The Chocolate Room, Ahmedabad

There are multiple outlets of Chocolate Room in Ahmedabad and I've reviewed some of them here. The thing to note is that while The Chocolate Room in other States serve non veg and alcohol laced coffees, the ones in Ahmedabad are pure vegetarian and non-alcoholic.

1.
The Chocolate Room,
3rd Floor, Alpha One Mall,
Vastrapur,
Ahmedabad
079 65216333

This particular outlet of Chocolate Room doesn't serve the full menu of snacks that the other outlets do. They serve most of the chocolates and coffees. (They have recently even started a sugar free chocolate drink)

Service is fast and efficient, even when they are crowded. It is self service like all the other stalls in the food court, but the quality of their chocolate drinks is as good as any of their other outlets.

Often times we just have one chocolate shake from here and skip lunch. They are loaded with calories, but they are also very filling.

The Ferrero Rocher shake, toroncino, black forest shake, dutch truffle shake and hazelnut granita are among my favourites.

Rating : 4 / 5

2.
The Chocolate Room,
18/19, Super Mall 2,
Infocity,
Gandhinagar
Ahmedabad
079 23213323, +91 9426079300

Whenever, we take visiting friends and family to either Indroda Nature Park or for a tour of the sights of Gandhinagar, we always end up at this outlet of the Chocolate Room for a refreshing break midway or at the end of the trip.

Sometimes the staff there seems a little unsure, but as long as you deal with them with patience, you always get service with a smile.

They have really comfortable seating and its a great place to relax and sip on excellent chocolate and coffee at the end of a hectic and tiring day

Rating : 4 / 5

3.
The Chocolate Room,
6, Camps Corner 2,
Opposite Prahlad Nagar Garden,
Prahlad Nagar
Ahmedabad
079 40064508

I love the Chocolate Room, but the service at this particular outlet is really really very slow compared to the Other Chocolate Rooms in Ahmedabad, and compared to Chocolate Rooms in Pune and Bangalore, the speed is worse than snails pace. They take over 20 minutes to serve 2 chocolate shakes even if the cafe is empty and there are 2 staff on duty.

So inspite of this outlet being the closest to our residence, it is the outlet we visit the least. The ones in Alpha Mall and next to Crossword in Navrangpura and Iscon Mega Mall offer much more efficient service.

The food quality is on par with its other outlets but the service is extremely slow (even if you tell them that you are in a hurry) and hence quite terrible.

Rating : 2.5 / 5

Brewberry's, Ahmedabad

Brewberry's,
1, Prime Plaza,
Opposite DLA School,
NFD Circle,
Bodakdev
Ahmedabad
079 40092200, 079 40082200

After hearing some good stuff about this cafe opened by a group of college friends, I was quite keen to visit Brewberry's especially since it was a cafe that also served non-veg.

Recently, I managed to cross it off  my wishlist.

Its a nice comfy place to sit down. There are tables that are convenient for those who want to eat a meal and sofas with low seating, for those who want to relax and enjoy a coffee. The cafe also provides board games, if you would like to just sit around enjoying the company of friends.

We were slightly hungry, so aside from the coffees - I just had a simple iced mocha (79/-). The waiter, suggested I have a BBC or something else, but I told him I wanted a simple cold coffee without ice cream or whipped cream or anything more fattening. I was reserving my calorie indulgence for french fries (45/-) and chicken nuggets. And I'm glad I did so. The coffee was light and refreshing, the french fries had a nice desi home made touch to them in the spicing and the nuggets were the best among all the food we ate here.

My sister had the coffee crunch (115/-) which was blended and topped with crushed cookies which she really enjoyed.

For the main course, we had the Mexicano Pizza wrap (125/- - which was nice and spicy) and the chicken quesedilla (which was actually made with chicken salami) Don't expect a TGIF or Ruby Tuesday kind of quesedilla and you will quite enjoy it as something different.

I'd go back for coffee and snacks, but not for a meal, as their menu is not really meant for a meal.

As a note : The hot and cold coffees at their AlphaOne Mall outlet are excellent, but they are pure veg there and don't have many snacks on offer - just the occasional sandwich and cake.

Rating : 3.5 / 5

Juice Lounge / Truly Fresh, Ahmedabad

Juice Lounge has now been renamed Truly Fresh. Only the name and packaging has changed, everything else remains the same.

Juice Lounge,
Food Court - Alpha One Mall,
Vastrapur
Ahmedabad

The guy at Juice Lounge is very obliging. We normally give him a complicated order. Eg: 1 Watermelon juice, no ice. 1 watermelon juice no sugar, 1 apple juice no ice, no sugar and so on and he always fills our order with a smile.

Juice Lounge is the healthiest place in Alphaone mall to grab a drink, because he can make wonderful fruit juices and will not add any sugar, if you request him.

He has the standard, watermelon, lime, pineapple etc for 45/- range. He also has exotic drinks like iron booster, hangover cure etc, which are blends of different fruits and vegetables that are good for you in the 80/- range. The menu clearly mentions what juices make up a particular combination.

We have tried quite a few combinations. Obviously if you go for spinach + beetroot + carrot + no sugar, then you need to drink the juice without bothering to taste it. But some combinations are quite good.

The best part is everything is clean and there are no flies, so it feels very hygienic and hence extra healthy.

Rating : 4 / 5

Mocktail Shots, Ahmedabad

Mocktail Shots,
Food Court - Alpha One Mall.
Vastrapur
Ahmedabad
+91 9924116784, +91 9904875698

Disclaimer : I am not from Gujarat, just posted in this city for awhile.
So honestly, I feel sorry for the flair bartenders here at Mocktail Shots, who have a really smart jazzy looking location with flashing colored lights, they dress up much more snazzily than the staff at the other surrounding outlets in the food court, they have hip music playing in the background, but not a drop of alcohol to play around with.

Also most customers that I have seen in the food court, prefer to have a fountain pepsi, cold coffee or chocolate shake. Rarely do you see anyone standing outside the "Mocktail Shots" outlet.

However, one day, out of sheer sympathy for the guys who were juggling cocktail shakers and bottles with no one ordering anything from them, I decided to try a few mocktails, but it ended up being too sweet for our taste. The combinations weren't bad, it was just overly sweet for me. If I do try them again, I will definitely ask them to lower the sugar in my drinks.


Their drinks range in prices from 69/- to 169/- There are also a few shots priced at 50/-

Rating : 3 / 5

Asharfilal Kulfi, Ahmedabad

Asharfilal Kulfi
Food Court - Alpha One Mall,
Vastrapur
Ahmedabad
+91 9825067480

I really love the kulfi at Asharfilal. I honestly would choose their kulfi over the other ice creams and gelatos on offer in the Alpha One Mall Food Court.

The kulfis come in 3 broad categories - matka/pot kulfi (in a little mud pot 38/- to 50/-), tilliwalli/stick kulfi (like an extended lollypop - 25/- to 30/-) and roll/slice kulfi (36/- to 46/-) which is circular pieces of kulfi around the size of an idli.

kulfi is made from cream and sugar and then flavoured with fresh fruits or dry fruits and nuts. I'm not a fruit person, but friends tell me that their mango kulfi is really good. I prefer the kesar pista, roasted almond, rose coconut, real kesar flavours.

The trick to enjoying kulfi is to let it melt a little before you put it in your mouth, so that you can taste the flavours and sense the creaminess, too cold and your tongue can't feel or taste anything, too melted and you might as well be drinking flavoured milk.

The most brilliant thing about asharfilal is that they offer sugar free versions (35/-) too, so my father in law and my dad were really happy to be able to enjoy kulfi again after so many years of watching their sugar.

They have plenty of branches across the city and the supply is the same, so yo get wonderful kulfi from every location.

Rating : 4 / 5

Premvati Food Court, Akshardham, Delhi

Premvati Food Court
Swaminarayana Akshardham
Delhi

When entering the Akshardham temple, you aren't allowed to carry anything inside, except your wallet (not purse), keys and the clothes that you have on.

Given the hordes of people from various strata of society who arrive and the sheer size of the complex (100 acres), the temple trust has taken its responsibility of providing food for the stomach along with the soul, seriously.

There are a couple of kiosks around the temple complex which sell basic drinks - tea, coffee, soft drinks, some snacks and a few packed meals.

The Premvati Food Court is more comprehensive with a much larger menu.

The North Indian thali has 2 rotis or 5 puris and rice with dhal, a paneer curry, vegetable curry, 2 dry vegetable dishes, papad, pickle, chaach (buttermilk), dhokla, pakoda and a sweet. All this for 105Rs (all inclusive).

Snacks are even more reasonable - dhai bhalla for 25Rs, Poori subzi - watery potato curry with 5 puris for 30Rs, Chhole Bhature for 40Rs. They have samosas, kachoris, kulfi, eggless cakes and other items on the menu too.

Asoft drink is 15Rs, as is a 1 litre bottle of water. Since their tie up is with Coca Cola you get bon aqua water and the coke brand soft drinks - coke, thumsup, fanta etc. The coffee is Gerogia coffee (another coke brand). The hot coffee is 25Rs and the cold coffee (highly recommended - but dont drink the dregs) is 35rs. Cold badam milk at 25Rs tastes like thandai and is very refreshing when you have been traipsing along in the heat.

The food court also has burgers and pizzas (albeit Indianised), dosas and idlis, kulchas and parathas for those who are so inclined.

The food is clean and hygenically prepared and served. How clean the tables and sinks are, do depend on who sat there before you, so choose your seating with care.

You have to place your order outside the building (2 counters) and pay there. Your bill comes with a series of counterfoils which also has the counter number at where that particular dish/drink will be served. There are 8 counters inside and you will have to stand in line for each of them - present the coupon and collect your food item.

The process may seem lengthy, but it is quite efficient.

The food is quite tasty and hence if you are visiting the complex, I would definitely reccommend grabbing a bite at the Premavati Food court before you leave.

Food Chowk, Delhi

The Food Chowk behind the DLF Select Mall is a great VFM option for anyone visiting the trio of malls in Saket. It is attached to the DLF Select Mall internally if you need to get there without exposing yourself to heat or rain.

The food courts in all 3 malls have the usual offerings of KFC, McDonalds, Dominos etc. But for some heartwarming food, you had to try and struggle for a table at one of the better restaurants.

The tagline of The Food Chowk - "Chandni Chowk meets Chowpatty" is quite apt. There are at least 20 different food counters in this food mall(?) that are well spread out. Seating is limited to nooks and corners, but there are tables to stand at and grab that quick bite.

Coming down to the food, the options are plenty. The first store to greet you as you enter is Karims, followed by The Kathis (excellent rolls in the range of 35rs for a single egg roll to 110rs for double egg, double mutton or double egg, double chicken). Then as you meander through the bylanes, you will chance upon Bijoli grill (Bengali food), the Hyderabadi place, Nathu Sweets, Chaat counters (20rs for a plate of pani puri), Maharasthra Food stall - cleaner than its Dilli Haat counterpart offers chaat (35rs for bhel puri) and other Bombay specialites like bajra roti, vada pav, missal pav etc. There even is a Chinese/Thai Food counter and parathas from a mall version of (parathewali galli)

If the desserts at the food stalls aren't enough for you, there is a kulfi stall with a range of flavours including paan, sugar free, butterscotch, black forest and black currant at around 35rs a stick. They did look clean and hygenic and tasted quite good too.

And for the final mouth freshening finish, visit the Prince paan counter.(taxes extra over and above advertised prices). A meetha paan costs about 28rs with tax.

Bottles of water range from 20rs for half litre Kinley and 30rs for a litre of Aqua Fina @ the Drizzles stall to 20rs for a litre of Manikchands Oxyrich at The Kathis. so if you are price sensitive, browse around carefully before selecting your options.

There is a counter below the escalators where you buy a card for your transactions and pre load the card with a 15rs deposit for the card which is refundable when you return the card. (they only accept cash payments right now) All the stalls will only accept this card.

The prices are quite reasonable. 3 of us had a light lunch and late dinner at Food Chowk between browsing at the mall and a movie. The total food bill was less than 1000Rs for 6 non-vegetarian (mostly) meal portions.

It has always been extremely crowded whenever we have passed by the place, but yesterday it was empty enough for us to eschew our favourite "The Big Chill Cafe" to try this place out and we weren't disappointed.

Viva Hyderabad, Gurgaon

Viva Hyderabad
MGF Megacity Mall
Gurgaon

While shopping at Spencers Hypermarket the other day, was hit by the hunger pangs. Not suprising, given that I had spent over 3 hours in the store.

The main mall above did not have any eating options other than Costa (I'v e had an overdose of Costa in Egypt as it was one of the few places we could eat at, so I refuse to step near one in India or a McDonalds for that matter, 2 food carts - chaat and hot dogs and a pub. The pub was ruled out. As a single woman I wasn't about to enter a pub in Gurgaon.

So it was a huge relief to see that tucked in the corner of the basement were a few more eating options. Cafe Coffee Day was easily dismissed, the South East Asian counter had an overpowering smell of burning soya sauce (from the grilling) which made me semi nauseous, the Moets counter wasnt looking very appetising, so Viva Hyderabad it was. Although it may not have been my first choice, it was definitely the right choice.

The menu in this outlet is very limited.6 types of biryani, 3 starters, 4 curries and some small stuff. Since it was Hyderabadi food, I asked the guy at the counter if he could make my biryani really spicy. He said that everything was pre-packed so he couldn't change anything. But he promised me that it would be medium spicy.

What an understatement! I had the Qabooli Mutton Biryani (Rs 142) which is split yellow gram with mutton Biryani. It was spicy! The right spicy - to explode in my mouth, yet not enough to cause tears to roll down my cheeks.

The flavors were exquisite but the rice was a little dry. The accompanying sherva (gravy) helped moisten it a little, but the taste of the sherva was interfering with the taste of the biriyani for me.

I did like their biryani though and will try it from some of their other outlets where I may be more likely to find fresher versions rather than reheated packs.

Helloji Sichuan, Gurgaon

Helloji Sichuan
Food Court
MGF Metropolitan
Gurgaon
124 - 4250 0888


They have a variety of starters averaging 120 for the non vegetarian ones and 80 for vegetarian. Soups are a flat 60 for veg and 70 for non veg. Main coursese range from 110-220 for prawn dishes. Rice and Noodles are 70/80.

I just needed to grab a quick bite about 5ish, before heading out to dinner with friends. Having missed lunch, I ordered the Chilli Chicken dry (120rs) and the Drums of Heaven (120rs). The chilli chicken was average, nothing memorable about it. The batter on the drums of heaven was too heavy and hence it wasn't cooked properly all the way through.

Not a place I would return to given that there are many other options in this food court.

Ambience & Service : Food Court
Food : 2

Baanthai, Dubai

Baanthai
Oasis Mall
Dubai
515 4000

Baanthai is part of the foodcourt at the recently re-opened Oasis Mall. At 1pm - lunch time, all the dishes were ready cafeteria style and you just had to point and choose. Each main dish comes with its own side of steamed rice.

We tried the Massaman Nua-25- Massaman curry with braised beef and potatoes. A coconut milk based curry that isnt too spicy (unlike the red and green curries) and still distinctly Thai. It was understated and simple, the meat was well cooked and the potatoes were just the right consistency.

Also had the Gai Phad Med Na Maung -25- stir fried chicken with cashew nuts. This had a sweet and sour taste to it. Although it is a stir fry, it did have a bit of gravy with it to eat with the rice. This dish is also high on capsicum peppers and onions, so its high in fiber and veggie content too.

The tod man pla -15- deep fried spicy fish cake was not as mincy as it could have been. It was a solid flattenned slightly chewy lump, even though it took 15 minutes more to prepare (presumably fresh)

Other than the fish cakes the food was fresh and good. They do have a choice of soups, starters and salad. The prawn curries had really large sized prawns in them.

The menu lists a Thai tea which wasn't available today, but they do serve the entire fountain range of Pepsico drinks.(5/7 med/large)

They do not have desserts, but that was easily remedied by a stop at Subway in the same food court for cookies :)

Staff is pleasant and quite efficient.

Good for a quick meal.