Macchiato, Ghatkopar West : Food Review, Zomato

 

Nice place with some really good food,
Situated a bit secluded,not prominent so not many people might know about it,
Ambiance is dark yet cool and young, can be improved and made swankier,
Has outdoor seating too,
Plays matches on big screen TV and plays cool pop/rock tracks,
Food is a bit on pricey end but quality and quantity both is very good,
Was here with daughter and we went for meal,
One meal is actually good enough for 2 people-where we chose an appetizer, main course, soup,pizza/pasta-really good for just about 700 rupees,
In the beginning they said that 2 people cannot share one meal,
But my daughter is really light eater so we finally convinced them to let us share,
and we ordered an extra soup,Minestrone soup was amazing,
In appetizer MUST HAVE Grilled potatoes in barbeque sauce,
In pizza roasted cottage cheese with garlic was THE BOMB!
And in main course we loved Herb crusted cottage cheese with pepper sauce served on herbed rice with grilled veggies-This alone is enough for 2 hungry people!
I suggest definitely go here for the meal option and enjoy and must have their pizzas too!

Selling old gadgets - A horror story before #CleanUpCashOut convenience!

Our whole world revolves around gadgets and when these gadgets get old, we feel the same sense of loss as if we lost a family member. But we cannot let our home become a graveyard for them. So we try and sell them off or maybe even give it to someone in need for free. My daughter bought her first desktop in 2005. It was quite advanced at that point, with genuine Microsoft XP operating system and included accessories such as lovely headsets, pair of booming speakers as well as a HP printer. Since she was a management student, it served her really well for making projects, doing research work, making presentations and so on. Slowly, the rest of family also gravitated towards using the desktop. We even named it Pintu! Pintu was used for gaming purposes by my younger son, for checking accounting spreadsheets by my husband and I learned how to search for different global recipes as well as find hilarious cat videos on Youtube that remain my favorite pastime on internet till date!

Of course, with passage of time, Pintu became slow and haggard. First, it used to take an inordinate amount of time in starting up every single time. Then, it started randomly shutting down when we would open any web page that was heavy with graphics. Then one day my daughter spotted the dreaded blue screen of death across the monitor and with a heavy heart told us that it was time we bid it goodbye. It was the year 2011 and Pintu had already been a part of our family in the most fulfilling way so we decided to move on to swanky laptops and sell it off to someone else. Afterall, it just needed a couple of sprucing up of RAM (so my daughter said) and a new anti-virus, and some software updates and it would be good as new. The printer, headsets and speakers were working like a charm and would continue to do so for another 2-3 years,my daughter was confident of that. She had bought it for a grand sum of 35,000 Rupees and by now we could get a brand new fast laptop in the same amount. So we decided to sell it off somewhere around 8000-10,000 Rupees.

My daughter spread the word among her office friends, my son did the same in his college and we printed out some flyers to put up in our apartment foyer. In about a fortnight's time, we got 5 inquiries. We shortlisted 2 of them as genuine, both came in via my son's college friends. One of them was a young man who was just setting up his house and family in Mumbai and wanted something cheap for basic office work within Rs. 5000 while other was a businessman from Navi Mumbai who wanted something basic for his business accounting work in Rs. 10,000. My daughter spoke to both men and explained the features of Pintu and finally we decided to sell it to the businessman in Navi Mumbai.

He lived far off from our residence and was not willing to come and pick it up, however he said that he would reimburse the travel costs, so my daughter and I loaded Pintu in our family car and drove to his business place. After nearly 2 hours of traveling, we reached our destination, only to wait in our car in the sweltering heat for another hour before he came to meet us. He had scheduled a meeting at the same time he had given to us! Anyway, the transaction was smooth thereafter and he paid the promised amount in cash. We came home happy that our first ever old-gadgets-selling transaction was so trouble free.

Oh,but we spoke too soon! 3 days later, my daughter received a 'friendly' good-morning message from the gentleman. She ignored it and the same thing happened 2 days later, this time coupled with a forwarded joke. A week later, the gentleman called up my daughter 'just to be friendly and generally to converse with'. Turns out, what was a pure business transaction for us, he thought of it as an opportunity to make a 'new friend'. Of course, my daughter, being used to many such 'friendly' advances on her facebook page, immediately shut it down by asking him to not bother her again. And thankfully, the gentleman really listened to her and never bothered us again. But it also made us wonder about a lot of things that could actually go wrong in such transactions with stark strangers. This world is a scary, confusing place.

That's why I am so pleased that a friend of mine has shown me the Cashify website where selling used gadgets is a breeze with them instantly giving the sell price, arranging a pick up of the item and paying at our doorstep in cash. No more hassles or dealing with strangers. All this convenience comes at a portal with reputed partners such as Amazon! In this digital age, this is indeed the smartest way to get rid of old gadgets in our homes. Do try it out friends and using coupon CLEANCASH will get you an additional 250 Rupees for you when you sell your gadget here. No more horror stories, only #CleanUpCashOut convenience now on!

Pondicherry Cafe Sofitel Mumbai : Food Review, Zomato

Beautiful luxurious ambiance at Sofitel,

Staff is too good, so very polite and helpful and treat everybody who walks in as royalty for sure,

Pondicherry Cafe is situated at ground level,

Right now, Thai Food Festival is going on,

Chefs have flown in especially from Bangkok Sofitel and have brought authentic spices, flavors, fruits, vegetables etc. to bring real taste, they completely succeed, the ambiance here is plush and elegant and extra Thai special decorations have made it even better,

The buffet is HUGE and has Indian, Continental, Pizza, Pasta, Chinese, Lebanese, Salads, Desserts, Bread Counter, London Dairy Ice Cream counter..basically there are too many options which is a plus since pricing is premium too,

Most dishes we tried were really good, be it Veg pulao, Paneer masala, Karela subji, Doodhi with vatana, pizza, dimsums, 

Among Thai, their Green curry with veggies and Tofu as well as Thai khosuey were out of this world,

The dessert section is brilliant with every pastry,every mousse,every tart,cake etc. being simply fabulous and alone giving complete worth of the buffet!

There were some misses too though,noodles were little undercooked, mushrooms in continental section felt overcooked/mushy/as if they went bad, some cheese didn't feel good,

And service was really slow in the beginning of lunch hour, really really slow, waited for 15 minutes before somebody showed up to take order of fresh lime soda! Staff was extremely nice though as I said so cannot complain,

Would also like to give them extra points for having some really unique dishes on the menu and everything tastes quite authentic too,

Would like to be back :)

Masaledaar By Mini Punjab : Food Review, Zomato

Elegant ambiance, very spacious, set on 1st floor of thane club, open to all, no entry charge,

staff is excellent, service is quick, food is fresh and lovely Punjabi flavors,

Been here twice with family and always have memorable meals here,

Food though high on calories,oil etc. but never over oily,just enough to make food tasty,

Not too heavy on pocket considering quality,quantity and ambiance too!

Recommend all their veg starters, be it tandoori mushrooms, aloo or paneer, 

Paneer especially is the best I have had recently, extremely melt in mouth,

Subz uttaranchali, paneer lababdar, veg biryani are especially recommended in main course,

Rasmalai, gulab jamun, moong dal halwa are all great in desserts,

Love the place and experience!

House of Nomad, Taj Land's End, Bandra, Mumbai : Food Review, Zomato

It is Taj so obviously the ambiance is fantastic, elegant yet seems like a youngster party place,

Prices surprisingly affordable for such a luxurious upmarket place, looks like Taj is wooing the youngsters and they are succeeding big time,

Staff is top notch, well versed with menu,

Drinks and bar bites, very innovative, delicious

Chanel No. 6 is the drink all ladies have to order, even if you dont like alcohol, it has an edible lipstick after all :P

Mediterranean breeze is a must have mocktail,sweet and refreshing,

In food, I really liked Bandra Sheermal Roll, Ice cream sampler, Truffle flatbread, simple ingredients done very well, very clean flavors,

Actually everything is good, the central bar is stunning, they have a large display of liquor,

Will be back!

Genuine Broaster Chicken : Food Review, Zomato

Nice,cozy,eclectic ambiance like all Genuine Broaster outlets,

Very young vibe,

Menu is surprisingly amazing and has dishes one wouldn't imagine in a place like this,

It might feel like just a burger place but has some really innovative dishes to come back to,

Veg Cheesy Burger, Ghotala Khichdi are great,

Chocolate samosa with mango ice cream is a must must must have!

Actually everything on menu is worth trying and veggies have MANY options!

Everything has loads of calories though :D

Would definitely be back!

The Caravan Menu : Food Review, Zomato

There are buffets and then there is caravan menu, 

Almost everything under the sun is available here,

Nobody can even try all that they offer- live barbecues, main course, biryani, pasta, pizza, sushi, dimsum, soup, salad, dessert, veg and non veg have so many options,

And cost wise this is a complete steal, no 5 star property will even think of a buffet like this at less than rs. 5000 per person! 

The staff takes care of everyone like family, service is super fast,

They start serving within 2 minutes of us sitting, we had to actually tell them to go slow :P

Loved the barbecue, watermelon, paneer, mushrooms were all great,

CHAAT counter was my favorite, pani puri, sev puri, dahi puri, brilliant,

Dim sums were decent, outer covering could be a bit thinner but inner filling was superb, so crunchy,

Pizzas are surprisingly good, crust thin just like I adore, toppings fresh and cheese-sauce proportion good,

Daughter loved pasta,had to be the cheesiest ever,on the sweeter side but once a bit of paprika was sprinkled, very very good,

Main course had better than expected dishes,not like some other barbecue places where main course is average! Here had perfect kadhi pakoda, mushroom fried rice, cheesy veg lasagna, grilled veggies, aloo ki tarkari,

Wish had more than 1 stomach so could have tried so much more :P Definitely next time!

Desserts are great too, they are situated outside the main dining area along with other live counters,

Gajar ka halwa was stand out, custard,phirni was good, they had chenna sandesh which was unique and quite close to authentic sandesh, gulab jamun was decent, chocolate brownie was fantastic and so was chocolate mousse, so soft and creamy! Must have is hot fresh jalebis with decadent rabdi!

Overall, perfect barbecue-buffet place to be with family,this one is our favorite now.