CHEELIZZA

Cheese + Pizza + Sandwich = Yummylicious meals! A small joint with a limited menu, Cheelizza doesn’t disappoint the pizza lovers but provides a welcome change from the other pizza chains. With a revised menu ( which is very appealing by the way) we decided to go here for lunch one fine day and we were pretty impressed.

As soon as we entered the place, the aromas of the food being cooked made us all the more hungry. So after contemplating a lot we decided to settle for Cheesy Garlic Bread, Classic Crunch Pizza and Chilli Milli Toastatos. The garlic bread was delicious beyond expression and better than what our leading pizza chains provide! The pizza too was very well made except for one small hitch – the pizza bread tasted a little sweet like that of a donut. Other than that the pizza was yummy and perfectly cooked with crisp onions and capsicum. And the sandwich did full justice to its name – cheesy and spicy in perfect balance and was served in brown bread which gave it a whole new taste.

The food was good but to become a little more public-friendly apparently needs to give a quicker service because after smelling the food once it is very difficult to wait for 20-25 minutes for your food to arrive especially when the breads are ready and you are the only customers present ! 

So worth visiting once in a while…serves good food….reasonable rates which makes quick small bites possible when you do not want to eat anything fancy.

Ambience: 3.5/5

Service: 2.5/5 ( Friendly but very slow)

Food: 4/5

Weight on the pocket: Affordable.

Cheesy Garlic Bread

Chilli Milli Toastatos

right amount of chilli jo cheese se milli

the Classic Crunch clearly visible

served with the proper pan and all !! :p

THE IRISH HOUSE

“In Heaven, there is no Beer!! That’s why we drink ours here!!” so says the beverage coaster on every table at The Irish House. Known particularly for its beer and the pub-like warmth as they put it, this is one place that should be on everybody’s bucket list. Serving excellent food with a continuous flow of booze Irish House did win a permanent fan in us.

On an impromptu visit here we decided to go for the set meal combos instead of going through the pain of selecting a la carte. We ended up ordering both Veg. and Non-Veg. Meal sets. The meals are set at affordable prices and include a House Salad and a Mocktail with every meal. For the veg. part we ordered a Vegetable Delight which is a delightful mix of sautéed vegetables accompanied with a yummy Potato Rosti. The flavor was subtle and gave a pleasant change to the taste buds from the regular pasta dishes (but for everyone who does not wish to look beyond pasta….you have that too on the menu). For the non-veg part we went for the classic Barbeque Chicken Burger which was accompanied with all-time favorite Peri-Peri Fries. The burger was juicy with all its sauces in the right amount and it was amazing beyond words! They also had almost 4/5 varieties of mocktails to choose from and we decided to go for Fresh Lime Soda and Virgin Mojito.

With a limited portion on your plate but still an almost three course meal, you and your tummy will undoubtedly leave the place happily post lunch (exactly like how we did). We would personally recommend this place for its overall awesomeness: food, music, service, ambience and booze!!

Ambience: 4.5/5

Service: 4/5

Food: 4/5

Weight on the pocket: Will burn a hole visible to you and the people around you! (but it’s totally worth the bomb that you pay.)

Vegetable Delight

with Potato Rosti and House Salad

Barbeque Chicken Burger

with Fries and House Salad

Virgin Mojito

Fresh Lime Soda

Awesome Beverage Coaster.

ALFREDO’S , THANE.

Alfredo’s created quite a hype around its name when it newly started but unfortunately it couldn’t live up to the same. Highly expensive with ridiculously snobbish staff at their disposal this restaurant offers nothing that you haven’t seen before. We decided to dine at this place on a weekday and what we experienced was utter disappointment.

Firstly we were given a super-warn welcome because we told them we were there to write a review and offered their special dishes as well. So for the starters they suggested we try the vegetarian version of Sicilian Garlic Chicken where the chicken was replaced with paneer and we were served Sicilian Garlic Paneer. The dish was made in tones of garlic and tossed in pesto sauce. Although the garlic gave a nice taste to the dish the pesto did not go well with it and I would suggest not to go for it if you do not like garlic ( in abundance ) + pesto (in abundance). For the mains we were served Conchigle Verdure Pasta which was decent enough to taste but not worth paying a bomb for a quantity which can barely satisfy the hunger of one person. Then comes the deserts the list of which had some 5-7 items to select from but the only things available were Brownie with Ice Cream and Scoops of Ice Cream. And the excuse for the lack of these deserts was that our pastry chef isn’t available today. What do you confer from this?? I leave it upto to you readers. So yes we did skip the deserts because after hearing a no for almost 4 options we were in no mood for a “Brownie”.

So, this place greatly lacked all that it promises and left us highly dejected. The only good thing that happened here was that we got a 50% off on the bill because we made the payment using the Axis Bank card.

Ambience: 3.5/5

Service: 2/5

Food: 3/5

Weight on the pocket: burns a big fat hole!!

Sicilian Garlic Paneer

Conchigle Verdure.

CHHOTU’S KITCHEN, BORIVALI WEST.

A place which used to be a stall on wheels visible only after sunset few years ago is now a proper cabin-restaurant open from lunch hours till midnight and still is a favorite among all the regulars. Chhotu’s Kitchen has been serving Chinese to the people in Borivali and has loyal customers even in the surrounding areas. And the best part is no matter what dish you order -  Veg. or Non-Veg you will never be disappointed.

So lunch one day happened at this place and we ordered a veg. starter and 2 main courses – one veg and one non-veg. The starter was a mandatory order of Veg. Manchurian Dry. This dish at chhotu’s never fails. You can have only one whole Manchurian plate and go to la-la land. The main course included Veg. Schezwan Noodles and Chicken Fried Rice. The schezwan noodles were typical – hot and spicy yet mouth-watering. The chicken fried rice too was amazing and the chicken used was fresh. Having even half a plate here satisfies the Chinese food urges and if you are anywhere in borivali west this is a go-to place for quick Chinese bites and definitely non-disappointing.

Also these people have a welcome dish of sorts consisting of Fried Noodles and Schezwan Chutney with comes on every table along with the glasses of water. 

So all in all, this is a pretty average place serving delicious food and has a good and attentive staff. The only thing lacking here is the ambiance which suits the food. But then anyways the food makes up for the minor glitches so worth a visit once in a while.

Ambiance: 2.5/5

Service: 3.5/5

Food: 3.5/5

Weight on the pocket : somewhere between average and pocket-friendly.

Veg. Manchurian

Veg. Schezwan Noodles

Chicken Fried Rice

Welcome Dish -  Fried Noodles and Schezwan Chutney.

BALAJI DOSA, GOREGAON WEST.

Bonus review time people. This review came when hunger was calling one fine day and we knew nothing could satisfy us except the ‘road-side stall wale Anna ka dosas.’

Dosas are our go-to food and all-time favorites when we are not in the mood for anything else which our beloved city offers. It has become “the comfort food “ and therefore it is difficult to find one lane in Mumbai without a dosa stall!!! So we did come across one such stall in Jawahar Nagar, Goregaon West, Balaji Dosa Centre. Delicious dosas with a continuous banter from Anna, there will dedinitely be a next time to this place whenever you think of dosas.

·       

              Mysore Masala Dosa – an all-time favorite of one and all this dosa tastes divine and you absolutely won’t stop at just one!

MYSORE MASALA 

·         Chinese Dosa -  although the dosa doesn’t taste as good as it looks, it’s okay to taste it once in a while.

CHINESE DOSA

·         Onion Sada Dosa -  this is the most popular among the residents of jawahar nagar….you see every single person savoring this dosa at the stall.

·         Balaji Special -  an amalgamation of all the varieties of dosas Anna offers, it is a must try because as the name suggests, it truly is special and heavenly!!

STAGE 1

STAGE 2

STAGE 3 & READY

BARBEQUE NATION, ANDHERI

This is one place which has earned many positive reviews from people of all age!!! Visited for lunches and dinners with friends and family, for birthdays or just for celebrating food Barbeque Nation seems to be the new hot thing in town. Located in a quaint little lane diagonally opposite Fun Republic, this outlet welcomes a wide variety of crowd especially during the lunch hours. And with the range of dishes presented for both vegetarian and non-vegetarian foodies, shelling out some extra bucks than usual once in a while won’t be a big problem.

So we also decided to have a look at this new hotspot and were quite impressed. Talking about the Non-Vegetarian side first as it’s our first non-veg review, the menu was quite impressive. Starters: off the grill : Chicken Lollipop and Mutton Kebab and on the grill : Fish, Chicken and Prawns – the lollipop tasted too good, fish marinated in green gravy tasted wonderful and so did the rest of the starters. The only complain being they weren’t as hot as you expect the grilled dishes to be.  On the buffet was Mint Ball Chicken Soup which tasted amazing. For the main course : Crab in Schezwan Sauce, Balti Fish Curry, Butter Chicken, Mutton Darbari and Chicken Dum Biryani – all of which was delicious beyond imagination with the dum biryani being the cherry on the top!

CHICKEN LOLLIPOP & MUTTON KEBAB

FISH,CHICKEN & PRAWNS

MINT BALL CHICKEN SOUP

CRAB IN SCHEZWAN SAUCE

BALTI FISH CURRY

BUTTER CHICKEN

MUTTON DARBARI

CHICKEN DUM BIRYANI

The Vegetarian Course now! The vegetarian starters: Peanut Rolls and Cajun potatoes off the grill and on the grill: Paneer, Pesto Mushrooms, Corn Medley and Pineappple. The soup of the day was Cream of Tomato Soup which tasted as authentic as it should! For the main course the vegetarians had a lot to choose from ( probably to make up for the lack of chicken, fish and the likes). So here goes: Malaysian Noodles, Veg Do Pyaza, Aloo Jeera Tadka, Veg Kofta Curry, Lajeez-E-Chaman, Corn Palak, Dal Tadka, Dal Makhani, Plain Rice and Veg Handi Biryani (Phew!!! Imagine what was our condition by the time we were done eating if you are panting after reading the menu !! :p :p). The Malaysian Noodles were my favorite for the day ( biased towards Asian and Italain Cuisine!!)

PEANUT ROLL & CAJUN POTATOES

PESTO MUSHROOM, PANEER, CORN MEDLEY & PINEAPPLE

CREAM OF TOMATO SOUP

MALAYSIAN NOODLES

VEG DO PYAZA

VEG KOFTA CURRY

ALOO JEERA TADKA

LAJEEZ-E-CHAMAN

CORN PALAK

DAL TADKA

DAL MAKHANI

PLAIN RICE

VEG HANDI BIRYANI

The deserts included both Indian and Western varieties: Gulab Jamun and Phirni for the Indian and Mango Pudding, Raspberry Cheese Cake, Chocolate Magic Pastry, Peanut Fudge Brownie, Fruit Cake and Ice Cream ( Strawberry and Vanilla with three sauces to choose from : Chocolate, Mango and Starwberry).  The place also has a live pasta counter where the chef tosses the pasta of your liking once given the specifications.

GURU KRIPA, SION

A family run business, Guru Kripa is a favorite among the locals, students and everyone else alike. A small place with a regular décor, this place is said to serve the best street food ( namely the Mumbai special chaats with its own special Punjabi variations). Crowded almost the whole day, you will never find place to sit without a wait for almost 5-10 minutes. But the food here is totally worth the wait and all the other problems you face in reaching here.

So coming to the food without much delay, we ordered the specialty ( the thing Guru Kripa is most famous for) – Samosa Chole. This plate is pure delight! The samosas are layered with chole and served with sweet chutney and freshly cut onions. And you will find this plate on almost every table. The second plate we ordered was Ragda Pattice ( or Chole Tikki as it is rightly called!) So again this is the pattice of our ragda pattice served with chole instead of our regular ragda as we get at the pani puri stalls. And lastly we ordered Chole Bhatura (you can’t go to a Punjabi place and come out without savoring this dish can you?) They serve chole bahture with salad, raita and papad…..personal recommendation because their Boondi Raita served with this dish is to die for!!!!

And thus concluding, the food was excellent, the staff efficient enough to handle the crowd but a little overworked by the looks of it and your satisfaction level = 100%.

Ambience: 3/5 ( especially if you are too choosy about the places where you eat)

Service : 3.5/5

Food : 4/5 ( only because certain items weren’t available when asked for)

Weight on your pocket : friendly !!!

 

Samosa Chole

Ragda Pattice/Chole Tikki

Chole Bhatura

QUATTRO RISTORANTE, LOWER PAREL

Even in a big city like Mumbai, it is difficult to come across places serving only vegetarian Italian and Mexican cuisines but Quattro Ristorante makes an exception. Situated bang opposite the Palladium, this places is easy to locate and easy to fall in love with! With a long menu and appetizing dishes available, we had a hard time deciding what to order and what not…..so we went by the golden rule….if a place serves good starters and good deserts, it definitely serves good food!

We started by ordering one of each Italian and Mexican starters. For the Italian we ordered Risotto Palle which is a combination of cream risotto and cheese, crumbed and fried and for the Mexican we ordered Nachos Grande consisting of tortilla chips topped with cheese sauce, Mexican beans, tomato salsa, guacamole and sour cream. Both these things tasted amazing. And not to forget, the quantity made us full and there would be a need of only one starter if only two people are going over to this place. Moving on to the deserts, we ordered Tiramisu which looked amazing and it comes with a chocolate spoon!!! Unfortunately the cream had turned a little sour and we brought it to the chef’s notice and surprisingly he honestly did accept that the cream was sour and readily crossed out the item from the bill even after we repeatedly declined his offer to do so. Second choice in desert was Chocolate Dunkers, chocolate, caramel, gelato - what more can one ask for!!! By the time we were done eating, we were in heaven….floating in foodgasms.

Soooooo….this place….ambience : good, staff: super duper good, food: no words to describe!!! Would we recommend visiting this place? Absolutely!!!

the dips!!

a vareity to choose from !!

Risotto Palle

and it's awesome Cocktail Dip

Nachos Grande

Mouth-watering!

Tiramisu and the Chocolate Spoon

yummy!!

Chocolate Dunkers

Gelato!!