Gurgaon – Delhi Foodies' Zone

The Bombaykery

Amid tons of bakeries opening up at an eye-popping speed, few leave a mark. Bombaykery is one that caught Reeta Skeeter’s attention, for reasons more than one. Let us unfold them one at a time.

The concept

Bite sized desserts. Need we say more? You fix that craving of yours and you can’t possibly get greedy as it is all over in a bite. Or two! A bite whose taste lingers on, long after it is over. These desserts also make for perfect picks for a get-together at home, as you continue to sip wine and talk late into the night.

The treats

Here are Skeeter’s picks from their kitty!

This absolutely fab Passion Fruit Tart with a mini macaron (Rs 60). Looks pretty, tastes better! Move away lemon tart, you have competition!

The Belgian chocolate fudge studded with nuts and dusted with more chocolate (Rs 30 a pop with minimum 6 pieces to order). Best had under the blanket with a book in hand and Jasmine tea on the side!

Bite sized baked Kala Khatta cheesecake (Rs 60) with an enticing blueberry and blackberry compote. Love their raspberry cheesecake too!

And I’d save the best for the last. Skeeter loves her savouries more than dessert and these nigella and sesame seed studded cheese sticks (Rs 200 for a jar) are perfect tea-time accompaniments!

And while they promise to pop-up at yet another food fest ‘near you’, you can always order from their home kitchen. You can find their number and menu here.

Here’s to many food adventures ahead. Happy 2016!

Maharashtrian street food comes to Delhi: Vada Pav

Indian street food never fails to impress. Skeeter tries to record whatever she eats and one of her street food favourite is featuring in Delhi restaurants these days. It is the mighty VADA PAV from Maharashtra.

For the uninitiated this fuss-free snack is made using a pav(bun) from the ladi pav which is slathered with a red chilli-garlic chutney and a piping hot vada is placed in it. Something as simple as that, served with a fried green chilly tossed in salt. The accompanying green chilly is a MUST. The vada pav is incomplete without it. It is Maharashtra’s answer to all the crappy, tasteless frozen burger patties used in international chain of restaurants.

(On the right: Vada Pav seated in an aluminum pan at Soda Bottle Opener Wala, Gurgaon)

Have the vada pav for breakfast or a meal on the go when in a hurry or as an evening snack. It is simple, tasty and not healthy but worth every bite. It used to cost something as low as Rs 5 in Maharashtra quite a few years ago.

Skeeter bumped into old pal, the Vada Pav, one afternoon when she went for a very quick lone lunch at Dhaba by Claridges (DLF Place, Saket) and was impressed. It tasted very well but not like the one she used to eat in Maharashtra. The Dhaba Vada Pav costed a bomb (Rs 195) and came with the chef’s special chutney. They serve two Vada Pavs in one portion. So a portion of the Vada Pav plus a soft drink set Skeeter back by nearly 500 bucks, which is a lot, but for want of her favourite snack in the comfort of a mall and sitting in the hometown it was forgiven.

Next, Skeeter came across the old pal again at the swanky Cyber Hub of Gurgaon at a Parsi eatery called Soda Bottle Opener Wala(will write more about it soon). This one stunned the senses and was a winner hands down! For one, it tasted JUST LIKE the one Skeeter was used to having during her days in Maharashtra. The fried green chilli on the side, rolled in salt was perfectly done. It costed Rs 65. There was one pav as opposed to two at Dhaba by Claridges. It came seated in an aluminium pan and just that. An innovative take on plating as rivalled to all the fancy stuff we are used to these days. They did not fancy it up, nor did they provide some innovative chutney, they simply let the food do the talking. HIGHLY RECOMMENDED.

Oh and if you ever go to Maharashtra, do try the Joshi vada pav. 🙂

It’s Greek for me!

To make a morsel enter my mouth, the texture, the flavour, the aroma, the colour, are all put through an acid test. Call me what you like, but believe me you, I have been like this all my life. As a kid, I would go to the kitchen and inspect mom-made food to see if the four of these are okay. If not, I would declare ‘I am not hungry’. Of course at that point in time I never knew I would grow up to be in love with food.
Later, a lot of additions were made to this list (which are often written about at DFZ).
I once opined that food courts at shopping malls can never serve good food, and hence should not be even thought about unless you are dying of hunger and cannot drag yourself to a good restaurant nearby, or far away for that matter. Little did I know that I would soon trounce my own opinion (proudly so), and throw it down the tallest tower. Ha!
Wow! I am finally talking (read writing) about Wow Italia, the one place whose mention can make my stomach growl and howl. This place has left me awed for quite some time now; this is the place I would love to visit again and again and yet again. They do, inarguably, the best Greek Pizza in or around town.
Stationed in the food court of The Metropolitan Mall in Gurgaon, for money the size of the smallest black mustard seed (‘maybe’ I am exaggerating), Wow Italia serves me their chef-d’oeuvre Greek Pizza topped with Fresh Garlic, Feta cheese (my favourite), Black Olives, Parsley and Green Beans. If I die and go to heaven when I have Costa Hot Choc, after having this Greek Pizza, I enter a state of blissful trance.

Wow Italia also hold the distinction of being the first eatery to own a heartfelt personal note hand-written for them by Reeta Skeeter on a circular sheet of paper which comes beneath the Pizza on the Pizza tray. 😀

Also, I would recommend their Pasta (Spaghetti is the best bet) with Dansih Gorgonzola. This pasta is falvoured with Rosemary and topped with Capers, Black olives and Parsley. Yum!
Do visit. You will NOT regret.

Tea, Snack, Main Course and Dessert

It wasn’t planned. But it happened. And it did good. It rejuvenated two tired souls.
We indulged, feasted, shopped, tattled and were transmuted to two new beings.
Tea, we did not drink, but shopped for. We shopped at Needs, the superb supermarket situated in DLF Phase-IV, Gurgaon. Needs has the most amazing variety a supermarket can house. No wonder it has become my favourite. Below is the picture of the array of teas and biscuits,cookies,shorbreads, they have on offer. I was stupfied by the variety. I still am. I have never ever seen so much variety under one roof in Delhi!!!

Bangkok 9
This cute little eatery (read Thai and Oriental Cafe) is tucked away in a warm little corner of the food court at The Mega City Mall, Gurgaon. We ordered Po-Pia Thod or Thai Spring Rolls for starters. Wrapped in rice sheets and deep fried till golden brown, they are the yummiest crunchies once can have. If I visit Gurgaon and don’t eat the Phad Thai noodles (which we ordered for the Main Course) here I feel like the trip lacked something. This was the reason, that in the midst of the then ongoing Gujjar clashes, when I reached Gurgaon with a plan to have a Greek Pizza, I ended up having Phad Thai noodles at Bangkok 9. Phad Thai noodles, that’s my best bet at Bangkok 9. They are tangy, soft, juicy, crunchy and have My Peanut!!!
AND AND AND more than anything else, Pritika (the one who accompanies me here and everywhere) and Bangkok 9 are the ones behind my resurrected interest in the delicious Thai cuisine. Pritika is the one who told me that Thai food is not all about Coconut (which I truly, deeply hate). So this post would have been meaningless without a mention, a salutation to the duo.
Costa Coffee
And then came the Dessert, ‘Chocolate Travoletta’, a titillating delight that can be sampled at Costa Coffee cafes around the town and beyond. I am not too sure if I spelt the name of the sinful delight right. It costs about 28 INR and is inarguably the best chocolate dessert any cafe can attract me to.