Month: August 2019

It’s  not frequent that we visit a restaurant whose owners have put out a lovely write up about them and their dishes on social media.
One such place we visited, breaking the barriers in our mind after reading a post on PEO from Shreya Jain was Pink Turbann.

I have never been to Delhi. But from past 2 decades I am a fan of Chhole Bhature served by a guy in Surat and for me he was synonymous to authenticity.
In Pune we have already tried Chhole Bhature from Raju Uncle k  Bhature outside Bhartiya Vidyapeeth Campus, who serves them delicious indeed but then reaching there from Baner is one Herculean task.

One such lazy Saturday morning we were browsing through internet for some yummy breakfast place on PEO/Zomato. We read the post and added it to our go-to list. With turn of events eventually we went for a lunch at Pink Turbann.

We were driving down from Baner, near Medi-point Hospital, Google Maps said your destination is in right and we were surprised to see a small residential lane and thought
that this is some Map glitch; but then we remembered the post and she wrote that “it is in by-lane”. We parked our car on the main road and started walking, crossed 3-4 houses in the lane and small bungalow on the right side with Pink Turbann written was found to our delight.

It’s a small place with 2 room seating area, one room has table and chair setup and other room has Indian sitting with mattresses and tyres to sit on.

After wisely going through our options, we chose to sit down for our lunch. We had a nice little chat with Shreya and Aunty who is the owner/chef. They told us about how theidea called Pink Turbann started and how Aunty likes to cook and serve.
We had a quick look at menu and we ordered Jalandar wale Chhole -Bhature, Kadhi Chawal, Lassi and Butter Milk.

Jalandar Wale Chhole Bhature :- Chhole was perfect for us and also for one of our friend, who went after we told him about this.
They served it with 2 Bhature stuffed with paneer, aloo chaat, onion, green chilly and mint-coriander chutney.

Kadhi Chawal :- Kadhi was served the way North India likes it, sour and hot pakoras dipped in it served with steamed rice.

Lassi and Butter-milk were as usual.

We are definitely going back to try another dishes from menu but Chhole Bhature will be constant and this place is one of our favourites in Pune.

Happy Eating.

Once you have stayed in South India, 2 things you will never forget if you are a foodie:
1. Sambar’s Aroma and
2. Filter coffee.

Its been 2 years that I have shifted to Pune after staying in Chennai for 7 years and search for that factor, search for that flavour, search for that something
different was futile, as Pune prefers sambar on the sweeter side.
I have been to endless South-Indian joints from chic place to thik place but still my taste buds weren’t satisfied.
In one such endless search, we accidentally came to know about newly opened place called Idliwale.

Gathered our self on Sunday morning and sailing through rains we reached Baner in the search of idli that can take me back south.
With lots of questions on my mind, How will the idli taste, How sambar will taste sweet, spicy or tangy, and chutney ?
With too many thoughts and drama on mind, we reached the parallel and secluded lane to high street with no issues of parking.

Idliwale is a Small shop which is simple and elegant, with half of it is occupied by the Open kitchen and half of it has this wooden platform by the wall, where you can have your food, at any given time 4-6 people can stand inside and I am sure that place is going to get lot of footfall.

Upon entering you get to see black board hanging on the wall listing down dishes they serve.

 

I must appreciate them for that practical and meaningful thought of serving limited items. Sometimes restaurants try to put too many things on the board and end up not living up to the expectations. Hence thumbs up!
We ordered Idly sambhar, Idly chutney and Filter Coffee.

Idly Sambhar :- They served 3 idly and topped that up with Sambhar.
Idlys are same as you expect them from the South Indian place, soft and subtle.
Sambhar has a hint of Karnataka Flavours in it, tangy and spicy luckily not sweet the way pune likes it.

Idly Chutney :- They serve 3 idly and topped that up with green Chutney which has coriander and mint flavour, best thing about chutney is flavours are not very empowering so that allows me to taste the essence of idly.
Additionally they also give  white chutney, which is of peanut with curd and coconut it has a local hint of Pune and dry chutney of dal, garlic and kadi patta(their take on the Podi)

Filter coffee : Some or the other way pune has disappointed me when it comes to Filter coffee. my benchmark for the coffee is Sarvana bhavan, Chennai. Coffee was okay.

I am definitely going back to have my regular dose of Sambar.

Note : Carry your own water bottle, else you will have to purchase small bisleri bottle worth Rs 6 from them.

Happy Eating !