Lokah , Cochin

We visited Lokah along with friends one evening for dinner. The restaurant boasts of world cuisine with the tagline  ‘The world on your plate’. I have to admit I was a little skeptical on whether it would live up to its promise, but I’m pleased to admit I was wrong.

The ambiance is casual- minimalistic and simple, so perfect for hanging out with your friends.

We started out meal with an unusual soup – chicken and beetroot soup, unfortunately I dint make a note of the exact name of the dishes :( . Our friends suggested it –I was not so sure especially when I saw a deep ‘magenta’ soup with some cream on top.

Chicken and Beetroot Soup

I changed my mind as soon as I put the first spoonful in my mouth – velvety is the exact world I would use. It came with bread sticks, which babies A and M munched on. Both the fussy babies enjoyed the soup, which is always a plus for the parents.

For mains, I ordered the Chicken Cordon Bleu. It was a crumbed fried chicken steak with a wee bit of cheese, served with French fries and veggie salad. It was not bad but not exactly the best I’ve had.

Chicken Cordon Bleu

S had the Meatloaf served with mashed potatoes and boiled veggies. Now, the meatloaf was simply delicious and I loved the light and tender texture of the meat with the sauce. The mashed potatoes were a little bit lumpy and dry though.

Meatloaf

Our friends ordered the Creole fish with the lemon butter sauce – which was good but nothing to rave about. Somehow the fish tasted better without the sauce .

Creole fish with Lemon Butter sauce

We also had a Pasta Alfredo, which was creamy and light.

For dessert, we tried the coconut soufflé and the mocha custard pudding.
The coconut soufflé was too gelatinous in texture and we were not big fans of it.

Coconut Souffle

The mocha custard on the other hand, was fabulous, perfectly creamy and we wiped the plate clean.

Mocha Custard

The portions are just right and satisfying. I would love to go back and try out the different things on the menu.

The best part of this meal was the bill – excellent value for money especially compared to Bangalore rates. Worth a visit!

Location – NH47 Bypass Road, Vyttila, Cochin

Price (for 4) – Rs 1200

Yum-O-Meter – 3 / 5

Kaira , Cochin

Nestled in the heart of the busy and bumbling Cochin city, lies this cozy little place,Kaira , with their tagline ‘A place where good things happen’.

 

When you walk in, you are greeted by lovely paintings – it’s kind of a mini art gallery where if your wallet permits, you can walk off with one of these masterpieces after your meal. Smiling people everywhere are ready to assist you to your table.

Mona lisa in naadan vesham?

The ambience is really classy and the décor minimal but each piece makes a statement of its own .The tables are not too closely placed together which makes for the beginning of a pleasant eating experience.

 

 

The best sitting area would be the lone table in an outdoor seating where you can feel the cool breeze and enjoy the lush surroundings- perfect for those family get-togethers or hanging out with your friends.

Everyone here recommends the fish curry meals which is a steal at 120 Rs.

You have the option of either getting it served on a plate or in true mallu style, in a banana leaf. It comes with the typical kerala side dishes to every meal – some upperi ( fried plantains) , pickled beetroot in vinegar, inji curry( sweet n sour ginger curry) , beans mezhekuperuti, pachadi(yoghurt based side),avial and kootu curry , along with your moru , rasam, sambhar and pappadam.

Kerala Meals

The fish curry has a grated coconut base and all this mixed with a handful of rice together tasted just divine. 

Fish Curry

The only complaint perhaps was that the pappadam was a little bit oily which was duly noted by the chef.

We also tried the beef ularthiyete – which was tender and spicy, karimeen( pearl spot) fry , chemmeen ularthiyete( prawns) and mussels fry.

Beef Ularthiyete

Chemeen ularthiyete

Mussels fry

The parottas here are crisp and flaky and pairs great with the beef ularthiyete. 

Don’t forget to try their signature dish of light as a feather kallapams and duck roast – the kallapams absorb that creamy n delicious gravy just like a sponge and just so flavorsome.

The mutton biriyani is also spectacular with subtle spice and rich flavours.

For dessert, we had the Vattalapam – a srilankan delicacy almost like caramel pudding but with coconut milk and jaggery .It was just spot on – creamy and delicious.

Vattalapam

We came back here to try the Sunday breakfast. I ordered the English breakfast which consisted of eggs, sausages, bacon, a pancake, potato croquette and 2 slices of toast along with accompaniments of jam, butter and honey and a glass of watermelon juice.

English breakfast

You can decide how you want your eggs done, fried or scrambled and I went for a fluffy omelette. The potato croquette was crisp and crunchy outside n melt in the mouth inside. We finished this with a cup of coffee and some cut fruits, taking our time to relax and catch up .They plan to start a seafood grill area soon as well as a coffee shop – with bakes , sweet and savory. Looking forward to sampling these at my next visit.

Just a preview of what to expect in the pastry section- 

Orange cake with chocolate ganache and orange buttercream

Chocolate Truffle cake - simply melt in the mouth

Kaira is a place you feel like visiting again and again with its pleasant ambience and once here , you want to take all the time to enjoy your meal. Truly an experience eating here!

Location – Chittor Road, Kacheripady , Cochin, Kerala

Yum-O-Meter – 5/5

Breakfast @ Taj Falaknuma Palace, Hyderabad!

This is a continuation of our trip to Hyderabad. Since it was in celebration of my parents 30th anniversary , we decided to treat them to a special day and booked a days stay at the Taj Falaknuma Palace, amongst the top most hotels in India, and by the way things are looking , heading towards the top list in the world. It was just a spectacular experience. Get ready to get pampered in style from the moment you arrive - where a horse driven carriage awaits you at the reception, rose petal showers welcome you inside , and once inside your breath is taken away by the wondrous architecture which is a mix of European and Indian. Each and every tile, lamp, clock around  manages to fascinate you by its beauty . I especially loved the lobby with its venetian work , beautiful murals and soft lights.

The lobby

In the evening , you can attend the palace tour by the historian , truly a very interesting tour - his knowledge of the Nizami way of life and times is immense. After which you can relax and listen to some qawwali music on the balcony overlooking Hyderabad city.

Each and every room in this palace is so unique and remarkable, but to mention a few, there was an amazing library with extremley rare books, many first editions ones like the Encyclopedia Brittanica, books by Winston Churchill, a book written by one of the survivors of the titanic. I especially enjoyed thumbing through the earliest Visitors book with entries from British officials.

Library

Every ballroom was lovely with breathtaking chandliers, and the most famous room here is the 101 dining room - named so cos it can seat 101 guests . Its the longest dining table in the world, complete with Versace plates and gold tumblers.

101 Dining room

Truly magnificent and no picture can do justice to its beauty .
We spend the whole day exploring the palace , clicking thousands of pictures and just taking everything in.
Obviously the next morning we were ravenous. Breakfast was an absolute delight , we could choose whatever we wanted from the menu in the Celeste restaurant , and it was made fresh and bought to us.There is a great selection to choose from and ,while you wait they bring you a wide selection of croissants( both white and brown), muffins ,pastries, biscuits,doughnuts and danishes.

This was served with a variety of preserves, honey and fresh juices as well as champagne(!) .
We ordered quite a bit of things and everything was delicious.
Here you can see poached eggs , served on top of toasted muffins, ham and wilted spinach. Really tasty. 

Poached eggs with ham

Where ever we see an english breakfast on the menu , we have to try it , and here it was no disapointemnt with a spread of scrambled eggs done perfectly, chicken sausages, bakes potatoes, toast and grilled tomato.It had a side of baked beans as well .

English Breakfast

For baby A , we ordered the banana pancakes with honey and cream.This was seriously addictive - filled with the richness of bananas and butter. Baby A loved it and so did we.

Banana pancakes

Dad went for the spanish omlette - which is a thick omelette with potatoes and served with some baked beans and toast . He seemed to be enjoying it as he dint even look up while eating it :)

Spanish omelette

Bro tried the orange french toast served with some mascarpone cream - again so buttery and rich and oh so full of calories, but who cares when you are on vacation .

Orange french toast

We also tried sides of ham and pork sausages.

Mom went for indian and tried the upuma , as well as the panner paratha.

Upuma and sambhar

The paratha  was served with a variety of chutneys and tasty with lots of desi ghee but then it was like the ones we get in good north indian restaurants .

Paneer paratha

Now we were totally bursting at the seams after this spread .

Truly a 5 star meal , we all immensely enjoyed the stay as well as the food.Of course, being a Taj property its on the expensive side but I think it was worth every penny. A trip to remember!

Price - Around 1000Rs ( Buffet + included in the stay )
Yum-O-Meter - 5/5

Biriyani Wars- Bawarchi VS Paradise - Hyderabad !

What comes to your mind first , when I say Hyderabad ? Is it the mughal splendor associated with Nizams from long ago , the soulful qawwaalis , the endless trinket shopping in Choodi bazaar or  flavorsome Hyderabadi biriyani . Im sure for most people esp guys ;) it must be the biriyanis this place is famous for.
Last month , we got a chance to visit this beautiful place with family . Almost every person I talked to would mention ' Please dont forget to try the biriyani from Paradise hotel / Bawarchi! ' . So obviously we decided to try both.
First evening we reached , we immediately headed out to locate our first target - Bawarchi  and bought parcels back to the hotel.

Note- they have no other branches

We started off with chicken tikka . Must mention, its packed pretty well, well insulated and the heat is retained for atleast a couple of hours.

Chicken Tikka

The tikka was juicy and succulent , spicy as well. The usual accompaniments of onion rings ,lime wedges and mint chutney just added to the flavours.
Of course the main item was the Mutton biriyani . We had our first taste and reliased why this place was so so popular.

Mutton biriyani - Bawarchi

It was absolutely delicious - The rice long grained and fragrant with the aroma of subtle spices. The meat was so tender ,it was just melting in our mouths . It had the accompaniments of raita and mirchi ka salan, but I preferred it just as it is with nothing to mask that goodness.
We finished our meal with another local delicacy - Qubaani ka meetha - which is a concentrated sweet made of apricots.

Qubaani ka meetha

Now this is a tad tooo sweet for my taste, but S loved it - and Baby A couldn't get enough of it .Needless to say it was a very hearty meal.
Next day, our plan was to hit Paradise Hotel and try the biriyani there for lunch - but after roaming in the burning heat in choodi bazaar, we just decided to take a parcel n head back to the comfortable ac interiors of our hotel :) . We managed to lose our way and it was getting late ,so we settled for takeaway from another place - called Golden Bawarchi. Don't be fooled into thinking this is a branch of the original Bawarchi , if you had noticed before in the plastic bag , they have mentioned they dint have any other branches.

Chicken biriyani - Golden Bawarchi

 But this biriyani ( chicken this time) was to die for - absolutely amazing - in fact, i still drool thinking about that biriyani.And check out the size of that chicken - it was a whole one! Talk about quantity.
Finally at night , we managed to find the Paradise hotel .

We started the meal with some Nan , malai chicken tikka kababs and mutton seekhs.Yum yummy ! All the kababs marinated very well and juicy .

Mutton seekh, Malai chicken tikka and nan

The mutton biriyani here is delicious as well - but more on the spicy side , the rice is just so perfectly coated with the masalas.

Mutton biriyani - Paradise Hotel

 By now we were pretty much bursting at the seams, but just couldnt stop eating .

Overall, Hyderabad is a city meant for foodies, each and everything I've tasted here was awesome,and the quantity is just unbelievable -3 people can easily share one plate of biriyani .Also price wise - its much cheaper than Bangalore, so totally easy on the pocket .
If you ask me, my favorite biriyani was the one i had from Golden Bawarchi :) , mainly cos it was the right kind of spicy for me , but take my word , each of the biriyanis were just unique in flavor and totally worth trying .

Leaving you with some shots of the beautiful city .

Chaarminar

Bustling choodi bazaar

Freshly made Nan sold in choodi bazaar - tastes like pita bread/khubuz

Chaarminar at night - isnt it lovely?

Hussain sagar lake

Qutub Shahi tombs

Golconda fort

Yum-O-Meter - definitely 5/5