Thursday, September 29, 2011

Dinner at 28 Capri Italy, Defence Colony

It's place which you can visit if you've got time to spare....

The service was friendly, food average and slightly low in the value for money quotient, ambiance was nice(don't miss the love-lift for 2, which leads to the restaurant ;-) *Evil Grin*), the best was Live Music.... the singer was really good and choice of songs was lovely. Him and my drink are the only reason I would go back. Would however have liked to try some pizza on my next visit.

You'll find 28 Capri Italy listed on Zomato.com. We had Orange Pepper Martini and Diet Coke on the rocks(!). The drink was nice and arrived soon. It was served with Nachos and a lovely Salsa sauce.

Why is it that I have all friends who want to be like Manoj Kumar n cover their faces when I say smile.... Why do they want to remain anonymous.... #boring
For starters we had a Cold Cut Platter which had Chicken Salami, Bacon, Smoked Chicken and Turkey served with Black Olives.... Now this is what happens when you go out with a friend who is on a diet..... You don't get to indulge..... She keeps a check on what you are eating.....

Our main course was Grilled Chicken with Mustard and Jalapeno Sauce. Wouldn't rate it as bad but not even great. Just about passable... The sauce was quite nice though but took it's time to come....

The litmus test of any Italian restaurant... Tiramisu..... This one was a #Fail for me..... I wouldn't order it again.

Monday, September 26, 2011

Ca Va, Defence Colony ~ A Delightful Sunday Afternoon

This place is a must-visit!

Bijoy Majhi, Bhupesh Jain and Rajnish Taneja, have created a space to provide exquisite Med- European dining and bar experience to the food lovers after Angels in My Kitchen.
You'll cross the bakery on your way up to the first floor outlet of Ca Va. We were the only ones when we walked in and got pampered and were still pampered after more patrons came in.

You'll find Ca Va listed on Zomato.com
We started with Virgin Mary and Mango Passion Martini.... Well made drinks which were followed by some lovely dishes selected by my friend.....


Chunks of chicken, peanuts and garlic in paper thin shells of fillo pastry with hand-ground pesto..... This my readers, was just f-a-n-t-a-s-t-i-c... and had me going at it like a bear to honey.... The Chicken was tender n well cooked, the pastry crispy and sauce yummy..... the peanuts added to the bite....

The Pan seared Prawns with Spicy Barbecue Sauce was delicious... succulent, flavourful and brilliantly done. The bread basket which had an Olive Focaccia, Wheat n Bran Bread and Garlic bread served with Herb Butter was nice but not great enough to rave about or poke holes about.

The Home smoked Breast of Chicken with sliced Mexican Jalapenos Pizza was well done.... just that the crust was slightly like a quesadilla, would have preferred it slightly more crisp base (just a personal preference) and the Chicken Leg Steak with Red Wine Sauce was also nice. However my friend found the mashed potato insipid .....
We devoured all the food on our tables n left nothing but a few crumbs n mashed potatoes....

For dessert I wanted Tiramisu..... I ordered it only after checking if it'll be served in a glass and not a plastic cup or something.... When the plastic cup came, I was very disappointed.... Since it was from the bakery below, we weren't charged for it.....
The taste was nice but the fingers were absolutely soggy n not crisp.... only good(read bad!) enough to feed the pigeons outside the window....

Now for some nit-picking..... The toothpicks arrived in different heights.... My friend had this bright idea of taking it in perspective to show the variance in height.... ;) Now thats what 2 people do on a well spent Sunday afternoon with tummies full and pampering... They are spoilt and will nitpick and want a perfect experience.....

That's me enjoying the Tiramisu..... and since modesty doesn't feature in my middlename.... The Tiramisu from my kitchen is much nicer..... but this one's not bad either considering I can enjoy it without having to slave in the kitchen myself and then waiting overnight for it to develop flavour....

Just a word of caution... The place is slightly on the expensive side but the experience was nice overall including Food, Service and Decor. Would give it a 3/5.

PS - The place also has discount for Amex card holders

Saturday, September 17, 2011

The Ants Cafe ~ Breakfast with Sanjeev


On my trip to Bangalore, met up with some very old friends..... That's Sanjeev who I met at my early days at Infoedge ~ naukri.com. He's one of the most talented Graphic Designers I know. Check out this work at designjaunt.com
We use to have loads of fun together in office. My first offsite at Infoedge was a trip to Dakpathar with this gang of guys and girls. It was one of the most memorable trips of my life.
Sanjeev's a very outdoor person, who has a passion for riding bikes and exploring new places. His biking club is called 60kph

His other constant love in life is Sassy....

We went to The Ants Cafe in Indiranagar. It's sweet little cafe on the terrace of a store selling things from Nagaland. Sanjeev ordered the Veg breakfast, which had exotic mushrooms, baked beans and grilled tomatoes.

I ordered the Chicken extravaganza omelet, which had Chicken sausage, Chicken salami, , Corn jalapeno, , Olives and Cheeeeeessssseeeeee...... Both our meals were extremely nice and we had a great time chatting up.

Tasting Authentic Kerala Cuisine at Karavalli, Bangalore

More from my Bangalore trip... Went to Karavalli on a friend's recommendation. Must say, am really glad we did made the special effort of braving Bangalore's traffic to get to The Gateway Hotel, as it's in the middle of town and I had an evening flight to catch.

Karavalli has this way of transporting you back in time and emanates a feeling of calmness despite The Gateway being bang in the middle of the city's bustle. The restaurant has been serving authentic Kerala cuisine since 1990.... That to me is a legacy of good food.....

We were greeted by extremely courteous staff who made us feel welcome. The rippling waterfall gave the place a feeling of being relaxed.
We were served Papaad and Rasam on arrival. Our first course was customized prawns as I'm not game for chillies.... The chef made us these succulent prawns with pepper, onion paste n curry leaves, which were flavorful.

The outdoor seating in Bangalore's weather is is rather enjoyable. We had Kane fry, Mutton Stew with Appams, The mangalorean masala fish fry was really something I would write home about, absolutely delightful... The stew I think could have been better... The appams were soft and their texture just right to match the stew.

I was full till the brim when the staff asked us dessert..... Bring it on we said... The dessert Ada Pradhaman, is a sort of rice kheer made with gur (jaggery) served with fried dryfruits.... It just blew me away..... It was fantastic and despite being full, the whole bowl was polished off.

Verdict:
Must visit place with fabulous food.... 4/5

Friday, September 16, 2011

Jenny's Date Cake ~ A Personal Touch


Was on holiday in Bangalore with family and loads of friends to catch up with. How can any holiday be complete for me without baking. Mami(the sweetheart that she is) had kept a recipe for me to try out. I was a bit skeptical about a date cake..... You'll read below about how wrong I was. Mami n I had such a fun time making this cake..... :)

The cake turned out amazing. Had taken it along when I visited Suma of Cakes and More and Madhuri of Cook-curry Nook. Both of them flipped out. Suma's kids wanted seconds and thirds..... Anytime children ask for seconds on a non chocolate cake..... preserve the recipe forever. Kids are the best critiques of comfort food and taste :)
Madhuri wanted the recipe to try out.... another testimonial..... A really cool fellow baker who takes classes in baking is asking for the recipe.... The recipe is a keeper, people....

Date Cake
Ingredients:
4 eggs
3/4 Teaspoon Baking Powder
2 Cups Flour (sifted)
2 Teaspoon Ground Ginger
2 Teaspoon Grated Ginger
6 Tablespoons Butter
1 Cup Gur

Date Sauce:
3 cups Chopped Dates
3 Cups Water
1+1/2 Teaspoon Baking Soda

Caramel Sauce:
Ingredients:
1 Cup Brown Sugar
1 Cup Butter [you can add more butter if you prefer a thicker sauce]
1 Cup Cream

Method:
Date Sauce:
1. To make the date sauce, boil the water and chopped dates till pulpy and squishy for about 20-30 minutes. As soon as you get a thick sauce add the baking soda and stir well.
Tip: Be sure to have a vessel thrice as large in volume as the sauce, the mixture will bubble up quite a lot. Put it aside to cool till room temperature
Cake:
2. Cream the butter and gur, till well incorporated.
3. Add 1 egg at a time and beat till incorporated.
4. Stir in the room temperature date sauce.
5. Fold in the sifted flour with Baking powder and spices.
Tip: Jenny's secret to this amazing cake.... mix it by hand. She says it adds the personal touch to the cake.

Caramel Sauce:
[am shamelessly picking up the steps from simplyrecipes.com as they've written it exactly like I wuold have done it along with instructions :) ]
1. First, before you begin, make sure you have everything ready to go - the cream and the butter next to the pan, ready to put in. Making caramel is a fast process that cannot wait for hunting around for ingredients. If you don't work fast, the sugar will burn. Safety first - make sure there are no children under foot and you may want to wear oven mitts; the caramelized sugar will be much hotter than boiling water.

2. Heat sugar on moderately high heat in a heavy-bottomed 2-quart or 3-quart saucepan. As the sugar begins to melt, stir vigorously with a whisk or wooden spoon. As soon as the sugar comes to a boil, stop stirring. You can swirl the pan a bit if you want, from this point on.
Note that this recipe works best if you are using a thick-bottomed pan. If you find that you end up burning some of the sugar before the rest of it is melted, the next time you attempt it, add a half cup of water to the sugar at the beginning of the process, this will help the sugar to cook more evenly, though it will take longer as the water will need to evaporate before the sugar will caramelize.

3.
As soon as all of the sugar crystals have melted (the liquid sugar should be dark amber in color), immediately add the butter to the pan. Whisk until the butter has melted.

4. Once the butter has melted, take the pan off the heat. Count to three, then slowly add the cream to the pan and continue to whisk to incorporate. Note than when you add the butter and the cream, the mixture will foam up considerably. This is why you must use a pan that is at least 2-quarts (preferably 3-quarts) big.

5. Whisk until caramel sauce is smooth. Let cool in the pan for a couple minutes, then pour into a glass mason jar and let sit to cool to room temperature. (Remember to use pot holders when handling the jar filled with hot caramel sauce.) Store in the refrigerator for up to 2 weeks. Warm before serving.


Another noteworthy tip would be to use the best dates that you can get. The dried up ones won't do much for this cake but the semi moist ones will take the cake's flavor and consistency to a different level. We arrived at this conclusion after making the cake twice with different dates each time.

Note to Self: Am in love with Mr. Faber after making this cake... Total convert.......

Verdict:
The end was just mindblowingly fantastic... [pardon the grammar but this cake really deserves this praise n more]. The firm crust and soft moist insides with flavors which just have to be eaten to be believed. The caramel sauce packs-in-a-punch, by adding body and multiplying the flavor by 100.
This recipe is definitely a keeper forever :)
Talking about this cake has made me drool again..... I need another slice... running to the kitchen.....