Sunday, May 4, 2008

Nanking

If the thought of seafood makes you drool and leaves you weak at the knees, this is the place for you. Located on Cunnigham Road, in Sigma Mall, Nanking provides one a fine dining experience that is guaranteed to impress.

It is a chinese restaurant specializing in seafood, primarily Crab and Lobster. The decor is classy and elegant with soothing lighting. Soft, barely audible oriental music plays in the back ground.

The menu card is very well designed, combining simplicity and functionality. A maitre'D came by to assist us with our selection, and we left it to him to decide what we should have.

He suggested for an appetizer, Prawns stir fried with Red chillies, garlic and spring onions, a slightly spicy, wonderful start to our meal. The prawn was well cooked, not overdone and the flavours of the seasonings came through very well. Stay clear of the chillies though, they are lethal if had by themselves.

Our main course was a massive lobster in a flavourful sauce. This was my first experience of lobster and I was very impressed, both with it and with the presentation. It looked and proved to be mouth watering. Meat was tender and soft, not chewy or overdone. Served with a mildly spicy sauce with a lot of garlic, I thoroughly enjoyed it.

To compliment our lobster was a very simple Clay pot rice with vegetables. The rice was fragrant with almost no spice, and the delicate flavour of the vegetables and the black chinese mushroom were very evident.

The portions are more than sufficient for two. Too full to have dessert, we decided to leave that for another day.

Excellent service and the soothing ambiance, combined with seafood delicacies come at a price. But its a price one will be more than happy to pay. Meal for two will cost you around Rs. 3000 with drinks, i.e. if you opt for their specialty - lobster or crabs. A costly affair even otherwise, this place is a must visit for die hard sea food lovers.

Bay of Bengal

A wonderful experience with bengali food at 6 Ballygunge Place prompted us to try out the recently opened Bay of Bengal for lunch this Saturday. It is located above K. C. Das on St. Marks road.

First impressions were not favourable, a dark narrow stair way with some dangerously hanging cables led us to the entrance. Just at the entrance was an overflowing dustbin and a pile of crap.

Decor is simplistic, the restaurant is well lit though tables are placed a little too close to each other. The table napkin was not as clean as one would like.

The service is extremely courteous, bordering on apologetic. Being a hot day, the AC not working at its best, was enough to put us off. The menu is surprisingly limited and any vegetarians had better avoid this place, unless they want to eat Russian Salad bengali style.

To start with and to compensate for the AC, we ordered Aamras. It was chilled but rather thick, the taste was quite alright though. A better one can be had at Bombay Post.

We skipped the starters and went straight to the main course with Steamed Rice, Baby Naans, Chicken Korma and Pomfret Jhol. The Pomfret was perfectly done, in a mustard gravy, not too spicy though a tad salty for my taste. The waiters were not keen to serve and we had to do the honors ourselves. The korma was average. The baby naans were excellent.

Bay of Bengal is an entomologists paradise, with innumerable flies that will join you for lunch, I also saw a red ant walking across the table.

Eager to get away from the flies, we skipped dessert and ordered a mineral water bottle, which was not available chilled. On asking for finger bowls, we were told that hot water wasn't available! This is a first for me - Finger bowls with water at room temperature and a slice of lemon.

The restroom is very very bad; period. I will not go further and ruin anyone's appetite.

All in all, this is not a place we will be visiting again. Lunch for two will set you back by around Rs. 400. Tread in only if you are willing to sacrifice hygiene for good taste. We'd rather recommend 6 Ballygunge Place for a true Bengali food lover.

Thursday, April 17, 2008

Mast Kalandar

It has been a long time since we posted here. This doesn’t mean of course that we have not eaten out since then, quite the contrary. Today, we went out for a quick bite, a short drive away from work for a quick lunch.

Mast Kalandar is a cheerful looking Punjabi eatery on CMH Road. Service is of the help yourself kind. They boast of interesting sounding starters, paratha combos, rice combos and a nice dessert menu. Mast Kalandar also has 500 ml Family Curry packs that are takeaways.

We were four of us and were warned that the portions are pretty large. We had the Biryani with a Twist, The Great Indian Maha Combo and the Spicy Corn paratha combo.

The Biryani was spicy but not overly so, with lot of vegetables and lots of fried onions which I am partial to. The twist in the biryani turned out to be a rolled up papad. The parathas were hot and quite soft, and are served with raita and dal. All combos are accompanied by a raw salad portion. The cucumber was not as fresh as crisp as one would like it to be.

The Great Maha Combo can be easily shared among two ladies, which is what we did. It contained 2 soft tandoori parathas, a cup of biryani and 3 curries. It was followed by a large Jamun, which was a little too sweet for my taste. Among the curries, we had the Chole which was mildly spicy and well cooked, the paneer was average. My favourite was the Dal Makhni. Raitas were spiced with Jeera powder and contained shredded cucumber. I was delighted that the curd used was not sour or watered down.

We finished off with thick sweet Lassis and I tried the Masala Shikanjee (which was like jal jeera).

All in all, Mast Kalandar promises a very filling meal at a very reasonable price. The air-conditioning was not exactly up to the mark, but the rest room was quite clean.
It can get crowded and a bit loud at peak hours.

A meal for four with drinks cost us under Rs500. Mast Kalandar is a vegetarian restaurant.
Service was impressively quick.

Parking poses a bit of a problem, while we were there, a cop imposed a fine on a car parked just outside, be warned. We suggest you park on some of the interior roads and walk up to it. Mast Kalandar is located between Kwality Walls and Bata on CMH Road.