Sunday, April 21, 2013

Of Coffee Shots & Sister Bonding




Review:  The Pier

A lonely shy kid once prayed to God, to give her sibling (er.. a brother actually so that she could tie him a rakhi every year).  But God had different plans for her...

After 2 cancellations (one due to a private party & one due to it being a weekend), I finally get my booking at The Pier. A dinner reserved for some bonding with The Sibling.

My sister and me are poles apart. Clearly our sizes are the first testimony to this fact. We have quite different tastes too. Her Music: Boulevard of Broken Dreams; My Music: Pani Da Rang. It’s hard to get along with such contrasting tastes, let alone bond!

Aptly named The Pier overlooks the Arabian Sea and is where Tetsuma used to be, right next to what used to be my favourite club Athena and not so favourite one Prive. The décor of Pier is chic and minimalistic; dim lighting setting the cosy mood, the long bar looking promising and antiques that remind you vintage shops around Colaba.

The menu is quite unusual in a good sense actually, the cocktails our maitre d’ stresses were specially designed for Mumbai’s scorching summer and the mains are fusion European with hints of Asian flavours.

The sibling is quite a forgetful missy. She leaves her wallet somewhere, keeps her marksheet somewhere and can take the whole house on her head when she can’t find things. I frankly want to give her lecture on responsible behavior... (psst I hope this blog does the trick)

The Mushroom Cappuccino


The French Onion Soup
We start with soups – Mushroom Cappuccino for her and French Onion Soup for me. Both of us love the cappuccino – frothy mushroom broth served in a cuppa makes for a delicious dish. The French Onion with its promising presentation was however horrible. As sweet as sugar water and with a bad after taste. Must completely avoid!



The Sibling obsesses over herself 24/7. Is my hair proper, how’s my top, do they go with my new Zara Pants? Yes! I want to scream, you are so perfect that anything looks good on you! But sisters know better than to tell the other they look better. Stop rolling your eyes, it’s a sister thing!

The Watermelon Cooler

In the drinks we are recommended the Hot Toddy – for my soar throat, good for the throat but you can give it a miss otherwise; The Red Wine Sangria – a beautiful blend, a must have! And the Watermelon Cocktail – again smooth on the taste buds.

Beer Battered Calamari with remoulade sauce

After that we go in for our appetizers – the Beer Battered Calamari – beautiful crisp calamari rings giving you the crunchy noise in every bite! And when teamed with the spicy remoulade you have a perfect brunch snack.

The Sibling and me love shopping, we can walk for hours and hours in malls to spend The Father’s mehnat ki Kamai. On our recent trip to the US both of us would eat sleep and breathe shopping. Alas we have something in common, however superficial it may sound!

Atlantiv Scallops with Thai Curry

In our mains we order for the Pan Seared Atlantic Scallops with Thai Curry – a dish with a name so fancy could not be any less, beautifully cooked succulent pieces of scallops surrounded in a pool of zingy thai curry with passion fruit bitters made it delighting.

Mushroom Risotto

The Wild Mushroom Risotto – was another dish I totally recommend here. Now like those heavy on the stomach risottos, this one has the perfect consistency!
The Cottage Cheese

The next was Cajun Marinated Grilled Cottage Cheese with Saffron Sauce Summer vegetables and Olive mash – very okayish dish.
The Gnocchi
The Gnocchi – with its garlic, sage and butter combination was heavenly. Again a must have.

The Sibling and me can’t stop chatting with each other if we are in the same room, we can comment on each others dressing, skin, hair, dark circles, choice of men. What follows are huge sarcastic arguments. The ‘Talk to the Hand’ & ‘Rolling My Eyes’ don’t get over and by the end of it both of us are in splits...rolling on our beds in the humor we have, but can share with no one except each other!
The Coffee Shots

Before moving to the desserts we have the Coffee Shots – I liked the milk one but the black coffee was to strong. The maitre d’ then asked me to mix them. Potent is one word for that. Not for the faint hearted for sure

The Panna Cotta

In desserts, we choose the Vanilla Panna cotta – beautiful silky creamy pudding (the French will kill mw for calling it that) surrounded in a pool of cool strawberry soup. A beautiful end to the meal.

So God must’ve thought and thought and rethought of the 7 year old’s ardent prayers and instead of giving her just a sibling, he gave her a friend. For life!

Like all good things, The Pier’s food comes at a price. A meal for two would cost Rs 3500 - 4000 with alcohol.

Verdict:

Food: Good
Ambience:  Serene
Service: Courteous


Quick Tip: The Pier, brings to you some beautifully chosen dishes. Kudos to the chef for his selection. Have the Panna cotta, stay away from the French onion soup and you’ll be happy!

The Co-ordinates:


The Pier
Where: 41/42, Minoo Desai Marg, Behind Radio Club, Colaba
Tring Tring: 022 60660036, 022 60660037 
Timings: 7:30 PM to 1 AMFood Type: European
Payment Methods: Credit cards accepted

Friday, April 5, 2013

The Sound of Eating


Review: Nom Nom


For some people ‘eating’ is mechanism of survival, for some others its yet another chore but for my kind, food is sacred, and eating is like praying, I am me, I am the happiest when am chomping on deliciousness. I know most of you reading this feel the same... Thats why they say Great Minds think Alike J

Recently CM got out of her comfort zone (ie SOBO) and ventured into the land so far .... er um called Bandra (yup its a bit far by my standards) to place named after the sound of eating... Nom Nom

Tucked in the galli of KFC, this is Nom Noms second outlet with the first in Versova.

The ambience of this place transports you to some exotic far east country like Thailand. Rustic wooden decor with minimalistic lighting gives a soothing touch and totally cuts you from the noise and commotion of linking road.

The menu of Nom Nom offers quite a variety of Thai, Chinese, Japanese, Singaporean dishes.  Today we were here to sample their ‘Tea Pairing menu’








Black Pepper Chicken
We were greeted by a cheerful Maitre d’. Our first dish was Black Pepper Chicken - succulent pieces of chicken topped with the spices, the dish was good just a tad bit salty for my taste. He paired this with the Basilur Ceylon 
Green Tea. On being asked why this pairing he gave a very ambiguous answer. The tea didn’t go well with the chicken either. It sort of made it taste more salty










The real benefit of pairing tea with your food is to cleanse your palate (something like what a soup would do) and enhance the taste and flavour of the dish. The Ceylon green tea failed on those parameters.

 
Our next dish was the Basa in Lemon Coriander Sauce – fillets of fresh basa tossed spring onions and garlic made for a very pleasant taste. The tea recommended – Basilur White Magic was just appropriate. A light tea with a milky sweet aroma and smooth sweet lingering taste combined with delicate meat was like a match made in heaven.










The next was the Vegetable Dimsums, quite good these dimsums seemed to have some kind of a fusion going on with cheese bursting into your mouth on the first bite.

The Chicken Dimsums weren’t very impressive, the skin was too doughy and you could taste the rawness of it.






In the mains we ordered for the Burnt Garlic Fried Rice and the Chicken in Chilli Basil Sauce. Again subtle flavours of the chicken made for a very good meal. This coupled with Basilur’s Cream Fantasy Tea was perfect. The hint of strawberry and vanilla in the tea just made the taste of mains very pleasant and delicious.




Nom Nom by today’s standards seemed like a very affordable place. A meal for 2 would cost anywhere between Rs 1000- Rs 1500.

For my towny ‘Obnoxious Lemur’ SOBOites, Nom Nom is soon to open an outlet in Fort!

Verdict:
Food: Good
Ambiance: Aesthetic
Service: Good

Quick Tip: Take a trip to the Far East with the flavourful food here. Stay away from the dimsums and you won’t have anything to complain!

The Co-ordinates:

Nom Nom

Where: 1 & 2, Delux Mahal Building, Ground Floor,Opposite Mini Punjab Restaurant, 16th Road, Bandra West, Mumbai


Tring Tring:  - 022 30932030

Timings: 12 Noon to 1 AM

Food Type:Thai, Burmese, Indonesian, Japanese, Singaporean, Malaysian

Payment Methods: Credit cards accepted









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