Food Reviews

BUSAGO @ BANDRA

BusaGo @ Bandra

After the Christmas trip to Mount Mary Church & Taj Lands End, Vinny & I went to BusaGo in Bandra to buy a takeaway lunch. It’s a quaint little restaurant, tucked away in Bandra, with a few tables in the open and some more in the AC section.

Their menu on the wall

They have an open kitchen where you can see the cooks and waiters getting the food together. While they have a number of Thai & Burmese fare on offer – both vegetarian & non-vegetarian – we ordered Burmese Kaukswe which is what the place is renowned for.

How to make your bowl of Kaukswe

A bowl of Kaukswe – a type of Burmese Curry made in coconut gravy – comes along with a serving of noodles, white rice or brown rice. Zucchini, broccoli, baby corn, mushrooms and carrots were the veggies used in the gravy. We took three of these along with an extra portion noodle & brown rice for eating at home along with Venkat & Viggy. The bill was quite decent coming to less than Rs. 900.

Burmese Kaukswe with brown rice & condiments! Yum Yum

They serve a number of condiments with the Kaukswe which is what makes the meal rich in taste. There was fried onion, fried garlic, roasted peanuts, chopped coriander, chopped green onion stalks, chopped onions, chopped celery, chilli flakes and lemon wedges.

Seats both outside and inside at BusaGo

You make a bed of noodles or rice or both on the plate. Over this, you spread the various condiments that suit your taste, sprinkle a few drops of lemon juice and pour the Kaukswe on top. Now set out to polish off the whole. It tasted simply awesome! Definitely droolworthy!

BusaGo (Meals in a Bowl),
11, Gasper Enclave,
Opp. Gold’s Gym,
St. John’s Road,
Bandra West,
Mumbai
Phone: 022-61278897 / 98

UDIPI SHRI KRISHNA BOARDING @ MATUNGA

Outside Matunga Station

This blog has been long overdue. I have visited Udipi Shri Krishna Boarding umpteen times since I had planned the write-up.

The counter where you buy coupons

This restaurant was established in 1942 – yeah, since before Independence. Amazing to see the quality of food served and so cheap too!

The Full Meal begins...

The restaurant serves a complete South Indian meal – read Karnataka style. There is a Full Meal section – costs Rs. 180 as of now. They serve everything unlimited here except for the sweet. In this meal, one gets to eat rotis or puris (puris are served only in the evenings and Sunday afternoons), rice, three types of veggies, sambar, rasam, dal, fried papad, one sweet, pickle, one cup dahi and chaas. You need a gargantuan appetite to do justice to this. But, it tastes amazing. We used to visit this section regularly some years back.

The Plated Meals section

Recently, not able to consume much, we have shifted focus to the Plated Meals section that costs Rs. 55 plus. The ‘plus’ is for those extras that you might want – like a sweet, extra sabzi, papad and so on.

Rotis being prepared

This serves three limited sabzis, unlimited sambar, rasam, dal, limited papad, pickle, curd, chaas along with 3 sets of staples. You can combine it any which ways. 2 rotis-3 puris-1 cup rice – you can have 3 cups of rice, or six rotis, or 9 puris or a combo that suits you. It’s quite flexible.

Puris & Papads fried here in different kadais

On a regular day, there is a choice of four sweets on offer.

They have one condition in both sections – DO NOT ask for items and waste. In fact, if you waste sambar, they charge you extra for that.

Cups of rice being readied

All the food items are freshly prepared and taste absolutely delicious. We always avoid going to Rama Nayak’s for Sunday lunch as the crowd is just too much. There is a snaking queue that runs down the lobby sometimes down on the staircase. You will probably need to wait for an hour or two to be accommodated.

Vattis for Sambar, Rasam & Dal

Any customer can visit their kitchen on request. They even allowed me to take pictures. I got to talking with the owner’s son on one of my visits.

They buy all vegetables from APMC Market in Navi Mumbai. Only seasonal vegetables are used. All the tables and chairs are moved against the walls and newspapers spread on the dining room floor for cutting veggies in preparation for lunch and dinner.

Diesel boilers for cooking rice, sambar, etc.

While LPG stoves are used for cooking rotis & dry sabzis, they use diesel to cook rice, sambar and the like. These are cooked in what look like boilers. The guy manning the rice cookers said that it takes barely 5-6 minutes to cook a few kilos of rice. Amazing!

The waiters, cooks and cleaning boys are well-behaved and treat the customers with respect. There are at least 2-3 supervisors keeping an eye on all customers to ensure that everyone is served well. One can get a copy of their booklet that tells you Shri Krishna Boarding’s historical journey since 1942 and even before, when Shri A. Rama Nayak came to Bombay.

Notice Board with newspaper cuttings

You will find all classes of people from different communities coming there to eat the excellent fare served. You will find a notice board full of clippings from various newspapers & magazines where the restaurant has been featured.

The restaurant is just one step away from Matunga station.

A. Rama Nayak’s
Udipi Shri Krishna Boarding,
1st Floor, LBS Market Building,
Matunga, Mumbai – 400019.
Phone: 24142422
Lunch: 10.30 am to 2.30 pm
Dinner: 7.00 pm to 10.00 pm
CLOSED ON MONDAYS

RAJDHANI @ PHOENIX MARKET CITY, KURLA

Vinny & Viggy outside Rajdhani @ Phoenix Market City

On the Saturday that we went to see Besharam at PVR Cinemas, Vinny, Viggy and I decided to have lunch at Rajdhani, where they serve Gujarati Thali. Rajdhani is right there at the Food Court at Phoenix Market City in Kurla. They served us a Festival Thali as it was during Navratri.

THUMBS UP 1: The ambience was excellent with well-spaced seating arrangement.

THUMBS UP 2: The service was very good with a number of waiters at one’s beck and call. The best part was that they did not intrude either. They only came up to the table when it was clear we needed something.

THUMBS UP 3: The food was superb. There were 4-5 sabzis. Let me recall them. There was Gatte ki Sabzi; one made with Thuriya (Ribbed Gourd); another with paneer; a dry potato sabzi and Dal Bati Churma. Each one was superb.

The Thalis were oval in shape and looked nice

THUMBS UP 4: They served two types of Dal – one regular and one sweet. Then there was Gujarati Kadhi. Simply yum!

THUMBS UP 5: Two types of rotis were served – one regular and one bajra. They also served bite-sized puran polis with this. Of course, ghee accompanied everything. While the rotis were quite small, everything was unlimited.

I managed to capture some of the items on camera

THUMBS UP 6: White Dhoklas and Stuffed Karanjis were served, unlimited. While the Karanjis were good, the Dhoklas were out of this world. I am not a fan of white dhoklas but these were exceptional.

THUMBS UP 7: They served green chutney, sweet imli chutney and garlic chutney with the farsan. Each one was delicious. There was a kind of pickle-cum-chutney made of green chillies. I just loved it.

THUMBS UP 8: They served plain rice as well as Dal Khichdi. The Khichdi was simply awesome.

THUMBS UP 9: They serve three types of sweets. On that day, it was Jalebi with Rabdi and two others. I don’t know as we all refused them. We just had no place in our tummies.

Yes, the food and service were good

THUMBS UP 10: The chaas they served was the perfect finale to that huge meal.

THUMBS DOWN 1: I felt thoroughly upset on one score. While I had a lot of vegetables, I just managed to have 2 small rotis and 2 tsp of Khichdi. Of course, I had 3 dhoklas (they were not very big) and one karanji. I refused the sweets altogether. Despite this, I felt tremendous discomfort and heaviness in my stomach for the next 5-6 hours. I finally concluded that they must be using cooking soda in the food. This is one major put-off and I don’t think I want to venture into a Thali restaurant ever again.

CREAM CENTRE @ R-CITY MALL, GHATKOPAR

Cream Centre @ R-City Mall

On one of our visits to R-City Mall, Vinny and I wanted to eat at one of the restaurants there. First, we went to Quattro, the Italian joint. Unfortunately, they did not have either the soup or the starters that we wanted. We left the restaurant to go to Cream Centre on the same floor. Cream Centre serves vegetarian fare – Mexican, Italian and Indian.

Menu

I was kind of wary of the place as my experience at the Cream Centre outlet near Shoppers’ Stop at Amar Mahal, Chembur, was not the best. But I am glad that we went to Cream Centre @ R-City Mall.

American Corn Cheese Balls with potato wafers, green chutney & ketchup

THUMBS UP 1: We ordered American Corn Cheese Balls for starters. They served it in ten minutes – hot corn cheese balls with potato wafers. They gave us ketchup with them. We requested for green chutney and got it immediately at no extra cost. The starters were perfectly cooked, just the right temperature and tasted oh-so-delicious! The chutney was also yummy.

Delicious Chole!

THUMBS UP 2: We asked for Chole & Tawa Parathas for the main course. We planned to share as they serve a good quantity of chole. I have never tasted such yummy chole in my life. It was cooked to perfection and the flavour was simply awesome. The accompanying Tawa Parathas were also tasty.

Along with the main course!

THUMBS UP 3: The bill for these two dishes turned out to be quite reasonable. I fail to recall the amount as we had done this trip quite a while back.

Definitely worth a visit!

THE ORIENT @ ROYAL GARDEN RESORT

Royal Garden Resort

On Sunday last, Venkat offered to take us all for a ride to Lonavla. Viggy was not too keen to go away for the whole day and finally we decided to go to Royal Garden Resort on Mumbai Ahmedabad Highway. Actually, we used to visit this place often when Vinny and Viggy were kids. We had been there about 5-6 times and remembered that the food was excellent.

The bar at The Orient

We left home by about 12.30 pm and went by Sion-Panvel Highway on to Godhbunder Road. Luckily, there was not too much traffic and despite bad roads we reached the junction where this road met with the Mumbai Ahmedabad Highway and took a right from there to reach Royal Garden Resort. We were there before 2 pm.

The spacious restaurant - The Orient

The place had changed a lot since our previous visit. They have added more rooms as well as a water park to the resort. The restaurant that used to be housed in the open air had been covered by a proper building. It is called The Orient now. We thought that they served Chinese food. Luckily, that was not so. The Orient serves Indian, Chinese, Mexican and Italian. But, they are still best known for the Indian cuisine as we found out.

A view of the resort rooms and the garden in front of them

We took a round of the place. We missed the large open space that has been swallowed up by the myriad constructions. There used to be a small pond with many ducks. But the resort still sports a lot of greenery and it looked beautiful in the rains.

Boiled channa salad; Masala Papad

We finally settled down in the spacious restaurant with floor length windows. Venkat and Vignesh ordered beers. They served boiled channa flavoured with onions, kotmir, etc. It was simply delicious.

The four of us at The Orient

We asked for Masala Papad and they were brought to our table crunchy as ever. What I have noticed with this is that usually the papads gets a bit soft by the time they are served. But the Masala Papad served here was anything but. They tasted absolutely yummy.

Tandoori Chicken

We asked for starters. Viggy ordered a Tandoori Chicken. Father and son totally relished it. Then we asked for a plate of Mixed Bhajjias and Paneer Tikka. Venkat requested the waiter not to add food colour to our dishes. They obliged us.

Mixed Bhajia Platter

The mixed platter consisted of potato, khanda, cauliflower, capsicum and green chilli bhajias. They all tasted awesome. The Paneer Tikka simply melted in our mouths. The kachumber that came along was delicious. I had a Virgin Pina Colada with my starters. It was superb!

Paneer Tikka

We ordered a round of Cole Slaw Salad (well, that’s what it was called on the menu). It was fresh and yummy and consisted of yellow and red bell peppers along with the usual cabbage and carrots. Yummy! Venkat insisted on having a second round.

Cole Slaw

By now, Vinny and I were quite full and decided to take a walk while father and son decided to order a Mutton Biryani. When we returned after ten minutes, they were tucking into the biryani with great relish.

Virgin Pina Colada

After some more time, Vinny asked for Dal Makhani and Roti while Viggy asked for a Lachcha Paratha. I ordered Pasta in Spinach and Cheese Sauce. While my kids found their food simply great, the Pasta was extremely mediocre. I just could not finish it despite the helping being just enough for one person.

Mutton Biryani

We asked for two small cup ice creams to finish off our lunch. I would recommend the restaurant highly for its Indian cuisine. They serve absolutely delicious Indian food here.

Dal Makhani; Roti; Lachcha Paratha

They have a full fledged water park and rooms to stay in if you plan to spend a weekend there. There is also a poolside restaurant that is functional in the evenings, I think. You can check out the details in their website that I have mentioned below.

Pasta in Spinach & Cheese Sauce

We left after lunch and drove back by the Western Express Highway and got stuck in traffic as there is construction work going on near the airport. We finally got back home at around 6 pm. A lovely outing indeed!

Royal Garden Resort
Mumbai Ahmedabad Highway,
9 Km from Dahisar Check Post,
Taluka Vasai,
Thane District
Phone: 0250-2230017/19
Email: rgresort@rediffmail.com
Website: www.royalgarden.in

ULLAS REFRESHMENTS @ MG Road, Bengaluru

Vini on the verge of checking the menu

Vignesh visits Bangalore at least 2-3 times in a year as his music gigs happen in the city. He recommended Ullas Refreshments pretty highly and Vini and I were determined to have one of our meals there. That’s how we landed up for dinner at Ullas Refreshments after the visit to Lal Bagh.

The half-eaten rava masala dosa with its accompaniments

The restaurant is open from 9.30 am in the morning till they take last orders at 9.30 pm. We managed to get there famished at around 9 pm.

The huge rava idli garnished with dill

The waiters could speak Hindi comfortably as neither of us knew one word of Kannada, the official language of Bengaluru.

The not-so-tasty dahi vada

We ordered Onion Rava Masala Dosa. It came with regular coconut chutney, a red chutney with garlic, super delicious sambar typical of South India, a masala gravy distinctive to Karnataka (highly recommended by the waiter and it was yummy) and the usual potato masala. The dosa was cooked evenly to perfection. Many-a-time, we find that the dosas are well fried on one end while rather soft on another. This one was so evenly made that we enjoyed every morsel. As you can see from the picture, we both were so hungry that we grabbed the dosa the moment it was served and I remembered to take the photo only after it was half gone.

Yours truly awaiting my order

The Rava Idly we ordered was huge. They served one piece instead of the usual two. But it was equal to three idlis that one makes at home. While it was tasty with the accompanying chutney and sambar, I was kind of disappointed with the dill that came along as garnish. It took away from the flavour.

Dill - the greens with a special flavour.
I don't like it 

Then came the Dahi Vada that we asked for. This was also a single piece and I was glad it was so. It was not the kind of dish that I had expected to eat in South India. It came with sweet dahi and was pretty mediocre.

As Viggy had mentioned, we should have stuck to having only dosas. The restaurant is renowned for that and the Rava Masala Dosa that we had was proof enough.

Well, now you know the best thing to order at Ullas Refreshments when you visit Bengaluru! Believe me, the restaurant is most definitely worth a visit for the dosa experience.