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

No ‘Mo’ for me please

Review – Mosate

Thanks to the Rajiv Gandhi Sea-link (thankgod  for that name, we don’t need anything more named after Shivaji) Bandra, the queen of the suburbs is less distance and a lot less traffic away. Don’t get me wrong, I am a total SOBO but I definitely think that Bandora, as the Portugese call it or Vandra as  the Marathis call it has great options as far as food is concerned. So if like me your running out of options in town head to you know where!

So on a fine Saturday evening, Culinary and familia headed to Bandra for a weekend dinner ritual to Bandra. Read on to know the chronicles of our evening.

You need to take the first left from the Sea Link, that looks like a dark alley. Alittle right and little left, you need to figure your way to Ambedkar Road. Please get the directions right before going to this place because it can be a bit complicated if your not familiar with Bandra. Located somewhere next to Barbeque Nation and instead of the Retro Rock Bar Club XI is Mosate, which means a Royal Village in Thai or so its menu says.

Beautifully decorated patio lined with waterfalls and mellow lighting leads you to the place. At the entrance you are greeted by a Chinese Laughing Buddha showing off his huge belly (tempting to touch just like a bald mans moon), a little ahead a Thai doll does the ‘Swadika’ a welcome by joining hands just like the Namaste and little ahead to the left Indonesean Garudas decorate the walls. Looking at the medley of objets d'art that decorate this place, it is clear that Mosate doesn't put "all its eggs in one basket" and serves up dishes from different South Asian countries. The beige and wood theme of the place along with mellow lighting adds to the beauty of this place.

We settle in a table with a wooden bench to one side and chairs on the other. Not very comfortable seating to note. We are served the Menu which just testifies my ‘eggs in one basket theory’. It boasts of Phad Thais, Viatenamese Pho’s, Malaysian Noodles, Chicken Pattaya Style, Khowsueys, Laksa’s and Nasi Gorengs. The Culinary Muse in me was quite impressed. If I wasn't with my family I would started dancing to “Aaj phir Jeene ki Tamana Hai” ala Waheeda Rehman Style. Yes I am a bit biased to Asian food.

Three Mushroom Soup

So we order the Three Mushroom Soup which was highly recommended by our maitre d’ in vegetarian soups. The charcoal coloured soup looked like diluted sauce soy sauce with green and red chilly flakes floating around. It didn’t taste any different except the soy sauce was full bodied and not diluted. Acerbic is the word that would describe it best. We asked him to take it back and bring us the normal Chicken Hot & Sour and Manchow Soup. I think they took the sour part of the Hot & Sour soup too seriously and made it too sour for the tastebuds. The soup tasted something like astringent not that I have tasted it but I know it cant taste worst than this. The Manchow was still edible, nothing worth writing about though.

Now after such an experience you would expect me to walk out of the place.But for the sake of you, my beloved readers, CM decided to give another shot to this place so that you would not have to go through the ordeal.

Mushroom, Babycorn, Brocolli Hakka

Thai Spicy Wantons

Our next dish again on the recommendation of the maitre d’ was the Mushroom, babycorn, broccoli Hakka style – lucky for the maitre d’ we are suckers for garlic, the dish was edible. The Spicy Thai Style Veg Wantons were like in my sisters words ‘cooked in Maggi ka Masala’. Don’t get me wrong I am a total sucker for Maggi too but you don’t want to spend Rs 160 for it. The next was the Chicken Pattaya style which literally salvaged the situation it had a pleasant oriental flavor to it and tasted yum. The Fish in Hot Basil Sauce backed up the chicken in the salvage operation with balmy flavor of the basil.

Little did we know that the salvage operation was about to fail and from here on it would only be downhill!

Chicken Farang

In the mains we order for the Chicken Farang Stir Fried with Mushroom, Brocolli in Oyster Sauce. Not to mention again on recommendation by the maitre d’. The dish looked like a crime scene from Dexter. The scarlet thick sloppy dish didn’t leave a very good taste in any of our mouths!

Reasonably priced a meal for two would cost between Rs 500 - 1000.

Verdict

Food: Puke

Staff: Puke

Ambience: Brilliant but whats the point

QuickTip: Don’t go there! If you happen to, then order by instinct and not by the maitre d’ recommendations

The Co-ordinates

Mosate, Jharna Apts, Dr Ambedkar Road, Khar West, Mumbai

Landmark: Next to Barbeque Nation

Phone: 26465133, 26465134

Is China 1 The One? ......

Ch1na Restaurant

When we reached Infinity Mall in Andheri West and took a right from the signal, a decrepit road lead us to the precarious Morya Estate. A garbage dump greated us at the entrance, we took another right to enter the building where China 1, the latest addition to Andheri’s Chinese eateries, is located. 

As I enter the premise of Ch1na, I can’t help but be caught on by the contrast of the locality and this place. The spacious outer area of the restaurant is done up in a chic and elegant manner with lounge like seating areas and palm trees. The interior of the place was swanky as well. The décor of the restaurant seemed to be highly influenced by Michael Jackson’s famous number Black or White since the entire restaurant was adorned by either colour or both. From the murals on the walls to the cutlery to the upholstery all of it. Couldn’t help but imagine how a zebra would feel so much at home here!

The place was quite occupied even on a Wednesday, mostly by mademoiselles celebrating their few hours of freedom from domesticity with each other. Chatting up on everything from the upswing in the prices of onions to the latest Loius Vuitton patchwork bag. I feel quite fashionably as well as domestically enlightened after my luncheon thanks to my neighbours. Don’t get me wrong I don’t eavesdrop, they were a tad bit sonorous emphasizing a lot on the Hermes, Guccis and Jimmy Choos.

Getting down to the food, we opted for the buffet. Priced at Rs 470 (inclusive of taxes) with one drink a beer/ice tea/ freshlime soda, it was quite an attractive offer. We started with the soups – the Clear Chicken Soup with vegetables was a ‘knorr’ kind of thick broth which tasted sweet. Quite a letdown in the first go. However the thick spicy Corn Soup, a spicier cousin of the sweet corn was tasty.

In the appetizers, the spread for vegetarian was as good as the non-vegetarian. China 1 would earn a point for that since many of my vegetarian friends complain of being discriminated against and not having much choice. First there was the Spinach & Corn Fried Wantons. A fusion dish I presume, since it had cheese, nevertheless it was quite a savoury. I gobbled up plenty. Then was the Crispy Vegetables, batterfried vegetables tossed in soy sauce which also was an equal delight. The next were the Chinese Greens were brilliant with crunchy deliciously steamed vegetables tossed in soy sauce. In the non-vegetarian appetizers there was Chicken with Cahewnuts which was delectable. The juicy chicken woken fried with peppers cashews, spices and sesame oil was sapid. On the other hand the Fried Fish in Hot Bean was rubbery and didn’t seem fresh to me. The Crab in a sought of garlic red sauce although looked scrumptious was a letdown. It tasted stale.

The Chicken Dimsum was beautiful. Minced chicken and vegetables enveloped in translucent rice wraps. Succulent. The Prawn Dimsum and Vegetarian Dimsum were passable but no match to the chicken one. On the whole while the poultry and vegetarian dishes were palatable the sea food was unsavory and tasteless.

For the main dishes there Chicken in black bean sauce – mildly flavoured with garlic and peppers it went well with the corn fried rice. One thing I noticed however was that the quality of rice was not that great. The Hakka Noodles were Plain Jane nothing outstanding about it.

When it came to the desserts, there was an enormous spread from blueberry cheese cakes to chocolate soufflés, to chocolates fountains and brownies. However all except the fresh fruits were a humongous disappointment. The chocolate sauce from the Chocolate Fountain was syrupy and not thick. It tasted like cement with sugar (not that I have tasted cement but you get my point), the Choco Sticks to be had with the sauce was limp and stale. The Chocolate Brownies, I think were  for people suffering from diabetes with no trace  of sugar or any other taste. The fresh fruit spread was nice with kiwis, strawberries, melons, papayas and grapes but however couldn’t compensate much for overall dessert disappointment.

Verdict: The Food is a Mixbag, Hospitable Service, Good ambiance

So getting back to my question, Is China 1 the one? The one Chinese restaurant that appeases both the gourmand and the miser in you? The miser maybe but not the gourmand. Although the spread is value for money, my suggestion would be to skip it or go only for the vegetarian and poultry dishes. Don’t bother to tryout the sea food or the desserts. I see a huge compromise in quality on that front.

QuickTip: Take those uninvited relatives who you hate but have to entertain. After all its value for money!

The Co-ordinates:

Ch1na, G-05, Morya Landmark 1, Plot B-25, Off Link Road, Andheri (W), Mumbai

Landmark: Opp. Infinity Mall

Phone: 42723333