Ayub's - Fort Outlet

Visit Day Date and Time:- Saturday 28-December-2019, 19.00 p.m.

"Ayub's" one of the popular food outlet of Mumbai specially for it's rolls and kebabs.

Ambience:- It's a compact outlet with limited seating option and basic ambience. 

Menu:- This place is totally a non-vegetarian dominated place which has few options for vegetarians on the menu.

We tried out following from the menu:-

Chicken Baida Roti:- It's stuffed with well cooked meat and perfectly spiced. Simply awesome.

Mutton Seekh Kebab:- One of the best seekh kebabs which i had recently. It was soft, moist and filled with flavours. It is served with green chutney and onions on the sides.

Recommendations:- Chicken Baida Roti and Mutton Seekh Kebab

Service:- Quick Service and Courteous Staff.

Plus Point:- Open till late night, Serves in your car as well since they have limited seating options

Experience:- Overall it was lip-smacking experience as always. Surely must visit place for the non-vegetarians to try out delicious kebabs and rolls.

Taste:- 4.5/5
Ambience:- 2/5
Service:- 4/5
Value for Money:- 4/5

Note:- Visit to this place was on own and review is based on personal experience.

Rolls Mania

Invitation Order Day, Date and Time:- Thursday 26-December-2019, 16.00 p.m.

"Rolls Mania" a pune based QSR chain serving rolls as their primary product. This place started its journey by opening their first outlet in Magarpatta City, Pune in the year 2010. Currently they have more than 135 stores in approximately 35 cities.

Menu:- This place offers variety of options in rolls for both vegetarian and non-vegetarian along with fries, munchies and beverages.

We tried out Paneer Chilly Roll, Chicken Kheema Roll, Chicken Bhuna Roll with Egg and Cold Coffee from the menu.

Paneer Chilly Roll:- It's a good option for the vegetarians who want to stick to the basic and don't want to experiment other options.

Chicken Kheema Roll:- Kheema stuffing in this roll was bit dry and had hardly any raw onions. Overall taste was average. 

Chicken Bhuna Roll with Egg:- One of my personal favourite from the menu. It was loaded with chicken chunks mixed with bhuna masala. Tasty and perfect to satisfy your hunger.

Cold Coffee:- Loved it. You can give it a try trust me it won't disappoint you.

Recommendations:- Chicken Bhuna Roll with Egg and Cold Coffee

Packing:- Perfectly packed.

Experience:- Overall it was good experience and value for money place.

Taste:- 3.5/5
Packing:- 5/5
Value for Money:- 4/5

Note:- Food was send from this place for tasting but review is based on my personal experience.

Sam's Bohri Zaika

Visit Day Date and Time:- Saturday, 2-November-2019, 13.00 p.m.

"Sam's Bohri Zaika" a home delivery kitchen located in Chandivali which is well known for serving authentic and traditional Bohri food. This place is purely home delivery kitchen which has option of  seating but need to make advance booking for the same.

We were invited to try out their traditional Bohri Thaal which included Mazedaar Chicken Samosa, Masti Mutton Kheema Samosa, Lajawab Shami Kebabs, Shaandaar Mutton Haleem (Khichda), Bohri Kaari Chawal, Nawabi Kheer (Phirni) and Meetha Pan.

Our experience with the Bohri cuisine started with tradition of tasting pinch of salt before the meal, which is considered to enhances our taste buds as well as cleanse it.

We started off with crispy and appetizing Mazedaar Chicken Samosa and Masti Mutton Kheema Samosa from the thaal. In addition to that mutton samosa had bit smoky flavour.

Lajawab Shami Kebabs, basically mutton kebabs which are well marinated and coated with egg further fried to perfection. One of my favourite from the thaal.

Shaandaar Mutton Haleem (Khichda), a delicious combination of meat, wheat, dal, caramelised onions and ghee. It is served with imli chutney on the side. This traditional Bohri dish is must try one from this place.

Bohri Kaari Chawal, it's coconut and cashew based curry served with basmati rice garnished with caramelised onions. It is available in both chicken and mutton option.

Nawabi Kheer (Phirni), a perfect combination of rice, milk, dry fruits and rose water essence. It was less sweet and not at all heavy on stomach. 

We had Meetha Pan at the end of our meal.

Recommendations:- Thaal

Service:- Full marks for the service. You will feel as if you are eating at your own house.

Experience:- Overall it was soul satisfying and flavourful experience. Surely a must try out place for the non-vegetarian foodies to experience the Bohri cuisine with family or friends.

Taste:- 5/5
Ambience:- NA
Service:- 5/5
Value for Money:- 5/5

Note:- Visit to this place was on invitation but review is based on my personal experience.

"Lokomades"

Visit Day, Date and Time :- Sunday 6-October-2019 16:00 p.m.

"Lokomades" a latest addition to the list of dessert places of Mumbai, which is owned and manged by Ms. Chandni Patel and Ms. Nikhita Dalal. This places serves the traditional sinful Greek dessert "Loukoumades" in various flavours for Indian taste and palate.

Ambience:- It's a compact and attractive outlet with few seating options.

Menu:- This places offers Greek delicacy loukoumades along with few savouries and variety of shakes and ice-teas. 

We started off with PATATAS from the savoury option. Here in big freshly baked potato is slit and smashed with butter, chilly garlic sauce, mayo. It is further stuffed with a lots of veggies, choice of salad, cheese and sauces. Overall a perfect combo of stuffing and sauces.

Hula Hoop, it's a best seller from the menu. Freshly made crispy dough balls are injected with chocolate ganache and loaded with three type of chocolate sauce i.e. Milk, White and Dark Chocolate and topped with crunchy almonds, chocolate chips and chocolate sauce. It was totally sinful.

Lastly we tried out the Red Velvet Cheesecake Brownie Loukoumades. Here in crispy dough balls are injected with white chocolate ganache and loaded with red velvet cream cheese and topped with brownie crumbs and white chocolate chips. It was delicious and blissful.

Recommendations:- Hula Hoop and Red Velvet Cheesecake Brownie

Service:- Good

Plus Point:- Every table has charging option available.

Experience:- Overall it was delightful experience and perfect place to satiate your sweet tooth cravings.

Taste:- 4/5
Ambience: 4/5
Service: 4/5
Value for Money: 4/5

Note:- Visit to this place was on invitation but review is based on my personal experience.

Wok Hei - Chembur

Visit Day, Date and Time:- Tuesday 20-August-2019, 20.00 p.m.

"Wok Hei" a casual dining place located bang opposite Diamond Garden, Chembur which serves delicious Chinese and Thai options. It is owned and managed by same Management as DP's, Matunga.  

Ambience:-  A neatly designed compact fully air-conditioned outlet with seating capacity of approx. 40-42 people.

Menu:- This place offers a wide variety of options in soups, starters and main course for both the vegetarians and non-vegetarians.

We started our tasting session with Chef Special Crab Meat Thulung Soup, a mildly spiced thick soup with crab meat, egg white, bit of noodles, mushrooms and vegetables. It was served hot and was perfectly flavoured. 

From the starters section we tried out the Roaster Wings Chilly (Roasted wings are tossed in Soy Chilli Sauce) and Chicken Steam Dumplings with Spicy Dip. It would be difficult to pick favourite out of this two starters because both were equally good and had left delicious after taste.

For the main course, we ordered the Prawns Chiang Mai Noodles, Smoked Chicken Fried Rice teamed up with the Chicken in Chilly Beer Sauce. Both noodles and rice were loaded with good amount of prawns and chicken which overall went well with flavourful Chilly Beer Sauce.

Recommendations: Chef Special Crab Meat Thulung Soup, Roaster Wings Chilly, Chicken Steam Dumplings, Chiang Mai Noodles and Chicken in Chilly Beer Sauce.

Service:-  Friendly staff and flawless service.

Point to Note:- Serves alcohol, Avoids use of artificial food colours and Serves small portions too.

Experience:- Overall an amazing experience and surely must visit place in Chembur to try out some freshly made lip-smacking options from the menu.

Taste:- 4.5/5
Ambience:- 4/5
Service:- 4.5/5
Value for Money:- 4.5/5

Note:- Visit to this place was on invitation but the review is based on personal experience.

Biryani Hazir Ho

Invitation Order Day Date and Time:- Wednesday 24-July-2019, 13:30 p.m. 

"Biryani Hazir Ho" a newly opened delivery kitchen by the Celebrity Chef  Rehman Mujeeb who hails from the royal Qureshi Family of Lucknow. He is well known for making authentic and flavourful Biryani's using his traditional and ancestral recipes.

Reach:- This place is currently delivering in the areas of Andheri (West) including areas of Versova, Oshiwara and Lokhandwala.

Recently received an invitation from Biryani Hazir Ho to try out few dishes from the menu and to give feedback on the same.

We started off with the juicy and well cooked Murg Kandhari Tikka. After that we had rich and creamy Chicken Changezi gravy which went well with Indian Bread. From the biryani section we tried out The Bohri Chicken Biryani which was mildly spiced and perfect appetising combination of Rice, Chicken and spices.

We ended our meal with thick and creamy Phirni. It has surely added to my favourite list.

Recommendations:- Murg Kandhari Tikka,Chicken Changezi, Bohri Chicken Biryani and Phirni.

Packing:- Each food items was superbly packed including papad, chutney, roti etc.

Plus Point:- Value for Money Place, Good Quantity and Quality Food.

Experience:- Lip-smacking and flavourful experience. This place will surely tantalise taste buds of  the biryani lovers with its delicious and flavourful food.

Note:- Food was send by this place for tasting but review is based on my personal experience.

Taste:- 5/5
Packing:- 5/5
Value for Money:- 5/5

DP's The Fast Food Centre - Matunga Outlet

Visit Day Date and Time:- Wednesday, 1-May-2019, 1.00 p.m.

"DP's The Fast Food Centre" located bang opposite Ruia College, is one amongst the oldest and popular vegetarian restaurant of Mumbai which started it's journey in the year 1965. This place is quite popular amongst the college and school students and localities of Matunga and Dadar.

Ambience:- It's a spacious non-ac restaurant with simple and basic ambience.

We started our tasting session with their award wining Pav Bhaji. It was so delicious and tempting that it will make you grab a bite without wasting a moment. You can pair a glass of Fruit Beer with it.

Masala Pav, another popular dish amongst the patrons. In this dish pavs are dunked in masala which looks similar to pav bhaji but it taste completely different. It's a surely must try one from the menu.

We tried out the Bamboo Rice with Thai Curry from the main course section. The Thai Curry was very well made with perfectly cooked vegetables. The vegetarian Thai Curry paired with Bamboo Rice was simple delicious.

Last but not the least give a "Shot" to DP's Pani Puri.

Recommendations:- Pav Bhaji, Masala Pav, Fruit Beer, Thai Curry, Bamboo Rice and Pani Puri.

Service:- Quick 

Experience:- Overall a great experience and special thanks to Mr. Hari Kotian for the invitation.

Taste:- 4.5/5
Ambience:- 3/5
Service:- 5/5
Value for Money:- 5/5

Note:- Visit to this place was on invitation but review is based on my personal experience.

"Namak - Sahara Star" (Written by Guest Blogger:- Ms. Suhasini Jha)

Namak; named after Mahatma Gandhi’s famous Dandi or Salt March, is Sahara Star’s quintessential fine dine  known to serve the best North Indian and Hyderabadi cuisine.

Ambience: The interiors are highly inspired by both modern and medieval period in the Indian culture. You can spot a few vintage looking fans, switches and artefacts in here while your food is cooked in the half open kitchen. Dim lights and soft classical music playing in the background, gives the place a royal and classy feel.

Menu: They have a preset menu ready for the invited bloggers that consists of a selected number of starters, main course items and mocktails.

We started with the welcoming drink which was a mixture of pineapple and mint.

Shimbi Paneer ki Seekh: A soft cottage cheese seekh kabab served with some lemon and onion on the side made for a starter with an overwhelming punch of mustard and crunch of beans.

Chenna Palak ki Shami: Unlike the Shami Kebas that usually have lentils, this one had fresh spinach, green chillies and a layer of creamy cheese and onions. This green fish-resembling dish is as soft as cake and will melt easily in your mouth.

Tandoori Malai Paneer Roll: This one was a small block of mildly roasted paneer, stuffed with cream and served with onions on the side. Although it looked appealing, it lacked the tempting smoky texture and taste of tandoor.

Thikri Dal Makhani: This dish is a popular North Indian favourite. It had the right blend of whole spices, tomatoes, onions and ginger/garlic. Whole lentils never tasted so good before.

Tripoliya Subzi: Mixed vegetables in a thick gravy blend with an exorbitant amount of ghee made this dish the holy grail of the entire meal.

Sua Dakhani Saag: Spinach topped with garlic and dill leaves, gives this dish a look reminiscent of another popular North Indian dish; sarson da saag’. It tastes no less than that.

Tarkari Biryani: It lacked the flavor of biryani even though the rice and vegetables were well cooked and garnished with mint and saffron. Served with vegetable raita, papad and a few slices of onion, this dish was a total let down.

Desserts: 

·    Malai kulfi and Gulab Jamun

Malai kulfi -,a popular frozen dairy dessert similar to ice cream, carries the flavor and creaminess of Indian sweets.

Gulab Jamun was served hot and garnished with almonds. This milk based sweet shaped like a mini ball had the right kind of sweetness and softness.

At the end of our meal, Meetha Paan was served as a mouth freshener.

Recommendations: Thikri Dal Makhani and Cranberry Colada (Mocktail).

Service: Prompt.

Experience: Visit for a royal and lavish dinner that can take you back in time. If you’re not a big fan of that, give this place a miss without a second thought.