Your guide to eating out in Bandra.
Summer has just begun to peak in here in Mumbai, stifling heat and people are looking up to restaurants for respite in the form of light salads & berry coolers. Chili's at Powai is doing exactly the opposite, bringing more meat to the menu ! How thoughtful of them to reassure us with Buffalo meat while Beef has been done away with.
Unfold the discrete menu and the foremost sight is plethora of world beers. That's a welcome addition. The beer based concoctions like Watermelon & Beer, Raspberry & beer & Frozen Beer Rita although sound innovative, should be best kept at arm's length. The watermelon one is marginally acceptable but the raspberry is a strict no no and so is the Beer Rita.
The better part of the menu begins from this point onwards. The Chicken Mince Burger is sure to wow anyone and everyone with its thick juicy patty. The crunch element which was until now restricted to crispy iceberg lettuce is a notch higher due to the addition of thin crisps. The new assorted set of sliders are equally remarkable. We sampled two of their variations - Buffalo Meat and Chicken. The subtly flavoured red meat patty was almost medium rare cooked while the Chicken sliders were yet again tucked with a couple of crisps to provide a different texture.
A few light eats now make an appearance in Chili's menu via the grilling process. Aimed at providing one person gourmet meal, this section is bound to work with health conscious folks. We sampled a gorgeous fillet of Mango-Chile Basa which was glazed with a spicy habanero mango sauce and garnished with chopped avocado and mango. The flaky fish fillet was cooked to perfection while its taste oddly complimented the glaze on top. The side serving of Chipotle Rice though flavourful does not work well along with the mango and the fish. The dish is also available in a Chicken variation. Grilled Chicken Salad & Margarita Grilled Chicken are the other dishes from this section.
The desserts gets a minimal revamp with addition of moist Carrot Cake while the Molten Chocolate Cake makes way for a Cinnamon Molten version. We called for the latter and were taken aback by its aroma as it sat on the table. The caramel drizzle, upside down cake and scoop of vanilla are all plated up meticulously for a vote gathering Instagram post. Cut the cake and out oozes the cream. The flavours are just stupendous leaving no human senses untouched.
The changes to the menu are most welcome. Not only is the menu redesigned with an ease to identify various sections, it is also better organized with fewer images. We really hope that some of these dishes are carried forward to the main permanent menu.
*This visit to Chili's was by invitation.
Me : Hello !
Other end : Hello !
Me : I’m standing close to Joey's Pizza. Could you help me locate your restaurant please ?
Other end : Sure, Continue down the same road once you pass Joey's and take left. First building on the right hand side, That's the one. We're located at the back side of that building.
Few minutes of walking aided by trusty Google Maps, we arrive at the back side of this building to locate 'Frisbees, Pie in the sky'.
Me : Is this Frisbees Burger joint ?
Guy in the head chef kinda attire : Yes, this is Frisbees. So, Did you have difficulties locating us ?
Me : A little. Then you guided us right.
Guy in the head chef kinda attire : Actually we're running an offer this week; if you manage to reach here without asking us for directions, then you get a 20% discount on your burger !
Me : *Rolling eyes* Like really ! Why did you answer that call? Should have just let it ring !
Continued by little laughter and chit-chat leading to the order.
Frisbee's original lamb burger & original chicken burger.
The picture above doesn't particularly feature an idealistic burger, but yes that's what i could manage inside a running kitchen in between flying tickets and no place to sit.
A brief look at the menu and my eyes told me where to look at - Frisbees original beef burger ! Sadly, the Maharashtra Government has declared the lovely protein to be debarred from any kind of a sale. So moving on, between the two of us we ordered a Original Lamb Burger & a Chicken Burger each. The place is full of offers and discount throughout the week. We got Milkshakes at a discounted rate along with our burgers.
The Good Stuff :
The buns are made fresh & in-house. Not your average sized buns but a much larger one that will surely not win a beauty pageant but nevertheless and more importantly tastes fresh. Patties are freshly grounded and made to fit the large bun well. Overall, the substantially sized burgers are devoid of any gourmet detailing and difficult to pronounce ingredient names. Buttered halves are followed by sliced tomatoes and iceberg lettuce topped by their patty and drizzled with house dressings.
The understated glass of milkshake turned out to be a rather wild card winner. The Gulkand, Brownie and the Marshmallow flavours all taste rich and thick. Really appreciate that some extra thoughts have been put to stay away from the run of the mill banana, chocolate & strawberry flavours.
The Debatable Stuff :
Size - At burgers averaging 250-270 bucks from a take away place seems a bit unfair. Even if they are using some blend of slightly expensive herbs still the price seems a tad bit over the margin considering the following factors - No sitting and just an acceptable neighbourhood. An average of 200-220 bucks would make for a stellar deal.
Fries though fresh and crisp are heavily spiked with hot spice. Not sure how that would turn out after reaching the customer in a 20-30 minutes delivery period.
Perks :
Well, A lot of perks ! Daily discounts and combo offers are just ways to pamper you. You can add extra patty and super-size your burger too. We've seen one getting parcelled and it had to be precisely laminated and stuffed in that card paper box.
Fin :
Almost a year old brand, and it's barely mined by the locals. Do try them out if you're located in their delivery circle (Lokhandwala, 4 Bungalows, 7 Bungalows, Veera Desai Road etc).
They may not be an epitome in the burger scenario of suburbs, but there is a genuine attempt to satiate those burger cravings of people in it's vicinity. If Joey's Pizza is considered an Andheri legend then Frisbees surely can be it's prodigy in the making.
Location : Shop 37, Andheri Shiv Shakti CHS, Municipal School Road, Indira Nagar, Andheri West
Two-One-Two's all day cafe & bar recently opened its door to the lesser fortunate side of the eastern suburbs at Phoenix Marketcity, Kurla. Located at the upper floor, 212 occupies the spot next to the Irish Pub and also extends at the backside into a descent al-fresco area too. The thought of having a Sunday brunch in al-fresco was near perfect, but was dropped as soon as we saw the construction work within a few metres and also the afternoon heat was making things all the more uninviting.
So, We settled on one of the corner high seating table with an 180 degree view of the restaurant. The Lime Green dress code of the staff and the classy wooden interior builds quite a contrasting imagery on first reception. On a good note, the well staffed service is easy to spot without having to stress your eyes.
Classic wooden interiors and shades of lime green moving around at 212 All day Cafe & Bar
Menu is well segregated and compact without much of a fuss. The same cannot be said about the Drinks menu, which is a lot more columned. Our brunch started off with a portion of beer battered onions rings along with one deadly indulgence, one of the martini and a glass of 'Rising Sun' to sober us up. Portion was large, rings were fresh and filled with absolute crunch from the thick beer batter coating. To cover the void, we had also ordered a flat bread pizza 'Bolognaise' which sits as a chef's recommendation on their zomato page, but was a bit of a dud on portion size. The crude rectangular shaped pizza seems to be fad these days and the same is followed here. It is high on taste, texture and ingredients though better justice on the portion size is needed considering the price of the dish (495/-).
Next up on our order was the Sunday special - Beef steak, but soon conveyed to us was out of stock. Weird that in first hour of service and not many tables filled, one runs out of the day's speciality dish hero ingredient ! Quite unacceptable in my notebook. Replacing the mains was a Three Egg White Omelette and a portion of Chicken Skewers. The fluffy omelette was served hot in a skillet with potato wedges, grilled tomato and a spoonful drip of Mushroom cream sauce. Neatly executed and it is high on combination of textures from the foamy egg whites with wedges and the cream sauce. Chicken Skewers is an absolute must-order dish. The bird meat is ever so succulent and the tomato chutney plays the perfect accompaniment for it along with a handful of mix greens.
Lastly, Dessert was part disappointment and part orgasmic. My Crème brûlée ramekin was double the size of any other restaurant, but the custard inside was firm - Almost mousse like in texture than the runny one it should have been. Cheval's Crème brûlée in the past many months has been an epitome and I’m still to find someone to take that crown from them. The Lava Cake and it's oozing centre was copybook stuff. Piercing through the sponge and reaching for that molten chocolate is so sensual that there isn't any replacement for it.
212 defnitely has an audience in this mall and the potential to thrive provided their teething issues (mentioned above) are resolved sooner. One important fact to be noted here is the level of salt in each serving, which was always on the lower side and that surely gets them the brownie points. The fare for three people inclusive of taxes ran to slightly above 3k. That's on par with SMD or Tertulia or any other European cafe across the city.
So, Until the next one - Salud !