The Kukkad Diaries

We are not the best cooks in the world but we do whip a mean pasta once in a while. However, kitchen is not our habitual territory. But our haul of fresh Green Tokri products has us putting our thinking caps on trying new and different ways of cooking the goods.
Since we are not the odd Nigella Lawson or Gordon Ramsay of cooking so we decided to stick to recipes that are easy to assemble and didn't take much time. This ensured we played up the freshness of the vegetables to the maximum and hopefully, kitchen novices as us would appreciate fixing their healthy snacks without having to put on a chef's hat.

In the Green Tokri order, we had received a jar of amazing basil-pesto mix that we wanted to play around with. It is a great addition to our kitchen as it makes for great dip when had with bread sticks or nachos, toss it with some boiled pasta and you have delicious basil pesto pasta and simply spread some on toast or bread and voila! you have a snack. We also had an excess of the fresh, red cherry tomatoes, bell peppers and greens lying around. So we decided to make some light, summery dish of bruschetta. It's not as much a dish as an appetizer but we love it because it's not heavy on your palate, it's easy to put together and tastes so damn yummy!


For our bruschetta, we first popped into our local bakery for a baguette. Your local bakery might slice it for you if you ask or you can bring them home and slice it yourself, which I must say is somewhat therapeutic (the smell of fresh bread, the crumbly texture on your skin, the crunch of the knife cutting through the crispy outer layer.....oh yes). If you are having trouble getting your hands on a baguette, you may want to pop in to your nearest Nature's Basket. We can spend hours there. (Oh, by the way, you can also pick some Green Tokri stuff up from the Nature's Basket outlet) We have a great time shopping for ingredients, sampling cheeses and salami and buying anything other than what we were looking for. But after shoe shopping, I think browsing through a local deli might be my deal.

I digress, so after we had picked, sliced and readied our bread we got cracking on our veggies. We finely chopped the tomatoes and the colorful bell peppers and lightly tossed them with olive oil. We also grated some cheese because everything was just too healthy so we had to balance it out a bit (also because we are gluttons, a bit more inclined to the healthy but gluttons still). You'd also want some basil to throw on to the mix.


For assembling the bruschettas, we:

• Buttered the baguette slices on both sides, then applied a generous layer of Green Tokri's Basil Pesto mix
• Sprinkled a layer of grated cheese and then topped it with the chopped tomatoes-bell pepper-basil mix.
• Placed the bruschetta slices on a hot pan over the stove and let the buttered bread sizzle and warmed it till the bread slightly browned and the cheese started to bubble.
• Served the bruschetta with a dash of lemon juice for a light, citrus tang to cut in through the cheese and bring out the flavor in the tomatoes.


You can make the mix as per your liking and with your preference of tomato-to-bell pepper ratio. The Kukkad Diaries thinks it'd be rather preposterous to us be giving out cooking instructions to people and we'd rather just mention what exactly we did and you could choose to improve on that or send us tips for the same, because we'd love to improve our master-chef skills.


As far as our bruschetta was concerned, it turned out great and it made for great saturday afternoon snack. The Basil Pesto by Green Tokri tasted really fresh and delicious. Green Tokri ensures that the condiments come with no added flavors or preservatives and are healthier as they get.

We still have a bag of sun-dried tomatoes lying around that we'd like to experiment with. Watch this space for more of our experiments in the TKD kitchen!

You can grab your jar of awesome by visiting the Green Tokri website or contacting them.


You can visit Green Tokri's website and register to go through appealing list of products at www.GreenTokri.com | http://Webshop.GreenTokri.com | www.facebook.com/GreenTokri


P.S: Green Tokri also organizes farm tour of their extensive farms in Sasvad. You can visit with your family and enjoy the greenery and natural landscape of their sweeping farms as well as pick produce for yourself. The tour will help you understand the working of Green Tokri and give you a peek into the farm life. The tour is chalked for an entire day and sounds quite fun! Contact GT for more details.

Halfway through the week, The Kukkad Diaries found themselves in their favorite Aundh spot. (For the uninitiated it's the spot in ITI Road where Crossword bookstore is located along with street food stalls, Natural's icecream outlet, the froyo outlet, the Starbucks outlet and the helium balloons sellers) It's a good spot in the evenings for walking along enjoying the cool breeze, or popping in to thumb through the latest paperbacks or just hog. We usually do this on the weekends but the incredible BTeam surprised us with another invite, this time to sample a newly started food truck, Breaking Bread. So tuesday, office night or not, we Ubered ourselves to the spot mostly to meet the folks again and of course, food.

The food truck is located in a surprisingly spacey part of the street considering how busy the junction usually is. You can spot it right across from Crossword. Though it has been operational since a couple of months but we hadn't really noticed it, probably because the exteriors are a bit drab in color and we mixed it up with a tea stall or something just as tame. But boy, were we wrong, because closer inspection revealed quirky quotes and pictures like the cheeky toaster announcing "I want you inside me, bread". Well, that's how I feel about bread too.




The truck usually starts by 7 pm and there are always a bee line for the goods. The BTeam and our fellow blogger friends stood around the truck getting pictures and joking around while the food got ready. We were served the VIRGIN KOKAM MOJITO while we waited. It was a refreshing drink with a twist to the regular mojito with the addition of the Kokam flavor. The drink had distinct tastes of kokam as well as the mint and had spices to add the required kick. We quite liked this one.


For eats we tried the CHICKEN IN A MESS, THE HOT MESS,PUNE TOASTIES, CHICKEN TOASTIES, THE JERK BURGER and THE GOAN CHICKEN BURGER.

CHICKEN IN A MESS and THE HOT MESS are new preparations that the chefs of Breaking Bread have introduced. It basically has a bed of french fries topped up with shredded chicken in case of CHICKEN IN A MESS or beans for the vegetarian THE HOT MESS version. The chicken/beans are sauteed in tangy sauce and piled on to the fries. The whole thing is garnished with cheese and salsa t pep it up. We really enjoyed the chicken version to the bean one. The bean version, true to its name seemed a bit more messy, with the sauces being runnier than the non-veg one. Also if you order this you'd want to eat the thing as soon as possible because the sauces gets the fries soggy very fast and soggy fries are not our most favorite thing in the world.



The PUNE TOASTIES and the CHICKEN TOASTIES were grilled sandwiches. The PUNE TOASTIES had mashed potatoes mixed with cheese, mayo and mint into a creamy texture while the CHICKEN TOASTIES had additional shredded chicken bits in it. We quite liked the flavor and the mintiness of the stuffing. However many conceded to it lacking a punch for the want of seasoning. Well, if you are not really fans of 'very spicy' then you should probably go for the toasties.



THE JERK CHICKEN BURGER and the GOAN CHICKEN BURGER were a burger lover's dream. Both had marinated chunks of chicken sauteed in spices and stuffed liberally in the folds of the bun. The JERK CHICKEN had a Caribbean flavors and was much less spicy to the GOAN. The GOAN CHICKEN was sauteed in hot and spicy flavors and was the favorite of the night. It had the punch of the spices, the generous amount of chicken and good veggies to bun ratio. a must-try!



For desserts we were served the only dessert in the menu, the BANOFFEE SANDWICH, which mostly turned out to be a burger. The buns doused in chocolate sauce enclosed within them banana slices, chocolate sauce and what tasted unmistakably like peanut butter. Well, I'm not allergic to peanuts but I do not enjoy peanuts in my food and would have liked to know if the dish had peanut in it, perhaps in the description. I do enjoy my chocolate and banana grilled sandwich and would have loved if the BANOFFEE SANDWICH had the crunchiness of a toast perhaps instead of buns.


By the time we were done with the menu, we were considerably stuffed. Warm good-byes and see-you's commenced as we all made our way back home. Our little food truck adventure was perfect as it should be with friends and we never felt for a bit that we had congregated there for a job. Jokes, fun, food, laughter.... That's what's like Breaking Bread with food bloggers. :)

The best part of being a blogger, a food blogger at that, is not that you get to try new cuisines and sample dishes at up and coming restaurants. Well, it is a very enticing to be sure but it's not the best yet. Okay, fine! Who are we kidding. It is absolutely mindblowingly fantastic that we get to hog on to all that delicious food. But other good thing that we found out was meeting like-minded, food loving folks whose love for food sometimes surpasses the need to pick up your parents from the airport. But well, such is the pull of true love.

Mr. TKD and me, we squabble a lot. Quarrels leads to fights and periods of 'cold treatments', but no matter how angry you might be or how right you were at your position, you know you have to swallow that pride and sulkily talk if you want your ritualistic Kukkad eat-outs. We are not very social and at the end of the day we only have the other to go out with. This is a serious situation, y'all.

So one fine day we got an invite from a team of food bloggers and enthusiasts, uncannily called The B Team, asking us if we'd join them for a wine and food tasting event. We, of course, said yes. (We are big gluttons like that) It was a friday and much relieved the week was behind us. We arrived at the spot, The Bridge at Clarks Inn Tarawade off JM road. We were having a tiff as usual but we did behave ourselves. The B team were a pretty cool bunch of food fanatics who make it a point to go out and try new places and they are always gracious enough to invite other poor folks such as us. The event was in association with an exciting new food app, aptly called the FoodieApp and Rhythm Winery.


Rhythm Winery is brand that focuses on fruit wines and has a line of exciting flavored wines such as Alphonso, Peach, Kiwi, Strawberry and Plum. The Winery had sponsored a wine tasting session for the bloggers in attendance and we got a class on 'See-Sniff-Sip-Summarize' way of wine tasting. We were given out the Peach and Alphonso wines to taste. The Alphonso one had a yellowish hue and at the first go it smelled and tasted, as the general consensus went, quite like 'mango bite' the sweet. But it did grow on us as we sipped along and it might have preferred it over the other one. The Peach wine had a subtler flavor of peach and was a nice sparkly liquid. Mr. TKD appreciated it by downing copious amounts of Peach wine which probably means is his favorite.



The fruity wines are created by blending fruit wines with grape wine separately. They are usually served chill so as to not let the flavor overpower the palate and go smoothly with the spicy Indian fare as we soon found out.

The dinner was organised by Clarks Inn Tarawade, which is considerably new in the Pune food scene.  Based out of Lucknow, Clarks Inn has a formidable presence all over India and they are branched out as resorts, hotels, restaurants and lot of other projects. In collaboration with Tarawade group, there are many new projects in pipeline for them. The Bridge is a multi-cuisine restaurant specializing in North Indian, Chinese and Continental. Since Clarks Inn has its roots in Lucknow, The Bridge had planned out a Lucknowi meal for us.

Our tables had bread baskets with bread sticks and bread rolls in them. We had already started nibbling on the bread sticks, famished as we were, by the time the starters arrived. The starters had PANEER TIKKA, PANEER HARIYALI TIKKA, MUTTON SHEEKH KEBAB AND FISH TIKKA.


PANEER TIKKA and PANEER HARIYALI TIKKA comprised of chunks of soft and moist cottage cheese, marinated in their respective spices and grilled to perfection. The PANEER TIKKA was nicely spiced and cooked to our liking. It went quite well with the green dip that was served. The HARIYALI variety had a green marinade and cheese on the paneer chunks. However, it tasted a bit under-seasoned to us. The tikkas were good but not exceptional considering their speciality in Lucknowi cuisine.




MUTTON SHEEKH KEBAB was minced mutton rolled on to skewers and tandoored to deliciousness. The spices really played to our tastes and we loved how succulent the meat was given that it was mutton.


The winner for us was definitely the FISH TIKKA. We are not really fish people but we had to hand it to the chef, this made us love fish. The boneless pieces of fish were so fresh and tender, the meat was falling off. It was grilled to the perfect crispiness and the spices we the right amount of pungent and zesty. We really couldn't have enough. And it went really well with our fruit wines.


The main course had VEGETABLE BIRIYANI and MUTTON BIRIYANI. We had already stuffed ourselves with so much starters that we decided to just have a taste of the mutton biriyani. At first, we didn't really like it as much. It seemed bland and the rice didn't really impress us. But it seemed our server had served us with just the top of the bowl of biriyani and the spices were mostly in the bottom so it required a good mix. The spices were aromatic and flavorful, however the mutton pieces were a bit too stretchy to bite. Also, the dish was quite pungent though the raita did take the edge off a bit. However, having had my fair share of biriyani in Kolkata, where it is revered as the food of the kings, I wasn't as impressed.


For dessert we were served with hot GULAB JAMUNS with a dollop of ice-cream and chocolate sauce. The plating was quite ingenious and the warm gulab jamuns went well with the ice-cream but at the end of the day it was just a gulab jamun.


The Bridge might be a good place to dine in if you want to experiment with North Indian fare. The ambience is pretty nice and service is decent.

We mostly loved this tasting because we met fellow-bloggers who are fun and as enthusiastic about good lighting on a Gulab Jamun as we are. (It is quite exasperating eating out with our 'normal' friends who are subjected to 'wait-don't-you-dare-eat-I've-not-clicked-a-picture-of-that-yet' treatment every time a new course comes in. Yes, exasperating for them.) A big warm thanks to Maanas, Divyanshu, Vaibhav, Neel and Arvind for having us over and big love to the other partners-in-crime. We had a great time hanging out with you guys and maybe we will hang out more often (here's hoping).

For us, TKD, it was a silver-lining, making new 'food' friends which means smooth cold wars with uninterrupted quibble until one decides to yield without calling unnecessary meal-time truce. Life looks good right now.

Most days, when we are eating out, we prefer ordering in our choice of salad. We are big fans of the Chicken Caesar Salad and really particular about how its prepared. The dressing shouldn't be too runny, the bowl shouldn't be too stingy on the lettuce, the chicken pieces should be in a apt amount and croutons are always welcome. It's not everyday that we can get our hands on the perfect bowl of salad and living in an area as Wakad, the options for places with good salad is really low.

Not to mention, The Kukkad Diaries has been championing all things healthy recently, thanks to the Mr. TKD's insistence on fitness and health conscious food choices. This new green wave that we've been riding introduced us to a phenomenal home-grown brand, Green Tokri. And might we say, it's a revelation! If you are a resident of Pune and have heard of Green Tokri, then you are one of the luckier ones. And if you, like us, were/are unaware of what this might be, you are in for a treat!

For the uninitiated, Spear-headed by Dr. Marc Cremer and his wife in partnership with Mr. Zaheer Vakil and Mr. Mohiuddin Mulla, Green Tokri is a brand that brings you fresh produce straight from the farm to your table! Dr. Cremer is an agriculture engineer of profound caliber holding a PhD in his field from Germany. Using his engineering acumen and love for farming he was able to grow lettuce on sweeping Green Tokri farms in Saswad, Pune. Since it's inception in 2001, Green Tokri has grown with leaps and bounds relying mainly on word to mouth publicity. And if it has grown it's because of the unmatchable quality and freshness of the produce and the absolute convenience getting it delivered to your doorsteps.

If you go on to their website, you can register to view all the products on sale. All the canned processed foods are made from the farm grown produce and hence are fresh and tasty. They have listed an extensive range of salad vegetables so that you can go ahead and make your own salad as per your preference. To add to that you can also order dressings, sauces and other condiments that you might require. Everything is extremely reasonably priced considering it's fresh out of the farm and you'll find almost all items priced below 100 Rupees. If you want to make salad just for yourself you can order a pre-cut ready-to-eat salad bowl with dressing for just 75 Rupees! Isn't that a steal?!


Green Tokri spoiled us silly with such amazingly fresh and healthy products. We were only too happy to receive our big bag of super fresh veggies and goodies. Our bulging bag had every vegetable that you'd want to be in your salad ranging from sweet succulent iceberg lettuce to ruby red cherry tomatoes.We got to taste jars of mayonnaise and sauces and dressings. We spent the weekends trying different salads, using the vegetables for new recipes and trying to incorporate the condiments in our everyday food. Green Tokri has amazed us. We absolutely loved everything we got our hands on.


We spend the entire week trying new ways to use the products and at the end of the week, the iceberg lettuce were still fresh in their zip lock bags. It was extremely easy to simply tear off the fresh, crumbly leaves into a box, throw in some veggies and a drizzle of the dressing and pack it off to work. And since, we tried so many ways to eat our vegetables we will sharing it with you too! Right now, however we will start off with our favorite salad that uses the Green Tokri products.

The ingredients we used were:

A bag of Ice Berg leaves: Though this bag of salad leaves had 250gms of produce, yet we were able to use it for almost 4-5 helpings of salads. We stored it to almost a little more than a week and it still tasted as crunchy and sweet as before.


Red Cabbage: It came in whole pieces and it lasted us more than 5 bowls of salad. We used it for sandwiches later. Rupees 50 per piece.


English Carrots: Priced at 29 Rupees for 500gms.


European Cucumbers: We love cucumbers and we totally love it on our salad. These cucumbers were juicy and sweet. The bag of 500gms contained 3 large cucumbers for 25 Rupees. It was so tender we didn't even bother peeling it.


Cherry Tomatoes: These tiny tomatoes instantly pepped up a bowl of greens. It was as fresh as they come and 2 weeks on, we still have a couple lying around in the fridge. It came in a bag of 200 gms and priced at just 29 Rupees!


Pickled Gherkins: We love love love this pickle. It can be used in sandwiches or pizzas and salads or eaten as it is. We loved snacking on the sweet and sour gherkins. Priced at 79 Rupees for 350Gms, we can't wait to stock up on this already!


Roasted Seeds: These are great addition to the salad and adds a crunchy texture. It came in a tiny packet but had enough to out-last all the salad making fervour.

Roasted Chicken: Now, this ingredient is optional if you want. We picked up a packet of pre-cut portions of smoked chicken from Nature's Basket. You can try them too if you are a chicken lover and like adding protein to your salad. It tastes great and stores well.


Mayonnaise and Belgian Samurai Mayonnaise: Even though Mr.TKD avoids mayo like plague yet he gave in to these ones this time because they tasted so good. The Belgian Samurai Mayo is like a spicier version of the regular mayo and it has a great punch. However, Vegetarian friends, be warned, these goodness has eggs in them. 89 Rupees for a jar of 180Gms.

Garlic Dressing: This is a bottle of wonder. It immediately uplifts the entire bowl of salad and makes it taste gazillion times better. This paired with mayo is our favorite dressing. Don't over-use it though, you don't want to overwhelm your bowl with a garlicky flavor. 79 rupees for 250 ml.


Making of the salad was the easiest part. The only thing that takes up a bit of the time is the prepping. Make sure to wash your lettuce before you toss them to your salad bowl. Once you wash them you can just wring it with your hands to break it into bite-sized pieces and then keep tossing the veggies you love into your salad bowl. Sprinkle the dressing on the salad and spoon out some mayo into it too. Toss the salad and enjoy a guilt-free, healthy and delicious meal.


Watch this space for more as we try our hands at Bruschetta with the Green Tokri Basil Pesto! Meanwhile go visit Green Tokri's website and register to go through appealing list of products at www.GreenTokri.com | http://Webshop.GreenTokri.com | www.facebook.com/GreenTokri

P.S: Green Tokri also organizes farm tour of their extensive farms in Sasvad. You can visit with your family and enjoy the greenery and natural landscape of their sweeping farms as well as pick produce for yourself. The tour will help you understand the working of Green Tokri and give you a peek into the farm life. The tour is chalked for an entire day and sounds quite fun! Contact GT for more details.

Comparatively a new kid on the block, Yolkshire has since established a reputation for itself in the last 6 months since its inception. A reason, probably why it clicks might be its concept of an all-egg menu. You heard it right, Yolkshire has all things eggs under one roof. Right from the delectable egg benedict to the humble masala egg bhurji, it has it all. How diverse could the menu get if it's just eggs you say? Well you are in for a surprise. A pleasant one if you enjoy eggs. There are a large variety of ingenious meal omelettes with sides such as hashbrowns, salami, sausages and mushrooms. You can customize your meal with your choice of sides.

The avant-garde venture was first conceptualized by a trio about 5 years ago and the first ever Yolkshire opened up in Kothrud. Despite the slow start the cafe started picking up a clientele, mostly owing to it's innovative menu and fresh concept. Only when Saili joined the management that she started contemplating an expansion of the brand. She took on the tough job of acquiring the location and managing the process of setting up the new branch. The toil and sweat weren't in vain, because on the October of 2015 the Aundh branch of Yolkshire opened its doors to public.



Though they were prepared for a slow start too, it was a revelation when the turnout on the first day itself was more than they expected. They haven't looked back ever since. Headed by Saili, Yolkshire Aundh runs like a well oiled machine. More and more people visit the cafe everyday to try the fare and most often than not they end up returning, which happened to us too. The location of the cafe is perfect; idyllic yet not very remote. It's a leafy neighborhood that might look like a nice residencial place but it boasts of several corporate offices, gyms, boutiques and pubs. If you land up here on weekends seeking perfect breakfast, which you will obviously find, you might be in for a wait because the tables are mostly taken. At least the outside ones are, which are perfect spots to have a meal, while you have a sweeping view of the street and other cafes across.

Saili is the epitome of girl boss. Previously working in the IT sector she realized that her true love lay in food which made her jump headlong into the hospitality sector. From not having any previous knowledge of the workings of a restaurant to successfully setting up a cafe, she has done it all. Running a busy eatery as Yolkshire is a task in itself yet she finds out time to pop in to the Kothrud branch. She is a powerhouse and she's always on her feet, waiting tables or in the kitchen or behind the counter, making sure things run smooth.


We were able to sit her down one day and talk about Yolkshire and food and other things. Saili, we know this post has been pending for ages now but we wouldn't have forgotten this for the world. Things have been busy at this end but this has always been on our minds.

Though these features we hope to put faces to our favorite eating places in Pune; to help you peek into the world of the people who are responsible for our favorite meals. We hope their journey is not only enlightening but also inspiring.

TKD: How did you plan to start a restaurant?

Saili: I have always been a complete foodie and great lover of food. My world revolves around food, it's all I think about. Even as I sit here I am already planning what I'm going to make for dinner. I really love eating and appreciate good food. I have a degree in engineering and was previously working in IT. I worked there for quite some time and though I loved food even then I hadn't really planned something like this.

Then I joined my dad in his company and that was when I got to travel a lot. I travelled through Europe and got to experience the different cuisine and culture. That was an eye-opener for me.

Yolkshire Kothrud was a few minutes walk from where I lived hence I used to frequent the place a lot and became a regular. It so happened that overtime I got to know the owners and I was in the position to give them suggestions about the dishes and the menu. Along the way I started to think about opening up a place of my own. I wanted to really convince myself that I could do it so I took up the management of the Kothrud branch doing everything from handling the accounts to being in the kitchen to cleaning. After a month I knew that I could handle it and I decided to take the leap.

TKD: Describe the setting up phase of the restaurant? Was it difficult or was it easy because Yolkshire as a brand already existed?

     It's not easy to do business in India. You'll face hurdles in every phase. I mean it took me 3 months just to get a food license. You have to keep everyone happy plus there is always a risk your work won't get done. For instance there was no way to track the status of my application for license. You don't get any email or message plus there is no way to contact them on the website. I had to make at least 5 rounds of the various offices before my query got answered.

     Another challenge is if you are a woman and especially of my age group you won't be taken seriously. If I'd been 10 years older I'm sure things would have been slightly better. I have done all my licensing work myself and I have always faced this problem in the government offices. I have had a hard time from applying for loans to acquiring license. Some people like troubling you just because you happen to be a female. But I can't do anything about this thing except for to fight it out.
      And these are just start up issues. It's even more difficult managing the staff especially when they don't take being bossed around by a woman very well. They have had a different upbringing where they don't understand the concept of men and women being equals and it is a task to make them look up to me as a leader.
   


TKD: So do you still face hiccups in the day to day operation of the place?

Saili: The challenges are always there. I always have a lot of worries at the back of mind. Like I have to look for a new manager or retaining the staff.

So to you it may seem like a glamorous job but there are lot of little hurdles like these and there are days I just want to give up. I sometimes start wishing for a 9-to-5 job but I can't since I have already leaped into the fire. So when my cousins tell me they want to do something just like me I tell "Please, don't. Because I love you too much!" :D

TKD: haha...but unlike a 9 to 5 job everyday must be eventful, right? No two days the same.

Saili: That's true. There are days which are very exciting and days which are very depressing. And this is just not the sales point of view, it's from the operational and customer point of view. But it is fun. Trust me, everything that you may have planned goes for a toss. You don't get to do everything you planned and you end up doing what you need to do to survive.

TKD: However, going by the response you seem to have struck a chord with the people. Yolkshire aundh is now one of the most popular cafe in this area.

Saili: That is the only thing that keeps me going. The sales figure that we hit on day one was 3 times higher than the sales figure that we estimated and till date we haven't tied up with any marketing agency or PR and still our response has been as good. When I see the familiar faces that have been coming back since day one, I know that I am not doing horribly wrong things in life. :)

TKD: How popular has it been since it started off? How is the footfall and when are you the most crowded?

Saili: It's been over 6 months now and I have started noticing a dedicated footfall. I see the same faces for breakfast especially. That's mostly because I don't think any other place opens up as early as ours. Also there are gyms close by so we get the gym regulars every morning and evening.

TKD: What has been the weirdest experience managing a Cafe?

Saili: Believe it or not, people not paying their bill and walking off is one of the strangest experience. I didn't know this actually happened in Pune until I saw people do it. Also, people come up with a lot of excuses. One is "I've just come back from the gym and I don't have my wallet on me, so I'll pay tomorrow".
I maintain a register where I keep a track of these things and at the end of the day I end up paying from my pocket to tally the balances. And these are nice looking people with cars and fancy watches!

TKD: Which restaurants do you like in Pune personally that you'd like to suggest foodie to foodie?
 
Saili:  Well, one of the fine dine places I'd suggest is the buffet in Westin which is the best buffet I have had in Pune. Ditto for the buffet in Novotel. As for cafes, I really like the Where Else Cafe for their Parsi cuisine. Also, I can't get bored of barbeque in Barbecue Nation. Other than that, Arthur's Theme at Koregaon Park. Also do try waffles at Henny's food truck..they are the epitome of waffles.
       
        I like breakfast at Skip's too. I recommend it even though they are my competitors :D But I'd suggest that they make changes to their menu. They've had the same menu since the last 3 years though their food is good.

TKD: What are your picks from the menu that you'd recommend our readers?

Saili: Being a hardcore vegetarian, I would be very bad suggesting vegetarian options but for people visiting Yolkshire I'd suggest Mexican Salsa and Omelette Reve in eggs. Also my current favorite is the Stroganoff Rice so I'd suggest that. Also, Chocoburst pancakes because I personally like them too.

TKD: What, in your words, is the USP of Yolkshire?

Saili:  Nutritious, pocket-friendly food sums it up. We are very clear on keeping it pocket friendly even though it lowers the profit margin for us. We want people to come here again and again as frequently as possible and their pocket should permit them every time.

TKD: What are your plans for the future regarding this place?

Saili: I would really like to open up atleast 3-4 branches of Yolkshire in Pune in the next 2 or 3 years time. I have really realized the brand value of Yolkshire after coming to Aundh. Initially I was doubtful as how many people would really know about Yolkshire outside of Kothrud but I have been totally proven wrong by the response and I'm really happy about that.

Apart from that, I have plans for my own food truck. Though the plans are still in my head but I really hope to do it in Pune. I think we are really lacking good food truck.Also there is lot issues with starting a food truck. People in India still don't know about food trucks. There aren't many laws regarding their licensing and all and the people who are running food trucks are facing a lot of problems. However I think things should work out by the time Yolkshire Aundh settles in a bit.




Well, she does seem like a feisty lady doesn't she? She sure knows how to get the work done, crossing the t's and dotting the i's. We wish her the best for the future and hope Yolkshire goes from strength to strength, especially since we are already in love with the egg benedicts there. We are glad we can count her as one of our good friends in the business.

We were also lucky enough to get a photoshoot done for their new menu and in the process were able to sample the newest additions to their selection. We will be putting a detailed review on the blog soon. Till then head over to Yolkshire and make sure you pass on a 'Hi' to Saili now that you know her too!