Delhi Spice

Delhi Spice - Review
FC Road

We were escorted to their small upstairs dining area, and I observed this is where they send most of the people. I noticed while leaving that this was entirely occupied although the bottom area was still empty. They also have a seemingly good buffet for just Rs. 360/- which includes starters, parathas, Indian main courses and desserts.

"Chur Chur Olive"

We went for the a la carte menu instead and opted for their signature stuffed paratha thalis. The parathas were served at the perfect temperature – warm enough to start eating. The usual experience with similar paratha places is quite contrasting, where you have to wait for an appreciable amount of time until you can even touch the paratha; unless you want to sustain a burn by being too hasty to try the searing stuff. 

All the parathas were served with rajma – it tasted a lot like the packed, ready-to-eat ones you can pick up at any grocery store – so I did not appreciate it much. On the other hand, the dal makhani was delectable. A small pack of Amul butter was served with each thali which seemed out of place.  It’s common practice to serve the parathas with a blob of fresh butter which is what I was expecting – not that it was needed.

"Corn Cheese Chilli Olive"

Our choices were the following:

1)      “Chur Chur Olive Paratha” – An ‘olive twist’ to the regular:  crispy and soft at the same time. It has  a mild, lovely taste which kind of grows on you. It went well with the rajma and dal makhani. The unusual combination of olive and chur chur made it even more savoury.

2)      “Cheese Chilli Garlic Paratha” – This one a large amount of garlic, fairly tipping the scale but it was thoroughly cheesy and oozing with flavor. If you’re someone with a preference for mild tastes, then you may find this one too intense. Tip: If you do order it, make sure that you finish it fast as it becomes too overpowering once it gets cold.  

3)      “Corn Cheese Chilli Olive Paratha” – This was the one I had. Even though it sounds more like a pizza than a paratha, it was like combining the best of both – the goodness of pizza marrying the goodness of the stuffed paratha. The soft and thick paratha wasn’t too spicy even though it said chilli, and was covered with cheese on both the sides

Outside the restaurant there’s a notice which says there is no restroom here – but when my father asked, not knowing that this is displayed outside – the attendant obliged and showed him where it was! Quite amusing to see this practice – doesn’t it make for a proper ‘Puneri’ place?

Boondi raita was probably the best preparation. It was creamy, smooth and fresh. The boondis were few and far in between although this was better as it made for a perfect contrast against the rich parathas.  

By the time we were finished, we hardly had any space left for the dessert. It was plain old gulab jamun but I liked that it wasn’t too sweet. It was also very, very soft - melt in the mouth texture. 

Service was good – there a few issues at the beginning which were resolved very quickly and the rest of the evening went well.

Delhi Spice, F. C. Road

Panchavati Gaurav - Review

Panchavati Gaurav,

Kumar Pacific Mall

 

The first time I’d been to Panchavati Gaurav was for someone’s party, organized at the Bhandarkar road outlet when I was just in school. I don’t really remember it in detail, but I do remember not liking it as much as I used to like going out to other restaurants. 

This outlet situated on the second floor at one corner of this mall, is a relatively new one compared to the original one in Pune. We expected it to be full being a Sunday, but were surprised to find quite a few tables unoccupied. The Kumar Pacific Mall, on the other hand, was FULL with people. 

A famiy had arranged a small function here as most of the tables were occupied by them. The service was rather slow, we entered at about 8 pm and they started serving us about 10 minutes later. Usually, at such thali places, there’s no time for you to say no when they start serving, so maybe this was a plus point! First came the chutneys – green and red (tamarind), then came the papad to which we said no.  A welcome drink – jaljeera was served. It was very minty but was refreshing. For snacks, there was tirangi dhokla which was tasteless. Small, fat samosas were quite okay, they just had a light masala potato filling which was average. Chaas was also served but I did not have it. 

There were four vegetable preparations – aloo (huge chunks in masala curry), paneer (small pieces in a rich gravy), gatte ki sabji and veg. kolhapuri. All the preparations were good, but I personally did not appreciate the huge aloo pieces. Chapatis, rotla served with ghee and masala puris were being served constantly. 3 bowls were to be filled with sweet dal, tikhi dal and kadhi, of which I had only the tikhi dal. Unfortunately and quite predictably, this dal was the same one used for dal bati. The small shapes in which the bati was offered here was something I’d seen for the first time. The taste, however, was nice and I helped myself to another serving. Moong dal khichdi was runny as I’d expected and offered a fitting end to such a heavy meal. 

Orange halwa, angoori basoondi and jalebi were the sweets. Orange halwa was just sooji halwa flavoured with orange but it was a fresh combination of flavours. Angoori basoondi was disappointing as the angoors were few and far in between the probably skimmed basoondi. Jalebi was fresh and crispy and we enjoyed it by dipping it in the basoondi ! The servers were slow but were attentive and enquired every now and then. 

Panchavati Gaurav

Bhoj Restaurant - Review

I had the opportunity to visit this place a couple of times in the past few weeks, and both of my visits were satisfying. For me, it is almost next door, but somehow I did not make it here in the 5/6 odd years it has been in existence. I do remember glancing at this place while passing by and seemed to think of it as somewhat of a luxurious establishment - but now the opulence seems to have faded away, giving rise to a much more straightforward, essential kind of an outlet.

I loved that their thali is complete in the sense that it has everything a typical Rajasthani/Gujarati thali should have - 3 vegetables (one of it is usually gatte ki sabji, other's usually something with paneer), a snack (dahi wada), phulkas covered with liberal amounts of ghee, puri, papad, 2 sweets and rice/khichdi. There's dal bati on three days - Thursday, Saturday and Sunday. The dal bati is pretty good, I always help myself to a second/third serving. There's a big plate kept in the middle of the table, in which there are smaller bowls of pickles, salads, green chutney, etc.

We got different sweets each time, in summer there was amras from "payari" mangoes and gulab jamuns, recently we were served "sitaphal rabdi" and "moong dal halwa", both of which were good. Khichdi is good and we also had the chance of having dum biryani the last time. Dahi wada is probably the only thing which was disappointing - dahi wasn't fresh and was artifically sweetened and the wada wasn't soft enough.

Like I said, their thali is complete but devoid of unnecessary fillers - something that fills your stomach but does not bring any significant addition to your experience or fails to offer you the kind of satisfaction you would expect after having a fulfilling meal - instead you just get full faster by just tasting the numerous items on the menu. The service is good, they were always by our table when we wanted anything. Do not expect a lot in terms of ambience - it is minimal or rather, not maintained well. Just go there to enjoy your meal, it is a good case of value for your money.

They do parcels as well, just enquire about their various offers. A parcel is good for about 2-3 people, probably more if you are light eaters!

(I did not happen to click any good pictures here!)