Only Alibaba Gold, Park Circus the Royal Feast

I have always been a Alibaba Mutton Biryani fan. Whenever I feel hungry for good mutton biryani, I look for Only Alibaba (the DLF-I Newtown outlet made my life real easy :D ). When I came to know about Only Alibaba Gold, I could instantaneously imagine the royalty and could dream satisfying my savoury with all the Nawabi and Mughal dishes.

Unfortunately Park Circus does not come across any of my way and my dream started fading away until that very afternoon when I was around Park Circus and looking for a place for lunch. When I searched on Zomato, I noticed Only Alibaba Gold top of the list. I made my mind and headed for a ecstatic lunch.

The Empty restaurant was just waiting for me. At first I was bit surprised with the loneliness of the place but recovered quickly with glimpse at my watch. It was 2 pm and Kolkata people can go out for dinner but not lunch. It was a warm welcome for me and all of them were ready to serve me. However the ambience is not so royal except some large pictures. Who cares the Ambience if the food is mouth watering. I was accompanied by one of close friend and we ordered a plate of Mutton Boti Kebab to start with. They took a little extra time for the dish since it was mutton and the dish came with six large piece of boneless mutton well garnished and filled the whole place with a charismatic aroma. Our hunger doubled and we controlled our basic instinct to jump on the food until it was served by the restaurant crew.

We were struck with awesomeness. Aromatic mutton was lucrative with bell peppers. Choice of spices was just excellent. The price was around Rs.300/- which I believe is quite worthy. Then the same Mutton Biryani from Alibaba and we were filled upto our throat leaving no space for a dessert (I had a plan for Baked Rabri with Kulfi).

Overall a very nice experience, 4 out of 5 I would rate. Just avoid to have lunch there if possible. Since they don't expect you at lunch, you may not find the mutton as tender as the same at dinner. ;)

Spice up life with Chili's Grill & Bar, Quest Mall

Do you love Beer?

If you say Yes! Hurrah! Chili's is the best place so far I have found in Kolkata.

They serve Drought Beer!

Yes! You heard me right! I had a chilled pilsner (500 ml) of drought beer along with Smoked Chicken Wings. It was heavenly! Trust me! I love beer and tried many of the bottled one but the fresh beer I had in Chili's was absolutely stunning. It was tasty, it was strong, it was fresh and it was chilled. for past few years I was loosing interest in beer and preferring Rum or Whiskey over it. But if I am in Chili's again I'll have a pitcher for sure. Here is a snap! ;)

Every sip worth it!

Now! if you say you do not like beer, no problemo! Plenty of food choices are there to make (mostly non-veg). A very wide range starting from Dippers, soups, salads and then Mexican, Italian, Steaks, Ribs...I must stop here. Though for the first visit I had smoked wings only as we were running out of time. The wings were fabulous. It made a perfect couple with the pilnser (as you can see peeking wings behind the bubbling beer). I hope the steaks and ribs will be equally tasty and I am eager to visit again with my friends.

Place was nice and cozy. The ambiance was lively, full of cheerful people. Music was good, made a perfect mood to enjoy your food and beverages. Believe me, it is not a costly place. The Pilsner of Drought Beer was Rs.225/- and the bucket of wings was Rs.355/- only and as I said before, every bit of it worth it.

Give it a try, you will love it. Don't go alone! A company would make you enjoy more. Feel free to contact me, if you are running out of a friend! ;)

Golden Joy in China Town, Tangra

After 31st Dec, 2012 this was our first party at Golden Joy, China Town. There was couple of reason behind it like promotion, bonus etc which we want to keep secret.

We were an hour behind the scheduled time on 22nd March, Friday and everybody was furious to reach the pre-decided destination. When reached Golden Joy all of us were super hungry and the attendant did had to wait any long. We ordered the starters in flash!

I preferred Whiskey that day and others ordered Rum and Vodka. We were discussing a dish that is available there for quite a long time and we ordered that first, a plate of Golden Prawns. Along with that we ordered Dry Chile Chicken, Threaded Chicken and Golden Fish.

Being honest I must say, the Golden items (both prawn & Fish ) were pretty ordinary in taste but not the cost. Both the things were fried with a golden coating. They used an ordinary batter made which is very similar to Fish Butter Fry or Fish Orli. The texture were good and it was obviously a nice choice to have with liquor. They served a hot green chile sauce which I felt a must apply on the golden fries.

Dry Chile Chicken is a very popular item nowadays and it was as good as available in any good Chinese Restaurant in Kolkata. Threaded Chicken was an absolute surprise. Very simply made but pretty tasty. soft tender chicken coated with crispy noodles. I really could not follow all the price after having a few pegs but what I remember is that, the golden items were pretty costly like around Rs.400/- a plate and others were around Rs.250/-.

Then we had Noodles and I had a Pork one. The noodle was tasty as usual. And that's all we really had no space left for anything else. I enjoyed the ambiance. It is a small place but well decorated.

I must mention one thing for those who do not know the fact that you can have whole bottle of liquor which may slash the cost a lot. So you can enjoy your drink there at much cheaper cost.

I would say there are lot many options in China Town and Golden Joy is one of the good choice.

Golden Prawns	Dry Chile Chicken
Threaded Chicken	Golden Fish

It's Only Alibaba!! Saltlake, Sector-V

I do love Biryani a lot, though I am little biased towards Continental and Mediterranean but obviously the flavour of Biryani really matters and I keep searching for it. I have tried Biryani in Lukhnow, Delhi and obviously at many places in Kolkata. Unfortunately I haven't yet visited Hyderabad to taste it's world famous patent Hyderabadi Biryani, though my wife tasted once and one of my close friend Ani is staying in Hyderabad. :(

Among many I liked the Mutton Biryani from Only Alibaba, Saltlake, Sector-V the most in recent time. You can say that the outlet I am talking about is just a franchise and it's the same taste and flavour of Biryani in all Alibaba outlets. Let me tell you a fact that the huge sale in Sector-V outlet has made a big difference, you'll always find fresh dish as per your choice. And obviously I love it more because the staff there welcome you with warmth in their heart.

Few days back I had Sepcial Mutton Biryani. It was a mistake! I had no idea about the quantity and it was plenty. Huge chunk of mutton highly enriched with taste, a large piece of potato soft like butter with lots of flavor and taste made the whole thing absolutely majestic. I ordered Tar Biryani, it's the biryani from the bottom of the pot with lots of oil. I feel there is no point thinking of health while having a special biryani from alibaba. The Tar is always tasty. You just don't need anything on the side, just the biryani was enough alone. The mutton was soft and tender and highly flavoured. In fact while writing this blog, my mouth watered a lot, thinking of it.

The price of the special one was Rs.190/- and do not miss the Firni. It's Rs.30/- only and delicious as well. After the meaty taste, your tongue deserves something sweet like the firni...

photo courtesy www.emaaya.com

Banzara, Jadavpur

This is a place where I used to visit quite often during my college days and I loved it. It is a multi-cuisine restaurant on Ebrahimpur Road, Jadavpur; 3 mins walking distance from Jadavpur 8B Bus stand.

It is a small place but the food, is no-doubt good. It is Air Conditioned and the ambiance is so so.

I have tried a lot of soups there and found them all very tasty, whether is Chicken Clear Soup or it is Sweet Corn Chicken Soup or even if it is simple Tomato soup.

As far as Mughlai Cuisine is concern, I'll not prefer Banzara probably. I have tried it once and the Biriyani was good but still I'll go with Chinese.

All the Noodles and Fried Rice items are very tasty and full of flavors. Common Chicken dishes like Chilli Chicken, Garlic Chicken are good and I tried Sanghai Chicken and found it nice too though it was little hot (:P do not know how does Sanghai Chicken tastes actually).

Pocket pinch is comparatively less and good for college goers to take his/her date to a AC restaurant with little pocket money (at least it was so for me ;) ). If you are hungry around Jadavpur and won't mind a Rs.200/- it's your day in Banzara with a complete meal. Enjoy!

Mutton Kosha @ Koshe Kosha Golpark

Last weekend we had a treat from one our friend Kunal for his Birthday. Though the birthday was on 5th June, but we waited for more than 2 months to have all of us on the table!! Like me, Kunal too is a food lover and love to taste different flavors. If you can believe, we will be visiting Lucknow this winter to taste Tunday ke Kabab! Keeping our affection towards food, when I was asked to suggest a place for the treat, I said Koshe Kosha at Fern Road, Golpark.

Few days before the treat I tasted the Kosha Mangsho (Mutton Kosha) from Koshe Kosha in my office. One of friend brought it from the same place (other branch is at Hatibagan). two of my friend suggested any Chinese Cuisine but I had to reject as I see a Chinese dish very frequent on my table. Mughlai was not possible as were running short of time and all of us believe that Mughlai Dishes need time and patience. So all of us agreed to have something from our very own Bengali Cuisine.

Place was excellent in terms of ambiance. Perfect environment was created to have a perfect traditional Bengali feel. We ordered Prawn Cutlets for all of us as the starter. It costs Rs100/- per plate and obviously each plate contains a single piece of Cutlet. I must say the the Cutlet does not worth a Rs.100/-, that's all. In the main course we ordered the very obvious Kosha Mangsho (Mutton Kosha), with Pulao and Ghee Rice. The Mutton Kosha costs Rs.160/- a plate, Ghee Rice for Rs.60/- and the Pulao costs Rs.75/-. One of my friend order Bekti Paturi, costs Rs.150/- and contains two pieces of Paturi (Paturi is Fillet of fish, Bekti or Hilsha wrapped in Banana Leaf which we call Kola Pata in Bengali with spices like mustard and then fried or steamed in some cases; the name Paturi is originated from Pata). I was not feeling to have Fish at that moment, however I tasted from my friend and it was not bad.

The Pulao was ok and nothing to say about the Ghee Rice. It's almost plain rice with ghee and some kaju badam. Quantity was not that good but closely suffice one person. The Mutton Kosha was no doubt the best item we had. Very good, rich taste and we could feel that the dish is enriched with traditional bengali flavors (appreciating the tag line "Purano Sei Diner Kosha"). But again the quantity was not good. There were only 4 small pieces of mutton, that too with bones.

My final rating would be like 6 out of 10. It could be 8/10 but the high price and less quantity overall restricts me to give that good rating....But again loved the ambiance...

Nomoskar!!

New Cathey, A Classic Restaurant in Esplanade

If quality, quantity and money matters, then I always choose New Cathey for dinning. The Bar & Restaurant is located at a very popular place, Esplanade. It's on the Grand Corridor.

The two tier restaurant is a very old place. Tier-1 is simply for hangout. Returning from office with friends, a plate of Fish Finger with smooth and buttery white sauce (can''t tell you how good the fish finger taste with this white sauce) and a mug full with chilled Haywards 5000 beer. Cheers!!

Tier-2 is Air Conditioned and you have to pay some extra taxes which is not required downstairs. Obviously with family or date it can be your choice but frankly I have always chosen Tier-1 as I found it comfortable too but yes a little noisy.

Chinese cuisine here is no doubt of good quality and quantity. Just make sure that you say "No Pork" when you order a mixed rice or mixed chowmein. I have tasted items like Chicken Clear Soup, Hot and sour Chicken Soup, Chicken Noodle Soup, Fish Finger, Crispy Fish, Chicken Drumsticks as starters and 2-3 varieties of chowmeins and  fried rices, Garlic Chicken, Chilli Chicken etc in  main course. I must say, all of them was good and huge in quantity. You must have a super huge appetite to have a full plate of Fried Rice of any variety and full plate of any chicken item. The Chicken items usually have 10-12 pcs of boneless chickens.

I often visit with my wife after shopping and always order a single plate of each Item for both of us. Cannot tell you the exact prices,inflation is more powerful than anybody else. However a few month back it was quite reasonable.

Lastly, not a place for luxury, so don't expect much. Service is good and they are helpful and honest about the food and it's taste. Do not hesitate to ask them if you have any doubt.

Enjoy!!

Grub Club, Golpark...A Cool Retaurant to Hang Out...

If you loved you College Canteen, you will definitely love Grub Club!

It is not a place to enjoy leisure but a place to hang out with friends. No fancy chairs or tables, no fancy lighting, no AC and many no's. A few tables for 4 or 6 and rest is long row of tales joined together like our canteen, common plastic fiber chairs and of course anyone can share your table; no privacy at all. :)

Again I'll say, if you liked your college canteen, it's a place you will not complain. Definitely not a good place to take your girlfriend on a date but obviously a very good place to give your friends a treat from your pocket money. Once you have managed you girl then also it's a place you may like to save you pocket. ;)

If you know Gol Park crossing, it's very close to it on the right hand side on Southern Avenue towards Vivekananda Park.

As I said it is like a canteen thus facility here is also like canteen. You need to select your menu first and pay the money at the cash counter at the entrance and take the printed order (the bill in fact) to the service counter. They will take the order and will ask you once the order is ready. Yes! it's self service too!

But the menu card may surprise you a lot!! you will find a huge variety of dishes on the card with various Chinese dishes to famous Mughlai items. The day I visited Grub Club, I was with my friends and one of our friend was going to Mumbai on the same day. He actually planned a small get together near my home and later he asked us to have lunch together at some place. Another friend suggested Grub Club as none of us were prepared for such a plan and we all had very little in our pocket and thus Grub Club was chosen. I was not convinced by the name at all and after seeing the condition described above I was stunned. But finally when the dishes reached our table, I was more surprised. We had dishes like Crispy Lamb Chops, Chicken Lollypops with Honey sauce as starter and in the main course Mixed Fried Rice, Chile Chicken, Garlic Chicken (don't remember if anything else we ordered). I liked the Lamb Chops very much. Personally I do not like sweet flavors for non-veg items but the Chicken Lollypops with Honey was a different taste. Other were good too, nothing special to say but obviously worthy.

If you visit Lake area or Gariahat someday you can visit Grub Club if you feel these information impressive and trustworthy...

Flavors of Madras in Kolkata, Best South Indian Retaurant in Dalhousie

It's a place again near Dalhousie. If you move towards Lalbazar, leaving Writer's Building and Cathedral Church behind and take the first right turn on the way, it is R. N. Mukherjee Road. You will find Old Mission Church and Birla Building on the left hand side. Take a look on the other side of the road, just after crossing Birla Building, you may find our destination "Madras Tiffin House".

My first job was in Hindustan Motors Ltd. and with that connection I had to visit Birla Building, our Head Office quite often. I remember it was a winter afternoon and I was just feeling hungry and co-incidentally, with the same feelings my colleague suggested Madras Tiffin House for lunch. He was quite familiar with the place being an employee of our Head Office. He still don't know what he gifted me.

After returning from a South Indian trip most bengali people tends to loose weight and sigh remembering the torturing south indian dishes throughout their trip. The final conclusion says "South Indian Dishes are good in Kolkata only". I really do not know what they find there, because I am yet to visit any South Indian city. But I must say I am really bored of having only Idli, Dosa, Vada and Utthapam (rarely experienced) and the Coconut Chatni and Sambar which come as the part of the course. Madras Tiffin House is a bit different in this respect. You will find dishes like Pongal, Rava Dosa or dessert like Rava Kashori Halwa. There are many but I am yet to taste them all. I found no point having the same Idli, Bada, though the Idli available here is also made of Rava (thickly ground rice). Idli made of rava is more soft and delicious than normally available one and dosa made of rava is little different too. If you like paper dosa then you may not like the rava dosa but don't worry, the same is available too in many variety (once my friend tried Paper Butter Dosa. It was awesome).

The day I had Pongal, my wife was with me. She is fond of new dishes and in fact she ordered the Pongal. The dish amazed us both. It is like Khichdi of rice and Urad Daal with flavor of hole black pepper. It was so simple but an extraordinary item. We really enjoyed it. Then we tasted the Rava Dosa which is smaller in size [does not exceeds the boundary of your dish like the paper dosas :P] and a little thick but definitely crispy and tasty. After all these, Rava Kashori Halwa had it's turn to pleas us and it did well. It is quite similar to Suji Halwa but made of rava instead of suji and the saffron (kashori means made with Kesar or saffron) added a completely different savor. We tried all the new dishes and none of them was disappointing and that too for a quite little money. We could hardly raised the bill over Rs.125/-. Yes it is that cheap.

Another famous item available there is Pulao (or Pulav) which is a favorite item for daily customers. It comes with Dum-Aloo, Raita and Papad. The whole course is very tasty and complete. Last day I had coffee served in traditional South Indian Stainless Steel glass  :-) . I will give a 7.5/10 rating for this place. The truth is, there is no so called ambiance and thus keeping the cost and quality in mind I can give that much rating. A little ambiance would have added more points to it but it is not required if you visit Madras Tiffin House for the sake of your tongue!

Masala Dosa

picture courtesy www.ephotosworld.com

A Chinese Cuisine at BAR-B-Q Restaurant, Park Street

In the month of June I visited BAR-B-Q, Park Street accompanied by a friend. On a cool rainy afternoon.

I heard a lot about BBQ, before I visited last day, from my friends and colleagues. About it's nice ambiance and good quality of food. I must say the ambiance was really good. I believe a very few restaurants have brighter lights on the dinning floor like BBQ. I think people like the dark environment but I am always fond of light and so I liked it :). And obviously the Park Street factor add more to it.

Now I should tell you about the food. We ordered a plate of Drums of Heaven (approx Rs.150/-), one Hunan Chicken (approx Rs.175/-) and a Plate of Mixed (dont remember exactly; may be Chicken) Hakka Noodle (approx Rs.175/-). YES!! everything we ordered for single plate only, and it was really sufficient for us. We may have less appetite because there was still a small amount noodle and chicken left on the plate. :) Apart from the quantity, the food was really good. The Drums of Heaven was really made in heaven. I have not tasted such good chicken drumstick so far. the little sauce they added in it was great; it was having a nice mixed flavor of Capsicum, Chile, Tomato and Spring onion. The crispy fries with the sauce were mouth watering.

When I ordered the Hunan Chicken, I thought it would some variety of Chinese chicken items with the similar taste we are familiar with but it stunned me with a completely different taste. It was sourly, mostly hot, a little sweetness with a bunch of Chinese flavors. The hotness of the food will not make you cry [ ;) I am the one who hates Hot foods ] but make you feel good with a change of taste in our daily life.

The above two really pleased me a lot but the noodle really failed. After the Drum-of-Heaven the expectation arose as usual but may be for that reason I got disappointed with noodle part. It was not bad at all but I felt it just common noodle in a large quantity. Nothing to complain about but nothing and nothing to appreciate.

Overall a good-food experience at BBQ. For 3-4 person it will be best to try a food variety within limited budget.And Finally a tip for all young pals; it's a very good place for a date. ;)

In the Jungle - Machaan, Mani Square

WoW!!

The first word came to my mind.

What a place!! Furnished with Trees, a Jungle house with wooden balcony and lots of wild animals [of course stuffed!! ;)]. you may find the space a little dark but let me tell you the feeling you'll cherish there, will not come without that darkness. In fact the spoons are of tree shape to give you a wild feel [;)]. The ambiance is awesome!!

Now! I think that was enough to describe the ambiance in Machaan and we should come directly to the point. SUPERB!! and yes, it was. We were four friends out for lunch a few days back. We ordered Jungli Masalo Ki Run (Rs.625/-), Jaffrani Mutton Biriyani (Rs.350/-) and Murg Hari Mirch(do not remember exact name and price). Except the Murg item both the other two were great in taste and all of them were huge in quantity. I would like to mention specially about the Mutton Run. It was full of pure mutton with minimum spices which I liked most. The mutton was soft and tendered and a little roasted. It was simply delicious. We ordered just one plate of that and it was sufficient for all of us [:O]. Now comes the Biriyani. The flavor I can smell from a mile away. A very tasty, rich in Saffron flavor biriyani with lots of meat in it. One such plate of biriyani was sufficient for 2 of us. Now I must tell you about the worst and that was the Murg Hari Mirch (or whatever it was). I hope you have noticed that I have already forgot everything else about the item except the taste. I found a few pieces of chickens are merged in a green sauce (probably made with Hari Mirch and some green herbs like Mint or Coriander). The chicken pieces had no taste in it and the overall taste was hot and nothing else. I could not foind a single flavor in it and so did not understand what the item should go with. I do not feel it can go with any roti, paratha, nun and definitely not with Biriyani. Whatever, a good experience does not need all good things to happen, a few sourly incidents may add more to it. Machaan well deserves a 8/10 rating from me. :)

I thank to my friends who drove me there for such a wonderful experience. I wish you all go there at least for once and taste the Janglee Masalo ki Run to satisfy your tongue and soul...