There's one thing I love about India - you always manage to find unique and quirky restaurants, stores, coffee places etc. The Egg Factory struck me as one of those.. the menu has dishes predominantly made with (you guessed it) eggs, the decor is industrial and bare, interesting anecdotes line the walls and the menu is this nice and compact piece of paper folded in 4.
Lilian and me ended up here for lunch after a very lackluster shopping day - one sip of the Pink Lady though and I was refreshed! It's a smoothie with cherries, almonds, yogurt and banana ( yes, I got mine without b-fruit .. yuck :)) and I could have had 2 of 3 of them and be done with lunch. But I had to try the famous egg dishes, so I restricted myself to just one. I will go back and OD on it some other day though.
Egg Factory has every conceivable egg dish on it's menu. Everything looked great, but I opted for a Manipal bread scramble - it's like bhurji tossed with chunks of bread so that all the flavor just soaks into everything... yumm! I could just imagine coming here for a late night snack after a night of crazy partying - although in Bangalore that would be like 11pm :)
Definitely recommended!
Thursday, January 28, 2010
Thursday, January 21, 2010
Not quite foggy-food-for-thought
Hello Bengaluru - home for the next four months!! I'm going to *try* and blog about my culinary adventures in this city that is touted as India's Silicon Valley.
So far I think I've made a good start - I had Rajathani thali at Rajdhani, Chinese food at the very overpriced and over rated Ping, and some good Italian food at 100 Ft. Not bad, in my first 2 weekends here :)
So lets start with Rajdhani - one of the things that you miss the most about India is the food. I was looking forward to eating an authentic Indian thali after several years, and a little scared about whether I would have the room in my little tummy to try all the delicacies they would put on my place. Turns out my fears were well placed - I lost track at some point of the number of dishes on my plate. At last count there were 4 kinds of sweets, 4 kinds of rotis, about 6-7 sabji/dal combinations, dahi wada, farsan, 3 kinds of rice... you get the picture... enough food to send anyone into a food coma. To add to the amazing variety of food, Rajdhani is located in UB City - an over-the-top designer brand name mall in Bangalore! Defintely worth a visit - but definitely not for the calorie-conscious or the faint-stomached.
Ping - the less said about the place the better. To me, this restaurant embodied everything that could go wrong when one person's awesome vision for a high-class Asian eatery in India is reduced to dust because of the lack of vision and quality in the wait staff. There was nothing really wrong with the food at Ping - it may have been way to spicy and garlicy (if that is a word) for me, but hey, my stomach is no longer an Indian stomach so who am I to complain about that. There was a time when I used to find this food yummy, and maybe in 4 months I will again! What was wrong was the the wait staff - who did not let us know about specials, did not answer our questions on what was good here, and made us order way more food than necessary. It makes you wonder... maybe India can boast of fancy restaurants and world food, but are they really doing justice to it?
Thankfully, 100 Ft made up for the Ping disappointment... the bruschetta was comparable to what I would have had in a US restaurant. The pasta was creamy, and had a smattering of Indian spices, but stayed true somewhat to what a penne primavera should be. We skipped dessert because we were full - but turns out dessert is not to be missed here. Definitely going back!
So far I think I've made a good start - I had Rajathani thali at Rajdhani, Chinese food at the very overpriced and over rated Ping, and some good Italian food at 100 Ft. Not bad, in my first 2 weekends here :)
So lets start with Rajdhani - one of the things that you miss the most about India is the food. I was looking forward to eating an authentic Indian thali after several years, and a little scared about whether I would have the room in my little tummy to try all the delicacies they would put on my place. Turns out my fears were well placed - I lost track at some point of the number of dishes on my plate. At last count there were 4 kinds of sweets, 4 kinds of rotis, about 6-7 sabji/dal combinations, dahi wada, farsan, 3 kinds of rice... you get the picture... enough food to send anyone into a food coma. To add to the amazing variety of food, Rajdhani is located in UB City - an over-the-top designer brand name mall in Bangalore! Defintely worth a visit - but definitely not for the calorie-conscious or the faint-stomached.
Ping - the less said about the place the better. To me, this restaurant embodied everything that could go wrong when one person's awesome vision for a high-class Asian eatery in India is reduced to dust because of the lack of vision and quality in the wait staff. There was nothing really wrong with the food at Ping - it may have been way to spicy and garlicy (if that is a word) for me, but hey, my stomach is no longer an Indian stomach so who am I to complain about that. There was a time when I used to find this food yummy, and maybe in 4 months I will again! What was wrong was the the wait staff - who did not let us know about specials, did not answer our questions on what was good here, and made us order way more food than necessary. It makes you wonder... maybe India can boast of fancy restaurants and world food, but are they really doing justice to it?
Thankfully, 100 Ft made up for the Ping disappointment... the bruschetta was comparable to what I would have had in a US restaurant. The pasta was creamy, and had a smattering of Indian spices, but stayed true somewhat to what a penne primavera should be. We skipped dessert because we were full - but turns out dessert is not to be missed here. Definitely going back!
Q, Chloe's and Park Chow - brunch anyone?
My laziness has finally caught up with me, and I decided to condense my reviews for these three places in one big brunch post!
Lets start with Q - I went here with my swim friends. It's all the way on Clement Street, parking is a pain here so be warned. The place itself is pretty small, we got seated all the way in the back. Our table was funky (in a good way), there was this tree trunk in the middle of the table, added an interesting touch to the decor of the place.
The service was a bit random... our server kept telling us that the coffee mugs were missing and brought us our three coffees one by one. The food was pretty good brunch fare. I got an omelet with corn and some spicy salsa. Lalitha got the french toast which was pretty good too. Overall I would say the place was good... was it worth the trek all the way to the Richmond though, not sure!
Ok the next place is also that side of town - Park Chow is right outside the Golden Gate Park. Again parking here is a pain, but if have a lot of money, you go into the park and park at the De Young :)Park Chow is really popular - you can tell because the place is pretty big, it has two levels but it was full. There's a really cozy feel to it, maybe because of the giant fireplace downstairs. We were a group of 8, so we got put upstairs in a large, spacious room. This place is good for kids - I always have trouble finding places to take my friends who have kids, so this is a great find! The food is a mixture of traditional brunch options with some Asian and Italian options thrown in. Pretty good food and service. Overall, this seems like a good place to start the day off with a nice relaxed lunch, and walk across to the park and hang out - definitely recommended!
Last, but not least is Chloe's - it's a block away from my apartment, and I don't go there nearly as often as I would like. Why? This place is super-popular, and tiny! Which means, you end up waiting for a table for at least 45 minutes, and they don't take reservations. But, Chloe's makes you wait for a good reason - the food is awesome, made with fresh ingredients and always flavorful. I love their rosemary thyme bread - the french toast and most of their omelets. So, if you have a couple of hours to spare one weekend, make the trip to Chloe's - it's definitely worth it!
Lets start with Q - I went here with my swim friends. It's all the way on Clement Street, parking is a pain here so be warned. The place itself is pretty small, we got seated all the way in the back. Our table was funky (in a good way), there was this tree trunk in the middle of the table, added an interesting touch to the decor of the place.
The service was a bit random... our server kept telling us that the coffee mugs were missing and brought us our three coffees one by one. The food was pretty good brunch fare. I got an omelet with corn and some spicy salsa. Lalitha got the french toast which was pretty good too. Overall I would say the place was good... was it worth the trek all the way to the Richmond though, not sure!
Ok the next place is also that side of town - Park Chow is right outside the Golden Gate Park. Again parking here is a pain, but if have a lot of money, you go into the park and park at the De Young :)Park Chow is really popular - you can tell because the place is pretty big, it has two levels but it was full. There's a really cozy feel to it, maybe because of the giant fireplace downstairs. We were a group of 8, so we got put upstairs in a large, spacious room. This place is good for kids - I always have trouble finding places to take my friends who have kids, so this is a great find! The food is a mixture of traditional brunch options with some Asian and Italian options thrown in. Pretty good food and service. Overall, this seems like a good place to start the day off with a nice relaxed lunch, and walk across to the park and hang out - definitely recommended!
Last, but not least is Chloe's - it's a block away from my apartment, and I don't go there nearly as often as I would like. Why? This place is super-popular, and tiny! Which means, you end up waiting for a table for at least 45 minutes, and they don't take reservations. But, Chloe's makes you wait for a good reason - the food is awesome, made with fresh ingredients and always flavorful. I love their rosemary thyme bread - the french toast and most of their omelets. So, if you have a couple of hours to spare one weekend, make the trip to Chloe's - it's definitely worth it!
Firefly!
I've been dying to try out Firefly for over a year now.. and finally got to do it thanks to the urgency of checking out my favorite SF restaurants before I leave.
Firefly was everything it promised to be - the place is charming, with this whimsical feel to it. The food is good southern cooking, meaning that it's so heavy that you feel the need to hit the gym the next day. But the food is soo good that it's worth it!
We went for the prix fix menu one weeknight - it includes an appetizer, main course and desert and is a great deal. We were four of us, so we ended up trying most of the things on the menu between us. Appetizers were beet salad, baby lettuce salad, brussel sprouts and shrimp dumplings. The main course was really rich - if you see the pictures you'll know what I mean. They are really not stingy with their portions, and the amount of cheese and butter they put in it :) But that's what makes the food soooo good I guess. I couldn't finish my main course, besides I had to save room for dessert. Which, as expected, did not disappoint!
Firefly is one of those places that demand a special occasion - it's not cheap, and the ambience is romantic and very cozy. Definitely an awesome date place! As someone once said - " If I ever propose to someone, I'll bring them to Firefly to do it!" (you know who you are ;-))
Adieu San Francisco....
Or should I say... till we meet again my dear city by the sea.
It's been about a month since I started my 4 month break from San Francisco. It's not long, but for some reason I felt like I had to get through some restaurants on my list before it's too late.
Anyway, the result of that was that I ended up trying a whole lot of new places, and revisited some good old ones in my last month in SF. Of course none of them made it to this blog, it's not my fault I'm lazzy!
So, here's my attempt to update you with little tidbits on all these amazing places I went to, and what I would recommend.
Xanh - This is a French-Vietnamese restaurant in Mountain View. The place is huge! It's very modern and chic-looking, with a nice bar/lounge area out front. The drinks menu is pretty extensive and they have some very interesting cocktails. I played safe and got the lychee martini - with extra lychees of course!
I was really impressed with the food at Xanh - they had a lot of the standard asian menu options like papaya salad, but also had some unique items. We had the grapefruit salad - tofu, pineapple, grapefruit in a nice, tangy sauce. For entrees we got the Clay Pot with some coconut rice - the Clay Pot was ok, just a large piece of tofu with some sauce, I've definitely had better. But, the other entree, an eggplant dish (no I did not eat the eggplant!) was a big hit around the table.
Dessert was another highlight... we ordered a couple of things that looked almost too pretty to eat. I'm glad we ate it though :) because both were really yummy! I forget what they are called, but have photos up, one of they looks like a pyramid and is named something like that too.
In a nutshell... Xanh is a great restaurant to go with a group, or for a date, especially if you are in the South Bay!
Tuesday, June 23, 2009
Flour + Water
What is with all these new pizza places opening up in the Mission? First there was Beretta, and now Flour + Water which has the same concept. Gourmet Italian food and thin crust pizzas.
We went to Flour + Water as part of my extended birthday celebrations. After Radio Africa Kitchen on Friday, my girl friends took me to Flour+Water on Saturday. This is why your birthday should fall on a weekend :) Apparently this place is crazy popular, the only reservation they had available was for 10:30 pm. So, we decided to try out luck and show up there anyway, since they hold half their tables for walk-ins.
We were seated pretty promptly, and our server was this really sweet Asian girl. I think we were starving... we ordered a salad with avocado, marinated beans and some kind of lettuce, two margherita pizzas and two pastas - between 3 girls. In our defense though, the pasta was tiny, and the pizzas really thin, and Grace was hungry after her triathlon. Anyway... the food was pretty good, I think the pizzas at Beretta are better, but the pastas were good. I think the highlight of the meal for me was dessert - no surprise there :) We got a pistachio and honey kulfi kind of thing, with cherries... quite delicious.
So... I don't know what I think of Flour+Water. It didn't impress me so much that I'm dying to go back, but it didn't unimpress me so much that I wouldn't go back.
http://flourandwater.com/
The best restaurant in San Francisco!!!
Or atleast one of the best.... there is only one word to describe Radio Africa Kitchen - AWESOME!!! RAK has been on my radar for atleast two years and so when my friends said they would take me out for dinner there to celebrate my birthday I jumped at the opportunity. Why did I wait this long? Well... to start with I thought that the style of dining was communal, so you had to have a large enough group to be able to go there (I was wrong, or maybe thats how Chef Eskender Aseged started it?), and then the menu changes weekly so I was waiting for a menu with some great veggie options. As if on cue... the menu for my birthday had a fantasy of vegetables with beets, carrots, lentil and basmati rice... yummy.
RAK is a nomadic kitchen, it's open only on Thursday and Friday at Coffee Bar - awesome coffee shop during the day, restaurant at night. The place has a really cool, industrial vibe to it. It's not a date place - the noise levels are so loud that they could compare to Beretta. But it is a great place to go with a large group of people, because then you can do what we did - order family style :) The menu is pretty limited, and the familiy style prix fixe menu of $35 per person had more than enough food for everyone and let us get a sample of everything on the menu. And trust me, you want to try every single thing on the menu.
Our dinner started off with tartine bread and edamame hummus, an arugula and feta salad, and a couple of fish dishes that I don't quite remember. The next course was barley and mushroom soup. At this point everyone was already blown away by the food, and the entrees only got better. We had a lamb dish, a fish dish (I should really get a meat eater to co-author my blog, I am doing no justice at all to all the meat dishes which were apparently quite spectacular), and the vegetable fantasy I mentioned before. By the end of the main course we were all so full that dessert looked iffy - but one look at the thin slice of chocolate cake and the hibiscus cream soda (I know... how exotic!) and we all knew we were going to eat dessert even if it made us explode.
So, there you have it... after four courses of some pretty amazing food, we dragged ourselves out of there completely stuffed and satiated.
http://www.radioafricakitchen.com/
RAK is a nomadic kitchen, it's open only on Thursday and Friday at Coffee Bar - awesome coffee shop during the day, restaurant at night. The place has a really cool, industrial vibe to it. It's not a date place - the noise levels are so loud that they could compare to Beretta. But it is a great place to go with a large group of people, because then you can do what we did - order family style :) The menu is pretty limited, and the familiy style prix fixe menu of $35 per person had more than enough food for everyone and let us get a sample of everything on the menu. And trust me, you want to try every single thing on the menu.
Our dinner started off with tartine bread and edamame hummus, an arugula and feta salad, and a couple of fish dishes that I don't quite remember. The next course was barley and mushroom soup. At this point everyone was already blown away by the food, and the entrees only got better. We had a lamb dish, a fish dish (I should really get a meat eater to co-author my blog, I am doing no justice at all to all the meat dishes which were apparently quite spectacular), and the vegetable fantasy I mentioned before. By the end of the main course we were all so full that dessert looked iffy - but one look at the thin slice of chocolate cake and the hibiscus cream soda (I know... how exotic!) and we all knew we were going to eat dessert even if it made us explode.
So, there you have it... after four courses of some pretty amazing food, we dragged ourselves out of there completely stuffed and satiated.
http://www.radioafricakitchen.com/
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