Swagath, Delhi

Swagath
M-9, M Block Market
GK 2

I remembered that I had enjoyed the Mangalorean food at Swagath, when I was last in Delhi 8 years ago. Feeling homesick for mums coconut curries and some sea food, it was the right time to see if Swagath still lived up to my fond memories of the place.

The Fresh Lime Soda (75rs) was just right and it is a pleasure to be back in India, where restaurants know how to make this perfect. The boneless Chicken 65 (290rs) was a hot and spicy, deep fried piece of heaven. The Squid Special Masala Fry (330rs) had a wonderful Manglorean spicy and tamarind flavored masala and will go great with neer dosas or appams that are oferred at the restaurant. The crowning glory though, was the
Fish Biryani (475rs) served with a little bit of fish curry on the side.This was the flavour of home that I was seeking and I was not dissappointed at all.

With the Service Charge and VAT the bill was around 1500/-. But the food that I had ordered would be enough for 2 people.

I must add that my experience at the Malviya Nagar branch was not as great as the GK2 outlet. The food did not taste as good and the ambience was not as comfortable.

Trianon Cafe, Dandy Mall

Trianon Cafe
Dandy Mall
Cairo - Alex Desert Road
(Near Smart Village)
CairoThis one is by far the best of the Trianon's that I have eaten at except perhaps for the original on the Corniche in Alexandria. (See my reviews of the Mohandaseen and Green Plaza, Alexandria branches.)

I highly recommend the steak with pepper sauce at this outlet. They really do it to perfection and the meat is served just the way that you request it.


The cakes and pastries are similar to the other outlets, but they somehow taste better here :) The walls are hand painted which contribute a lot to the ambiance.


The Moroccan tea is also something that I would recommend for cold weather. Its perfect for warming you up.

Nandini Restaurant, Dubai

Nandini Restaurant
Karama
Dubai
04 335 4389

We were both huge fans of the Nandini chain of restaurants in Bangalore. This was also one of my husbands key accounts when he worked with Pepsi. He has eaten here so often that every biryani that he eats is compared against the Nandini biriyani.

The Nandini biryani is more of an Andhra style pulao (unfortunately I never found an equivalent even in 2 years of being based in Hyderabad!) which goes excellently with the Andhra style chicken chilli. The second dish is not for those with weak taste buds. With my love of chillis, I'm normally leaking out of my eyes and nose and have smoke coming out of my ears, but the dynamite taste is worth it.

After missing these dishes for so long, it was such a pleasure to discover that they have a couple of branches in the UAE. The biryani here costs 15 Dhs. You can ask for extra rice (without the meat) after ordering the biryani for 10 dhs (this concept of being able to order dish B only after ordering dish A is a uniquely South Indian restaurant concept.) The chicken chilly (not to be confused with the Chinese Chilly chicken that is also on their menu) is 13dhs.

As is usual with most Indian restaurants (outside Egypt), the biryani is served with a small bowl each of raita and a side curry.

Watching us relish the sauce with the chicken chilli, the waiter obligingly got us more sauce when we had polished the original plate off. :)

We normally supplement this biryani fest with a side dish of baby corn chilli or ladiesfinger (bhindi) 65 or carrot french fry or something like that in the 11 to 15 dhs range.

A large bottle of water, essential with the chillies is 2.5 dhs.

They do provide complementary pappadums and melted ghee (which goes very well even with the biriyani). The table normally has 4 basic condiments. Chutney pudi (better known as Andhra gun powder) gongura (a kind of green leafy vegetable found only in Andhra) chutney, a lime or mixed pickle and another pickle or chutney depending on the season.

Wonderful value for money with excellent taste.

I heard this restaurant had recently moved locations, will update the address once I find the updated one.

Oasis, Chembur, Mumbai

My SIL chose this place for rakhi (a festival celebration of the brother sister bond) dinner with her bhaiyya (elder brother).

The ambience was really nice, inspite of the loud kitty party like dinner going on on the premises. (in one of the other rooms)

The dining hall was a large open space with white tablecloths and muted lighting. Very romantic setting if you take a table for two.

The food was the star. Being back in India after ages, I had decided I would only drink and eat Indian specialities. In keeping with that, I ordered a masaledaar chaas (70) and asked them to add some finely chopped chillies to the drink. The drink was outstandingly flavored and balanced and the chillies were chopped so fine, that they did not catch in your teeth (they were chopped not pureed)

They serve alcohol and cocktails too. The Singapore sling (130) was a strawberry flavored cocktail that was interesting. A small peg - 30ml of bacardi was 190 and the diet pepsi was Rs60. The kingfisher pint was 120. Water was 50 bucks for a liter.

The aloo cheese balls(185) were good, but I still crave the taste of the old Prithvi cafe ones at 1/3rd the price and thrice the flavor. The corn tikki (165) was interesting and tasty with lots of corn unlike most locations which overdo the batter holding it together.

The makhmali tukda (190) was the most outstanding paneer I have eaten in a long time. The paneer itself was soft and tender which had been seared to crispness on the outside in a tandoor, but not over done. Highly recommended.

Chicken Hazari kebab (215) was tender, soft and marinated in a malai'ish sauce. Malai and white kebabs are not my favorite (I like more kick in my kebabs) unless its is a malai-kali mirch combination, but this one was worth having a second round of.

For the main course, we ordered Paneer mazedar (205) which tasted suspiciously like a butter paneer with minimal jazzing up. I'd prefer the kebabs any day.
Murgh hari mirch (215) which wasn't very spicy, but tasty none-the-less.
Kulchas and makai roti were 35. Butter kulchas 45. Kulchas were soft and easy to tear apart. the makai roti was kadak in a good way.

The star of my evening was the kacche ghosht ki dum biryani (220) I ordered the boneless variety and I was in heaven. Right balance of spices, browned onions, tender mutton. My mouth stil waters at the memory.

For dessert, we wrapped it up with a malai kulfi (95) and gajar halwa (75) Halwa was really good, but the kulfi was rather generic.

I'd definitely visit again the next time I am Chembur, but I will stick to the chaas, paneer kebabs and the biryani. My own little version of heaven on earth :)