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

Dario's - Review

This place features in the “19 Places To Woo Your Significant Other” section on Zomato Pune and rightly so. And I think it is only vegetarian restaurant to make that list – so you know where to “woo” if someone’s a vegetarian. 

Sangria and nachos

We chose to dine alfresco as even the attendants urged us to try it – it’s probably a part of their charm. It was a warm but breezy (as well as busy!) Saturday evening - we were surrounded by occupied tables on all sides, lit with candlelight.  Fans with sprinklers at the corners made the evening lighter and cooler. We enjoyed a leisurely meal for quite a few hours in this marvellous atmosphere.

We had “Nachos Messicani” and “Arancinelle” for starters; both were just about okay. Arancinelle (sicilian rice balls stuffed with peas and cheese) tasted better with the red chilli and tomato sauce, though. I loved the “Purpigna Soup” and the way it was prepared –a spinach and lentil soup with thin, non-creamy spinach broth and cooked lentils flavoured with herbs. Spinach soup has always been a favourite but it was the first time I had it this way.  Contrastingly, “Minestrone Soup” was quite flavourless even with all the veggies. 

Nachos

Arancinelle

Spinach and cheese ravioli

I was wondering if I should try a risotto or a ravioli but I ended up with the spinach and cheese ravioli and it was pretty good. The portions could have been a bit bigger, for persons with a bigger appetite.  They have a solid pizza menu but we had a simple, no fuss “Mediterranea” pizza and it was delicious – I specially loved the cheese. For desserts, the obvious choice was “Tiramisu” and it was the perfect one. We thought they had spiked the tiramisu with something we couldn’t make out; but it tasted really, really good. A fantastic way to end the meal, indeed! 

Mediterranea

Service was cheery and attentive.  
(Forgive me for the few noisy and low-quality pictures) 

Tiramisu

Dario's

Little Italy - Review

It was a busy Friday evening when we decided to go here. We had our table in the centre, next to which was the table where a famous contemporary Marathi actress was having her dinner with her mother (It would be best not to name her!). We started with the “Zuppa di Broccoli”, it the first time I had a broccoli soup sans cream and I loved it. The broth had a rich flavor of broccoli and slurped it down in no time because I had cold and it felt really comforting. 

We chose the good old favourite Caesar salad but it was just okay, the lettuce was not crunchy or fresh – certainly not impressive. It was accompanied by slices of toasted garlic bread and bottles of olive oil and balsamic vinegar.

We had vegetable lasagna for the mains, which was generously coated with gooey cheese – it was one of the best lasagnas I’ve ever had. It seems to me that even though it is relatively easy to prepare, very few places seem to serve something which truly gives the satisfaction of having one!

They have a massive selection of pizzas to choose from, we spent a long time on deciding what to have and finally settled on “Pizza Alla Vodka” as it seemed something offbeat. Like the lasagna, this too, was smeared with copious amounts of cheese and had contrasting toppings of jalapenos, tangy pineapple and hot red peppers.

For the appetizers, we chose “Fungi Alla Trapanese” although it was dismally served to us after our lasagna and pizza! We would have loved it had we not been already satisfied with the mains and would have had much more strength to appreciate those light flavours the mushroom was seasoned with. It was served with a platter of herbed bread, which we left untouched.

I wanted to try the “Semifroddo Al Mango”, a delicate mango cheesecake as they put it, but instead we had blueberry cheesecake. It was covered with more than necessary blueberry compote, so we brushed it off with our spoons and enjoyed the cheesecake. The compote was super sweet but the cheesecake was not, so my friend who wanted it sweeter had more of the compote with each bite.

The worst part was probably the time they took to get the check, I think we could easily have had another meal in the same time. Anyway, as we were sitting next to the aforementioned Marathi actress, my friend eavesdropped and we had a gala time :D

Zomato Meet-up - Kokkita Review

View of the lit-up place from open seating area

After receiving the invite for the Zomato meetup, I looked it up to check that it is situated in the unremarkable locales of Hadapsar, but as my fellow foodies have rightly put it, the place itself looks unassuming from outside. I entered through the parking area (which is huge) and passed by the play-zone where quite a few kids were enjoying themselves. Then I saw, the grand place - it's an entire building - brightly lit up with lots of open seating separated by different levels.

I humbly apologize to all attendees since I was late for the meet-up but I was gratified as everyone kindly accommodated me. The menu set for us consisted of soups, salads, main courses with assorted rotis and rice preparations, desserts supplemented by both cocktails and mocktails. They do have an extensive menu, and even the owner informed us that they have over 400 preparations available to choose from(!) when we had a brief meeting with her.

Cream of Broccoli

Murg Rossali Kebab

I started off with the 'Cream of Broccoli' soup, which looked wonderful but surprisingly was not a smooth puree - in fact had little broccoli bites in between. From the starters, I loved the 'Stuffed Mushroom' and 'Murg Rossali Kebab', both of which were prepared creatively and were extremely delectable.





The main courses arranged before us presented a meal fit for a king with numerous
kadhais of rich vegetables and curries. I tried 'Paneer Tikka Masala', 'Subz Kandhari', 'Dal Makhani', 'Chef Special Chicken', 'Konkani Macchli Curry Pomfret' and 'Chicken
Malvani'. As I am not a massive non-vegetarian, almost all the non-veg preparations seemed ingenious and unconventional to me. All the while I was sipping on charming beverages - 'Guava Spice Colada' (quite refreshing but close to guava juice) or 'Bartender's Special Mocktail' (more of a dessert shake!) or B-52 (Irish cream fire-shot but lamely waited for the flame to extinguish while we clicked photos :D).





So by this time I was completely satisfied and hence decided to skip the rice preparations and moved on to the dessert - 'Sizzling brownie with ice-cream' which was nice but a bit too sweet for me, with a bonus pineapple slice hidden beneath the brownie. The service was very attentive and I was thoroughly pampered. They have nice open spaces to celebrate kids' birthday parties, something which was already happening next to us that day.


Thank you Team Zomato and Kokkita for hosting us!

The Little Door - Review

THE LITTLE DOOR 

 Review

We were here for the Sunday Brunch, so my rating is based solely on this experience. They have completely transformed Trois, where I remember having had some amazing pastas, into a bright and cheerful place. The outdoors seemed more appealing to us, so we chose a table right next to the play centre, which was stacked with a collection of old school games. 

We were the first ones to enter, so we started off with mocktails, mini appetizers and a game of scrabble. The appetizers were arranged beautifully on tables inside - there were atleast 15 of them. There were 4-5 salads, cold cuts, sausages, varieties of cheese, mini bites on sticks and various other anti pasti, sadly I do not remember the names of all. Almost everything that I had I loved - even the mocktails. The watermelon basil mocktail was super refreshing and virgin mary (a perfect brunch mocktail) was absolutely tarty and complementing the food; sweet lime soda, margarita were good too. They have Karaoke at brunch and I was the one chosen by the host to inaugurate it that day - so I obliged. It was fun doing it, and I appreciate the patience of the others who were listening to me :D Complimentary shots were being served to anyone who performed. Everyone soon joined in, but the host was splendid at the job, so it was kind of a bonus live performance for the brunch. 

You have a choice of one from each - breakfast staples/appetizers/main course. If you do not wish to have

anything from breakfast staples, you can choose any two appetizers instead. We had the wholesome experience by not skipping the staples and I must say that the plating was pleasing, for all of the preparations. The nutella-crushed peanuts pancake ('Sweet Buttermilk Pancake') had the perfect amount of sweetness - as you would like for breakfast (not too sweet) - served with caramelized bananas on the side.

'Sweet Buttermilk Pancake'

Pesto cheese scramble

The pesto cheese scramble (don't remember the exact name) was an innovative preparation, something with the texture of scrambled eggs -
but made with cheese, something which I had never had before and I liked it. 

'Strixxi Mimli'

Among the starters, the chicken rolls ('Strixxi Mimli')

were brilliant, both in appearance and taste. By this time, we were completely satisfied but proceeded to the main course where I had champagne penne - the mushroom sauce was creamy and fkavourful.

Champagne Penne

I feel bad because I could not fully explore the desserts counter because of being full, something which rarely happens. Anyway, it was a surprise that I liked the red velvet cake - a first for me. I have had it numerous times at famous establishments and I had come to the point where I despised it openly; here it changed my opinion about it! It was an elegant, moist cake with a subtle chocolatey taste and gloriously creamy frosting; served its purpose as a perfect end to a first-rate brunch.

Service was relaxed but attentive. 

Pollo Verde

My favourite mocktail - Watermelon Basil & Mint Cooler

The Little Door - Pune

Sunday: 12:00 – 4:00 pm (Brunch)

 (After a long hiatus, I have decided to kick-start this old blog. Please co-operate with the contentless-ness)