Copper Chimney

Looking back , I am stunned to realize that my last post was almost 3 months ago.Wait, it was not because I was dieting – in fact, far from it – I was traveling and eating with abandon. Well I guess the only reason would be writers block (sheer laziness :P ) !

I visited Copper Chimney a while ago with my friends for dinner, after some window shopping at Inorbit mall.

The ambiance is very warm and cozy – it’s not really bustling with people, but any way we had booked ahead to avoid any last minute disappointments.

We started off with Chicken soup.

Chicken soup

It came quickly enough but though it was packed with flavors, could not completely relish it due to the fact that it was just warm. Had it been served piping hot, we would have enjoyed it much more.

Next we had the Murgh Kali mirch , which was boneless cubes of chicken marinated in yoghurt and spiked with black pepper.

Murgh Kali Mirch

It had the distinct flavour of being grilled in the tandoor and was just melt in the mouth.

For mains , we had the butter naans along with the copper house specialty Chicken Bharta, which is shredded chicken cooked in a mildly spiced onion, tomato rich gravy .

Chicken Bharta and Butter naan

It went perfectly with the naan but I prefer my curries a little more spicy.

We couldn’t leave without trying the Dum Ghosht Biriyani – one whiff is enough to get your mouth watering. 

Dum Ghosht Biriyani

The lamb was tender and the biriyani had the rich flavor of saffron shining through.

No meal is complete without dessert and we were divided between the malai kulfi with falooda and the gulab jamun . Finally we ordered both.

Gulab Jamun

The gulab jamun was nice and not overly sweet but the star of the evening was the kulfi with falooda.

Kulfi with Falooda

We were a little surprised seeing it – I guess I expected it to come in a glass being falooda and all. We even cribbed about it being so tiny. But one spoonful and we took back our words. Easily one of the best Indian desserts I’ve had in recent times.

Copper chimney is on the pricy side, but then we enjoyed the food- we availed an ongoing offer of 15% discount on Citibank credit card so that made the bill more pleasing. I  must mention the extremely eager to please staff – almost on the verge of annoying ;) .

Location – 1st Floor, Inorbit Mall, EPIP Area, Whitefield,Bangalore

Price (for 3) – Rs 2100

Yum-O-Meter – 3.5/5

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

Ammi's Biriyani

Ever since our biriyani extravaganza in Hyderabad, S has been craving it , and homemade biriyanis were just not cutting it.I'm not such a big biriyani freak, but after tasting the original hyderabadi stuff , I have become a convert.
So, one sunday afternoon we decided to try Ammi's to see how it rates.We decided to go for the Gosht Hyderabadi Biriyani and gave them a call. After a 45 min wait, it finally arrived.

First thing I noticed was the packaging . It looked like a pizza box , very neat stuff.
On opening , I was surprised seeing each item neatly packed and labeled , with the biriyani , raita , mirchi ka salan and rice kheer for dessert.

Gosht Hyderabadi biriyani and accompaniments

There was even an empty container for the bones, and a package with a tissue,spoon and toothpick .
The hot and spicy biriyani was very yummy , and the mirchi salan and raita just added to the flavor. The kheer was just ok, but rounded up the meal nicely.The quantity was also pretty substantial . Overall , we enjoyed our meal and looking forward to trying the other items on the menu .

Location - Near Spring Field Apartment, Sarjapur Road, Bangalore
Rate ( for 2) - Rs 310
Yum-O-Meter - 3.5/5

Golconda Chimney

I’ve passed Golconda chimney in my to-fro office journey from the time I’ve been in Bangalore, it always looked like an interesting place but never got a chance to try it until recently and I must say, I should have visited it earlier .

The interiors are very simple yet elegant with stone walls and pretty colored glass lamps.

The menu is a mix of Indian and also a bit of Chinese but we only had the Indian .

For starters, we ordered the special Chimney kebab.

Chimney Kebab - notice the way its served!

After a little bit of a wait, we got some pretty decent sizes of boneless hot n spicy chicken which  had the smoky taste of being done very well in the tandoor.It was served with a mint n yoghurt chutney( more of yoghurt than mint) and onion salad.

Next we tried the chicken clear soup .

Chicken clear soup

 It was definitely clear with a medley of cucumber,spring onions,spinach and boiled chicken. Tasted healthy, I liked it but my colleagues weren’t so sure.

For mains we ordered the Chicken Zabardast – this was chicken cooked with a heavy masala of spices, tomatoes, lots and lots of curry leaves and garlic.

Chicken Zabardast

 It went very well with the rotis, which soaked up the thick gravy.

One of my friends had ordered the masala kulcha which was soft and tasty with a good filling of spicy paneer.

We also tried a Chicken Dum Biriyani which came with raita.

Chicken Dum Biriyani

 The rice was long grained and it looked scrumptious but it looked better than it tasted. I would have liked my rice a little more cooked and also the masala hadn’t absorbed properly in the rice and chicken which ended being a little bland .

We just couldn’t leave with out having something sweet – so ordered one plate of gulab jamuns(3 in a plate).

Gulab Jamun

Hot and sweet and perfectly completed our meal.

Service is a little slow but otherwise food was fine , quantity was good for the price.

Location –Near Kundanhalli signal,Varthur Main Road, Whitefield, Bangalore

Price ( for 3) – 1100 Rs

Yum-O-Meter – 2.5/5

Heera

We visited this place with high expectations for my birthday dinner. First impressions – wow, looks pretty interesting! The walls , curtains, chairs are all blinged up and there are lovely chandeliers all around to give it a sort of Mughal palace feel. There is a big screen in the middle of the dining area playing old Bollywood cabaret songs.

 I liked the way the lights kept changing shades of colour , almost like a disco light. 

Another interesting thing was they had turbans and extensively decorated waistcoats for the diners to try on ,complete with fake swords. 

That was the only good part of the whole experience- had a good laugh with all of us trying them on and posing for pictures. After that, it went completely downhill.

For starters, we ordered the so called Heera delicacy ‘Lal Mirch ka murgh’ – the description was chicken pieces marinated and cooked with chilly paste and spices in a tandoor. Then we waited.. and waited… and waited.The waiter kept  reassuring us that it would be coming out soon. Finally after 30-40 minutes – seeing our grumpy faces I guess – he came and said it would take more time and whether we want to start with the mains. But we decided to wait for some more time. Finally it came out.

Lal Mirch ka murgh

 One taste and all our faces fell – it was just chinese chilly chicken – with a good amount of cornflour and ajinomoto mixed with some extra chilly powder. And I’ve had better chilly chicken from local places near my house. It was definitely not cooked on a tandoor – we asked the waiter and he said that was the cooking style of this dish , but if so it definitely should not be in the tandoor section. S believes that they just ran out at the last minute and bought chilly chicken from some nearby joint.

For mains, we planned to order a butter chicken and a mutton dish . I say planned because the waiter kindly informed us that none of the mutton items were available as it was over ! That was pretty surprising considering it was only 9pm and the place wasn’t exactly jam-packed even for a Sunday evening. Finally he came back and said that mutton seekh masala was available. So we decided to try that was well.

We also ordered some roomali rotis- which the kind waiter again mentioned is not available –we settled for some plain rotis and lacha parathas.

Again after quite some waiting, the food arrived and we dug into it with gusto – and tasted a mouthful of disappointment. 

Mutton seekh masala ( L) and Butter chicken (R)

 The butter chicken lacked any kind of flavour – I can safely say that it was the worst chicken dish I’ve ever had( including my initial cooking disasters) . The mutton seekh was pretty big in size but lacked any kind of flavour – I guess they just put the leftover seekh kababs into very chinesy gravy – I dunno which part of mughal kingdom the Chinese dishes came from!

The rotis were  good .

By now .we dint want to even attempt any of the desserts and got ready to leave. I think it was pretty obvious we were unhappy as the manager asked us the feedback. He promised me that it would be better in a month’s time but I don’t know if I would have the courage to go back and burn my wallet. S is not convinced and says if they were genuine they would have reduced some part of the really hefty bill.

The food is outrageously priced and below standard. The menu was sticky and had foodmarks on it. And the icing in the cake was the fly in my glass of water. Overall a huge disappointment!

  

Location - 4th floor, Opposite Shoppers Stop,3rd phase, JP Nagar, Bangalore

Price – Around 2000 Rs ( all dishes are around the 300 rs range )

Yum-O-Meter – 1/5 ( just for the laughs provided cos of the dressup and the rotis)

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