Sunday, October 31, 2004

Chinese Pavilion, Hyderabad

040 - 5578 5680 / 5578 5681

Located opp the Jalagam Vengalrao park in the same building as Zedds
(with the giant backlit "Z") on Banjara Hills Road no. 1.

I had heard a lot about this place too and when Nanking was too full up
and the waiting lines were too long, decided to try our Chinese Pavilion
as I was really hungry and in the mood for Chinese and not dressed for
Mainland China.

Chinese Pavilion is located in the basement of the building but has a
cute open feel to it because of the mirrored walls. Its well lit up and
the entrance is very welcoming. Service was very good and polite right
from the valets to the doorman to the manager to the waiters.

This is the first restaurant that Ive been to where the menu advises you
to order one course at a time so you eat as much as you can and donÂ’t
over order and waste food at the end. It also advises you to rely on the
waiter for recommendations. Both of which we adhered to. Though we ended
up eating more than normal in the bargain. The food was that good.

The fried wontons at 140/- were light and crispy and especially
delicious with the sweet n sour green sauce. The soups in the range of
65/- were tasty and quite authentic. The Crispy lamb was 155/- and
innovative in its use of sesame seeds. The Pan fried noodles 100/- in a
white sauce were so tasty that no extra sauces needed to be added. The
manager recommended that we finish with a brownie Sundae 110/- which was
quite good, especially the brownie part of it. But for that money, Id
still prefer to drive up to Ohri's and have the "Awful Awful"

Good place, will definitely put it down among my favorites for repeat
visits in Hyderabad.

Y2K Tandoori, Hyderabad

Located at the crossroads of Ameerpet, Khairatabad opposite where the
new PVR mall is opening up, this isnt a place you would normally think
of eating from. But given the feedback we received regarding this place,
we decided to give it a try and have been hooked ever since.

The Tandoori items are available only post 7pm but the rest of the
delicacies are served through the day. Right now, haleem is being sold
too, in both Mutton and chicken variations. They are really yummy, one
of the better haleem offerrings in the city. Make sure to advise them to
add extra fried onions, it improves the taste and texture dramatically.

They have a free home delivery system for orders above 150/- Hence Ive
never really sat down at their restaurant which they say is air
conditioned, but all Ive seen on my way past is a sales counter.

Must try's here are the chicken biryani - delicately flavored. The
pepper chicken - chinese style but packs a punch. Rumali roti's- really
soft and stay soft even after a couple of hours. Now I know where to
pick up rumalis for my dinner parties. Haleem- available only during
ramzan.

Having come in from Delhi, the kebab offerrings werent really
impressive, but pretty decent for Hyderabad standards.

Haleem costs 40/- for a whole plate. Chicken biryani is 70/- and
rumali's are 6 each to give you an idea that this place's food is worth
it for the odd night when u donÂ’t feel like cooking and are too tired to
go out.

Friday, October 29, 2004

Cinnabar Redd, Hyderabad

Located below Fusion 9 on Banjara Hills, Road No 1.

Restaurant and the attached bar are totally done up in Red silk, so the feel is quite regal and luxurious. Very cute tables in black wood, and cutlery in White ceramic. All in all a very comfy decor.

The restaurant offers Teppinyaki, Japanese, Thai and Chinese Food.

Afternoon set menu for 200 bucks allows u to chose a starter, soup, main course, rice or noodles and dessert from the Teppinyaki, Chinese or Thai menus. Desserts are of Anne Lise so they are of the same high standards that you can consistently expect from her. Date pancakes are worth trying out. and the Teppinyaki is a novel consept for Hyderabad.

Quite tasty but portions are limited and small. So Ohris Far East is a much better option for the same amount.

Tuesday, October 19, 2004

Food at the ITC Kakatiya at the Hyderabad Times Party

You can check out my other
blog
for a review of the party but this is the place to review the
food, the only bright spot of the party.

The bar was well equipped with Chivas, Bacardi, Smirnoff & Old Monk, but
no cocktails were being served at all, which immediately brought the
Hyderabad Times (HT) party down in my esteem. Whats a good party if you
cant have good bartenders mixing up some fancy cocktails.

But the food more than made up for all the other lackings of the party.
Kakataiya's food in Hyderabad has to rank among the best.

There were buffet tables for salad, Haleem(veg option on offer too),
Hyderabadi cuisine, Oriental cuisine, Lebanese cuisine, Frontier &
Awadhi cuisine, an Indian Grill section apart from the desserts.

The Salad table had only vegetarian salads, so that was totally missable
unless you were one of those on a Navaratri Fast.

The Haleem table had veg and mutton options. And you could add the
garnishings of crispy fried onions, chopped dhaniya & pudina leaves and
lemon to your hearts content. The haleem was tasty but it was more of a
mincey consistency than a fluffly paste. So it ended up being more of a
mince gravy than a haleem feel to it.

Ok, before I go further, let me apologise to the vegetarians that I
cannot review the veg stuff at all. Given the variety of non-veg food on
offer, I did not even venture to waste time on eating the non-meat
items.

The Hyderabadi cuisine had 2 types of non veg biryanis chicken and
mutton. The mutton was better. The chicken korma and the salans were
good accompaniments.

The oriental table had some amazing lamb meat balls in garlic sauce. The
phad thai was below par but the ginger rice and the thai red chicken
curry were outstanding.

The lebaneese table had the most amazing chicken shawrmas with all the
accompaniments that you can think of. The rice stuffed veggies were good
and the biryani here was much better than either the hyderabadi ones. It
was a mix of chicken, lamb and egg. Delicious !!!!

The Frontier cuisine had some good kebabs. The dal bukhara was not upto
Delhi's standards but good for Hyderabad standards.

The chicken khurchan in the grill section was good but the fish chops
were out of this world.

Desserts were an amalagam of stuff. Most commendable were the jelebis
and gulab jamuns.

So the best stuff would have to be the fish chops, the shawrma, the lebanese biryani and the thai red chicken curry with ginger rice.

Thursday, October 14, 2004

Ohris Far East, Hyderabad

Ohri's Far East
Banjara Hills
Hyderabad

Part of the famous Ohri's chain. These guys deserve the acclaim for their high standards in quality and taste.

The Lunch buffet here is true value for money. For 200 bucks you can have your choice of soup, starter, main side dish, rice/noodles and dessert. Complimentary pepsi or beer on the side. There are 4 choices each in veg and non-veg options and numerous permutations combinations in the rice and noodles.

the best part is you can order as much of each item as you want. And we normally end up skipping soup and carbohydrates. Having 2-3 plates of each starter and main side dish. and the dessert.

Food is excellent. Definitely worth eating here. and if u arent satisfied with the honey noodle dessert here, just go down and freak on the "awful awful"

If u r inclined to look at the decor dont miss the open kitchen, the wonderfully intricate chinese ship carving and the bonsai plants.

Monday, October 11, 2004

Blue Nile, Hyderabad

Blue Nile
Raj Bhavan Road
Somajiguda
Hyderabad

Opened about 2 weeks back.

Its located behind Spice republic, so u enter spice republic, pass the loos and then enter blue nile.

the decor is quite cool. aquamarine, blue n purple diffused hidden lighting gives the appearance of a new york lounge bar. Kenny g playing in the background.

was hoping for a good selection of food and then saw the ubiquitious "we serve 5 cuisines" When will hyderbadi restaurateurs learn to concentrate on one type of cuisine but master that properly ?

decided to go in for the buffet at 200 bucks + tax. This was an absolutely disastrous move.

the buffet was an amalgam of indian, chinese what have you. its a wonder they didnt try to work in the mexican thai cuisine too. guess there werent any leftovers....

in the salad selection, other than the pate and roast pepper salad, nothing was worth a second bite.

the food had chinese side dishes with no rice or noodles that would complement those items, instead there was indian pulao, naand and plain rice.
the fish was hard the chicken n mutton full of bones.

the gulab jamuns at desserts were disastrous too. the kheer was edible and there were some fruit salads that i could not muster the courage to try.


only hope that he setlles down decently and improves the food quality like what hapenned with their sister restaurant spice republic.

but as of now, for my money, Id rather go to Ohris Far East on Banjara hills

Thursday, October 07, 2004

10 Downing Street, Hyderabad

Ten Downing street
Lifestyle Complex
Begumpet
Hyderabad
040 5562 0015, 5562 9323

Ten Downing Street, has its regulars. And the owners and the loyalists have an all round sense of contentment. This is my kind of place. TDS is frequented by working professionals who want to unwind after a hard days work. Couple of call center parties do come here, then after awhile realise its not really their kinda place and drift away and restore the ambience to normal. This is a place you can go to when your boss has $@!~%d you over and TDS will welcome you & your tired, weary, minds and bodies.

The Décor is kind of like what an English study is pictured to be in the movies. Warm wooden panelling including on the floors. There's a small library at one corner which partly has genuine books and partly pasted prints of book spines. Some cool curios can be seen in some of the cabinets too. The central bar table where the bar tender mixes the cocktails is a good place to sit. The most coveted seating though is the slightly worn leather sofas just at the entrance.

BOB is 125 onwards. Their draught is quite good. A mug is 100, a pitcher is around 400. 60 ml hard liquor is 160 bucks. Accompanying mixer is 40 bucks. Heard a rumor that they don’t sell small pegs. Cocktails are rs 250 onwards. Tried the Whiskey Sour and the Screaming orgasm which would have been better with more alcohol content and less ice. But good never the less. The bloody mary was appreciated though.

No complimentary snacks, but some of his food is really good. Especially the meat balls. Definitely try this. The shepherds pie is out of this world, as is the pasta. The cook for the continental stuff is great but not so for the others. The chinese snacks are average. Thai curry to be avoided at all costs.

In the noons there's a total VFM offer. For 150 bucks you get a beer, a main course, soup and desert. This includes the shepherds pie option.

DJ Black Jack totally rocks. He knows what the regulars want him to play and he sticks to it. Look out for him on Tuesdays for sure. Wednesdays is Ladies night. Ladies get beer, hard spirits and a choice of 3 cocktails absolutely free from 8-10pm. Thursdays is Karaoke night and theres some pretty good talent around. Sometimes you get a guest DJ who wants to play out his collection, but the crowd always manages to bring the DJ back on track.

If you are in the 25-45 age group and looking for a chilled out place to relax, look no further. Teeny boppers who have started addressing me as aunty/maam, please avoid this place. Ive found my sanctuary in Hyderabad, please don’t attempt to disturb it.

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