The Tasting room - Retro chic feel

The Tasting room is one of the best restaurants in Mumbai in terms of ambience; it's retro European look. It was on my list for over a year now. 

I loved the place from the moment I entered the restaurant. We ordered a white wine sangria pitcher and a cheese platter. The platter had Brie, Gorgonzola, Gruyere, grana. The spaghetti I ordered was aglio olio pepperoni. This costed around 3500 bucks - almost 2k for the pitcher.

 Ambience is the high point, food is ok. If I rank for only food, it would be 3. The ambience is one of the most romantic I have seen in Mumbai :) 

The Spare Kitchen

Well this one had been on my wish list for quite sometime due to its fantastic reviews on zomato. Finally we ended up here this weekend. The ambience is nothing special just usual but they have lot of seating space and big screen to watch matches

We sat and ordered some soup - mushroom espresso for self and tomato basil one for hubby. The tomato basil was good but mushroom espresso turned out to be pretty awesome and something new- note it has certain cinnamon taste and you may not like the soup if u don't like cinnamon so order it without cinnamon if u don't like it. 

We ordered one mAlai paneer tikka with burnt garlic- it was simply beautiful taste wise as well as presentation wise, did not expect anything paneery to be this good. Followed by this we ordered our main course. A veg messy burger for me Which was a pita bread burger and Mexican spiked chicken for hubby. The veg messy burger was excessively cheesy so I had to remove like layers to reach the burger patty. My bad I did not think too much about the name 'messy' before ordering. 

My hubby's dish was good just the chicken was hard and rubbery else I would have given this place a 4.5 if not for the chicken. Ok followed by what was the best dessert I had in a long time - a small cup of chocolate creme brûlée we shared with some raspberry flavor on outside and a biscuit - simply elegant. Can definitely return for that! All in all a very good experience and exactly matched my expectation:) 

ROMANTIC EVENING @ CHEZ MOI

 I prioritized visit to this particular restaurant because of the rave reviews.

First impression - very poor as when we entered there were only two places available for sitting and both had leakage due to ac or due to rain so we moved out but came inside as this was the only restaurant in the vicinity where we wanted to go this evening.

Loved the decor,small but cozy place. The menu was very innovative and so was its style of presentation. Everything was slightly old but artistic.

We ordered one red wine and one white wine sangria to kick off the weekend.  Both were great and also good in quantity. We also ordered a chicken Caesar salad and a chilly capsicum pepper chicken pizza. Both dishes turned out to be extremely good - delicious, tasty and healthy as well :)

Worth a trip coz of the food and ambience but avoid the rain. We liked the music also - quite retro and romantic. 

 

 

Authentic French Experience @ Le Pain Quotidien

Le pain quotidien - due to my love and knowledge for anything French - I wanted to come here but expected it to be just a try at French cuisine. What I instead found was a chain which is authentically French. I loved the food - the cheese, the bread and it reminded me of France. Even the decor of the place is very, very French - cosy, wooden and extremely connected to earth. 

The service is good. Coming down to what matters most - the food. The food was the best French I ever had in India. The tarting was full of ricotta cheese and tomato. I ordered some
Cold coffee for the hot afternoon and my hubby ordered beer. We ordered two separate dishes for main course. He ordered basil chicken with mushroom risotto. Absolutely awesome - see pictures. I ordered veg stroganoff and absolutely adored it.

 The quantity of both dishes was just right. What's more there was room for some dessert helping too for my hubby who ordered belgian chocolate brownie which I also tasted. You can refer pictures for dessert section. Extremely fruitful restaurant trip after a long time !! 

                                                                      

WEEKEND BREAKFAST@JAMJAR DINER

Jamjar diner is a place I really wanted to visit after reading all reviews and seeing pictures. It seemed quite interesting so finally decided to land up here for Sunday brunch. The place has an interesting decor and I sat reading Archie's comics after a long time which was great start to a lazy Sunday morning.

We ordered a spinach parsley pineapple juice which was very good and followed it up with "the full Monty" with cheese omelette toast potatoes bacon sausages and baked beans. Everything was good just the sausages were a bit overlooked. I ordered the spinach and mushroom crepes which were super awesome. I loved my dish!

Even the sandwiches and chilli cheese toast on other peoples tables looked sumptuous but we were too full to try anything else. We ordered the choco chip waffle just to end the perfect meal :) really will wait to come here again for brunch, I think this is my ideal place for Sunday brunch - casual and chic. 

It being decently priced and having great service adds to the overall experience.

                                  

Weekend Coffee Place- The Bagel Shop @Carter Road

I had heard a lot about this place and seen many great reviews so I was tempted to try it out. First time, we called to check if valet parking is available- and we got to know that even parking is not available like similar such restaurants in Bandra. So, we decided to sacrifice our car for coming here wondering the place better be worth it. 

We ordered one mocha frappe and one hazelnut frappe each to cool it off. The drinks were good. And we also ordered a tomato basil mozzarella pizza bagel which turned out to be good too. We had two friends joining, who had some cappucino and some scrambled egg with bagel and baked beans which was quite usual , nothing special.

I also wondered about the desserts which looked quite fresh, so I took out two- banana walnut bread and carrot philly cake for home delivery. Both desserts were ok, nothing great again.
The best part of evening was look and feel of the place, we tried sitting outside and it was good- bit humid so we moved inside and even inside it was very homely feeling. Pricing is ok, no dents in your pocket. Service needs bit of polishing, we ordered one dish which we never got and nor did we get the information if we can get the dish or not. Once we checked with them ourselves to know if we are getting something or not- we realised they cant make the dish, we ordered the cheque which was 1500 bucks for all this. 

But still due to the overall look and feel of the place and some great moments shared along with good coffee and food, this place was worth the effort put in. In lovely weather, it can be on your mind to visit.

Yum Desserts @ Haagen Dazs Bandra

I had been to the Haagen Dazs In Powai before this and did not have a great experience with the waffle. This time the experience was completely different. 

                            
The four of us  (friends) ordered special desserts - 4 different ones. Cookie crunch, royal Monte Carlo, chocolate fudge cake with coffee ice cream and a brownie with two scoops of chocolate Icecream. I tasted all four, 3 of these were exceptionally good. I was most happy with my choice of fudge cake with coffee ice cream both of which were simply delicious.

That's why they say simple pleasures in world sometimes give great pleasure :) The service is good, pricing is i think one of the most expensive compared to other such dessert places. But Haagen Dazs know people will pay that much for their ice creams. 

                        
                                 

  

Chill out @ The Den, Khar

 

 

First things first, this is a drinking place meant for chilling on weekends. They have a good drink menu but in wines, they just had 1 wine out of 12-13 imported wines listed. The selection of other alcohol was better. We ordered the Chianti region (It is located in Tuscany in Italy) red wine. 

There were 4 of us. The two guys ordered Budweiser and kingfisher ultras. The starters were best part of meal and they were really good- right from nachos to French fries, honey mustard chicken to pesto chicken and chicken basket. Chicken basket became my favorite. 

For main course we ordered two pizzas - pepper chicken and BBQ chicken. Again both turned out to be very good. Pricing for this meal of four was 8600 bucks (out of which almost 4000 bucks for the wine bottle). 

The service was very slow and staff is still learning but manager was trying to help. Loved the food, service can improve. Also liked the experience of watching the World Cup football here and music is great. 

Romance all over : Silver Beach Cafe

Located in downtown Juhu near the Silver Beach is the Silver Beach Café. It is lose to the beach but it does not overlook the beach. Once you enter you feel that this is a small place, but it looks very cozy and inviting. I checked both ground floor and first floor seating and preferred the ground floor big benches overlooking the quiet street outside. Once I sat, everything seemed perfect to start off Friday night - the light music in background, the romantic seating and the street outside. The place gives a very European feel. We were a group of 4 people.

Food & Drinks - 
Since the group had both vegetarian and non vegetarians, we were able to try out a wide variety of starters. We ordered Sambal paneer starter, the baked potato in Moroccan spiced with salsa. Both starters were good, especially the spicy baked potato. In non veg we ordered – chewy chicken tangy curls and Balinese lamb skewers snack. Pizzas are a must try out. Drinks - especially wine collection is good.
Service- Clumsy but doable
Ambience- Crammed, but happy and music is great!
Price- Slightly overpriced, but the food is really good, so you will not complain.

Haibao- the seafood restaurant (Juhu)

Haibao is a new discovery for us. The Shabu Shabu form of cooking is only offered here in Mumbai.
This is a must visit place for all seafood lovers as I saw very interesting dishes of lobsters, prawns and scallops. Pity we both stick to our veggies and chicken. The place is beautifully decorated with lights and flowers- it has a very happy ambience and it can help you forget weekday blues and make a crackling start to the weekend. 

We ordered the tai sun chicken and dimsums in sauce along with Long Island iced teas. We liked our starters and for main course we ordered jasmine garlic fried rice and mix veg clay pot curry. Again the food was awesome, full marks to the taste, concept, innovation and presentation. The service was quite prompt and pricing was 3400 bucks for the food and 3 long islands.

Sea side best view and ambience @ Princess Lounge,Sea Princess

 

When you want to reflect on your daily life, think of where you are going- you just need to sit across the sea, hear the waves, look at the floating clouds across the moon and make up your mind for your future. This is what this place does for us. 

We come here, sit with a bottle of white wine, any good wine restaurant offers and we relax for hours. 

The food is combination of Turkish, Lebanese and Italian. I enjoy the pides from Turkish cuisine - check pics and the spinach pancakes to go with the wine. Pricing is approx 3000 INR for a bottle of wine and 2-3 starters& main course.

 If you want to ponder over your life, this place is a must visit. The ambience is best in class and prices are very very competitive for what they offer. Service is also great and you will not need to complain.

       

Romantic place @Bungalow 9, Bandra West

The huge house located in busy Mumbai suburbian street - sligthly deserted but good exteriors and interiors - gives the feel of a haunted house in the day! I think ideal time to go would be night.

The ambience gets full marks but not the service which can certainly be improved. 4 hungry souls landed here on a dry day afternoon in search of some food.

We ordered chicken peri peri starter which was very good. In main course we ordered - spinach risotto which was very creamy, khowsuey with chicken which was very saffrony but good otherwise. We also ordered a chicken pizza which was best dish of the day and a lasagna which was ok. 

Overall we all enjoyed the experience and ambience, food was ok and so were the mock tails - iced tea and innocent passion :) but service definitely needs an improvement.Pricing is ok and similar to similar such restaurants in the city.