Restaurant Review: Dravida's Bistro, Dhole Patil Road, Pune

So, after peeling myself away from the India-Pak match, we reached Dravida's Bistro. 1st up, the overall decor of the place is beautiful. Its quirky and chilled out, with comfy sofas and all.
Well, based on the recommendations we (wife, mom and I) decided to go in for the "Grand Sadhya Thali" which is a 5 course meal containing 27 different items. And it was a revelation.
Dravida's Bistro is all about clean, organic cooking. And the 5 course meal takes you through a culinary journey that will clean your entire system, and leave you feeling full, but not stuffed.
The whole meal is served on a banana leaf, taking the experience to a whole different level.

Course 1: Juices - there were 5 different types of juices, including a mixed vegetable, a kaju coconut, and a brown rice one. "Cleansing" was what it did.

Course 2: Salads: Very tasty, small servings which meant that even a salad hater like me wiped it all up. Included Mix veg pickle
Puffed rice, coconut jaggery, vegetable Salad, banana stem

Course 3: This was served along with course 2 and mainly consisted of small servings of vegetables called 'thoran'. Yellow pumpkin khichdi
Banana flower porier, Beet root pachadi, White pumpkin olan. 5 different sabjis on the plate. Each having a unique flavor, and tasting beautiful, combined with the salads.

Course 4: This was a 'Rice' course. Red rice, white rice, dal paste, kadhi, butter milk, Spinach porier, cabbage thoran, avial, coconut chutney, and of course, Sambhar and Rasam. Again, small quantities, but insanely falvorful. Mom and Sangeeta couldn't even finish the rice, thats how full they already were. The red rice is extremely filling, and wholesome. Sambhar was nice and thick, with no traces of oil. Rasam... We drank the rasam till the last drop, thats how delicious it was.

Course 5: Dessert: was a red rice payasam. Stron flavours of coconut, gud (jaggery) and ghee, this reminded me of the flavours mom's coconut laddoos!

The bonus course was a pan, with a spoon full of honey! Excellent way to clean the system after a meal.

By the end of it all we were pleading the owners to not send out any more food! Thought the quantities were 'limited' and portions were small, the meal is designed to be extremely healthy, filling, and full of nutrition. The  cooking style used is organic and pure. That's how we felt after the meal. Clean, beautiful, purified.
HUGE Thumbs up to Dravida's Bistro. This place is beautiful.

Restaurant Reviews: Dilli Chaat Durbaar, Bopodi, Pune

Mind blowing cholle bhature! Must must have!

Mildly spicy pani puri. Raaj kachori was interesting, a bit too sweet.
The dilli special chat was perfect... Slightly crisp hot aloo tikki with chutney dahi n stuff, this is again a must have!

Ended with some lovely hot crisp jalebi, which fortunately, wasn't overly sweet. My greed made me order a lassi as well. That was a bit bland..
Overall, a fantastic experience. Mr Jitin Ahuja wasn't there but mentioning PEO we had a lovely conversation with Mr Ahuja Sr :). Rare occasion that a meal at 7 pm fills my tummy till dinner ! Thank you!

Restaurant Review: Berry'd Alive, Indiranagar, Bangalore

 

Visited here with my wife and kid expecting some nice coffee. Instead was attacked by a barrage of desserts!
We ordered the double brownie and the blackberry cheese cake... Oh the brownie was SINFUL! Stacked brownies with chocolate sauce and ganace served in a whisky glass... Sheer beauty! I would have liked the brownies to be a bit warmer, but the taste was fabulous.

Complementing this perfectly was the blackberry cheesecake. While the blackberry gave the dessert a bit of tartness, the dark chocolate base had just the right amount of bitterness to take this dessert to another level.

My only wish is if they had some coffee options. A cup of hot black coffee would have been of so nice!
A must visit when in this part of bangalore.

Restaurant Review: Faasos, Baner, Pune

My go-to place for wraps for the past 8 years. This is one consistent place. Full tummy for less than 100 bucks? This is the place. Their chicken on basmati is another super hit item. New items on their menu: chicken rice preparations are good too. 
Must try: Mutton boti, chicken mayo, egg wrap, chicken tikka
Faasos is quickly becoming a huge chain of restaurants. Surprising was that they even now have an outlet in Baroda! Quick service, ease of ordering and consistent taste across locations, Faasos is set to become the next big thing!
Tip: register your mobile number with them and download their app. They have buy one get one free deals almost everyday through sms.

Order on: https://www.faasos.com/

image copyright: www.thecityguide.in

Restaurant Reviews: Peter's Donuts, Bavdhan, Pune

The fish thali at I'm lion left me craving for something sweet. Right next to I'm lion is Peter's donuts at Bavdhan. Tried the red velvet cake and the double dark chocolate donut.
The donut was superb.. Gooey with chocolate.
The red velvet cake was different.. The cream was mildly sour, and I'm sure it was deliberate. Not overly sweet, it provided a nice end to a nice meal. Oh, and the Irish coffee was fantastic... Way better than ccd.

Restaurant reviews: I am Lion, Bavdhan, Pune

Finally tried I'm Lion today. Tried the pomphret and surmai thalis. Includes 3 neer dosas, rice, prawn curry, 1 piece fried fish and solkadi.
The dosas were light but big. Curry was a typical konkani flavour, mildly spicy. The fish was fried in a light batter, exceptionally fresh and tasty. Solkadi at the end provided the perfect palate cleanser.
My only complaint was that the prawn curry had only 2 itsy bitsy prawns.
Overall a sumptuous meal.. Felt home cooked. We left with a full tummy without feeling like we would burst :)

Restaurant Reviews: Desi Aroma, Baner, Pune

I don't say this often: the BEST biryani in Baner. Layers of beautiful spices, similar to a lucknowi biryani, with crisp fried onions sprinkled over the top, the biryani was an absolute pleasure to eat. The meat was marinated perfectly for it to fall off with a touch. Melt in the mouth quality mutton is rare these days. I am gushing, coz that's how good this was.

The butter chicken was pretty good as well, not overly sweet, hint of spice, perfect for the puneri palate.

Their range of kababs and tikkas look and smell delicious. Next time, for sure.