Had been to Rude lounge yesterday with talkative friends; its not a place you want to go to have a talk with someone. But for the rest of it, its amazing! We called for 10 starters for the 5 of us, most of it was good; unaware of the main course. Here’s a quick review…

Serves: Continental, Indian, Drinks, Hookah, Live music/DJ
Where: Drive toward Powai on JVLR, Keep watching to your right after the L&T fly-over
Costs (per head): Rs. 700 (lots of starters, 1 cocktail, 1 dessert)
Ambience: Small place located in a corner, but big enough of 50 (Ground+1). Great view of Powai lake and the neck-lace road (Adi Shankaracharya Marg) from Level 1.
What’s Hot: Paneer & Broccoli in Black Sauce, Chicken Alfredo Paste, Veg Sheek Kebab, Chocolate Mousse
What else: Prawns Oyster Sauce, Decent cocktails & mocktails, Hariyali Stuffed Mushrooms
What’s Not: Waiters can’t suggest, Oven broken – so no Garlic bread, Alfredo Fussili was so-so

Reviewed by prasadgupte.com at http://mumbai.burrp.com

The Renaissance’s latest dining venture – its name most likely inspired by an Australian chain that sells Italian produce, rather than by the Scottish alt-rock band – seems to be a vigorous attempt to pump money into a melting economy. Take for example, this Italian restaurant’s version of insalata caprese with roasted cherry tomatoes, buffalo mozzarella and rocket. Nothing too fancy, you’d think. Except that it slices Rs 1,100 off your card.

The best way to tackle this, we thought, was to call for dishes that were most likely to justify their price, get the complimentary wine, olive oil and bread tasting, and pick the best table we could.

It turned out well, and being exacting got us great service. The waiter who took us through the tasting almost adopted us. Another asked us if the meal was going fine, with the casual ease of a friend who might slide in next to us on our sofa if we’d said yes enthusiastically enough.

Our tomato bruschetta (Rs 350) was pleasant enough, balanced in taste and texture, and reasonable. When we didn’t find our perfect pizza on the menu, the chef hopped over from the open kitchen and helped us combine two, using top-notch porcini and prosciutto (Rs 845), steering us away from other combinations that were likelier to fail. The dish that arrived would have improved with more time in the more wood-fired ovens and more tomato on the base. Also every other slice was ham-less. Surely, more shavings wouldn’t have taken any off their profits.

Our langoustine had no such half measures. The Norwegian lobster with a muscular, incredibly edible tail arrived on a bed of spiced lentils along with prawns (Rs 2,245) so fresh we wondered if they were harvesting them in Powai lake, which was sitting in thick darkness beyond Fratelli’s reflective glass front.

Fratelli’s ideal diner, it appears, is the convention crowd that fills the hotel’s rooms, and Powai’s power players. A few of these specimens seemed warmed and wined enough to discuss reviving the economy in the midst of good service and acres of marbled corridors. Roshni Bajaj Sanghvi

Fratelli Fresh

Renaissance Hotel, 2/3 B L&T Gate, Powai (6692-7540). Daily 7pm-12.30am.Meal for two with wine Rs 7,500. Sun brunch noon-4pm, adults Rs 1,800 per head, kids Rs 800. Plus taxes. AmEx, MC, V.

Photography Nishad Joshi

Source : Time Out Mumbai

Pan India Food Solutions has opened up Spaghetti Kitchen at Powai. The average per cover for Spaghetti Kitchen is Rs 400 and these outlet will have an average of 110-130 covers.
It serves gourmet Italian food, the menu is pretty extensive and covers starters, salads, pastas, pizzas and desserts. According to purplefoodie, it serves world best Caesar salad. Also must-trys are the rosemary potatoes, ravioli and thin-crust pizzas and sizzling brownie. Food is little pricey, but if you are looking for true italian food, it should be well worth the price. A full meal for 2 will be about 1500 without the drinks.

The address is

• Hiranandani Gardens, 103 Ventura Park, IT Building, Above Aromas Café, Powai, Mumbai
• Landmark: Opposite D-Mart
• Phone: 66718800

Article research source:

http://www.imagesfood.com/news.aspx?Id=1334&topic=1

http://www.mouthshut.com/review/Spaghetti_Kitchen_-_Bangalore-152145-1.html

Decided to check out a restaurant at Powai.
Got into this coffee shop-Aromas (no need for a map, its bang in the middle of the Hiranandani area)..Its the first outlet in India of an Aussie chain.
Great ambience (by which I mean, nice & lazy). The ACs werent working. The crowd included the normal Powai type mix of expats.
The menu is much more than a normal coffee shop – includes a range of pizzas & pastas besides various coffees, sandwiches & desserts.
I tried a pizza & some pasta- they were good without being spectatcular or v authentic. Service was prompt & good, pices generally in the 120-125 buck range per dish. Tried out a “pepper” cheesecake which again was nice.
All-in-all, good place to catch up with friends on an afternoon !Food alone is not worth going for but the ambience & service makes up for that !

Reviewed by: Arvind

Article Source: http://arvindnair13.blogspot.com/2010/01/aromas-powai-review.html

Chili’s (it is Chili’s and not Chilli’s) Restaurant Review.

Sri, Smi, Vinod, Prashant, spousey and I had been to Chili’s recently. Its a US joint offering Mexican food. All of the others, except for spousey and me had spent considerable time @ US and were aware of what Chili’s offers.

I walked in with little or no expectation, hoping it would be a place that I would visit again and again.

We ordered Nachos with cheese, Mozarella Sticks, Veg Burgers, Chicken Salads and Non-veg palettes with wraps.

For me, what rocked was the Mozarella Sticks.

What did not was:
1. The red mexican dip sauce (whether marinating or salsa was unclear) was horrendous.
2. The deep fried chilli’s offered was equally bad.
3. The bread that came with burgers was not fresh at all, was awful and flaky.
4. The fries clearly had either been reheated or were at least an hour old.
5. The service is slower than a tortoise.
6. Why would you not offer “tap water” as an option to your clientele. Do you cook in Bisleri as well? If not, then why not offer the same water used for cooking (whatever F it is), we shall drink it?
7. Very expensive for the kind of experience offered…..(average cost per main course or starter is around 400, average cost per drink is 200 for non-alcoholic and 500 for liquor….who pays that kind of money at a sit-in in India).

It cost us around 700 a head without drinks, and hell-no, we did not overeat. WhyTF would normal people ever eat here.

I can see why Mainland China will continue to rock Powai. The dumbasses @ Chili’s @ Powai have got it all wrong. Might still work as a concept because of the desperate crowd @ Powai who shall pay anything to eat at a decent joint…..but I guess, the true VFM practitioner will strike this option of his list.

Fav places @ Powai continue to be
1. Mainland China (300-700 per head – but I can go there everyday – I love the place)
2. China House @ Galleria – (200 per head, nice decent food)
3. Paratha’s @ galleria – (100 per head, the most outstanding paratha and dal khichidi, and chhole in the world….seriously)
4. Janata Bakery @ Cypress (50 per head, stand and eat, the best veggie cheese sandwitch this side of town)

Chili’s @ Powai Hiranandani I would rate 4/10 and would definitely give it a miss, if given a choice.

Article Source: http://spinningawheel.blogspot.com/2009/12/983-chilis-powai-restaurant-review.html

These guys recently opened in Powai, so I dropped by to have a look at their offerings. A restaurant charging Rs 990 for a fixed menu, you tend to believe, must be confident of what they serve. Well, of course they are confident. But their confidence is baseless. Here’s why:

They have six kinds of Kababs to start with, as starters you can say. I opted for the non-veg menu.

First is a lamb paste tikka. It tastes like aloo paste, is basically pasty. If it isn’t pre-announced to be lamb, you’ll never figure out it’s not vegetarian.

Then is the choosa – chicken kabab. Overspiced, but chicken quality is good.

Then I got a fish kabab. It’s basically fish coated with a ….well…. coat and deep fried. The choice of spices for making the fish were appalling. The fish kabab tasted more like aloo pakoda than a fish dish.

Then there was this lamb rib kabab. It’s so over-marinated, the meat’s fiber structure is reduced to dust. You feel like you are biting into spicy warm ice-cream that’s miraculously chewy. Again, you can’t taste the meat at all and this preparation is over-over-done.

Then you get a lamb seekh kabab. This story is comparable to the lamb paste tikka I described in the beginning except that the texture is more sausage-like now.

So I covered five kababs but there were six. You get the idea – one wasn’t worth remembering even for criticism.

After that I opted for a biryani, chicken. The rice is ok, rayta is quite characterless and at too-low a temperature. And the chicken in biryani is cooked to be cotton. How do they do it? More importantly, why?

But there was some solace at the end. Delicious (and extremely fat-rich) dudhi-ka-halwa. It was good.

But the gulab-jamuns were as if made using Gits ready-to-make mix – among the worst I’ve had anywhere.

Because of the cost involved, I believe this place is daylight robbery. Food like this should not cost more than Rs. 200-250 and they are charging four times that. This is not a place to waste your hard-earned money and evening on.

Revieved by http://mumbai.burrp.com/user/kalidas

Sourced from: http://mumbai.burrp.com/establishment_the-great-kabab-factory/review_average-food-overpriced-place/yvj_gf8#listing

Gloria is literally screaming for a review.

Ok, so the Goras got us addicted to coffee and their fancy coffee houses! For centuries Indians were content with the mass produced Tapri ki Cutting Chai, but with Independence (I think) came the desire to look for something more satisfying than dirty glasses, cheap soggy cookies, houseflies for company, no seat to rest the tushy and a tarp to ward off the water and the light.

The middle class doesn’t mind paying 100 bucks, exclusive of taxes, for a cup of coffee and the Goras don’t mind taking it, increasing it slightly with every passing month. But, who am I to complain when I end up spending almost Rs.3000 – Rs.3500 on coffee alone, every month! [For a student, it’s too much money that shouldn’t be wasted on 30 glasses of bitter coffee]

Anyway, Gloria Jean’s Coffees has a delightful look on the outside. On the inside, I am not sure. A small space utilized correctly can make one feel more comfortable than a huge mansion can. And this is where they get it wrong! Not only is the place small, it hasn’t been designed well and cannot accommodate more than 25 people at once.

Their place is in full view of the public. If I need a cup of coffee, do I want the whole world walking by and peering inside to see what I am upto? Alright, I can still let go, but what about those couples who really can’t ‘get a room’ and do their coochi-cooing in coffee houses?

GJC is a good place for a take out, although I’m not sure what you’d want to take out with such a limited menu that it vanishes the moment you look away? I was expecting to see an extravagant menu, with all sorts of cold and hot coffee names I wouldn’t be able to pronounce but instead I landed up ordering a cold coffee because everything else seemed either too expensive or not worth a ‘first’ try. If you have to judge a coffee house based on its coffee, starting with the basics will always give you a fair idea of what to expect.

I liked the coffee.

But what I absolutely did NOT like was their self service option! Ok, so I am paying the money, I am standing in line to give my order and when I go rest my butt on the uncomfortable chair, I am asked to collect my order on a tray and to pick the straw, the tissue, the spoon, the sugar and anything else I’d like with my coffee, on my own? Out-fu*king-rageous!

I end up paying a minimum of Rs.100 for one glass of coffee and sitting in a place that has dim lighting, uncomfortable chairs, complete public view (God Forbid, they decide to install an LCD for game nights) and serve myself when I can do the same thing at home for less than 30 bucks?

Safe to say, I’ll go to GJC when someone is in the mood to treat me.

Article Credit : http://tellingitwrite.wordpress.com/

As soon as i got to work after a long lunch break at the Yellow Chilli, i just HAD to add the place to the burrp directory and review it – it was really that good! It is supposedly part of the Sanjeev Kapoor chain, so we thought we would sample it rather than another visit to mainland china on the lower floor.

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WHAT’s ON dropped in at Australian cafe lounge Aromas, and found that the piece de resistance was not even mentioned on the menu
If Mocha and Barista ever joined forces, Aromas is what would emerge, especially as far as the ambience and prices are concerned. The Australian coffee chain could not have chosen a better location for its first outlet in the country, as Powai is an established BPO hub, which, coupled with the yuppie crowd in the area, ensures a steady stream of clientele. Also the fact that the place caters to a whole range of junta through its expansive
menu from coffees to teas, pastas to wines and desserts helps.

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