Bombay Brasserie a.k.a Kabab Factory

Bombay Brasserie a.k.a Kabab Factory - Dhole Patil Road, Pune

If you are a fan of kababs (and who isn't?) a visit to the Kabab Factory is a *must*. Kabab Factory is the outdoor portion of Bombay Brasserie where they serviced kabab buffets at nights. Unlimited Kababs, food and dessert Rs 360 per head.

Now for the actual review.

Bombay Brasserie is located in the City Point complex on Dhole Patil Road, Pune. They are generally considered an upscale sort of place and are known for their lunch buffets and the kabab buffets which they serve in the evenings. Lunch buffets are goodish, drinks are fairly priced and the overall experience is pleasant. Lunch is usually crowded as you will find large parties from the nearby IT companies thronging for their buffet and not leaving quickly enough.

Kabab Factory, as I have already explained above, is open in the evenings when they have seating outside. They serve around 10 types of kababs .. and the servers keep bringing them where you can taste and decide which ones you want to eat more of. Then order those. Repeat. Kabab Factory serves the best minced mutton kabab ever. Thats the seekh kabab I think .. its perfect. The right mix of spice, tang and texture in delicate minced mutton is just irresistible. Goes well with chilled KingFisher beer. The food is also quite good as are the desserts. I generally stuff myself so full of kababs that I can barely have the delicious daal and rice and can just manage a bowl of their kheer, gulabjamun or yummy rabdi.

Tip: Try not to overeat.


Food: **** Ambiance: *** Price: $$$
Last visited: mid-2007

Sarjaa

Sarjaa - Aundh, Pune

Sarjaa has been around for years. Located on ITI road in Aundh, it probably became famous as being co-owned or something by Lata Mangeshkar. It started off very well .. then fell out of favour for some time (probably people just got bored) and now looks to be back and running well. I have visited it numerous times over the years and had visited recently after a large gap of a few years.

The seating is spacious and quite good, looks recently renovated. Sarjaa serves Indian (Punjabi) and Chinese food .. with a few dishes of continental type stuff thrown in for good measure. The Punjabi stuff is pretty up to the mark, haven't tried any of their Chinese offerings. Service is prompt and seem to have a knowledge of the menu.. helpful when the menu is quite exhaustive and enigmatic. Names like Murg Banjara, Chicken Jaipuri, Veg ZilMil do not really describe what the dish would be like. I particularly liked one dish .. Baked Methi Chaman ..which they seem to have invented .. sort of a fusion between continental and typical punjabi. Soups are good too. Desserts seem average.

Food: **** Ambiance: *** Price: $$
Last visited: mid-2007

Malaka Spice

Malaka Spice - Koregaon Park, Pune

This place has been there for a considerable amount of time, but somehow I never visited it until recently. And if anything, it exceeded all expectations I had for it .. and believe me one gets to hear a lot about it over the years. Malaka Spice serves Asian cuisine .. Thai, Vietnamese, Malay, Indonesian .. you get the drift. Its located off North Main Road in Koregaon Park. The seating area is quite limited indoors, but they also have some tables outside in the patio. Going to Malaka Spice for lunch is quite different from going there for dinner .. its like the place complete transforms itself! During the daytime it looks like any ordinary restaurant .. somewhat informal .. where you can wander in, seat yourself and do your stuff. In the evenings .. voila! .. it becomes a well decorated, upscale dining experience .. complete with candle-lit tables. Sort of Clark Kent in the daytime and Superman at night .. kind of thing. Except Superman used to roam around in the daytime too .. so maybe not as much :-P

Malaka Spice features a full menu with a decent wine list. The staff knows their part well and are gracious and helpful with the menu. The cane-skewers are something new and good as is the Malaysian wild herb rice (or something similar). The Thai and Penang curries are also worth a mention. Oh what the heck .. almost everything here is good .. so no particular recommendations as such.

Overall a definite A+ place .. quite a nice experience in the evenings .. nice place for a date with the candle-lit tables (and its dark elsewhere), good food and good wine. Obviously its packed in the evenings so come early, call ahead and reserve or be prepared to wait. I particularly like the day-night transformation as you can just go with friends for a good lunch without all the frills.


Food: ***** Ambiance: **** Price: $$$
Last visited: mid-2007

German Bakery

German Bakery - Koregaon Park, Pune

The German Bakery on North Main Road at Koregaon Park is the (hippiest) original and most popular go-to place for exotic, healthy, organic type of food. Its usually packed and chock-full of all types of people .. young wanna-bes who have just discovered Koregaon Park, college kids with KP as their regular hang out place, foreign tourists staying at the Osho Ashram, clustered groups of people who want to sit and chat for long periods of time while enjoying inexpensive good food and people who just want to enjoy the various healthy eating options that the German Bakery offers. Many patrons are from the nearby Osho Ashram .. people from various (mostly western) countries .. who were too young in the 70s and thus missed out on their hippy dream.

Its more of a sit-down place than any other .. a sort of makeshift restaurant .. which you feel .. someday will get converted into a proper one .. but it has stayed that way for a long time .. and perhaps its better that way. The German Bakery offers a lazy sort of atmosphere .. where you really want to take a drag on your marijuana cigarette stare out in nothingness and sip your masala chai .. and I dare say many people would be doing just that.. and thats why smoking is prohibited.

Food is good .. a lot of fresh juices are on offer with some very interesting combinations [ABC - Apple Beet Carrot, Papaya lassi]. Also on the menu are different types of herbal teas, also their famous masala chai, a few appetizing omelettes, sandwiches and a good variety of pies, desserts and sundry treats. This is the place where I had my first avocado .. long back when I was a little kid .. and thats what I always remember it for.

Food: *** Ambiance: ** Price: $$
Last visited: mid-2007

Green Mill

Green Mill - Lake Ave, Duluth, MN

How can I ever think of making a list of restaurants and leave out Green Mill? It was a mecca for us for 2 years. I and my friends have consistently eaten, drank, hung out, had parties, celebrated birthdays [and enjoyed half price appetizers and drinks after 10pm] at Green Mills .. for close to two years. We would brave the Duluth cold winters and make the trip to Green Mills every Friday. Being the students that we were .. we would inevitable reach at 10pm .. to order our half price appetizers and drinks! Many a meals here constituted of just that .. obviously along with large quantities of their mind-numbingly delicious and addictive cucumber sauce. In fact we ourselves, and our orders were so regular that the waitresses would include a large bowl of the cucumber sauce by default. Sigh .. of the days gone by .. groups of 10 and more .. friends showing up without planning.. invented desserts (we often had them make a special dessert for us as the kitchen used to close after 10:45).

I have almost no recollection of the restaurant itself .. as we always sat at the bar. The appetizers are delicious. I highly recommend the Chicken Quesadillas (with the cucumber sauce), the crab cakes and the spinach dip. Sandwiches and pizzas are quite good (and popular) too. The service is good .. all the servers are quite friendly and accommodative to special requests. Overall a fun place to hang out.

Food: *** Ambiance: **** Price: $$
Last visited: mid-2004

Purepur Kolhapur

Purepur Kolhapur - Pune

Situated opposite Abhishek restaurant near Mehendale Garage, Purepur Kolhapur is a small place .. almost of shop-like dimensions .. converted into a restaurant. I must say the name had me intrigued (and salivating). [Also .. the milestone .. with "Kolhapur - 0" is an innovative touch].

My office was walking distance from this place .. so whenever me and my colleagues had an urge for a spicy Kolhapuri style meal .. we would land up here. Beats the office catering any day. [Also a couple of cold beers from Abhishek opposite helps tremendously.. perfect for hot, sweltering afternoon lunches] We had decided to try and lug the beers across the road to Purepur Kolhapur itself .. but our company changed offices before we could put that plan in action.

Anyways .. back to Kolhapur. The menu is simple .. gives only a few choices. There are some 3-4 types of thaalis [they call it taaT .. ताट.. meaning thaali] .. and a few more chicken/mutton dishes. I always opt for the mutton ताट ..with suka (dry) mutton. Service is ... instant. a large plate is placed before you .. raita, onions, lemon wedges instantly appear on it . as if out of thin air. The smell of the mutton has already made my tongue water .. so I start spooning the cool raita in my mouth .. waiting until I can get started on the mutton sukha. Also... the suka-mutton taat comes with a non-descript item .. which I dont like .. and dont care to describe. I opt for the mutton kheema in its place instead. The chapatis are piping hot .. and grabbing a chunk of the mutton, dipping it in the tambda [red] rassa [curry] and devouring it hot is just too satisfying. Kolhapuri (non-veg) food has two types of rassas. Tambda [red] and Pandhra [white] .. made from different spices and mutton stock. I actually like the Pandra rassa more .. but Purepur Kolhapur doesnt know how to make a mean pandhra rassa which can really make your mouth water. They come up with a version which has a lot more coconut milk in it than God intended. So here, I go for the red one. The meal is over as quick as they serve it. The kolhapuri flavour is retained in most of the dishes .. its mainly simple chicken and mutton .. with none of the punjabi style heavy gravies, made with basic spices with thin curries. Its not supposed to be very hot or very spicy as most people think. And Purepur Kolhapur just about gets it right.

Food: *** Ambiance: * Price: $$
Last visited: mid-2007

Lovely Sweets

Lovely Sweets - Sunnyvale, CA

Lovely sweets is a small dhaba-like place on El Camino Real .. near the intersection of El Camino and Wolfe. It compares easily to the dhabas back in India .. earlier more so .. with old plastic chairs, a dirty (and overflowing) trash can, and yummy food. I would have said its the Bay Area version of Punjabi Tandoor from San Diego .. but I am not going to say it .. as Lovely Sweets is pure vegetarian.

As far as I know .. its family owned. They have simple fare on offer .. a couple of thaali varieties, a choice of parathas, chaat and sweets. The rasmalai is probably the best you will get in the Bay Area .. or even in the States. Recently they have added a pani-puri wallah outside .. kinda reminiscent of the chaat wallahs back in India .. and the pani-puri was pretty good. More on the spicy side than sweet, which was good. Else most of the chaat available in the US tends to be on the sweeter side. Also recommended is their paneer-tikka sizzler, available with a paratha on the side.

Lovely Sweets also have sweets and namkeen for sale. Prices are decent.

Food: *** Ambiance: $ Price: $$
Last visited: late 2007

Trials Pub

Trials Pub - N 1st St, San Jose

English pub atmosphere, friendly banter, tables which beg you to play cards on them, good selection of beer, typical British food .. mash n bangers, fish n chips, shepherd's pie, curry chicken .. the cajun chicken s/w is highly recommended as is the Banger plate. It comes with 2-3 different types of sausages cut up in slices .. a perfect accompaniment to some good old Newcastle or Harp. Great atmosphere to come in with friends .. sit down and just while away the time. The beers on tap are pretty much standard .. what you may expect from an english pub .. Guinness, Bass, Harp, Boddingtons, Stella, Newcastle .. (not as exhaustive as O'Briens).

I have a reason to like this place .. I'll just say it has to do with their quality of service. The bartenders are nice enough, so are the waitresses. The food, though good .. comes in portions I wish were larger. And it closes at midnight.

Overall a great pub with laid back atmosphere, decor to match, and good beer, food and service. What more do you want?

Food: *** Ambiance: **** Price: $$
Last visited: mid 2008