SWEET BENGAL.

If there is a go-to place for Bengali sweets , it is Sweet Bengal. With many outlets spread all over Mumbai , it makes access to proper Bengali sweets very easy. This place is also a good learning place for all of us who think of ‘Roshogulla’ and ‘Rasmalai’ at the mention of sweets of Bengal. And you get to meet the Bengali owners who are as sweet and accommodating as their ‘Mithai’.

So we visited an outlet and were delighted at the sight of the sweets put on display. We started with Kheer Kodom which is a speciality of these outlets. We were then suggested to try 4 different types of Sandesh. The next item was mind-blowing in literal sense : Malai Toast ; the taste of this particular thing will make you forget all the rasgullas you have ever tasted. Next on the menu was a pretty looking thing : Mohan Bhog. Mohan bhog = pure heaven! Then came the Mishti Doi ( no westernized flavored yogurt can beat this desi dahi !) Too many sweets ?? We have two more to go : 1. Chitrakut : this is also a paneer based sweet which is not too sweet and gives you a good feeling even if you eat more than 2-3 pieces at a go and 2. Langcha : this is malai filled Gulab jamun in an oval shape ( who wouldn’t want to eat this ?). Langcha is available in many varieties but I will be loyal to the Malai Langcha only !!! And we also did try our beloved Roshogulla which I guess doesn’t require any description.

Just in case you are wondering did we actually eat all of these , the answer is yes and we did take a box-full home as well!!! So go grab your share from your nearest outlet and get soaked in Pure Bengali Goodness!!!

  

Kheer Kodom

Sandesh

Sandesh - Variety

Malai toast

tempting?

Mohan Bhog

Pretty pictures

Mishti Doi

Must try!!

Chitrakut

The mighty one!!

Malai Langcha !!

Rosshogulla

!!!!!

MURLIDHAR SWEETS AND FARSAN                                                                       

Pleasing the taste buds of people in and around Dahisar (East) and Borivali (West) since almost a decade, Murlidhar offers a great variety of sweets and comes up with special new ones every few months. This is one place which is always flocked by people no matter what the occasion and even without an occasion. You will never require a special reason to come over to this place and take home a box of sweets.

As a part of “Diwali Special” review we decided to cover up some sweets shops and this was the first place we stopped by. We viewed many products, tasted some of them and we recommend all of them at least once. Starting with we had the special sweets: Blueberry, Orange Tart, Choco Block, No Sugar Apricot ( Good news for diabetic sweet lovers: Murlidhar offers a wide range of sugar free sweets as well), Motichur Ladoo, Gulab Pak ( this thing smells too good ) and Kesar Halwa. These were few sweets that we tasted because the names are really very interesting and so is the taste….as interesting as the name !!

We also tried three Shrikhand out of some 7-8 varieties they have and each one tasted better than the other and at the end it’s difficult to decide which one to go for but we finally ended up zeroing on 3: Panchratna ( with real fruits pieces ) , Rajbhog ( royal in literal sense ) and the classic one: Kesar.

We also did try the Kesar Basundi which was tasty beyond words and we learned that you get Sitafal Basundi every Sunday !!!

For more information do visit www.murlidharsweets.com

So , just in case the words haven’t succeeded in making your mouth water, scroll down for the pictures and check it yourself and even if that fails to tempt you , a visit to Murlidhar is a must !!

Blueberry

Orange Tart

The tart steals the Heart

Choco Block

No Sugar Apricot

Motichur Laddoo

Gulab Pak

Kesar Halwa

Rajbhog Srikhand

Panchratna Srikhand

Kesar Srikhand

Kesar Basundi 

GREENS RESTAURANT, MALAD WEST

A place very hard to miss when you are driving on the link road between malad and goregaon, Greens is a restaurant which has become a landmark and even the rickshaw-walas know this place. And anyone who visits this place will totally agree with the popularity of this place. Famous for its South Indian, North Indian and Fast food items, it is very difficult to come out of this place dissatisfied. We are regulars at this restaurant and would recommend it to everyone to try it atleast once. We bring to you North Indian Cuisine this time and we bet you are going to be very hungry by the time you get done reading this review.

Starting with the starters, we had asked the manager to suggest us their speciality and he told us to order Paneer Tikka and Veg Manchurian Dry. Thinking okay a regular dish we were waiting for it and as soon as we saw it we had a jaw-dropping expression on our face ( I am not exaggerating....you will believe when you see the photos). The paneer was fresh, the masala on the paneer tikka blended to perfection and the taste of those authentically grilled tikkas is what we experienced in this plate. The Manchurian also tasted as good as the tikkas and we were in a food bubble by the time main course arrived. For the main course we had ordered ( again on the recommendation of the manager ) Paneer Mumtaz with Roomali Roti, Butter Kulcha and Butter Roti. Panner Mumtaz sounds different and as the name suggests tastes different as well but “Different in a good sense” – it is panner stuffed with a mixture of capsicum and boiled green peas and dipped in red gravy with chunks of paneer (So much paneer!!) and it is neither too spicy nor too bland on taste and the texture also is different – something between not too smooth and not too coarse. The Roomali roti was excellent but I would suggest having Butter roomali roti and not plain. The Kulcha was so good that you could eat it alone without needing any subzi to accompany it and so was the tandoori roti ( it’s a speciality according to Ajeenkya). We then ordered Tawa Pulav, again a favourite of ours. The veggies in the pulav are always crunchy and the dish on the whole has a subtle taste -  a properly balanced dish we can say. For the desert we ordered Kulfi Falooda and it was pure heaven. Falooda sev topped with sabja seeds topped with rose flavoured milk accompanied with raspberry jelly and kulfi slices this dish a devil in its purest form. You just cannot resist biting into it as soon as you see it.

So as it can be made out from the menu, we had a feast and then we could hardly move after the meal. An important thing to be noted is this is one restaurant which is easy on the pocket and heavy on the quantity. The quantity they provide easily feeds three people in one order. The staff also is quite friendly and always has a welcoming smile on the face. We suggest visiting this place with family when you want to celebrate dinner time so that you don’t have to worry atleast about the food and its quality and quantity!

And we won’t keep you waiting any more...go scroll!!!!

 

Paneer Tikka

The corners tasted the best

So did the salad 

Manchurian Dry

Tempting 

Paneer Mumtaz and Roomali Roti

The stuffed paneer on the extreme left of the bowl

Butter Kulcha

Butter Roti

Tawa Pulav

Kulfi Falooda

Look at that !!!

This totally cannot be resisted 

OVENFRESH, DADAR WEST

One of the best vegetarian places located at Shivaji Park in Dadar, this place never disappoints you. A problem only vegetarian foodies can relate to is, it is very difficult to come across a place which offers only vegetarian food when it comes to Italian and Mexican cuisines. But Ovenfresh solves all our problems if we are in the same area and craving veggie Italian and Mexican. We have visited this place many a times and the menu still seems new even after ordering a new dish every time we visit. Here is a little rundown of our last visit to this amazing place.

We started our meal with the Ovenfresh Signature Nachos, a dish every Ovenfresh regular swears by! Baked beans, Glucamole, Salsa and Sour cream create a medley of taste in your mouth with every savory bite and the melted cheese acts as the cherry on the top....it’s a sure thing that you won’t be able to share it with anyone. We then ordered Passion Fruit Punch to fill in the gap between the order and well because it sounded tempting enough !!! ( Passion Fruit = Passion Food....get my point? ) This glass of Punch knocked us off our senses with its rich sweet and sour taste. A simple looking glass of an innocent looking juice played havoc with our taste buds as we took our first sip. I would personally recommend having this if you are a Fruits person. Moving on we had ordered Chilly Paneer in Manchurian Sauce – a sizzler which again is the speciality of the house. Not singing praises or something but you can find sizzler on practically all the tables at Ovenfresh. And who won’t have sizzlers which makes you a fan of vegetables? The French beans and carrots are so fresh I will be a happy customer even if the serve me with only those two indtead of the whole sizzler plate ! You can experience the perfectly burnt and smoked taste in the veggies, the fries and the rice/spaghetti in your sizzler.

Coming to the favourite part of all the meals, Deserts, the deserts at Ovenfresh are to die for!! One, they look delicious and two, they taste as good as they look. We had ordered two of them. 1. Desire! Yes that’s the name and yes they do look and taste exactly like the name. 2. We ordered Tiramisu. I am not launching into the details of the taste of these deserts because if not for the food it’s a personal request please visit this place for its deserts !!!!

So yes, like always we had a wonderful time eating at this place the only complain being the staff here really need to come back on earth from whichever place they are on cloud nine because the restaurant works on the quality of the food and not on the snobbishness of the staff! It is difficult to place order, ask for water, ask them for serving and in general have their attention on you for 5 minutes straight. That is the only disappoint you face from time to time. I guess the staff works in two shifts because they never disappoint all the times you visit but this particular batch was treating all their customers as if they are some “Fatichars” sitting in the restaurant for some free food!! But if we forgo the staff, the food here really makes it up for all the other nonsense that goes on !!

Sooooo......scroll down for the photos without waiting much!!!!

 

Ovenfresh Signature Nachos

What to eat and what not !!

Passion Fruit Punch

Such a cute yellow!!

Chilly Paneer in Manchurian Sauce

Mouth = Watering 

DESIRE!! 

Tiramisu!!

Stop looking...go eat !!

GIRGAON KATTA , BORIVALI WEST.

Wanting a change from the regular western cuisines we were browsing for something regional and came across this place Girgaon Katta in Borivali West which serves Maharashtrian food and not to forget, wonderful food actually.  We actually had to eat here on two different days to provide you guys with an elaborate menu because the quantity of their food is really worth a mention.

Without much ado let us move on to the food people! On the first visit we started with the maharashtrian favorite of every non-maharashtrian, Dahi Misal ( because I am not brave enough to try the typical spicy misal at a typical maharashtrian food joint ). To be very honest, the very sight of misal will make you drool and I actually had to stop myself to start eating before taking the photo. Every bite was delicious and spicy!! Yes, even the dahi misal was spicy and we could actually feel that aroma and taste that you usually smell in a maharashtrian household. Moving on we ordered another speciality, Thalipeeth!! This too tasted wonderful and was accompanied by a dahi chutney which balanced the taste of thalipeeth with excellence. Next on the menu was Batata Vada !! I personally believe no food experience is complete if you don’t eat the batata vada or vada pav when you mention Marathi cuisine. The vada came with the dry lasoon chutney ( yumm!! Yumm !! yumm) and every bite of the vada took my senses away !! I also tried eating the vada with misal making it a Vada Misal dish ( courtesy : Mr. Ajeenkya Salvi…. Some wonderful perks of having a maharashtrian friend ;) )

 Okay…. Enough with the vada now, let’s move on to the day 2. My foodie partner was fasting so the obvious choice this time was fasting dishes. This paragraph is dedicated to navratri fast although it is over but fasting food can actually be enjoyed even without having to fast so starting with some delicious and obvious food item we ordered Sabudana Khichdi. It was very very fresh with the aroma so good that again it was difficult to hold on the urge to keep the phone aside and start hogging and ofocurse go by the word, you won’t regret this choice. This tasted as good as home-made, mom-made khichdi  ( literally maa ka pyaar in every spoonful ) . We also ordered Faraali Misal ( yes!! It’s absolutely necessary to taste misal in every form ) This dish also tasted wonderful. A layer of potato bhaji , topped with sabudana khichdi and faraali chivda this was quite a plateful and heavy!! One misal and you are done with one meal! And I had read an article so I had to order the Kothimbir Vadi. Accompanied with pudina chutney this vadis were crunchy and yummy and the best part was all of these were mine !!!

Yes we did eat quite a lot and after this we also had few things to drink!!! Don’t wonder how much we eat just enjoy and keep scrolling. On the first visit we ordered Piyush and Kokam Sherbet. Again two very famous drinks from the Marathi cuisine and the next day we had Taak!!! All of these were so delicious that one wasn’t enough and we had to give a repeat order .

So , I had my perfect regional outing which stretched on for 2 days and I bet this small joint will not disappoint you at all. A feeling of homecoming is what you feel when you eat here and a special mention to the Man on the counter. An old man of aroung 60-65 years with a smile so good you will see your grandfather in him !!! If not for the food I would personally recommend visiting Girgaon Katta just to see this Man!!!

Dahi Misal

You get to choose how much dahi you want in the misal!

Vada!!No description needed!

Thalipeeth and the dahi chutney.

Savory yet simple!

Piyush and Kokum Sherbet

Choose : Half or Full

Sabudana Khichdi

Faraali Misal

Kothimbir Vadi