of which I had paneer lababdar and methi matar malai of which the former was good. In the non veg section, I saw crabs for the first time. Methi murg was delightful, but neither of us tasted the murg dum biriyani which looked promising. There’s a live pasta station or add-on risotto station for dinner, and you can choose your own sauce from mamarosa, aglio olio, pesto, tomato pesto, alfredo, arrabbiata along with your choice of vegetables and pasta. I’d recommend mamarosa and pesto if you like these sauces. This time I’d ordered pesto with fusilli after we were done with our main course from the buffet section but it was a rush hour so we couldn’t wait any longer and proceeded to desserts instead. They conveniently forgot our order and we were kind of glad for that!

When we were about to have desserts, the section was crowded but the re-fills arrived frequently. Malpua with rabri, pineapple halwa, rice payasam were some of the Indian desserts. Rice payasam was nice, I could see that it was a hit with the people.  Small portions of red velvet cheesecake looked better than they tasted. Kiwi mousse, blueberry mousse, banana almond cake were all pretty good but the chocolate cake was disappointing – it did not seem fresh. The children’s favourite part here was the ice-cream section – with creamy butterscotch, chocolate, vanilla and strawberry flavours and a variety of toppings like chocolate chips, desiccated coconut, chocolate sauce, etc. Cut fruits like watermelon and papaya occupied a corner.

Service, apart from the insignificant pasta goof-up, was just right.

Carrots N Celery - Review

 

 

 

 

 

 

 Carrots N Celery,

Sun n Sand, Pune

One of my friends always used to suggest how he used to frequent this place when he was a kid and had fond memories associated with it. Back then, there were only a handful of star hotels in Pune and this hotel was a major landmark. Because of his stories, we made an impromptu plan for dinner one day. A complimentary drink was served to us upon arrival.

They had two soups – 1 veg and 1 non-veg, of which I tried the murg dhaniya shorba. They served us a basket of bread rolls to go along with the soup. There were 3 starters, 2 veg and 1 non-veg, which were served to us on the table. The chicken hariyali kebab was really good but they took a long time to serve it the second time. The salad section was amazing – there were atleast 7-8 different types of preparations. The egg salad, aloo chaat, pasta salad and the grilled prawns were good. There was also a section with snacks like fried mushroom stuffed with cheddar, crispy fried vegetables, etc but I really liked the mushrooms – I think that was the only preparation for which I helped myself to a second serving.

About 12-14 preparations for vegetarian main courses and 3-4 non-veg main courses represented  Continental, Chinese and Indian cuisines so there was something for everyone. We ordered herbed naan to go along with the paneer makhanwala, corn palak and enjoyed veg au gratin later. Butter chicken was nice and so was the biriyani. I'm not a fan of hakka noodles, but I tasted it and it was good too.

The best part about the buffet was the dessert counter – there were 2 Indian sweets, 7 or 8 bakery products with 1 eggless preparation and three choices of ice-cream. The moong dal halwa was the highlight from the Indian section as I found the gulab jamun to be too sweet for my taste. We had fun cutting the fresh pineapple cake as we were the first ones to have it. I noticed that the portions of the desserts were quite good, much better than what they serve at regular buffets these days. The red velvet cheesecake was fine; it had more of a mousse-like texture. Blueberry pie was good and so was the caramel custard. We were so satisfied with the desserts that we didn’t even bother to have the ice-cream

The service was flawless – right from the beginning they made us feel at home and constantly pampered us with attention. It’s a good place to enjoy a quiet meal with your family or friends, where you don’t have to worry about what to order!

Carrots N Celery,
Sun N Sand,
Pune

The Great Kebab Factory - Review

 

I think this place offered their version of “sit-down kebab buffet” way before the likes of Barbeque Nation became mainstream. It's located on the second floor of the Radisson Blu Hotel, Kharadi. We made an impromptu plan and we weren’t aware of their weekend live ghazal nights, but surprisingly enjoyed our ghazal filled Saturday dinner, when we even got in the spirit and made a request for them to play our choice.


The buffet costs the same, irrespective of whether you opt for the veg or non-veg one - unlike what some other places offer these days. Some people may argue that there are far better options, but I think their service and the quality is what sets them apart. It's a great place for a quiet family meal.

They welcomed us with a plate of freshly cut fruit – watermelon, papaya and musk melon which I devoured instantly. They have a total of 8 appetizers and you are offered as many servings as you please. That day the offerings were “Galouti kebab”, “Rampuri choozi”, “Angara Mahi Tikka” and “Pudina Murg Tikka” in the non-veg category and “Subz Galouti Kebab”, “Achari Paneer Tikka”, “Hyderabadi Aloo” and “Kachal ki Shami” in the veg one. The mint chicken tikka was brilliant and deeply flavorful. Paneer was super soft and delicious as thankfully it wasn’t tasting strongly of achar which I am not a fan of.  Subz galouti kebab outshined all the other offerings though.

 

In the main course, they had “Murgh Dum Biryani”, “Lal Mass”, “Dal Factory”, “Subz Dum Biryani”, “Paneer Do Pyaza” and “Adraki Bhindi” out of which I only tried dal factory, which was a nice version of dal makhani with their own twist; paneer do pyaza which was pretty good and adraki bhindi which was just about fine (my mom makes a really good one!).

 

Since we did not subject ourselves to having biryani, we had considerable space left for the desserts. All of my favourite Indian desserts presented themselves on a plate in front of me – “Bharwan Gulab Jamun”, “Ras Malai” and “Malai Kulfi (on a stick)”. Gulab jamun was too sweet for my taste, but I enjoyed it anyway. The remaining two desserts gave us a perfect ending to our meal. I was so full by this time that I did not even ask for repeats!  

Service was impeccable.

The Great Kebab Factory