Barbeque Nation- A delectable rendezvous.

       Each taste receptor on our tongue tingled away to glory. Item after item was being served, re-served and re-re-served; but we were not to be satiated. The travails of an arduous week lay mindlessly forgotten in the mélange of Zucchini cottage cheese, Assorted Mediterranean Grill, Lebanese chilli garlic potato and Gobi aachari (we being vegetarians were gorging on the shakahari upahaar. Of course, our dad, ever the carnivore, was busy devouring the chicken and the fish!). Even the humble cauliflower, usually lying forgotten in the gloomy confines of the refrigerator, was being greeted with eager anticipation and heartfelt delight. Yes. It really was that spectacular. (And we were just one round down!!!)

     Inaugurated a few months back, Andheri’s Barbeque Nation near Fun Republic Mall is one gratifying, tantalizing, scrumptious and gargantuan experience. With a seating capacity of nearly 270 people, this restaurant is surely going to be the next suburban hub. The taste is rich, the ambience, pleasing and the service is a delight. The live music jives well with the food and the humongous space gives one enough privacy and comfort. The interiors are intelligently designed with ample places for couples, gangs of friends and families alike. It is an apt place to spend an evening out with close ones where the food competes with the chit- chat!

         As is its USP, the barbeque was exquisite! The variety offered in both the courses was good and there was a fine consistency maintained in the taste levels. No particular taste was over- whelming and there was a feel- good factor about every dish. The buffet was interesting and in spite of the monstrosity of the barbeque, it was nice to have the succulent staple to add to the already full innards. The desserts were ravishing with my favorite Gulab Jamuns taking the cake (in that manner of saying!). Lastly, the mukhwaas and paan were, as usual, amazing! (Collected around 10 packs in total I guess :P)

          One thing however, that marred the wonderful night was the effort involved in reaching the place. A south Mumbai resident has that 'god-knows-where-this-forsaken-place-is' experience which was a disappointment. Another drawback, in spite of the unmatched service I told you about, was probably the over enthusiastic waiter who would insist on stuffing us with the starters every time he crossed us by. Though amusing at first, the unbridled service ate up significant main course tummy space!

         The august restaurant regaled our appetence and stoked both our gustatory and olfactory senses! The mouth watering symphony along with the tranquil karaoke spread appetizing delight to tongue, tummy and heart. All in all, the medley of food, music and banter enraptured our minds and gladdened our souls.

Looking forward to another reverent visit to this delicious restaurant.

This is the Sciolist, along with Tilak Vaidya.

Signing out!!!

About the authors:

Pranav Vaidya, who goes under the pen name The Sciolist, is an avid reader, food enthusiast, zealous blogger, Lord of the Rings fanatic, Android addict, fervent writer and sporadic poet. To follow his other work, visit Sciolism, which is an advocacy of his perspectives.

Tilak Vaidya is a budding computer engineer, amateur cricketer, neophyte guitarist, voracious reader, effervescent blogger, spasmodic poet and aspiring novelist. When he isn't gobbling up books by the dozen, he preaches at Opinionate.

The Irish House

For all those who wanted a Mclarens kind of bar to hang out at, here’s a great option – The Irish House at Phoenix Mills. Yes, it’s inside Phoenix Mills. In case, you are wondering how come you missed even though you Phoenix mills is your second home on weekends, join the club. JFYI, it’s up the stairs next to Smoke House Deli and Noodle Bar.

Conspicuousness apart, the place has great ambience. They've got the typical bar look just right with brick walls, bare wooden tables and high chairs. Just the right mix of the classy and the casual. The walls are interspersed with TV screens playing the ongoing  sport events. What takes your attention away, and I mean this literally, is the huge roll down screen. If you want to enjoy a match with buddies over beer, this is the place to be. Gives the place a sports bar-ish feel. I ve heard they also have a Karaoke and stand up comedy too. Should check that out sometime.  There’s something about the place and one liners. You’ll find one liners “Ask not for what your country has done for you, ask whats for main course” and “Reality is just an illusion caused by the lack of alcohol”J all over the place right from walls to the coasters. The crowd quality is also pretty good (Read between the lines!).

 Anyway, the ‘must try out’ as far as food is concerned would be the Grande Nachos. Cheesy and saucy, it forms the perfect munching option .There is another heavenly dish full of cheese rightly named ‘Heavenly Cheese’ - a delight for cheese lovers. In general, the place has yummy appetizers are quite good. Vegetarians are not really left with too many options as far as main course is concerned though I would recommend the Meditteranean Sandwich for veggies. The pastas and spaghettis are nothing special but then hey it’s an Irish pub and not an Italian restaurant. My carnivore friends say that the shrimp bucket was excellent so you may want to try that out.  If you are a lover of cottage cheese, then you got to try out the Double Double – An ultimate delight consisting only of cottage cheese. They serve most beer brands and also a decent variety of cocktails though the mock tail menu leave doesn’t really leave you spoilt for choices.

The menu is slightly overpriced but worth it I would say considering the quality (and quantity) of time that can be spent there. If you believe that “Beer is the answer ... who cares about the question!!” or you are a sports aficionado or you are just looking to chill post work, just grab hold of a couple of friends and go Irish.

The Comedy Store

Friday 21st July, 2012 -- The Dark Knight Rises... Well, he rose and continued to thrill the audience but we suffered through an hour and twenty minutes of traffic from Apollo Mills to Phoenix Mills (I'm led to believe it’s less than 5kms), to reach just in time, in complete snitty moods, at the perfect place - The Comedy Store. As part of a multinational company few perks that we get are corporate events and laughs if not a healthy pay-check. So a group of 26 odd 'corporate slaves' headed to The Comedy Store & we all needed a couple of laughs !

This rather short show of two hours was hosted by Kunal Rao, an ex-Chartered Accountant who quit his job to become a stand-up comedian. As part of his short opening act, he got a few chuckles from the crowd and generally warmed them for the acts to follow. Kunal also had the opportunity to reacquaint himself with our colleague, the Consultant - Vivek. Vivek was the enthusiast from the audience who got picked on all through the show for having a few funny liners of his own. Note to all - don't mess with comedians in their element. They are like bosses out to get you! 

Kunal and all the other comedians for the night did the standard lines of 'First time to comedy store?' and 'Why would you sit in the front row if it’s not your first time here?' Fortunately for them there were 3 pretty girls in the front row...

Next on stage was Abish! This guy was good and had some brilliant material. From how terminator would sound in Bengali 'Asta Livista Dada' to what actually happens on the cricket ground - his enactment of MSD in slow-mo was simply brilliant! His song to irritate his 'mallu' uncle and auntie is worth memorising - you never know when you need to get those off your back! He also made jokes about how Indian names are derived and how his simply rhymed with his brother’s - Anish. Well Abish is definitely worth watching again. This guy from Delhi was on fire and kept going at it all throughout. His personification of cities when given characters and voices was simply superb.Yes the Maharashtrians are still angry and will stay so !

After a rather long twenty-minute break (you can carry your drinks inside) Kunal was back on stage talking about comprehensive condom machines and jokes on CA’s and as such his spontaneity was not to be missed. There was a lot of interaction between the comedians and the three pretty girls in the front row and a young guy Pratyush. There was a special feature by Ahmed Sharif (he has apparently shared the stage with the likes of Vir Das) but as Kunal forewarned us - have no expectations. Though he had good material, Ahmed’s jokes fell flat, maybe because of his timing or otherwise, but there was something amiss. However, worth mentioning were his jokes on Al-Qaeda, Dumbledore and how Indians are so fond of shortening names - poor Gandalf will never visit India.

Post a very anti-climatic stint by Mr. Sharif the mood definitely was very glad to have Kunal back only to introduce Rajneesh Kapoor, yet another Delhi-ite. I was a little apprehensive but this guy’s simple jokes had us in considerable stitches (After the show our sides hurt from all the laughing). He talked about flying and superstition and about kids and how stupid they are these days with their low IQs. He did the classic ‘my Punjabi mom’ has two solutions to everything - get married or else eat something. It solves all !! J Rajneesh apparently wastes a lot of time googling/surfing the net and shared his insights about people’s comments on Youtube. Funny it seems, but a war between India- Pakistan can/does start on youtube. He observes that every third comment is 'to view pictures of girls click on this link'. We ended the night clucthing our sides.

All in all, the 25 CA - consultants left the Comedy Store very happy. All the comedians were very certainly on their feet and think rather fast, their spontaneity and interaction with the crowd makes the evening very memorable (if you are with Vivek).  So, The Comedy Store is a must visit - because any wo/man who can make you laugh till your stomach hurts a little is certainly worth the 600 bucks. You can also watch the shows by Vir Das and international comedians at NCPA, Sophias, Bhabha Hall and etc.

The Comedy Store: (website link) http://in.bookmyshow.com/events/Abish-Mathew-Kunal-Rao-Rajneesh-Kapoor/ET00010232
http://www.thecomedystore.in/


P.S. - Just to test Rajneesh's theory lets see if the third hit/comment on this blog is ..'to see pictures of girls ...' 

About the author: Namrata Mahtani

The first review to have gone public and is pretty ecstatic. Thank you Coffee and a Quill – this is my Oscar moment!! Is paving her way to become a consultant in HR. With a knack for organising and talking too much is also trying to complete her MBA in HRD. You can also follow her on twitter @njmahtani

Thank God @ TGI Friday's

TGIF

      Feeling lazy on a weekend? Or do you just want to chill with friends? How about enjoying the game and have some beer with great food? Then why not thank God for a Friday? TGI Friday's aka TGIF is located in Mumbai, Delhi, Hyderabad and Bengaluru. This place is a superb hangout place where neither the staff nor the patrons at the next table are bothered as to what’s going on (in a good way of course).

       When we went to the TGIF at Palladium Mall, Mumbai we thought we would have to wait for our table. But to our surprise the place is huge and we found ourselves in a very comfy booth in a couple of minutes. It took me some time to take in the ambience and adjust myself to the music. The place was very brightly light with the lamps in their trademark red and white. They had a dedicated smoking room which seemed more crowded than the restaurant itself. The walls contained all kinds of things right from super hero posters, idols, banners, helmets, bikes, jerseys and the likes. The décor really impresses and more often than not you find someone clicking photos of the interiors. The menu is very complicated with same dishes repeated at different parts of the menu.

Strawberry Lemonade

          We ordered a Vegetarian Platter & a Simply Veggie Pizza (SVP) to start with. Since I am a teetotaler I cannot recommend any cocktails but the Strawberry Lemonade was very smooth and so was the Green Apple Slush. Go in for an unlimited refill of Soft drinks which is priced at only Rs125. Although the rules say one can’t share the unlimited soft drinks but they are not so stringent about it so you can always share it with your friends. The Vegetarian Platter comprises of potato skins, fried mozzarella & vegetable pyramids (which are awesome), some salad and sauces. I am not a fan of thin crust pizzas but the SVP was surprisingly tasty and filling too. Caesar Salad is tasty but the size of the portions is not encouraging. The enchiladas were nice and so is the Pasta Arabiata. But the pick of the day was the Veg Garden Burger which I ordered after seeing it served at another table. And that was the best thing I ever did. The burger is huge (you can read about the same in my earlier blog post here ‘How I met the 'perfect' burger!!’). The burger comes with thick golden French fries. You will definitely need a drink and a friend to finish off the burger. For all ‘Snickers’ fans, the peanut butter crumble brownie is a safe and satisfying option.

Red & White theme @ TGIF

TGIF is an expensive place with an average bill for two without alcohol in the range of Rs 1350. The Veg Garden Burger is priced at a whopping Rs390++ but it’s totally worth the money and it easily suffices one. The prices on the menu are exclusive of any taxes, so you can safely add 15-20% to the menu price for taxes and service charges and taxes on service charges.  TGIF is a cool place to hang out with your friends or colleagues but it does leave a hole in your pocket. They are also running a promotion on Mondays – Fridays 7pm onwards. A two course set meal (with a good variety) for Rs299++ per person which certainly is good value for money. All in all I would rate this place an 8 on 10 and surely recommend it.

You can check TGIF out @ TGIF