This place called Goa – Musings of a traveller

What was I doing in Goa? If I say I was trying to find myself, you would be thinking, how cliched is this! But, I can’t lie, I was indeed trying to find myself but above that to put it point blank, I wanted to get some peace of mind! This led me to my first trip to Goa.

This isn’t going to be a long post like all my travel writings usually are. This time, I am going to let the pictures do the talking. 

Did I do something interesting or different? Nope, I just lazed around, enjoyed long walks on the beach, relished some good food, slept with lights on in my bedroom (yeah well I was a little apprehensive :P), caught up on my reading and did everything apart from introspecting. For once, I did not over think or rather think at all and just went with the flow. And after a long time, I felt so alive! J

They say you learn something about yourself when you travel alone. I don’t know what I have learnt but I do know that sometimes you just need to be all by yourself and you’ll know how capable and strong you are! 

P.S – None of the photos in this blog post have been edited.

P.S.S - Drop in a message if you would like to know more about my trip and how to plan one! :)

Vietnamese affair at Phobidden Fruit

Phobidden Fruit was on my wish list for quite some time for two reasons, one for its lovely green ambience and second for Vietnamese food. I’d heard so much about how delicious their food was and until quite sometimes back Phobidden fruit was one of those few places which offered authentic Vietnamese food.

In Vietnamese cuisine, fresh ingredients play a key role. Distinct flavours of this cuisine make it stand apart. Once you have tasted any Vietnamese dish, it is not easy to forget it’s flavour.

Herbs and aromatics are extensively used and oh how can I forget soy sauce which is one of the most common ingredients used amongst dishes offered in this cuisine.

Did the food at Phobidden Fruit delight me? Read on to know more.

Ambience:

It’s like a sea of green here. Simple yet elegant, calm and serene, what more can one ask for? Yellow dim lights at night adds to the charm making this restaurant a perfect spot for a date night!

The restaurant is spacious, tables arranged in an orderly manner and a lot of space to move around, even when this place gets crowded it doesn’t seem clumsy. If you ask me, I’d suggest you visit this place for dinner because the ambience is all the more appealing and beautiful.

Grub:

As mentioned earlier, the essence of herbs and soy sauce is dominant across most Vietnamese dishes. Hence, if you aren’t a big fan of soy sauce, Vietnamese cuisine as a whole might not appeal to you at all. But, if you don’t mind the sweet n sour taste of it then eventually you will start relishing the exotic flavours this cuisine has to offer.

The menu here is limited. You start browsing through the menu and within two minutes you are done. Limited offerings under each course are a disappointment indeed! Additionally, if you are a vegetarian your options get reduced all the more.

We took our time to order appetisers and main course. Yes, being vegetarians we didn’t have much of a choice but my brother and I took our time to go through the menu in detail and then place an order.

We started off with Potato Fritters and vegetarian Congee. When we were served with Potato Fritters, I couldn’t take my eyes off it. God, it looked delicious! But on the other hand, the oil hadn’t been soaked completely. The fritters were dripping of oil which in the beginning turned me off. Imagine all the excitement I had when I saw the potato fritters and the second my fork poked and picked up one of the fritters I could see oil dripping and all my excitement went away, just like that. However, on the bright side, the fritters weren’t that bad after all. Tangy & crispy would probably describe these fritters the best. But, stay away from this if you don’t like to savour the aroma and taste of soy. 

The soup was absolutely refreshing! With a pinch of pepper, the house special rice soup was the perfect start to my meal.

House special rice soup

Looks delicious, right?

For the main course, we opted for Viet red curry (vegetarian) & Saigon noodles. Viet red curry was an absolute stunner. A treat to the eyes and my taste buds, the red curry was cooked so well. The flavour of spices stood out and won my heart! This Vietnamese take on Thai red curry is a must have here.

On the other hand, Saigon noodles was lovely as well. A sharp taste of soy sauce, the noodles were dressed with cucumber, bean sprouts and cabbage bok choy. Again, pretty to look at, the noodles tantalises your taste buds and if you love herbs and soy sauce, you will enjoy savouring this dish.

Vietnamese take on Thai red curry

Noodles be so yummy

Service & Pricing:

Service is a no-nonsense one. Friendly faces and prompt service enables you to have a great dining experience and that’s exactly what all of us look out for, don’t we?

When it comes to pricing after having a sumptuous 3 or 4 course meal the bill will leave you wide-eyed. Not because the meal left a hole in your wallet but because how cheap this affair turned out to be. And when you experience such moments, the feeling of contentment heightens all the more.

A beautiful place which offers some flavoursome food at a reasonable price, we need more such restaurants in Bengaluru, don’t we? Thumbs up to this one! I am definitely going back to experience this delightful dining affair again.

Quick bites:

Rating – 4/5

Cost for two – 1200/- inclusive of taxes

Why you should go here – To enjoy Vietnamese cuisine at its best

Location - St. Marks Road, 15/16, Ground Floor, House of Lords

Landmark – Diagonally opposite to Mother Cluckers

Food for thought: Finding happiness

I constantly keep asking myself, what makes me happy. Yes, there are some things which immediately come to my mind, but then when I dig deeper it leaves me perplexed. As a result, I ended up asking myself questions such as what is more important, to do things which give you short term happiness or long term happiness, and what would give me both.

I thought in order to answer these queries I should read on what others have to say and that’s how I came across this book – The Happiness Project by Gretchen Rubin.

In this book, Gretchen tries to find out the larger meaning of happiness, tries to figure out she can live in the moment. Each month she tackles a resolution which she believes will help her get closer to her overarching goal – How to focus on things which matter,  live in the present and make most every moment. The book is indeed thought-provoking and did motivate me to start my own kind of Happiness project.

But, coming back to the point, there is this one particular chapter in the book which I enjoyed reading the most – Buying happiness.

It’s been highly debated that you can’t buy happiness. I agree. But there are something’s like food which can make you happy, instantly. And you can buy food, right?

The smell of chole batura, the crispness of wantons, the silky taste of a marquise, the soft and moist texture of a red velvet cake, the theekhapan of pani puri, the tangy pickle and the list goes on. This is where I find my happiness.

I am of the strong opinion that food can be a great mood and stress buster. Every time I feel a little off or feel like I am under way too much pressure, I eat. Yes, I know this is also the cause of obesity among many other people, but being blessed with a high metabolism, I make the most of this gift. Happiness to me is a enjoying a meal and not just eating to fill my hungry tummy. And I also believe that the happiness in your life depends on how you eat.  The more time you invest in relishing your meal, the happier you will be. Don’t believe me? Why don’t you sit down and try this yourself.

Contrary to popular belief, being happy takes a lot of effort but eating doesn’t, hence the next time you feel down like life is going all wrong, remember, you just need a cup of hot tea/coffee and some delicious snacks, yes that’s all you need. Genuine happiness comes from eating well and when you eat well and healthy it reflects in everything you do.

After all, happiness is always found where there is food and laughter. J

Relishing European flavours at Café Mezzuna

It had been a long week and I desperately needed something to pep me up a bit. What a better mood buster than some lip smacking food, right?

Deciding the place where I would pamper my taste buds wasn’t that difficult as there was this one café I was hearing good reviews about and was for long on my wish list. Becoming the next big thing in the café scene in Bengaluru, Café Mezzuna was an absolute delight!

Ambience

Located on St Mark’s road, Café Mezzuna is easy to spot. A little ahead of Truffles, a big black hoarding reading out Café Mezzuna is something you can’t miss. A basement level with minimalist furnishing, wooden décor, white walls and crockery, the ambience of this place is indeed quite lovely! With options of indoor and outdoor seating, the café is spacious, decorated with artistic wall hangings and has a feel good aura. Yes, this place does get very crowded, however even in all that noise of conversations and music; you can enjoy a good meal and not feel agitated with all the commotion around you. Casual seating in a cosy dining environment is what stands out here.

We opted for the outdoor seating, where a bed of artificial grass was laid out. After getting seated comfortably (changed tables twice) and having a look around the café, I went through their extensive menu.

Menu & grub

Their bar and food menu is very elaborate. If you want to drink and have some starters to go with it, you can do that or if you want to have a proper continental meal, you can do that as well. Since I was very sure that I wanted to relish some good food and have a proper meal, we started by ordering for mocktails and starters.

Watermelon & basil crush, CNC (Cucumber frappe spiked with cumin) and the ginger twist was what we ordered from the mocktail menu. The first two drinks were absolutely refreshing, especially CNC. The mix of cucumber and cumin gives you a kick which energizes you. The ginger twist was just okay, wasn’t too great for me to sing praises of and it wasn’t bad either. It was just another drink!

CNC, so good!

Ginger Twist

Watermelon & basil

I started my food tasting-pampering session with appetizers – Spinach – cheese sambousek creamy garlic dip and Potato leek cheddar croquette, smoked paprika aioli. Both the dishes were delicious! The spinach and cheese sambousek was cooked to perfection. The crispness overpowers the taste of the spinach which is the filling hence for people who aren’t a big fan of green vegetables can still enjoy this dish! The croquette was fried well and had a beautiful texture. When the texture looks so good, it’s just all the more appealing to me!

Potato leek cheddar croquette, smoked paprika aioli

Spinach – cheese sambousek creamy garlic dip

While stuffing myself with the appetizers I was quite pleased, my mood was getting better.

In the main course section, you have an array of dishes to choose from. Pizzas to wraps to burgers to risottos, they have it all. I decided to go the Italian way and ordered for a plate of pasta and pizza!

A large-sized thin crusted pizza made its way to our table. Fresh tomatoes, basil, buffalo mozzarella and roasted garlic as the toppings, the pizza didn’t impress me much. For some reason the base of the pizza was wet. Probably the plate wasn’t wiped properly before serving pizza in it. I don’t really know why the base was wet and there was water on the plate but that ruined the pizza for me completely. Moreover, the garlic wasn’t roasted; it was just plucked out and put on the pizza directly, plain. The pizza was just plain bad. Period.

Pasta on the other hand, got me peppy and chirpy again. Yes, this one was not only well cooked but the flavours were so sharp that it just awakens your senses! This is the kind of food I look out for.

We ended our meal with Orange crème brulee, almond biscotti. If you need a sugar rush, this one will seal the deal for you! This dessert is for the sweet tooth if you don’t have one, opt for a different dessert. That said, the crème brulee was delightful! With this thin sheet of caramelized sugar and the almond biscotti, the dessert was top-notch.

Pasta be so yum

Orange crème brulee, almond biscotti

Service & Pricing

The boys were very attentive and it was a no-nonsense service. Very obliging staff and accommodative to your needs.

Pricing is very reasonable! We enjoyed all this and paid less than 1500/- which left us stunned. And this was with all taxes included.

Apart from the pizza, the food overall was good. Yes, they don’t really pay much attention to the presentation of the food but the taste makes up for that. The ambience is beautiful and in the plethora of café’s Bengaluru offers, Mezzuna finds itself in the top of must visit cafes for two reasons. One, their ambience and two, the variety of European flavours they have to offer!

Quick bites:

Rating – 4/5

Cost for two – 1000/- inclusive of taxes

Why you should go here – To enjoy the ambience and treat yourself to some European food

Location - St. Marks Road, 15/16, Ground Floor, House of Lords

Landmark – Building next to Chianti or a little ahead of Truffles 

Travel story: Kolkata - City of joy, food and love

Because in Kolkata, life comes to a standstill.

What are your first thoughts when you think of Kolkata? Mine are fish, rasagulla and narrow dirty crowded lanes with people busy chit chatting. And of course, yellow taxis, the sight of it always makes me smile.

Taxis remind me of the ‘n’ number of modes of transportation available. From underground metros to Toto’s, it's just so fascinating.

Many asked me why I chose to go to Kolkata for my weekend gateway, and honestly I was quite taken aback by this. For me, vacations don’t necessarily have to be beach spot where you get to see the sunset or exotic locales.

I have always been intrigued by the way of life in this city, the atmosphere and the much spoken about Bengali cuisine. Also, since I have never visited this place and food being my weakness, I packed my bags and went there, kick-starting my 2016 travel journey!

Food..Food and Food! All I saw was food around me and all I wanted to do was eat. That pretty much sums up my two-day trip to the city of joy! Very aptly named indeed, joy = food, right? To everyone’s surprise, I managed to see a lot of places as well, Howrah, Victoria memorial, St Paul’s Cathedral, Mother’s Wax Museum to name a few.

Kolkata is a city of contrast. While one side of the city is oh so plush, sophisticated and has such well-designed buildings and, on the other hand, there are slums, narrow lanes, clustered and broken houses and everything that you would normally see in pictures when you Google for Kolkata. In a way, every city has these two sides; however the contrast in Kolkata stands apart. I was staying in the modernised part of Kolkata which has such lovely wide roads, high-end restaurants and well-structured localities.

I was appalled and kept saying this to Durai and Sneha that I have seen a completely different Kolkata in pictures. It was a good sight, yes, but I was curious to see the other side of Kolkata as well which isn’t that developed and that is when Durai and Sneha took me to Shobabazar. And my, this is where you feel Kolkata. Apart from savouring authentic Bengali cuisine, these areas are where you get the true essence of Kolkata.

When in Kolkata you can’t miss out on the scrumptious food they have to offer. From sweets to Bengali delicacies, you just can’t get enough of it. For most of us having Kachoris for breakfast isn’t our first option, hell it’s not even in our breakfast menu but in Kolkata, club kachori is probably something everyone devours themselves in for breakfast. Club Kachori is the miniature version of kachori we get here in Bangalore. Served along with aloo curry, it’s absolutely delicious! And yes, I did try my hand on other things which are commonly offered across breakfast spots in the city. Dhokla, jalebi, dosa, bread pakoda and the list goes on. My favourite meal was at Bhojohori Manna where I relished the classic Benagli cuisine, vegetarian of course! :P

There was just so much food on the table and if not for Sneha’s guidance I wouldn’t know where to start. The meal had few things which I loved like the luchi and channa dal and few things which I didn’t really enjoy one of them being the chutney. Yes, that is a very important component of any Bengali meal but unfortunately, it’s not something which I liked much.  

Bengali meal is a ritual in itself, which I don’t mind following at all. The meal is all the more appealing when you follow the ritual.

Roadside Chinese food, puchkas, rasagullas, sandesh and other sweets were some of the other things I treated my taste buds to. What leaves you stunned here is the variety of sandesh you get, so many flavours, and all of them taste so good. While relishing on all this, I realized if you don’t have a sweet tooth you miss out on so many yummy treats!

And yes, in all this I did visit two restaurants, one was Rang de Basanti Dhaba which serves you some impressive north Indian dishes and Bon Appetit, a tiny café with a homely ambience, I absolutely loved that place. Didn’t try out a lot of things but I spent a good amount of time enjoying Maggie, black forest shake and mango sundae.

What else did I like about the food in Kolkata was the tea! It’s true, the way you drink tea makes a lot of difference. Served in tiny matka’s, the taste of tea heightens. Sharma tea stall and a stall at Ramakrishnapur ghat is where I enjoyed this lovely matka of tea.

Ramkrisnapur ghat reminds me of the Howrah and river Ganga. It’s a lovely sight you know, both the Howrah bridges (one of them looks similar to the Bandra-Worli sea link in Mumbai) and the sight of the river with Kolkata landscape overlooking it. Stunning, I must say.

After two lovely days of being in Kolkata and soaking into the joy this city has to offer, I made my way back to Bangalore with two big boxes of sweets and one big box of rasagulla. It’s been two days and yes I am hungover. Even after all the chaos of losing my phone, the trip turned out to be lovely. I crave for all the food that I ate there and the relaxed atmosphere.

Vir Sanghavi said it rightly 'if you want a city with soul, come to Kolkata' and I couldn’t agree more with him.

P.S: Street photo courtesy - Durai Subramanium