OUR DINING EXPERIENCE: INDIENNE, CHICAGO

 OUR DINING EXPERIENCE: INDIENNE, CHICAGO

After our stay at New York, we travelled to Chicago, IL. You will recall that at New York I had the great fortune to dine at three of the finest Indian restaurants,  Chef Vikas Khann's The Bungalow; Chef Raveesh Kapoor's Indian Accent; and Chef Vijayakumar's Semma. 

In Chicago, we dined at another famous restaurant called Indienne. This was inaugurated in 2022 . Shortly after, it was awarded a Michelin star in 2023. It was the first Indian restaurant to get this honour. Chef Sujan Sarkar and his team have ensured they have retained the prestigious status every year since then. Chef Sujan is from Kolkatta but spent over a decade in London honing his skills. He has entrepreneurial ventures in Los Angeles, and San Francisco to his credit. 

Unfortunately, I did not get the chance to meet Chef Sujan as he was out of town. He was busy with the inauguration of his New York restaurant situated in Henry Hall, West 38th Street, near 10th Avenue in the  Hudson Yards.

The name "Indienne" comes from Chef Sujan Sarkar's objective of a fusion of Indian flavors and French techniques. We went there with great expectations having signed up for their 9 course Non-Vegetarian Tasting Menu. 

As you know, a "tasting menu" is a multi-course dining experience curated by the chef. The choice of dishes and the sequence in which they are served are pre-determined. Typically, the portions are small but there is great variety. Also, often the best dishes from the chef's kitchen make the cut. 

At the Indienne, the beauty of the tasting menu lies in the chef's reinterpreting traditional Indian dishes with his own innovative choice of ingredients, not to forget the unique styling of the dish.

We started the evening with gin and tonic! But wait, here's the difference. They offered a distinctly Indian edge to the traditional British drink. From the available options, we chose Kokum! It did add to the taste of the drink which came served with a giant size single ice sphere.

Let's see all that went into making up our non-vegetarian tasting menu that evening. 

Dahi Puri (Buckwheat, Green Apple, Tamarind)

Banarasi Tomato (Burrata, Black Rice) :

Hamachi (Avacado, Cucumber, Sol Kadi). I can imagine the dexterity required to individually plate each serving!! 

Egg ( Corn, Green Pea, Caviar, Babka Pao) : 

Lobster Ghee Roast ( Prawn Ela Ada, Sunchoke, Mango):

Lamb Kebab ( Shami, Ribs, Endive, Pickled Jicama):

Chilli Cheese Khulcha: 

Chicken Makhni ( Red Pepper, Fenugreek) served with Black Dairy Dal and Garlic Naan :

Kaju Katli ( Honeycomb, Nougat, Milk Ice Cream).:

 

As we left we were given Treats ( Coffee and Walnuts; Mango & Ginger) 

What do I remember most from this meal? I must say it was the Chicken Makhni and the Garlic Naan, followed by the Lobster Ghee Roast! 

The most attractive plating had to be the Hamachi.

The non-vegetarian tasting menu at Indienne was stylish, sophisticated and  sumptuous!

As a foodie and a food blogger, I came away immensely impressed by the innovation and creativity of the  Chefs at Indienne. 

A Wonderful Dinner at Zazies

A Wonderful Dinner at Zazies


In an earlier post I have described our brunch at Zazies, a French restaurant in the Cole Valley area of San Francisco.

A few days ago, I had the pleasure of going there once more- for dinner this time. We began the meal with drinks, chilled sparkling water for me and red wine in the form of Chateau Haut Sarthes Merlot for my husband Prem who manages this blog with me.

There was so much to choose from!

Each dish sounded more exotic than the other. Finally, we made our choices and had Ricotta Raviolis with wilted arugula, leeks, white wine and Parmesan. This tasted divine!!

We then had the delicious Poisson en Papillote ( Fish and Potatoes) made up of wild steelhead salmon with fingerling potatoes, wilted arugula leeks, and mussel cream.

As usual we chose to eat in the heated Garden Patio and enjoyed the warmth as we had a leisurely dinner while it was pretty cold outside.

So the next time you are in San Francisco, do make it a point to dine at Zazies. I can assure you it will be well worth the time and money spent.

OUR DINING EXPERIENCE : ZAZIE

OUR DINING EXPERIENCE : ZAZIE 

If you happen to walk down Cole in San Francisco's pleasant locality of Cole Valley on a Saturday morning around 8.30 a.m, you might find a queue of people waiting outside a restaurant. Locals are not surprised at the sight. They know that Zazie has no reservation for small parties for brunch, so it is a matter of first come first served. However, reservations are not required for the very limited space out on the sidewalk, perhaps 3-4 tables.

Most people in the know, reach in time to chalk up their names, the size of their party and their preferred spot in the restaurant on the board that appears for that purpose. We opted to have our weekend brunch at the heated garden patio which is a treat to be in on a cold day. 

We had heard much about Zazies and I must confess we were not disappointed. The food was fabulous. For the main course, we chose the La Mer Eggs Benedict which had the usual eggs along with hand picked California Dungeness crab, avacado and chives. This apart, we had for our brunch the French Toast Tahiti, pain de mie french toast stuffed with caramelized bananas and walnuts; and The Miracle Pancake.

The delicious food was accompanied by a splendid drink. We had the salt-crusted tomato-based Mimosa Cocktail which is made with equal portions of chilled sparkling wine and tomato juice.

This was without doubt, the best brunch we have had in a long, long time. So the next time I am here and see people queue up patiently outside Zazies ( the brunch on weekends is from 9.00 a.m. to 3 .00 p.m.), I would tell them, " Folks, believe me, it is well worth the wait!

OUR DINING EXPERIENCE: SOUZA LOBO, CALANGUTE BEACH

OUR DINING EXPERIENCE: SOUZA LOBO, CALANGUTE BEACH

You can't visit India and not go to Goa! Check out the many interesting options for places to see, things to do and goodies to eat detailed in the Goa Tourism site. You can't visit Goa and not hang out at Calangute beach! And, here's my recommendation....you can't go to Calangute Beach and not eat at Souza Lobo!! This restaurant which offers diners a wonderful view of the sea ( if you are lucky to get a table, that is) was established in 1932. It looks to me that they have successfully built and nurtured a reputation over 85 years, which is a long, long time in the restaurant business.

I must confess that we were pointed to Souza Lobo by recommendations in Trip Advisor. They have received fairly impressive ratings so we decided to make it our first option when we were looking for a place to lunch.

We started with Fresh Lime Soda, Pineapple Juice, and Strawberry Milk Shake which was most refreshing coming in as we did from the hot sun.

As we sipped on these, we ordered our starters which turned out to be incredibly tasty. We began with the conventional Fish Fingers which were delectable especially with the tartar sauce.

The next starter was a killer! The Goan Masala Fried Prawns were simply out of this world! They were so well marinated in the thick masala and served with a light salad and potato finger chips.  Highly recommended!

For the main course, we chose a filling Pomfret Curry served in an eye catching earthenware pot in which interestingly the ladle was made out of a coconut shell. To go with the Pomfret Curry, we had plain rice which made for an excellent combination.

Overall, we were delighted with the food and the service. No wonder travelers using Trip Advisor have rated Souza Lobo so highly. We would gladly endorse their recommendations with our own.

Food: 5/5
Service: 5/5

So, if you are in the Calangute area around meal time and wondering where to go, head straight for Souza Lobo!

Post and Pics by Prem Rao

OUR DINING EXPERIENCE AT BARBECUE NATION : BARBECUE DELIGHT

OUR DINING EXPERIENCE: BARBECUE NATION

If you want to eat at Barbecue Junction, even on a week day, please make a booking. Their centralized reservation system will book a table for you at any of their outlets. We booked a table for two at their JP Nagar, Bengaluru restaurant for a birthday lunch for my husband recently. It was a Wednesday afternoon but the place was full up.

Let me start by saying that you need to have a huge appetite if you are to do full justice to the spread laid out before you. We generally have the starters to our fill and go straight on to the desserts on offer. Naturally, there is a main course on offer too which we usually skip! The menus below give you an idea of what is in store. They are not as strong in their spellings as they are in the food they serve. I am glad it is not the other way around!

The non-vegetarian starters were wholesome and delicious, especially the prawns and the fish, We had a choice of chicken, fish, mutton and prawns. For the vegetarians there were starters with mushroom, corn and pineapple as far as we could make out.

The mojito which came as a complimentary drink with its minty  and lemony flavours was most refreshing.

The service was prompt and efficient. The starters were replenished quickly with new ones on the hot grill placed on our table. As accompaniment to the starters were various dips and sauces which you chose to match the starter you were having.

After a leisurely lunch, we headed to the dessert counter. We had chocolate brownies, vanilla ice cream with chocolate sauce and some mango ice cream skipping the gulab jamuns, pastries, and fresh fruit.

Last but not the least were the kulfis. Again there was a wide variety to choose from. We sampled the chocolate kulfi, the kesar and badam kulfi and the best of all the pan kulfi.

I must mention that since I had told them it was my husband’s birthday when I made the booking, they had rustled up a cake with his name on it and the staff gave a robust rendition of their own birthday song!

The approximate cost for a meal for two is Rs.1800/- All in all, we came away very satisfied with our experience at Barbecue Nation and would most happily recommend this to you.