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Nestled in one of the most popular places in Powai, Spice Hut is a cozy restaurant that offers authentic Indian cuisine at affordable prices.

Establishing a name for itself despite arduous competition, Spice Hut has retained its flavor and standing by delivering lip-smacking food at each order. The restaurant offers a wide spread of dishes to choose from, each prepared delicately with the freshest produce, under the able guidance Chef Atiq.

What we ate:

On being recommended, we ordered the Sizzling Chicken Tikka for starters. As the names suggests, the chicken pieces were delivered on a ‘sizzler plate’ with hoards of vegetables accompanied alongside. The pieces were fresh, one could tell and succulent enough to disappear without working on them. We also feasted on the Murg Malai Tikka – roasted chicken in white sauce, which came with lightly spiced onions and capsicum.

For the main course, we ordered what the restaurant was best known for – The Biryani. The Hyderabadi Biryani and the Dum Biryani were both finely prepared with judicious use of spices and oil. The flavors were delicate enough to leave a lingering after taste and strong enough to tempt you into ordering another serving.

Portions & Prices:

The food prepared at the restaurant is worth the price you pay for it. Also, with generous servings with each portion of the meal, you can be assured that what you pay for is what you get.

Branches:

The restaurant has its parent kitchen in Chembur near Diamond Gardens. The owners also have plans to expand their chain in the near future.

Discounts & Specialties:

The management has worked on a scheme that lets the consumer avail of a 25% discount on the total bill. After the meal, the restaurant offers you a small delicacy that makes its way from Jaipur. For further details you can contact the owner, Mr. Anand on 9821310229

The review was done for us by Poonam Advani she can be reached at www.poonamadvani.com

Kosho is a hidden gem of a restaurant. Once you discover it, you’ll want to tell all your friends and family about it, and return again and again. Opened in early 2010, the family owned and operated Kosho serves outstanding Chinese, Indian, and Italian cuisine. It’s the creation of a dedicated brother and sister team who have put their heart and soul into it, as well as financed it themselves.

As you enter the mock Tudor premises and are led upstairs to be seated, you’ll realize that you’re about to have an intimate dining experience that is rare to come across. Kosho is small. But it’s small in a welcoming and appealing way.

The dining area, tastefully and contemporarily decorated in warm tones, has just six tables. This ensures that you won’t have to contend with a large room full of noisy customers. Those who’d like more privacy will appreciate the inviting cushioned alcove, separated from the main room by a beaded curtain.

For such a small restaurant, the menu is surprisingly vast. It contains all the popular Indian and Chinese dishes, an authentic selection of pastas, plus some unique items that you’re unlikely to have come across before.

One of these items is the Lakhnawi Aloo – hollowed out potato stuffed with vegetables and coated in sesame seeds. I sampled it with a mixture of other starters, including the Talumain Clear Soup, Cheese Spinach Tikki, an assortment of chicken items (plain Chicken Tikka, Chicken Kali Mirch Tikka, and Chicken Malai Kebab), and the Prawns Koliwada.

All were superb, but two things really stood out. The fried Cheese Spinach Tikki, crisp on the outside and soft on the inside, pleasingly wasn’t the slightest bit oily. The Chicken Kali Mirch Tikka was also a taste sensation, with its peppery flavour exploding in my mouth.

Next came the pasta. A penne pasta in basil pesto and cream, which is an all time favourite dish of mine. I have eaten many. Again, I was very impressed. The pasta wasn’t drowning in cream. Instead, the sauce was light but tasty, and very nicely balanced.

Somehow, I found room in my stomach for the main course. Prawns Masala, Veg Lajawab, and an item not on the menu – Paneer Hariyali (paneer in a spinach gravy with a dose of mint). Normally, I avoid paneer due to its unappealing, spongy consistency. However, this paneer was an exception and the gravy was also very refreshing.

According to the owner, other popular dishes are:

• Starters — Fish Fingers, Fish Rawa, Paneer Yakitori, Paneer Papdi Tikka.
• Main course — Nargis Kofta, Veg Ujala, Dal Makhani, Chicken Lababdar, Chicken Musallam, Chicken Joshila, Mutton Rogan Josh, Fish Curry.

It’s not surprising that the food at Kosho has the high quality of a renowned restaurant, as the head chef and his team come from a large establishment. However, what is surprising is that it certainly doesn’t have the price tag to match. The average cost of a non-veg main dish is 150-160 rupees. Simple dishes, such as Aloo Muttar, cost only 75 rupees. The most expensive item on the menu is the non-veg Tandoori Dawat, at a little over 500 rupees. However, for that price you’ll get an assortment of 32 different starter items — enough to feed a whole family!

The only drawback? Kosho is not licensed to serve alcohol. However, that problem can easily be solved by making use of their handy home delivery service. They also cater for birthdays, kitty parties, and other special occasions.

You’ll find Kosho at D-1 Nahar Shopping Plaza, Nahar Amrit Shakti, Chandivali, Powai. Phone: 2857 8391/92.

Mustard Design, in its current avatar, came into being 10 years ago. Mustard is a niche information design studio based in Powai, Mumbai. At Mustard, design is about passion and innovation. It is about creation…intelligent creation. Every member of the team lives this passion; it shows in the work they do.

Mustard caters to all design needs….right from Logos, Company Profiles, Brochures, Advertisements, Collaterals, Book design, Event Design, Website Design, Cdrom Design, Presentations to Software design.

Mustard has recently ventured into the field of training in design and communication software. They offer courses in Photoshop, Coreldraw, Illustrator and Flash.

“While expanding our design team , we realized the dearth of skilled people in the field of design,  we decided to train our own people. Over a period of time we realized we could  extend our knowledge and expertise to youngsters who are keen on learning design and communication through Photoshop, Illustrator, Coreldraw and Flash. Having the advantage of being in the industry for the last 10 years, our students would have an edge over others because they will be taught design and communication while learning softwares in an actual  working studio. The students will be taught solely by industry professionals.”- Anjali Menrai

‘The Mustard Maker’

Mustard is the brainchild of Anjali Menrai. Anjali is a Graduate with a BFA from Sophia Polytechnic, and a BA (Hons) Information Design, specializing in electronic media, from University of Sunderland, UK. She started her career with Lintas Advertising, going on to Speer Communications, and then taking a break to pursue further studies in UK- at a time when multimedia and Web Design was a fairly new field. Back in India, she was immediately snapped up by Tata Interactive where she worked as Head Designer. At Tata Interactive, she worked on some of the biggest national and international brands and services. Anjali has been in this field for almost 20 years.

For further information call: 98203 16930 or log on to http://mustard.in/

If you’re craving authentic American baked goods, there’s a fabulous solution. Order them from TH Bakes! TH Bakes makes all kinds of cakes and cupcakes, and delivers regularly (with an aim of weekly) to Powai. But the best thing is that proceeds are used to fund Tender Hands — an NGO that rescues and rehabilitates street children and commercial sex workers from the streets of Mumbai.

TH Bakes, as well as Tender Hands, are based in Navi Mumbai and were founded by Bernie David and her Indian husband. Bernie is an American ex Wall Street Mortgage Banker with a passion for baking and community work. You can be sure that the baked goods from TH Bakes are authentic, as Bernie’s baking journey began during childhood when she started baking in the kitchen with her grandmother and mother. They used the finest ingredients, and time-tested recipes. Now, you can have the delight of tasting them!

A wide range of American Style Baked goods are available, including apple pie, cupcakes, carrot cake, chocolate chip cookies, brownies, lemon cake, pumpkin cake, and chocolate cake. Yum!

Another wonderful, charitable thing about TH Bakes is that it also teaches and provides a life skill to woman challenged by life.

More information and a full menu of what’s on offer can be found on the TH Bakes website. (Scroll down the menu for cakes, fancy cakes, cupcakes, and cookies). You can also Like TH Bakes on Facebook.

Orders can be placed by:

1. Emailing Bernie at either info@tenderhands.org or order@thbakes.com

2. SMS or Call an order to 98707 66962 or 98707 66963.

The next delivery to Powai is on Saturday June 19th, 2010.

A couple of reviews:

“I love the cakes and cupcakes from TH Bakes. They use the freshest
ingredients and you can tell from the quality of their product. It
tastes just as good as any cake you can get from a bakery in the
USA. After having their cakes, I won’t purchase my cakes from any
other store.”

Rebecca Thompson

The TH Bakes cupcakes are the yummiest in Mumbai. The cupcakes are
fresh and taste just like they would from a bakery in New York. We
love the fact that the profits from the business go back to
supporting under-privileged kids in Mumbai. Good job guys!”

Sarah Drysdale