Food anatomization : Marz - o - rin, MG Road - Pune

Among the few legendary cafes of Pune - is located Marz - o - rin in the heart of M.G.Road with a roadside view.

It does have a fancy name, quite intriguing actually. I wonder what it means?!

It is right above Pasteurs another favorite of mine for quick snacks.

I loved the decor of the place - quite quaint. A wooden staircase takes you to the restaurant - houses about 20 or more odd tables.
The tables in the terrace are the best for one to enjoy your snacking - makes your time all the more charming.They also have seating arrangement inside. 

Looked like this must have been a residence which must have been converted into this historic eat-out place.

Stands really crowded. And this place is not limited to just youngsters or college-goers, you will find various age-groups hitting the place.

Since Christmas just ended - they still had the Christmas tree and the other Christmas decorations up. It surely did make the place more lively.

The cafe has a self service system - hence you need to order in first and collect your food against the coupon.
They do display a wide variety of bakery items and other confectioneries.

The variety up for grabs is definitely massive.

Easy on the pocket I would say - but what I hear that they were even cheaper before.The serving is okay-ish for one  - but not for people with large appetite.

We ordered for the GRILL PANEER SANDWICH - two slices of brown bread with a tangy yet sweet taste - filling consisted of paneer and veggies. It did taste good - but for me it was way too much grilled.

And ridiculously they do charge for ketchup - Rs.5/- for a ultra chotu katori!

After having the sandwich we realized it wasn't actually needed - the sandwich did make up for it. But charging for ketchup is the first for me that too in a cafe. I know pizza hut charges for delivery. :P 

Next we had the SPAGHETTI CHICKEN - spaghetti in red sauce with loaded diced cheese and minced chicken as toppings. And a few sliced capsicum pieces on top. It was baked pasta.Nice I would say.

Then we had the MACRONI CHICKEN - similar preparation to spaghetti chicken with loaded cheese,minced chicken and few sliced bell peppers on top. This one was quite an average dish for me.

The LIME&LEMONI drink was lemon flavoured drink with crushed ice. It had a typical flavor but was good enough to quench my thirst.

The place is really neat and well maintained.

And yes they do sell sugar free bakery items as well - all types of crowd well taken care of! :)

But I would conclude with saying it surely is over-rated but I shall definitely try more items from their menu.

Few pictures:

Lime & lemoni

Spaghetti chicken

Grilled paneer sandwich

Macroni chicken

Bon Appétit!!

P.S. All the above photos have been clicked by me. 

Food anatomization : Jalebi Junction, Magarpatta - Pune

Jalebi junction a famous outlet in Magarpatta - locates itself at one corner. 

Most of the times we take away for our Friday cakes from here - the jalebis and the samosas are just mind-blowing. Whenever we require some customization - they adhere to it.

The samosas are crispy and their stuffing is just delicious - they even add peas along with the aloo filling. The samosas when had with the mithi chutney and the mirchis is just heavenly - street food at its best.

The jalebis are good here - just about the sweetness needed - just they should be little more brownish and more juicy - and it would be a total taste enhancer.

I like their packaging - whether you take one or many they pack it in paper bags - and hence no carry bag needed. This is my go to place for the samosa jalebi duo cravings. :P

Samosa

In the making

Jalebi
 

~Bon Appétit!!



P.S. All the above photos have been clicked by me.

Food anatomization : Moksha Family Bar and Restaurant, JP Nagar - Bangalore

This place is about at a km's distance from my home in Bangalore, and it turned out to be a pleasant surprise.

We ordered for home-delivery from this place using the Zomato order online feature.

Due to some problem, they didn't one particular dish that we ordered for - they took the liberty to contact us via Zomato and confirm if they could deliver something similar. Liked that part of customer care.

So, packaging was done really well - they do charge for packing,alas! But neatly packed.

We ordered for the BIRYANI- really tasty! Long grains of rice with lots of diced veggies and layered rice having mixed colors of white and saffron. It smelled really nice. Enticing!
It came along with raita and a rassa sort of stuff.
The PANEER TIKKA was really gravy-cious!! Loved the gravy and the fresh chunks of paneer in it. I had a yummy-licious paneer dish after really long - the kind I desire for. :) Totally flavorsome.
The ROTI BASKET consisted of around 5 types of rotis - naan,roti,kulcha and paratha.
The portions were generous.
We enjoyed a hearty meal totally. :)

But I did cite price differences of about Rs.10-20 in what Zomato offered through their order online portal and what menu uploaded from the restaurant had. Why so?!

Impressive!

Biryani

Roti basket

Paneer tikka

~Bon Appétit!!

P.S. All the above photos have been clicked by me. 

Food anatomization : MTR 1924, JP Nagar - Bangalore

One of the legendary and renowned food joint of Bangalore.

It had been on my list for quite some time now.

Finds itself right across the street opposite mini forest - and is located on the top floor of the building. There is a huge sign board - so it is not easy to miss this place.

Parking can be a little difficult to find on a weekend.

A very simple place with simple decor with no show-sharaba at all. I had little high expectations on this aspect at least. The ambiance is good - lighted enough!

As you enter the place you will see a small bakery sort of where they sell various sweets,samosas and some packaged MTR products.
They house about 20 more tables - in spite of tables being empty we were made to wait for about 10 minutes or so.Albeit, I did not understand the reason.
And of course without a doubt, with time the place just got fuller. Found majority of the crowd gorging on the thalis.
We were made to sit in a non-ac seating area.

Menu is quite limited in terms of food.

The staff can be little more prompt. We had to borrow the menu from the table nearby.Sigh!

We ordered for the masala dosas and the rava dosa.
The masala dosa dosa came with a bowl of sambhar,chutney and they had super miniature bowl in which they served ghee. This was first for me!The dosa was heavy on ghee and it did not go down well with me. I guess the immense ghee was a spoiler and it got really heavy for the stomach. Not hailing from South - the extra-extra dose of ghee was the spoilsport. The size of the dosa is also small taking to account its price.
The rava dosa was super crispy and tasty - it was served with chutney and some sabji sort of dish not sambhar. It was also super high on oil, else making it that thin and crispy is impossible.

I think the prices are too hyped just for the brand name.

Few pictures:

Rava dosa

Masala dosa

~Bon Appétit!!

P.S. All the above photos have been clicked by me. 

Food anatomization : Oye Amritsar, JP Nagar - Bangalore

Oye amritsar - a filmy welcome with a Royal Enfield standing right at the entrance was stealing all the limelight!!

The walls behind it had loads of colorful sticky notes - probably carried the reviews/comments by the customers. 

The restaurant mainly serves North Indian cuisine. This is one of the new chains opened in J.P.Nagar.

The cartoons on the walls and on the lift added to the place being really lively and colorful. 

They have two seating areas - one majorly for ala-carte and the other for the buffet.

The lighting is done aptly and in a very subtle manner.They have put up funky wall posters - catchy ones.

In all, I liked the ambiance to conclude. :)

It has a non-ac seating arrangement - and since it is on one of the top floors, if you seat near the windows you can get cooled totally by the lovely-chilly breeze.

The cutlery is more suited to that of a dhaba themed restaurant.

Since it was the 31st night, we made prior reservations and asked if they would serve from the ala-carte or only buffet. To this they confirmed they would be serving both.

So once we settled, to our surprise they handed us the buffet menu and told us they are only serving buffet for the night. 

Totally taken aback, we informed them that we had called prior and made reservations based on their confirmation - followed by a wait for about 15 minutes they came back saying we could order from the ala-carte.

But I must say the staff needs to buckle up.

Again there was another 10 minutes for catching hold of the menu.

Another 15-20 minutes for placing the order. Total disappointment!

I don't know for some reason they would refuse to come to our table, and there were 2-3 servers each for the tables having from the buffet. Really?! Seeing this I couldn't blame it on the 31st NIGHT!!

Water was served after mid way through our main course ONLY - that too after repeated callings for it.

A basic etiquette, water must be served as soon as the guest arrives.

They do charge a service charge as well - then why this lag and bias-ness? They did not even want to serve the dishes - we had to ask them to do so. Why?!Why?!

Coming to the food - with all the drama we were already saturated!!

For starters  we had the BEZWANI PANEER TIKKA - it was an okayish dish. The paneer didn't seem firm and set. The dish had an imminent flavor of saunf. And for a tikka - it seemed bland.

We followed it with a non-veg starter, the OYE PUNJABI CHILLI CHICKEN - thinking it to be some extra ordinary dish owing to the fancy name we ordered for this one.But alas the chicken was not cooked and lacked flavors.The concept failed totally.

Keeping our hopes still high - we went to try the LASSI MALAI MARKE. This was one relishing drink. Thick,chilled and served with dry fruits.Exquisite!

For mains we had the KUKKAD PATIALWALA BONELESS - this dish has the chicken engulfed in an omelette.This was a quite a savior after the starters.

The AMRITSARI KULCHA was delicious and quite filling actually. Highly recommended to have.

The KADAI PANEER was a good dish with veggies and paneer. It was super spicy though.

In all I felt the dishes had prominent taste of saunf in them - specially the vegetarian dishes. 

There is a pan-wala who has setup his counter in the entrance - a perfect way to end your desi meal. :) The meetha pan was meetha and chatakdar! The finale was at least good....

Few pictures:

LASSI MALAI MARKE

BEZWANI PANEER TIKKA

OYE PUNJABI CHILLI CHICKEN

AMRITSARI KULCHA

KUKKAD PATIALWALA BONELESS

 KADAI PANEER

~Bon Appétit!!

P.S. All the above photos have been clicked by me.