Bombay Food Truck, Mumbai

Bombay Food Truck, BKC

YAY! Food Truck! Finalllllyyyy...! I have had a string of  misfortune with this place. or vehicle, I guess. The first time I wanted to try this out, they had yet to set up at the event due to some exigencies and it would take up 2 extra hours or so. The next time, some thing similar. Then it was at the location on Day 2 and not Day 1, which meant I missed it. Though I have had the Butter Chicken Fries from their other venture Poutinewalla. I had almost thought maybe it's not meant to be, till my BIRTHDAY!! 

This place operates from BKC and is parked in one of the many business parks here and you will find it operational only till 7.30, Monday to Friday. I happen to live in the vicinity and yet I have never been able to try it out. The concept of hanging by a truck seemed interesting to me as you mostly see this in the West and we are not very acquainted with the concept here. Hence, it added to the intrigue to for me. 

Their food is actually what caught my fancy because it is all about the food after all, ain't it?! Even though you will find fusion food everywhere, there seems to be an authenticity in the food here where in the local flavors are returned and well baanced with the fusion. It gives you the feeling that you are having not one but two variety of dish in one! Such is their Bombay Dog. We ordered the Bombay Dog which is a Hot Dog but infused with Keema Pav. Basically the bread roll used is smeared with Keema (One of the best keema or minced meat masala I have had till date) and then topped with your chicken frank, then it has your sour cream sauce and all, and mustard if you please. The First bite and I knew the wait was worth it. And that I wasn't wrong in wanting to try this out. I am smitten, if that's possible. I wanted to have their actual Keema Pav as well, but they change their menu every month, and it wasn't on this month. Then I wanted to have the Hummus because it's my Go-To meal, but my friend wasn't so keen on it. Hummus, some times is an acquires taste and she doesn't enjoy it all that much. So, in the end we ordered the Nachos. Huge fan of Nachos that I am, I sometimes feel after a while it gets soggy and the chips lose their crunchiness and that's when I lose my appetite for it as well. I like all my food to have crunch, even bread at times . However, it was how good nachos should be otherwise. And my friend finished 70% of it and the other was my contribution. 

We also had two lemonades and it was pretty refreshing. I would recommend having 2-3 more options at least in the refreshment category. 

WHAT WE HAD - Bombay Dog (Yumness Personified)

                           Nachos with House made Salsa (Yumness)

                           Lemonade/ Fresh Lime Water (Refreshing)

DAMAGES - Rs 470 (Approx)

WHERE - Bombay Food Truck., One BKC, G Block, Bandra Kurla Complex, Mumbai (Monday to Friday)

For Weekend Updates, follow them on Instagram - https://www.instagram.com/foodtruckbombay/?hl=en

Chili's Grill & Bar

Chili's Grill & Bar, Powai

This place shall forever hold a special place in my heart. Though I am not going to divulge the reason for this let's just say I have fallen in love with this place. Now a days, I don't seem to get what I want but you will not find me complaining because what I do get instead is infinitely more beautiful, making me one very happy girl. 

I have never been to Chili's before. Well, I have but the one in Bahrain and I am quite proud to say for a change that I don't have to say "but the one in Bahrain does it better" like most international restaurant chains. Even though I have made Mumbai my home and I refuse to go back to my home land, up till now, I keep talking about the food non-stop. But this place retains that charm. I don't know what my companion for the evening would have said but who cares, as long as you are happy!

I was too busy enjoying the evening to even bother with taking a few pictures of the place, so apologies for that. But this is almost like any standard American Diner with a few customizations here and there.

You know another weird thing that has happened to me in the recent past is that I don't feel as hungry as I used to. I have always defined my appetite as a deep well, because I am eating through out the day, but now? I eat a little and I feel like I have eaten so much. And that doesn't make me happy even a wee bit. My relationship with food is the most important one to me. Though, I think that wouldn't make my near and dear ones to be too happy, to put food above them.  So even here, my intake was limited to sharing a Burger meal and an appetizer with my friend and mock-tails on the side. The main item that I had my eyes locked on? I was too full to even try. It was my what the bloody hell moment! Though that makes sure that I will be paying visit again. Especially since, I had fallen in love with the Burger. When my friend had actually placed the order for it, I had made faces, like seriously avocado? That doesn't sound so interesting or appetizing and he had promised me that it ain't so and that that is probably their favorite kind of sauce there is. More faces. AVOCADO??!! Though I guess I had to eat my words because I kept stealing it from him and almost finished half of it. Probably, why I wasn't so hungry after that. One of the best meat I have had and somebody please just get me one now!! Oh, the burger's name? The Guacamole Burger. For dessert we had their special Molten Chocolate Cake which is probably available in all the countries they are present in. Warm gooey chocolate cake topped with cold ice cream, drizzled with chocolate sauce and when you cut open this mountain of chocolate, more warm chocolate sauce. It gives me warm fuzzy feelings just remembering it.

I am in dire need of some charity in the form of a burger and if you happen to feel charitable, then I wouldn't mind your generosity. You could always try it out for yourself as well, if that's what works for you. You will walk out happy.

WHAT WE HAD - Texas Cheese Fries (Yumness)

                           Guacamole Tenderloin Burger (I WANT ONE NOW!)

                           Molten Chocolate Cake (Warm Fuzzy Feelings)

                             

Note - We also had two mock-tails which I don't remember the name of but to be honest, all mock -tails feel more or less the same to me now.

DAMAGES  - Rs 2500/- Approx

WHERE - Chili's West & South India., 13, Ventura Building, Hiranandani Business Park, Central Avenue Road, Powai, Mumbai

D Crepe's Cafe, Mumbai

D Crepe's Cafe, Thane.

This is one of my most visited places, and now even more because it's literally at a walking distance from my office. Only, most of the times, I order my usual which is why I don't feel the need for a blog update. Though there was something that had caught my eye and I had been meaning to have that and hence the update!

I still prefer the Meadows outlet, because this contains less space and is very tightly spun. The meadows outlet has a more bright vibe to it and spacious (even before the expansion, because I have been coming here since then). Even small spaces can be made to look bigger with the right arrangement. However, since I do love the food, I make do with it. One huge turn off however is the towels drying on the outside. Though no fault of D Crepes because this is actually courtesy the next door saloon I believe, but still a little shabby. Not really welcoming for the saloon either. There are racks and racks of towels. 

The main, which is the food here is par excellence. So this time I called in for the Bangers and Mash which is what I had been eyeing and we also ordered Garlic Bread topped with Tomato, Olive, Pesto and Cheese and also Mexican Paneer Pita with Potato wedges. This summed up our mains. The Bangers and Mash came with a cheesy-alfredo type base where as I was expecting the Onion gravy which is more common. It has mushrooms grated and a base of mashed potatoes with garlic bread and sausages (Divine) laid on top. Maybe this is a new take on Bangers and Mash but it definitely delighted me. I anyways have a soft corner for creamy alfredo sauce. And it had sausage! Aur kya chahiye life mein??!! The garlic bread is another divine story, overloaded with cheese and topped with olives, the thing that actually brings the flavor up a notch was the pesto sauce used at the base. The Mexican Paneer Pita, however was another story. Unfortunately, disappoints. We expected it to be bursting of mexican flavors, wrapped in a pita wrap. But all this was a thick pita bread some paneer and veggies mixed as a filling. Didn't look great, neither tasted great. It honestly was like some one had just tossed some veggies in the frypan added some haldi-mirch and put it in the bread. Not really what I was expecting. 

We also ordered a small dessert treat, the berry crumble crepe. Happiness Personified! I am a huge fan of their crepes and till now I had only had the savory ones, so I ordered the sweet ones because that's what crepes are supposed to be right? Sweet?! The crepes as soft and melt in the mouth always, what was beautiful about it was that the filling was made up of blue berry compote, some oreo, some cream cheese, and some toffee sauce. It was a cheese cake crepe! They should rename it cheese cake crepe! Because that is what it was! And I LOVE CHEESECAKES! So cheese cake crepe? DIVINE! We ordered two mocktails on the side - Blue Bay Driver and Kokum Mint Soda. I am not a huge fan of Kokum, but I loved mine and they looked pretty as well like summer colors! Will make you thirsty immediately.

D Crepes is one of those rare places, where the food is worth more than what you pay for because it's not steep priced, doesn't have too many taxes etc and the food is mind blowing except a miss or two! 

WHAT WE HAD - Bangers & Mash (Yumness Personified)

                           Garlic Bread with Tomatoes, Olives and Pesto (Divine)

                           Mexican Paneer Pita (AVOID)

                           Berry Crumble Crepe (DIVINE)

                           Blue Bay Driver (Refreshing)

                           Kokum Mint Soda (Thumbs up)

DAMAGES - 1200/- (Approx)

WHERE -  D'Crêpes Café., Shop 2, Avila Building, Near Godrej Nature's Basket, Hiranandani Estate, Thane West

Papacream, Mumbai

PAPACREAM, Churchgate

My third time in the shop, and my second review. The thing that had pulled me back here this time around was a particular ice cream that is being much publicized on social media. While I had wanted to have this before as well, but somehow felt wary about it. I know I love food but some times it's difficult to wary from what you already know of. 

The one thing, I have to say is that the place looked just a tiny bit shabbier from my previous visit. The sparkle that the place had seems to have been robbed somehow. It doesn't look dirty or unkempt but that sparkle seemed to be missing. That extra mile you go to make a place look beautiful. The daily upkeep. The walls and tiles had lost its sheen. And I say this because my first trip here had me in awe of the decor of the place.

So coming to the ice creams we ordered, the much talked about Pani Puri Ice cream and red velvet bubble waffle sundae. There is so much talk on the Pani Puri Icream and this is what I had come to try. Little baskets of puri, though not as thin as the original puri, topped with some Potato mousse (which has a little bit of a mayo taste to it as well), and provided separately a sorbet made out of teekha pani from which Pani puri gets its identity. Be cautious here, and don't overload your puri with the teekha sorbet. Remember this is ice cream and your teeth are going to feel the chill. This is exactly what I did. All I had in my head was pan-puri so I just swooped it in my mouth till I felt the cold hit my teeth and I regretted it almost instantly. Otherwise, it's quite innovative and should be in your list of things to try out. This is probably the answer to all those pani puri lovers who go ''bhaiyya, aur pani do na". There is more of the sorbet than the puri baskets, so you will have a lot of pani to yourself. 

The other item we ordered was the Red Velvet Bubble waffle sundae with Blue Berry Ice cream, topped with some whipped cream, blue berry compote and garnished with cheese cake crumble. Dreamy right? It is or was. The waffle had a crunch at the sides and was soft in the middle which is exactly how I like my waffle. The downer? Didn't really taste like red velvet. It seemed to be almost like a red velvet, because you could find a subtle flavor of it, but then that's not what red velvet is right?! If I had ordered a normal waffle and received this, I would have said on point, but for the red velvet. And I especially minded this a little because my sister who I had brought here is a huge fan of red velvet and keeps telling me to get her some red velvet cupcakes, cakes and everything in red velvet out there and I had wanted to treat her to this delight. But she couldn't even tell it was red velvet and that's how I say that it was slightly disappointing. 

Even though Bombay has gotten innovative in it's dessert and ice cream scence in the recent past, the pani puri ice cream from this place is not to be missed. They also have various other quirky flavors. I would also highly recommend the bubble waffle sundae, the doughnut-wich, the guava sorbet. Next I want is to try is the hummus. 

WHAT WE HAD - Pani Puri Ice Cream (Delighted)

                          Red Velvet Bubble Waffle Sundae (Yumness)

DAMAGES - Rs 500/- (Approx)

WHERE -  Papacream. 18, Cambatta Building, J.T Road, Churchgate, Mumbai