Hungry? Dial Ate-Oh-Ate

Review: Ate-Oh- Ate

“No rules! We just wanted to have fun with food” says Gaurav Dabrai of Under The Banyan Tree fame who started a takeout/delivery place called Ate-Oh-Ate two years ago. The kitchen is located out of Tardeo and managed by the brother duo - Gaurav & Siddarth Dabrai.

They have just come up with a new menu with dishes like 'Ching Chong' Pasta – pasta from the east and No Name, yup that’s what the dish is called NO NAME. This all vegetarian place boasts of some quirky dishes and most of all regular patrons. Sadly delivery is limited to Tardeo, Breach Candy, Mumbai Central and areas around.

Some of the dishes I tried were -

Twice Baked Mushrooms – baked mushroom heads stuffed with cheese and peppers. Quite good

Yellow Thai Curry Rice

Yellow Thai Curry Rice – Piquant coconut based curry, even though vegetarian Thai Curry is an oxymoron this one is actually good and my favourite!

No Name

No Name – Yup this is a quesadilla meets lasagna topped with tomato concasse filled with mushrooms, peppers. Yummy.

Lasagna Exotica

Then was the Lasagna Exotica – beautiful silky sheets of pasta layered over a bed a mix veggies topped with this acerbic buerre noisette - butter cooked with basil till it becomes brown and exudes a nutty flavour. There are very few people who serve dishes to such precision & Ate-Oh-Ate is one of them!

Mushroom Stroganoff – a creamy mushroom gravy served with steamed rice. While the dish missed the white wine, it was flavourful.

The Fettuccine in Curry Sauce – Believe me I am not believer fusion cuisine but this dish had a beautiful zesty coconut flavor to it. A must try!

On an average quite reasonably priced, a meal for 2 would cost anywhere between Rs 400-500.

I just wish they would start delivering to other parts or open more outlets.

Verdict:

Food: Good

Quick Tip: If you stay around the area, do not miss the chance to treat yourself  to hearty soulful meal from Ate-Oh-Ate. Me? I am just praying they start in Colaba soon... 

The Co-ordinates:

Ate-Oh-Ate

Where: Maniyar, Tardeo, Mumbai

Tring Tring:  - 022 23548808, +91 9819008808 

Timings: 11:30 AM to 9 PM

Food Type: Multi-Cuisine

Only Delivery in Mahalakshmi, Tardeo, Mumbai Central, Breach Candy, Kemps Corner

It’s the thought that matters...

Review – Food For Thought, Kitab Khana

I love libraries and bookstores! Can spend an entire day at such places surrounded by books of all shapes and sizes & the smell of the oak wood shelves. And thus when I noticed this new book shop in flora fountain I couldn’t help but get inside.

It was sheer luck and I must say a good one that I noticed this store while scurrying for my admission fornmalities. The name itself ‘Kitab Khana’ is very old school and just adds to the vintage charm that flora fountain/fort exudes. Not the usual Landmark and Oxford kind, this bookshop is neither humouguous nor is it over flowing with people. Just the perfect atmosphere! You know the kind Bombay Stores and Fab India give. Ofcourse not a day there is a sale.

What I like about this place is the layout and architecture. At every turn you’ll find something new. Some of the walls are engraved with doha’s by Sant Kabir, verses of Sant Tukaram and other great philosophers.

Located to the far left corner of this bookshop is a quaint cafeteria called Food for Thought. A charming and dainty café, of just 7-8 seats, walls of which are adorned with movies related to food – Ratatouille, Julia and Julia, No Reservations. Mental Thought: Culinary Muse loves this and promises herself to get these for her home. Anything to do with food!

The all vegetarian menu lists down a limited yet impressive selection of Appetizers, Salads, Sandwhiches, Pastas, Deserts and Drinks

Penne Aglio Olio

We get on to ordering. The first Penne Pesto – is brilliant with yummy, nutty green sauce, cherry tomatoes, fresh basil flavor and a portion of bread on the side. The second pasta – Penne Aglio Olio was too dry and tasteless, quite a disappointment compared to the Penne Pesto. In the drinks we had the Ginger Lemonade, which was quite refreshing considering it is still so hot. The Earl Grey Tea was the normal, tea bag version.

Apple Crumble

In the desserts, we had the Apple Crumble – beautiful presentation with Cinnamon Powder sprinkled all the over, the dish was an equal delight in taste. The crunchiness of the outside crumb and the soft warmth of the apple inside was just brilliant.

A meal for 2 here would cost anywhere between Rs 250 – Rs. 500

Verdict

Food: Good

Ambience: Old School

Service: Slow yet Hospitable with the owner personally interacting with everybody

Quicktip: Don’t be lazy, forget Flipkart for a day, come buy a new book or just explore the ambience of Kitabh Khana and give Food For Thought a try! The Apple Crumble is a must!

The Co-ordinates

Kitabkhana, Somaiya Bhavan, 45/47, Mahatma Gandhi Road, Flora Fountain, Fort , Mumbai

Timings: 10:00 AM to 7:30 PM (Open All Days)

Food Type: Continental, Fastfood, Confectionery, Cookies

Band, Baajaa, Baraat

Review – Wedding Café & Lounge

 

Located on Andheri's very much buzzing, traffic choked and crowded Link Road, above the Mercedes and Apple showroom; Wedding Café's is the newest addition to the burbs. With an exterior brightly lit like a house where someone is to wed, the interiors were quite a contrast, soothingly lit in mellow lighting. The place isn't much of a café, more like a lounge; it has an impressive bar area, sofa's for the lougy feel, the dining tables and private dining areas. Earlier they had a designer store by Umair Zafar which is now being converted into another private dining area. The wedding café brings into India the new trend of themed restaurants that have already been popular abroad. The Café is positioned to be a one stop shop for wedding planning – with the owners, the Lucknowalla's wedding planning consultancy called Vivaah, and tie-ups that offersolutions from the mehendi, outfits to jewellery. Novel concept but popularity? we still need to wait and see.

Coming back to the place, everything at the café was white in a very western way. Whoever designed this place took the concept of the 'white wedding' too seriously. From the table covers, a frosty white lace to the walls, eggy white to the annoying lampshade in the middle of the table again white. Frankly I was sort of disappointed to see a lack of the whole Indian shaadi touch to the place. I'd expected to see bright coloured dupattas for white curtains, diyas instead of electric lamps, genda phool instead of roses. Yeah am a sucker for Indian traditional wedding, s Chopra style, those that start with mere haathon mein 9 -9 chudiyaan hai and end with Shahrukh Khan devouring his phirni. But I am not complaining the the dim lighting, rose pink brass cutlery and not to forget nice techno music made for pleasant ambience.

Coming down to the food! Oh wait did I mention the menu looks like a wedding album? Oh yes a long horizontal wedding album which lists down the menu along with perspective honeymoon places! So ladies whenever you want to make the hint take the guy there :P. Also the menu boasted of Italian, Spanish, French, American and Japanese cuisine. Every dish also had a wine written below indicating the 'Perfect Match'. Impressive

Finally coming down to the food, we started with the soups. The first one a Cream of Asparagus, which was light, creamy, mildly flavoured in short quite nice but the killer was the Cream of Chicken Soup – lighly flavoured and creamy with chicken juliennes the broth should be truly embodies what is called chicken soup for the soul. The soups were served with toasted garlic bread which just added to the delight.

Moving on to the appetizers we ordered for Vegetarian Tapas. Tapas is a Spanish word for snacks, usually served with drinks (See More in World Café Section). The presentation of this dish was brilliant, but taste wise it was quite a disappointment. The tofu, deepfried and crusted in a bland black cover, the veg balls tasted like koftas gone bad, the sautéed mushrooms were very okay, the Mozrella sticks were palatable and the stir fried vegetables were insipid. The next dish was the Shrimps on Skewers – which tasted delectable with butter garlic sauce painted on it. However the shrimps tasted a bit stale, not fresh succulent.

Moving on to the main course, we ordered for the Fettucini with Basil and Grape tomatoes – the flat pasta cooked in scarlet red tomato and basil sauce was fiery and flavourful. The Chicken Marsalla – chicken grilled to golden brown perfection stuffed with mushrooms topped over saffron flavoured risotto (there is a choice between mashed potato and saffron risotto, choose the risotto) was brilliant from the well cooked chicken steak to the flavoured mushrooms and mild saffron milky flavor of the risotto, the dish was a delight. The next dish – the Costa Rican Stuffed Tortilla with Pumpkin Sauce - a sort of rajma wrapped in tortilla was too dry and lacked any kind of flavor. And pumpkin sauce? Is that even edible?

In dessert we ordered for the Love Boat – with again looked really impressive on presentation but tasted nothing better than a Mongenise pastry. Not the goeey melt in the mouth kind

On the whole, the place had some really good moments and some not so good ones. The vegetarian food needs some serious working on. Priced on the richer side of the world, a meal for 2 would cost anything between 750 – Rs 1000 w/o alcohol

Verdict

Food: Mixed bag

Staff: Hospitable

Ambience: Good

QuickTip: 'To be Weds' come here with the folks, yours and the laws, for a nice continental ambience and meal. Or ditch the folks and come celebrate your last few days of singledom with your single friends, who are turning green out of jealousy and those that are married, who will tell you about the 'grass' that may be greener but is also catching fire on the other side. Whoever you come with try and order as much as non veg.

 

The Co-ordinates

Wedding Café & Lounge,

B-104-106, Kotia Nirman,

Above Mercedes Showroom,

New Link Road, Andheri (W), Mumbai

022 61558999 

Timings: 11:30 AM to 3:30 PM, 7:30 PM to 12:30 AM

Food Type: Continental

Payment Methods: Visa, Master, Cash