Uncategorized – Ghumta Bhukkad

Chat and Chatori Baat at Kakda

Published on February 21, 2017February 21, 2017 by Ghumta BhukkadLeave a comment

After 4 months and 3 failed attempts, we were finally able to plan and execute this visit to Kakda Ramprasad, Kilpauk.

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We have visited Kakda Ramprasad, Mint Street multiple times, But have only tasted Aloo Tikki, Jalebi and Pani-puri. Never ventured into their menu to find out if anything else is there because when you go to mint street only a single place cannot be on your mind. So whatever we order, we make sure that we are hungry to accommodate more.

Last Sunday we managed finally to be at Kakda. The Moment we got down from our cab, what we looked at was “Oh My God! Crowd”(Blame it on the Sunday chat lover).

This Kakda Ramprasad is a neat and spacious place unlike the Mint street branch, where people will literally squeeze you to pick their order.
This is a Sweet shop where they have put up the chat stalls with few high tables and no chair. Once we settled down with the thought that yes we are here, one of us quickly went straight to the cash counter queue and others were deciding what to order.
And we bhukkads started with the order of 3 Pani-puris, 1 Sevpuri, 1 Bhelpuri, 2 Aloo tikkis, 1 Pav-bhaji. And mind you, all this was for only 3 people. We also wanted to order Grilled Sandwich and Jalebi but our stomach ditched us(I hate it sometimes).

jalebi

Aloo tikki :-
We have already told you guys about this many times and only thing we want to say is this is our favourite. With that piece of paneer on top of it to lure us, with the perfect blend of all the chutneys and with that perfectly cooked tikki, this is a Winner.

alootikki

Sevpuri :-
Taken me to Mumbai, you beauty!
Yes, unlike many other places in Chennai they serve sevpuri on the papdi and with that tiny perfectly crispy cooked sev sprinkled all over it.

bhelpuri-sevpuri

Bhelpuri :-
Not our type, only bad dish for the day.
It was too dry for us and we won’t order it again when we go back.

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Pav-bhaji :-
When a cook knows how much masala is required to make your taste bud go crazy. That is the perfect recipe for Pav-bhaji.one of the best places to have pav-bhaji in chennai is this and another best for us is Novelty Tea House. It is served with fresh pav, with butter all over.

pavbhaji

Pani-puri :-
They served crispy puri dipped in 3 different type of water; Hing(Asafoetida) ka pani, Jeera(Cumin) ka pani and Pudina(Mint). You can have it with all or you can make a choice, it depends on your liking.

One thing which we liked about this place is the hygiene quotient and that is why you pay more. For us, it was worth every penny we spent.

Picture Credit : – Sumita pai

The Breakfast Story: A tale you eat!

Published on November 24, 2016 by Ghumta BhukkadLeave a comment

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They say “If you have a heart, your work becomes an art”. So true!

One such work of art, serving with all the heart is ‘The Breakfast Story’. Located at a peaceful, not-so outskirt location of the city of Nagpur, a step inside and you drown into a different feel. We have been visiting since its inception and till date it never fails to make us fall in love with it every single time. One of best ambiences in the city and equally great food make this place the busiest in the city.

Every corner of this beautiful place is a person; different emotion, different mood. And anyone who enters will have his favourite person (read as corner). Ambience of this place is so pretty that I can go on and on.

While admiring this place with those little puppy eyes, we move towards what is our main agenda; FOOD! O yes, food can never be forgotten.

So we aimed towards this menu! A smart and chic menu! Choicest for all! Well the fun part of this place is while they have a fixed menu on card; they keep doing specials for weekdays, weekends, special days and so on; everything equally alluring.

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With such an amazing menu, we finally decided to at least get a head start. To start with, we ordered the Corn n Cheese Sandwich with an Espresso shot. Kick start as they call it!

The Corn n Cheese Sandwich; A tasty delight! A bite was enough to say how good it was. Generous amounts of Corn in Cheese served with Mashed Potato and brilliantly done Coleslaw. We knew we had a great start.

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Espresso Shot; Look at that! Served with cookies, it is apt to give that much needed kick for the day.

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Following this was confusion; a want for more and such a huge spread. We finally decided over the next in order, Mashed Potato, Curried Chicken Sandwich and A Hot Coffee.

Mashed Potato; Possibly the best we had! Such smooth consistency and beautifully herbed this is, we love every bite of it and savour it for long.

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Curried Chicken Sandwich; Such apt name and equally apt taste which lingers on your tongue for long. Loved the chicken!

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Hot Coffee is love! Drowning down in a conversation with this beauty in this ambience is the best feeling. Love this!

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And the third course for us was still pending (our hearts couldn’t get fulfilled). So we resorted for The Egg Salad Sandwich and Thai Curry with Noodles.

Egg Salad Sandwich; this is the best in my opinion. I love the fillings so much. Creamy, refreshing, eggy and everything good about it.

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Thai Curry with Noodles; one authentic preparation for the Thai Curry with nicely done noodles to end with was such a fulfilling experience. Happiness!

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The Breakfast Story is an experience in itself, you are at ease, at peace inside those doors. A special mention of the owner Mr. Mukul Kulkarni for his amazing hospitality and a connect to people in a way you feel like going back again and again.

Highly Recommended! Much Loved!

Cream Center – The Veg Edge

Published on January 9, 2014January 9, 2014 by Ghumta BhukkadLeave a comment

We were on our way on a very very hungry Sunday afternoon to try some exotic restaurant in Chennai , and on the way we happened to glance at Cream Center in nungambakkam. They didn’t have hordes of people waiting in line which is rare, generally there are long waiting lines on weekends and pronto all plans changed and we immediately parked our vehicles ,got a table as soon as we entered into the restaurant which would have definitely given a high competition to a fish market in terms of the rising decibel 😀 We placed the order asap as we were pretty mesmerized by their Menu and we were all super hungry,our friend who was accompanying us had already had food there a lot many times helped us with the order .We must complement them on bringing all different kinds of cuisines under one banner and giving so much thought to their menu and the mouth watering pictures posted on it. The ambiance though loud is quite spacious and full of light from their huge french windows and pastel hued surroundings.

We ordered :

Worlds Best Nachos : The nachos tasted good and it gets full points for arriving at our table bathed in pool of creamy cheese 🙂 and as much as we totally devoured the food in seconds , to claim it to be “the worlds best nachos” would definitely require more complimenting flavors, as in a small portion of salsa which is traditionally accompanied with nachos, we sort of missed the acidic sourness in between mouthfuls and also the presentation can be made more attractive. After all it is a fine dining restaurant.

Paneer Ka Baap : Their menu which has enticing food pictures and short descriptions of the food, mentioned that it is a sinful combination served all in one platter :” original Paneer tikka, lal mirch paneer tikka, hariyali paneer tikka, kali mirch paneer tikka and tandoori salad, surely it is the baap of all tikkas”. But then little did we know that they meant that the baap (father) of paneer tikka is aloo (potato)!! As only one piece each of the above mentioned paneer tikkas were given and the other row (as you can see from the picture ) was big chunky cubes of Aloo, which I have to mention here was not cooked properly as it was very hard to cut with a fork ! Most of us left those Aloos on the plate. The taste of the tikkas was better than most places we have tried tandoori versions of paneer, with the paneer being soft and flavorful here, we liked the hariyali paneer tikka best.

Italian Baked Sizzler : This truly was the show stopper for us and the best order of the day. You cannot venture to cream center and not have one of their sizzlers as every few minutes a sizzling aromatic sizzler is flown past the table by one of the waiters. Since we were tasting all sorts of cuisines, Mexican, Indian and all,we decided to go for an Italian sizzler and boy were we happy. The whole combination of red sauce spaghetti and cheesy macaroni, parmesan cream baby potatoes and the bits of grilled and steamed veggies was really good. The taste well balanced.

Penne Arrabiata Double Baked : We ordered this dish owing to it being written in their menu that it is a combination of both herbed italian red tomato sauce and 4 cheese sauce, and also because the picture in the menu looked pretty seductive 😛 The pasta did taste good as the herbs were delicately balanced but we didn’t find any traces of the 4 cheese sauce in it , as the picture below shows there 3 tiny dots of cheese probably used more for presentation than for taste. It tasted very much like a normal arrabiata pasta and we certainly expected more.

Methi Aloo Parantha : We totally consider it a cardinal sin if parantha does not have a good dollop of butter on top when it comes to the table. Totally unacceptable. We made this order more as an after thought and considering how hungry we were and it seemed like a good small portioned meal combination but honestly the paranthas were lackluster! ( that coming from big fans of piping hot paranthas). The raita was thin in consistency, we prefer it to be a bit thicker and the dal makhani was reasonably good along with it.

To finish off, this is one of the first restaurants that we have mixed feeling about, usually it being a definitely we are going back for more or nope we are never stepping in but here I think we have to be truly seduced or allured by great company to persuade us to try more. Their food certainly tastes good and there is a huge array of dishes to choose from but certain bits lack detailing which should not be ignored amidst a sea of crowd also.

Ambiance – 3/5
Service – 3.5/5
Food – 3/5
Price – 400- 600 rupees for two(approx.)

Note : This is not a paid review. It’s based on our experience of going there and we paid for our own meal.

Chef Express- Beasant Nagar.

Published on January 3, 2014 by Ghumta Bhukkad2 Comments

Went there on an already bad day for us in terms of food .So was expecting something great and happening which could uplift our mood.As eating out most often does for us. Good food and friends can pretty much work all sorts of magic for us in life 🙂

So this place is in Besant nagar, and therefore our expectation of good food rose, as this locality is quite the crowd puller and generally this place seems quiet from outside, so we selected it. Oh and also a board outside the restaurant displayed buy one pizza get one free (which we decoded once we went in, was actually for the order of a large pizza you get a small pizza free)! The interior is decent with a touch of italian theme wall motifs and tiled topped tables. Its spacious or maybe it seemed so for the lack of people around 😛

Anyway getting to the food, We ordered :

Veg Manchow soup :- Its a pretty standard order for us because it is usually pretty tasty and most restaurants mess it up the least. It was good here with the right amount of vegetables and flavor in it.

Garlic bread with Cheese : we are not sure what they were trying, but it seemed like a copy of the pizza hut garlic bread but was not at all the same in taste. Although the bread was soft there was not enough garlic flavored butter spread on it. The cheese was also bland.

Picante Curry Pasta :- We would rather call it paneer butter masala pasta! It was such a set back ,it was like they had put pasta in paneer butter masala curry which you can eat as a side dish with naan or roti, it was so so very indian that we cant emphasize enough on it and more over it wasn’t a very tasty panner butter masala. It definitely had more oil in it and was very spicy, with chunks of paneer in it and no semblance of it being Italian at all, with a drizzle of mozzarella cheese on the top as garnish. On asking much later for the Garlic bread that was to accompany the pasta they apologetically told us they forgot and got two pieces of garlic bread and although the bread was soft there was not enough butter spread throughout the bread and it distinctly lacked the garlic flavor in it !Also it tasted somewhat sour the parts it did have butter.

Sizzzler(the name of which cannot be remembered !!) : They took the longest time to get this on our table and then gave half burnt rice with very little flavor, it was plain rice with the tiniest tinge of butter, veggies were less in quantity and it was kind of burned with an amalgamation of herbs and spices which did not give off any distinct flavor, also the vegetables seemed to be not that fresh, there had put the sides of old chewy cucumber ,along with tomatoes seasoned in salt and pepper. The main vegetable consisted of some brocolli, onions and bell pepper with some corn kernels. French fries were ok. Also must tell you that this is the first sizzler we have seen which came to the table without any sizzle at all 😦

May be Italian is not there niche …we seriously don’t know what is. This restaurant is in such a prime location with a comprehensive menu, only if the food were better they could have cashed in so perfectly. Its a pity!

Ambiance – 3/5
Service – 2.5/5
Food – 2/5
Price – 300- 500 rupees for two(approx.)

Note : This is not a paid review. It’s based on our experience of going there and we paid for our own food.