"Estella" :- Modern Australian Cuisine

Visit Day Date n Time:- Tuesday 10-Jan-17, 8.30 p.m.

"Estella" a newly (just a month old) opened sea facing restaurant located in Juhu area of the City, serves modern Australian cuisine with a touch of Asian and European flavours, it's owned an managed by Silver Beach Entertainment & Hospitality Private Limited who have other popular hotels like Nom Nom, Silver Beach Cafe and Radio Bar.

It's quite spacious outlet classified into two sections (i.e Interior dinning section and Outer beach deck) with seating options available within as well as the outer deck including the Bar and Private Cabana's. An ideal place for romantic dates where you can enjoy your food in the open air under the stars with mesmerizing view of the Juhu beach totally justifies the tag line Sea Stars and Sins.

The food menu is designed creatively by Chef Rohan and his team, which indeed reflects unique personality of this place. Being first visit, we requested the Chef to suggest the food and on basis of which we ordered Spanish Seafood Al Ajilio, Chicken Wings Cakes Decompressed, Salad, Hazelnut & Parmesan Crusted Chicken Escallop, Baked Mud Crab & Ricotta, Triple Layered Chocolate Ganache with Espresso Crumble, Budwiser Beer and Margarita. Really impressed by food suggestion from the Chef and his kindness of finding out our experience after every dish. 

• Spanish Seafood Al Ajilio:- Simply loved the combo of Clams, Shrimps & Scallops served in buttery garlic sauce with garlic breads.

• Chicken Wings Cakes Decompressed:- Thing i loved about this dish was poached spinach, it really enriched taste of the chicken wings cakes.

• Salad:- I'm not much of salad person but was quite impressed with the freshness of the veggies contained in the salad.

• Hazelnut & Parmesan Crusted Chicken Escallo:- Perfectly cooked Chicken and good option on the menu for the Chicken lovers.

• Baked Mud Crab & Ricotta:- One of my favourite from the menu. Crab shell filled with yummy stuffing of crabmeat, herbs and ricotta cheese placed over herbed risotto and tomato cream sauce. If you are crab person then you will definitely love it.

• Triple Layered Chocolate Ganache with Espresso Crumble:- Lip-smacking. Worth a try.

Food portions are good enough and sufficient for one person.

Recommendation:- Spanish Seafood Al Ajilio, Hazelnut & Parmesan Crusted Chicken Escallop, Baked Mud Crab & Ricotta, Triple Layered Chocolate Ganache with Espresso Crumble.

Excellent service right from the moment we entered the premises till the time we left, which perfectly compliment the fascinating ambiance and appetizing food. 

Plus Points:- Mumbai's first Australian cuisine restaurant, Valet Parking.

Point to note:- Reservation required for outer beach deck.

Overall lively experience and thanks to Chef Rohan Dsouza for the invitation. Kudos to team Estella. Will surely visit this place again.

Taste:- 5/5

Value for money:- 4/5

Service:- 5/5

Ambience:- 5/5

Made In Punjab

Day Date n Time:- Saturday 28-Jan-17, 1.00 p.m.

"Made In Punjab" (also know as "MIP") the smart-casual dinning restuarant, another gem from the treasure of Massive Restuarant Pvt. Ltd., which is owned and managed by Zorawar Karla under the guidance of the eminent Jiggs Karla. MIP specialized in serving rich flavoured and aromatic Punjabi Cuisine and has 4 outlets in the business cities of India namely Mumbai, Gurgaon, Noida and Bengaluru.

Recently received an invitation from MIP for food tasting, so decided to visit the same.

Ambience of this place is quite soothing with classy interiors, perfect lighting's and comfortable sitting options.

We tried out following from the menu set for food tasting:-

• Kesar Pista Wali Lassi, milk cake peda De Naal :- It's ofent seen that punjabi people welcome their guest with traditional lassi and MIP being based on punjabi concept, welcomed us with traditional lassi. Thick Lassi loaded with Kesar and Pista with Milk Peda as an add on complimented the lassi. Kesar had perfectly blended with lassi giving it awesome texture.

• Popeye Paaji Ki Favorite Chat :- This chat has derived it's name from the famous toon character Popeye. Spinach leaf dipped in gram flour and mildly fried which is served on a bed of smashed sweet potato topped with mint and tamarind chutney, pomegranate seeds, sev and yogurt (dahi).

• Saddi Kurkuri :- Crispy cigar roll which was made up of vegetable and cheese served with chilli garlic dip.

• Karara Bhatti Paneer Tikka :- Paneer marinated with bhatti masala and coated with roasted papad and cooked in a traditional tandoor which is served on coal grill giving it smokey flavour. Tikka was really soft from inside.

• Beetroot Ki Tikki :- Combo of Beetroot, Cheese and Dry fruits. Crispy and less oily.

• Bun Samosa and Masala Kukkad Bun :- It's basically Burger with desi twist to it, classified as "Gadburger" in the menu. "Bun Samosa" option for vegetarian which includes round crispy samosa with mint and tamarind chutney inside the soft masala bun which is served with some potato wedges. "Masala Kukkad Bun" option for non-vegetarian which includes good amount of juicy and creamy chicken chunks with mint and tamarind chutney inside soft masala bun served with potato wedges. Definitely prefer Masala Kukkad Bun over the Bun Samosa.

• Veg Galouti :- Fried Tikki made from mixture of gourd, yam, chana dal, spices and smoked with clove which is served on bed of warqi paratha. Simply awesome and good option for vegetarian.

• Burnt Lesuni Tikka :- Chicken tikka cooked in traditional tandoor with flavour of burnt garlic. Chicken was well cooked and juicy.

• Bhatti Murgh :- Well marinated Chicken leg cooked in traditional tandoor giving it smokey flavour which is garnished with mayonnaise and leaf of poppy seed.

• Sarso Olive Machhi :- River Sole Fish marinated in mustard and olive and cooked in traditional tandoor. Fish was cooked to perfection.

• Maa Ki Daal :- Black dal cooked in traditional punjabi style giving it rich and creamy texture. Just one word to describe it would be "yummy".

• Paneer Lababdar :- Soft paneer chunks tossed in tomato and onion gravy and burnt garlic. Good option for Vegetarian and definitely worth a try.

• Sarson Da Swag :- Being at punjabi joint and not trying out Sarson Da Swag would be total waste. Cooked in typical punjabi style, definitely worth a try.

• Aloo Gobhi Yarana :- Regular aloo Gobhi vegetable with onion and tomato as base. Personally didn't like it much as taste was just ok types.

• B.C (Classical Butter Chicken) :- Butter Chicken has always been favorite of all the chicken lovers. It was perfect combo of well cooked chicken and creamy gravy with tomato and butter as base.

• Meat Truck Wallah :- My personal favourite from the menu. OMG this dish is just superb and all the foodies who prefer mutton over chicken should really try it out. The lamb chunks were well cooked in thick gravy and had perfect aroma and taste.

• Kulcha, Tanrooti Roti, Tandoori Paratha and Naan :- Soft and fresh indian breads really compliment the vegetarians or non-vegetarian gravies.

• Stuffed Gulab Jamun :- Cottage Cheese balls stuffed with dark chocolate and dipped in sugar syrup.

• Ras Date Malai :- Ras Malai dipped in creamy milk syrup.

• Nukkad Jalebbi :- Crispy Jalebi served with Rabdi in typical martini glass. It's one of my favourite dessert combo.

• Jaat Risky After Whisky :- It's a well shaken whisky (Black Dog) based cocktail which includes apple cinnamon reduction, egg white and lime juice. This cocktail is served in traditional glass having image of mojari marking sign of respect or considered as head of village.

• Naya Zamana :- Another whisky based cocktail which contains apple caramel syrup and served in wodden glass topped with lemon slice. Both whisky base cocktail were better then vodka ones.

• Syappa :- This cocktail is combo of Coffee, Garlic and Vodka (Smirnoff) which are well shaken and served in martini glass. But flavour of coffee overrides the vodka giving it touch of being an espresso.

• Kala Khatta Chuski :- Combo of Tequila, Kala Khatta and lime which is well shaken and served with Chuski (Ice on Stick).

Recommendation :- Kesar Pista Wali Lassi, Milk Cake Peda De Naal, Popeye Paaji Ki Favorite Chat, Karara Bhatti Paneer Tikka, Masala Kukkad Bun, Veg Galouti, Burnt Lesuni Tikka, Bahtti Murg, Paneer Lababdar, Sarson Da Swag, B.C (Classical Butter Chicken), Meat Truck Wallah, Stuffed Gulab Jamun, Nukkad Jalebbi, Naya Zamana and Jaat Risky After Whisky.

The staff is courteous and well trained. Mr. Sunny deserves full marks for his superb service and for sharing useful information of each and every dish we tasted right from the start till the end. In addition to that they have policy of changing plates after every course.

Plus Points :- Perfect Hospitality and Authentic Food.

Overall an awesome experience and good place to have delicious punjabi food with your family and friends.

Taste:- 4/5

Value for money:- 4/5

Service:- 5/5

Ambience:- 4/5