The Kukkad Diaries

Showing posts with label food-trials. Show all posts

Apache fluid lounge they call it. 'Fluid' being the operational word. It has something for everyone. When we were invited over for the launch of the place, the tagline read 'Fly high' and boy did they mean it!

The youngest Apache in town is chill place to be in right now. Brand new interiors and decor with that hint of Apach-quirk, unpretentious vibes where all you need to do is relax and unwind and then you head upstairs to the rooftop area and voila, it's swanky to boot!

Having been here for a launch as well as a tasting, we know how the place can transform from a laid-back pub to a romantic rooftop dinner-date option to a party place in full swing. The one time we were here was probably the best party we've had with friends. An amazing line-up of drinks, delicious finger food, music so great the rooftop was literally a dance-floor and us, throwing back these amazing shots without counting. Needless to say, if our friends clamour for a party,we know where to take them.

Next time we were here for dinner, we were taken back by how apache cleaned up so nice! We had a nice quiet corner at the rooftop with tea lights and soft music. Valentine's night dinner plans? Done.

My previous notion of Apache being a place to drink yourself silly when our teetotaler friends enjoyed just as much. The drinks menu is the fun part here and should be considering it's a 'Fluid Lounge'. The food menu however can be hit and miss, but that's where we come in!

So here are our list of TKD RECOMMENDED dishes that you should try if you visit!

1. TANDOORI CHICKEN CHAAT: Please try this!! Like this is something you should taste atleast once! Soft, succulent pieces of tandoori chicken served like chaat with dahi, sev, chutney, the works! And boy, does it score.

2.CHILLY CHICKEN PIZZA: We love thin crust pizzas and this pizza was thin crust and with toppings so delish, we couldn't keep our hands off it. Totally yummy and great way to start the party. The vegetarians can opt for just as wonderful...

3. PEPPER PANEER PIZZA: Surprisingly, it's just as delectable as the non-veg variety.

4.TANDOORI CHICKEN CAESAR SALAD: If you are a salad fanatic like us, you will love this one. Though the quantity may seem a bit stingy but the dressing makes up for it. (Or we had stuffed on too many fries)

5.GREEN THAI CURRY: We already are really into thai curry these days and this satiated us quite nicely. A perfect accompaniment to your steaming plate of rice. Yum!

6. CHOCOLATE MOUSSE spiked with a good measure of old monk is just the thing to end your meals with.Flying high doesn't end with desserts!!

There were RASPBERRY MOUSSE CAKE and JAGERBOMBs for dessert but they weren't really hits for us. You can try it if you want. They sure look good though.

But when you are there, experiment with the drinks and cocktails and the quirky way of serving them! BANTA GOTI SODAs are my go to here. They are fun to pop, available in different flavors and so refreshing!

BLOODY VALENTINE are probably our partiality too when it comes to shots. Though it is fun ordering SWEET DISPOSITION for your friends andseeing them struggling with the tiny feeding bottles they are served in :D

If you are wondering where to hangout on weekends with friends, give this place a go. And make sure you FLY HIGH while you are at it!!

We are called The Kukkad Diaries for a reason. Hunting for and hogging on good plate of kukkad is like religion. It has to be done routinely and with great respect and devotion. There's nothing more humbling than being given a chance to savour a dish of perfectly cooked and presented Kukkad.

So we were sitting in the office one fine evening sipping on some chai from our favorite chai shop when we suddenly got a call to come over and try the 'Dil se desi chakhna menu' at Punjab Grill. The idea seem intriguing and promised great food, considering it was 'Punjab Grill' hosting the fest. It meant loads of kukkad shukkad (oh aahu aahu, te waahu waahu).

So we left office early to go and checkout what 'Punjab Grill' had to offer. It is located in the Phoenix Mall, Viman Nagar and have started this beautiful outdoor seating with a deck that overlooks the courtyard below and boast of some great ambient lighting. They also had a band performing live when we arrived so people could enjoy the food and appreciate the music. The outdoor seating also had a small live tandoor section where you could see the kukkad shukkad being roasted which would definitely get you drooling if you are a Kukkad lover like us.

Since it was a Chakhna menu, the crunchy spicy bits that's served when you are out drinking with friends or even when your Dad and the folks at home sit down with a glass on a winter night, we were served these delicious munchies in small chai glasses which looked adorable. It had the good ol' Chana Jor Garam in the form of mixed seeds, the classic masala peanuts, some sweet spicy corn etc. The chakhna brought back old memories of having chana jor garam during the casual visits to India gate.

We started with BLOODY CHAMELI, the PUNJABI KRANTT and the JALANDHAR EXPRESS which were classic cocktails made with the desi twist.

We then went on to try CHICKEN THREE WAYS which had ckicken tikka, chicken hariyali and chicken malai tikka. The meat was really tender but it lacked a bit of flavor for our liking.

The TANDOORI KUKKAD WINGS was a something really unique (not because it had kukkad in its name). We are huge fans of chicken wings but never thought wings could be made in the tandoor. The dish was really interesting and had the right amount of flavor to make it tasty yet undeniably desi.

The AMRITSARI MACCHI was fried fish with some home made chips. The fish fry was really crispy but maybe the chips didn't go that well with the flavor of the fish. We really liked the fish though.

The CHUKKENDAR KE KEBAB and the PANEER KE SHOOLE were the veggie variants. The kebabs were cutlets with beetroot stuffing with super crispy covering. The paneer was a spicier version of paneer tikka packed with flavor.

We were thenready to go on to the mains but were presented with DANGAR DOSE. Maybe they figured out that we are eating like DANGARS and this would have been the most appropriate thing to serve. The DANGAR dose is a tequila shot served in a big ass injection. Whatte fun!

The mains had BUTTER CHICKEN, CHICKEN BIRYANI, VEG KORMA, KOTKAPURE DA AATA CHICKEN and assorted breads.

KOTKAPURE DA AATA CHICKEN was definitely the showstopper as the chef himself proceeded to carve the dish himself. A whole chicken is stuffed and marinated with spices and then its completely covered in flour pastry before its put away to bake. Once done, the outer cover is removed to reveal the aromatic, tender chicken. This was a unique way of cooking and was indeed quite delicious.

The BIRYANI and raita were approved by all the bloggers around and also copiously consumed. The flavors were on point and chicken in it really tender and moist.

We rounded off our meal with a dessert of CHAWAL KI KHEER served in shot glasses. I'm a sucker for kheer and I have to admit I ate more than I should have. It was rich, creamy and delicious.

Well, so it's definitely safe for you to pop over to Punjab Grill for a nice, indulgent dinner with the fam. Let us know what you think of it. We definitely had fun.

P.S: Do NOT forget the Dangar Dose. ;)

If you haven't heard of Chef Milind Sovani, it's time you did. His restaurant 'Song of India' based in Singapore has recently won the bragging rights to being known as the only Indian restaurant to get a Michelin Star in the South-East Asia. Now isn't that something?

When he's not spearheading the 'East or west Indian food is the best' revolution in other countries, he's running this beautiful restaurant, tucked in a corner of the bustling ITI Road. Though he is not always around, understandable as he flits between his different engagements ranging from feeding hungry celebrities to attending food shows or guesting as master chef to other restaurants , he makes sure his highly diligent and trained staff take over the reins to uphold the repute that his restaurants have garnered.

Chef Milind has been favorite of the stars as well. His repertoire of clientele boasts of political honchos like Indira Gandhi and Rajiv Gandhi to International figures such as Nelson Mandela to Bollywood stars of Madhuri Dixit's and Amitabh Bacchan's calibre.

So when we were invited for a tasting as well as a tete-a-tete with the chef himself we scampered to Uber ourselves to the venue. Ironically, it was raining while we made way to April Rain (huehue) but the good thing is it's bang in front of the street and the sign is really hard to miss.

Chef Milind and family greeted us with a smile (and so did the fellow bloggers, because we were in character and typically late) and played perfect hosts.

We were regaled with stories of his early career and the different aspects of being a chef while we dug into the delicious fare personally curated by the chef himself.

We started off with some GUAVA MARGARITA and EXOTIC THAI which were the recommended mocktails.

Our personal favorite was probably GUAVA MARGARITA not only because it tasted refreshingly of fresh guavas but it reminded us of the time when we ate ripe guavas with a good sprinkling of salt and chilli powder. Well, the chef had successfully recreated the same experience with the margarita especially since it was served in a salt and chilli rimmed glass.

The EXOTIC THAI was more tropical tasting with watermelon and mint with lemon grass in it. However, a caveat, it might just taste a bit too sweet to some who do not prefer overtly-sweet drinks. It did found quite a few fans in the table so I guess it can definitely be tried. The sweetness a few notches down and it would be prefection.

The starters were impressive to say the least. The chef has tried to create finger foods that were easy to eat yet gourmet in the way it was prepared.

Case in point, MUMBAI'S FAB MARTINI CROSTINI which was basically pav bhaji served in a martini glass which was more handy than we had thought. It came with a long slice of bread, perfectly buttered and was convenient to scoop out the bhaji with. Ingenious!

MASALA ALOO KULZZA was another surprisingly innovative yet tasty dish. A base of kulcha stuffed with spiced potatoes and topped with the basic pizza toppings of cheese, jalapenos,olives etc. gave the illusion of a pizza, especially when served sliced. But a bite down and the hit closer home than it should. Do give this a shot.

FILO WRAPPED OREGANO CHEESE STICKS were just another example of the simplicity combined with ease of consuming. Each cheesestick was served in a shot glass with some salsa dip in it. The cheese sticks were crispy on the outside and gooey in the inside. Perfect.

CRISPY FISH WITH PRAWN BHARTA was another of our favorites and looked so yum! It was a slice of boneless fish dipped in batter and fried golden. It was topped with tangy mix of prawns and fresh vegetables.

PANI PURI VODKA SHOTS looked very tempting and interesting as a concept. However, true lovers of the puchka/panipuri/golgappa might want to steer clear of this, especially the ones with a weak disposition to alcohol. In contrast, Mr. TKD loved it. So it had several test tubes of pani puri tangy water mix spiked with copious amount of alcohol, a bowl of crispy pani puri balls ready to be broken into and stuffed, a spicy lentil mix and a bowl of sev. All I would say is, go easy with the Vodka spiked water.

MUSHROOM ON KHARI was another of our favorite. It was a bruschetta like dish with creamy mushrooms and salsa but instead of the bread it used a khari instead which we thought was genius as the khari gave it another level of lightness and crunchiness to the dish. Vegetarians, give this a shot.

Usually once we are done with the starters, the desserts is mostly what we look forward to. But this time we loved the selection of dishes the chef had lined up for us.

EGG KEEMA PAV was first up and it was delicious. The mince chicken was cooked spicy and kicking and topped with an egg, served with buttered buns. It was a perfect amalgamation of street food and gourmet, a modern, classy twist to the classic dish.

FISH FILET IN CAJUN SPICE had a filet of perfectly cooked fish sitting on a bed of smoothly mashed potatoes and a pool of creamy sauce spiced with oregano, thyme, pepper and garlic. Delish.

CHICKEN STEAK is a specialty and something Chef Milind talks very fondly of. He certainly out did himself, because the steak was tender and cooked to perfection. As you’d expect, it came with a side of mashed potatoes and vegetables and a rich, red wine sauce so rich and tasty it’d make you weep with joy. Ok, exaggeration. But you get it, it was really good.

Our most favorite (I know, I’m using this word quite liberally in this post. Bear with me) dish was probably the SEAFOOD THAI GREEN CURRY served with STEAMED RICE. We are strictly pro-chicken people which means we are not that into sea food as we’d wish as food bloggers, but this curry was so rich and impeccable, the fish in it so tender and everything went so deliciously with the long grained rice that we couldn’t help but fall for it.

Desserts came with an option of Gajar ka halwa or blueberry cheesecake and we went with the latter. The BLUEBERRY CHEESECAKE was a bit too sweet for my liking. I’m a cheesecake fanatic and I like the cheesecake a bit more rich, a bit sweet-sour and smooth. The salty graham cracker crust is another thing that I look forward to in a cheesecake. But this cheesecake had everything sweet on sweet. It was topped with blueberry coulis and whipped cream. Not my jam (see, what I did there? :D )

We ended the affair with PAAN SHOTS which were literally just…shots…tasting like paan. Sometimes my profundity surprises me.

Well, to wind up this post, we’d give this post a thumbs up and recommend you give it a shot. As usual, do let us know what you thought of it?

Happy Kukkad hunting!

Momo café Hinjewadi is the place to be this month. A unique food festival is underway that promises to take you through the cuisines of quaint coastal towns right from Kanwar to Kanyakumari. And incidentally that’s what the food festival is called too.

When we arrived on the venue one Monday evening after much tussle with the mad hinjewadi traffic, we were greeted with warm smiles and chill beverages. Needless to say we indeed felt very welcome. The service at MoMo is always impeccable but on that day we had Chef Hegde himself receiving us.

The ‘Kanwar to Kanyakumari’ food festival attempts to bring to Pune the authentic taste of the coastal parts of India. So every day, we have a new place on the map covered. So you literally trace the gastronomic geography on the map right from Karwar to Mangalore to Calicut to Aleppy and finally to Kanyakumari. Chef Raja has really outdone himself with the conceptualizing, planning and executing the entire thing.

MoMo Café had a special menu for us to sample from the festival and there was the usual continental buffet as well. The atmosphere was as usual buzzing. The buffet at MoMo café always finds takers with it being amazing and fresh all the time. In fact, there was quite a queue for the dessert table which was enticingly done as usual.

We were served the LIMBE HANINA PANAKA which was salty lemonade with a dash of cardamom and coconut water. It was a good refreshment before you dug into the richness of the rest of the meal. It has its inspiration from the Karwar as well as the mangalore region.

But what really caught our attention was the PARANGI RASAM. I haven’t really had a rasam like this before which is not surprising as we usually skip the rasam when we are eating south Indian. (gasp! I know, travesty. But what can you do. We are weird like that) The rasam had generous helping of diced pineapple which added a tangy yet sweet kick. It had the spiciness of ginger and pepper. Overall, we dug it a LOT.

The starters brought with it a host of fried goodies. Oh don’t you love when you just want to lie back and keep munching on the piping hot pakodas as someone keeps bringing out more while you chill. We felt something like that as we were treated to these sinful crispies.

GENASINA PODI: So genasina is basically sweet potato…..so that mean podi is pakoda(?). Well anywhich way, I liked it. The batter fried potato was soft,pliable and sweetish in the inside and crispy and spicy on the out.

PARNDU PODI: Parndu is banana. So you get the drift here right? So these were basically banana fritters. And one of the best kinds. Only if I had some icecream with that. I’d be set.

BAPPAKAI PODI: So going by the rule Bappakai must mean raw papaya because it was raw papaya pakoda. We’ve never tried a papaya fritter before and we wonder why, because the thing was great.

ERULLI BHAJI was the good ol’ onion pakoda that we’ve grown to love and hog so much. So you get the sentiments with this one right? Can’t go wrong with this one.

KAPPA FRY was one of the more unique pakodas, we think. It was made up of tapioca. Now tapioca is not very much consumed in its true form in Maharashtra. So this tapioca had been brought down from Kerela itself and made fries with. It tasted very different. Nice different, certainly and I welcome you to try it, too.

So, it wasn’t all vegetarian. Infact I listed out all the vegetarians one before because I saved the best ones for later, haha. The non-veg starters had the following:

MEEN RAWA FRY: Aaaiieeee. I luuuuurved this one a little bit too much and consumed enough to be scared that I’d lose my appetite. Not that I’d mind, this was brilliant. So these were pieces of boneless fish, marinated in mild spices, coated in semolina and fried to glory. Served hot. Perfection.

MEEN MASALA FRY was a more spicier and moister. In its true Mangalorean glory, it was soft yet punchier. Found quite a lot of takers but I was still partial to the Meen Rawa.

KOZI MELUGU was a dish right out of Kerala. It was spicy with a hint of coconut because of the choice of oil used.

KOZI VEPPUDU was the drier cousin of the other chicken starter and was incidentally our favorite also. It was crispy yet spicy enough to curl up with while watching a Netflix marathon of the Stranger Things with a mug of chilled beer.

The mains were much more manageable and weren’t as overwhelming which was a good thing as we were pretty much stuffed with all the fries. It started off with the SAVATE PALYA which might be a little too vegetarian for a Kukkad lover. It had a load of vegetables like different gourds as well as lentils which made it a very balanced dish to have.

But unfortunately our attentions were grabbed by a different dish of MEEN PULIMUNCHI. Filets of delicate fish sitting in a pool of spicy yet delicious broth was a treat to have with some red rice as well as appams. Appams were hot and so soft and fluffy, it went amazingly with just anything. And especially it went famously with the STEW.

The STEW was a vegetable based made in coconut milk. It had carrots and beetroots and gourds and tasted heavenly with the appams. A fellow blogger hailing from Kerela made sure to validate the perfection of the dish by devouring copious amounts of stew with Appams. So need we say anything at all, when people from kerela themselves give it a thumbs up?

The chef watched over us like an indulgent mother, coaxing us to eat some more and try the different combinations. We all felt very spoilt and pampered. And might have hogged just a tad bit too much as a result. In fact, I couldn’t help but agree when a friendly chef agreed to whip up some white sauce pasta for me, for which I was mocked mercilessly. “So which part of the coastal India does the white sauce pasta come from?”
Disgruntling, yes but not for long because the white sauce pasta was so exquisite and delicious, I hardly got a couple of spoons. Everyone attacked it as soon as it landed on the table. How’s that for a last laugh? Haha.

The desserts course was just sin. I loaded my plate with all desserts available. The day’s speciality was SATE which was a cold sweet dish which was heavenly.

Other than that all other desserts are available in the regular buffets too. Make sure you visit for the buffet if you really want to indulge yourself. You won’t be disappointed.

As for the ‘SEASIDE SOJOURN- KARWAR TO KANYAKUMARI’ festival, give it a go. It’s a new cuisine everyday so make sure you enquire while you are reserving your table. Hope the blog helps and if it does, write to us! We love to read what you have to tell us!

P.S: A big cheer for all the lovely chefs, Arundhati for the invite and Team MoMo Café for being the darling that they are.