#BurritoIsBae - 11,000 Free Burritos in UAE

Home-grown Mexican food concept Taqado is giving away 11,000 free burritos in the month of May to celebrate the recent launch of its 11^thoutlet in the UAE.

Each Taqado outlet will gave away 1,000 free burritos between 11am and 3pm, on a set date per outlet. 

The dates and locations of the 'Taqado Takeover' are:

May 1 - Taqado Mall of the Emirates
May 2 - Taqado DIFC
May 3 - Taqado The Galleria, Abu Dhabi
May 4 - Taqado Emaar Square 
May 5 - Taqado Bay Avenue
May 6 - Taqado Kite Beach
May 7 - Taqado City Tower
May 8 - Taqado Tecom
May 9 - Taqado Dubai Mall
May 10 - Taqado Downtown Jebel Ali
May 11 - Taqado Dubai International Airport T1

My relationship station #BurritoIsBae

#TheHub

If you live in Abu Dhabi, I'm about to give you not one but four reasons to celebrate. I was at the opening of The Hub at World Trade Center last week and I'm pleased to announce that Abu Dhabi is now home to 4 fabulous new restaurants, Bu Trinity, Original Fusion, Jazz at Pizza Express and Tamba. 

Bu Trinity is a Latin American inspired restaurant/ lounge, which has an amazing indoor and outdoor setup. The lovely garden deck outdoors is definitely refreshing to see in Abu Dhabi. Also I've to mention that the place is HUGE, I'm almost convinced to throw my wedding reception here. Jokes apart, I can totally foresee this being a hit amongst the younger, hip crowd. 

Moving on to Original Fusion whose USP is giving an International touch to Emirati food. You may want to try out their Camiloni which is basically camel ravioli with parmesan sauce, pumpkin puree, sliced summer truffle & roasted almond. 

Next up we have Jazz at Pizza Express which of course has been around for a while & been reviewed by me as well - You can read it here 

Lastly, my personal favourite here is Tamba, a fusion Indian restaurant. Tamba which means Copper in hindi has been depicted in the interiors of Tamba, absolutely loved the look of Tamba, right from the bells that have been displayed to the exposed tandoor ovens. I also tried out their crab pani-puri which I was reluctant to try initially but absolutely loved it. Also try out their dessert 'Ms Chatterji' which shall surely take you back to your 'pop candy' phase. They also have a lovely outdoor setup which shall soon be serving sheesha (yup, rejoice) Also don't forget to catch their local female DJ who shall be playing over the weekends whilst you sip on some great cocktails. 

All four restaurants are licensed and shall be serving alcohol. Don't see why it shouldn't be the new 'Hub' of Abu Dhabi

International Womens Day : Ladies Night

Firstly, a very Happy Women’s Day to you & to all the beautiful ladies out there.

Tonight seems like the perfect night to step out with your girl-gang & sip on some beverages for free, yes for free. Here are my 5 suggestions to celebrate women’s day tonight.

1.     Embassy Empress Night
The Deal:  3 free drinks and complementary nibbles.
Where: Grosvenor House Dubai, Tower Two, Dubai Marina
When:  8pm to 1am
Details: +971 43176000, www.embassy-dubai.com

2.     EnVii at the Greenhouse
The Deal: 2 Complimentary Drinks
Where: Vii Dubai, Conrad Hotel, Sheikh Zayed Road
When:  8pm to 11pm
Details: +971 050 169 6777, www.viidubai.com

3.     Madame Butterfly at China Grill
The Deal: Free drinks all night + 50% off on food
Where: China Grill, The Westin Mina Seyahi Beach Resort & Marina
When: Tuesdays, 6.30pm to 12am
Details: +9714 511 7333, www.chinagrilldubai.com

4.     She’s with us at TRIBECA
The Deal: 3 Free Drinks  
Where: Ocean View Hotel, Dubai JBR
When: 9 to 12.30 am
Details: 050-2878703

5.     The Girls Don’t Q at Q43
The Deal: 3 Complimentary Drinks  
Where: Media One, Dubai Media City
When: 6:00 to 1am
Details:  0561024298

Jazz@PizzaExpress - WTC

Jazz@PizzaExpress has finally arrived in Abu Dhabi and they came, they saw, they conquered, well almost. 

It's been in the news for a while now that Jazz@PizzaExpress is coming to town and I'm so glad they finally have. However, there is a catch, this branch does not have their alcohol license yet. They are said to get it soon, but how soon is the question.

I've visited the Dubai branch several times & absolutely love it so I knew I was in for a good meal at their Abu Dhabi branch as well. 

For starters I absolutely recommend the very famous 'Dough Ball Speciale' which basically are crunchy dough balls roll that are baked with Parmesan & served with garlic butter. The dough balls and garlic butter as a combination are the Brad Pitt & Angelia Jolie of food, simply meant to be, also best served hot (if you know what I mean) 

Moving on to what everyone visits them for, their pizzas. If I were to describe their Pizzas in 3 words, I would say, Thin, Crispy & Spicy. Is that the ideal Pizza? OH YES IT IS. 

What I would recommend? 

Cipolla Piccante for the Vegetarians which is a combination of red onions, green chilli, crushed chilli, roquito peppers and mozarella. 

Pollo Ad Astra in Chicken - In my Indian accent, I'm like yes please, pollo, add extra (No I'm joking, that's not how I speak) But yes definitely what I would recommend if you want to opt for a Chicken option. It's a combination of Chicken, Sweet Peppadew Pepper, Cajun Spice, Garlic Oil and Red Onions. 

Also haven't tried this myself, but I hear the American Hot is a must-try for a beef lover. 

Music & Ambiance - When you talk about Jazz@PizzaExpress, ambiance definitely has a huge role to play. So this branch is huge, atleast going by Abu Dhabi standard, however since not too many people know about it, it was rather empty. There was this band called Uptown performing who were not too bad. 

Staff - Inspite of being newly opened, they knew their thing & were well aware of everything on the menu. Also they were nice enough to let us take over, sort of. 

Pricing - Cost per pizza is between 60 - 80 AED

Lastly, come on Jazz@PizzaExpress, your Pizza's need company, get the alcohol license already. 

Aww! Look at them :) 

Overall Rating - 4/5

Rosewater - Jumeirah Etihad

I was on a much-needed sibling date at Rosewater - Jumeirah Etihad a couple of days back & let’s find out what happened there.

So before getting there, we decided to do a reservation as recommended by most people on Zomato and one odd thing about that reservation call was that the operator would keep stressing on the fact that "Ma'am, the dress code would be smart casual" (once, twice, thrice, ENOUGH, I get your point)

Also I don’t intend to sound rude, but every single person I saw at Rosewater was dressed extremely casual, so I guess nobody else received the memo.

Anyhow, moving on to the food, this definitely was one of the largest spreads I’ve been to in Abu Dhabi. It was a lavish spread featuring numerous cuisines, such as Indian, Chinese, Italian, Japanese & they had a live-counter for the grills.

Honestly I don’t want to get into details, because not a single dish from any of these cuisines deserves a mention, all of them were equally bad. Yes. Life isn’t a bed of roses. *being dramatic* But no really, how can NOTHING taste good? They had so many fancy chefs with these cool hats roaming around, how did they all get it wrong? Probably, the world has Rosewater in mind, when they say; too many cooks spoil the broth.

However thank god for their desserts, tried out their cheesecake, their Ferrero cake, their chocolate fountain with marshmallows and their brownies, all of them were class apart.  

Drinks: Surprisingly, the drinks here weren’t as expensive as I expected them to be. You would pay about 35 – 40 for a pint.

Service: There wasn’t much to interact with the staff as it was a buffet, however from the little we did, they seemed polite and helpful.

Ambiance: The ambiance and feel at Rosewater is magnificent, elegant, splendid, spectacular, you know all of those typical words that are used to describe a fancy place? But yes, definitely a stunning place to be at. You also have an outdoor option overlooking the Corniche.  

Pricing: Definitely expensive (AED 250 p.p.) and absolutely not worth the price, or worth anything, actually.

Rating : 1.5/5 

P.S. I've no idea whats up with the Zomato rating! 

Happiness in a jar - Molten Me

You know a place is beyond words when you decide to visit them twice in the same week. 

So Molten Me in Abu Dhabi is an extremely tiny place, which is rather hard to locate and unlike the Dubai one, this is only a take away joint. 

I know how it's hard to imagine anything in Abu Dhabi being far from where you actually are, because that's how small Abu Dhabi is, yet Molten Me is definitely a 10 - 15 minutes drive from the city. However, having said that, let me tell you why it's worth the drive.

You may probably ask, how can there possibly be a dessert parlor solely dedicated to molten cake? Honestly, that crossed my mind too & my curiosity resulted in me landing up at Molten Me and giving it a try. Was I mind-blown? YES! 

Molten Me comes in 3 options, rather 3 bases - White Chocolate Base, Chocolate Base and Red Velvet Base.

Now once you're done choosing one of these options, you get to pick your filling (as seen in the menu below)

I decided to opt for, White Chocolate Base with Cookies & Cream, Chocolate Base with Hazelnut and Red Velvet Base with Red Velvet.

While all the 3 Molten Me cakes were basically half baked cake, with a molten center which tasted gooey, here is what I thought of each one of the cakes that I tried. 

White Chocolate Base with Cookies & Cream

This was my personal favourite here, not too chocolatey, exactly how I prefer my Molten Cake. However, if you don't like extra sweet, don't opt for this. 

  

Chocolate Base with Hazelnut

 

This is heaven for a chocolate lover. If you thought nutella had changed your life, try this out. 

Red Velvet Base with Red Velvet 

 

This was extremely rich and is a good option for someone who is looking for something not too chocolatey but yet chocolatey, you know that weird state of mind? I feel you. Try this out. 

All of these molten cakes come in supremely adorable quaint jars which you can take back home & can eventually also use them as candle stand/ accessory jar or just for serving your desserts, the next time you have friends over.

Also these make for a great gift option. I think it's high time we move on from the bouquets and fancy chocolate trays & make way for Molten Me. 

These are priced at AED 20 per jar or AED 55 for 3 jars, which definitely is expensive, but happiness comes at a price, I guess.

Lastly, they have also introduced 2 milkshakes to their menu, out of which I tried out the Red Velvet Milkshake, which was creamy, thick and filled with red velvet cake granules. Definitely worth a try! 

Overall, as you may have guessed, I LOVED IT!

Rating 4.5/5 (Deducted the 0.5 for the pricing/ not having a seating option)

Go there, NOW! 

AVASA - St Regis

I was at Avasa last weekend on a lunch date with my friend, Angela & we had quite the time here.

Starting off with the food, we decided to order for just 3 appetizers and then do desserts post that.

.

The picture above clearly states that, reading a menu and placing an order is a serious task. Well after much contemplation, we finally decide to call for, Fish Koru Kempu, Chandi Kaliyan & Mutton Galouti with Varqi Paratha.

Now the Fish Koru Kempu is basically extremely crispy and crunchy fried fish that is coated with sesame seeds and is accompanied by a cucumber-coconut chutney dip. This was mildly spicy and is definitely something you will find yourself munching on even once you’re full.

Chandi Kaliyan was Chicken Malai Tikka flavored with cardamom, marinated in cashew paste which made it extremely creamy and garnished with edible silver leaf, which for some odd reason really fascinates me (don’t judge) But on a serious note, the chicken was very well cooked & tasted great.

Mutton Galouti Kebab with Varqi Paratha was supremely tender & again very well cooked pounded lamb kebab, however I wish it was a tad bit spicier. It tasted slightly bland, probably to suit the taste buds of the Arabs & Europeans, who you shall see in large numbers at Avasa. So here’s a tip, do mention that you would like it spicy to your server, in order to not be disappointed.

Moving on to the desserts, we ordered for Rasmalai, Gulab Jamun & Kulfi (for my friend, as I had a sore throat) both the desserts were extremely rich & with every bite you knew this was not your ordinary Indian mithai. My personal favourite however was the Rasmalai as the Gulab Jamun can get a little too sweet.

Also a special mention to the drink, Virgin Toddy, that I was recommended by the Avasa staff for my sore throat. It was honestly a life saver and I may just want to come here every single time I have a throat infection to sip on this, because it works better than a cough syrup and tastes good, hence it’s a win win situation ;)

 Interiors By default you would find yourself clicking a picture of 2 things at Avasa.

 1. The stunning wall hanging bangles

    2. The beautifully done up wall at the entrance (don’t forget to click a picture here, it has all the potential to go up on your Snapchat/Instagram/Facebook *wink wink*)

Also what’s great about Avasa is that they have an outdoor sitting option and since WINTER IS COMING (Read: Game of Thrones) it would be a great place for a dinner outing with friends & family.   

Pricing Avasa is priced fairly decently as compared to other Indian fine dine restaurants in the city.  

Staff, Avasa’s manager, Sumitra is a great host, extremely warm, friendly and most importantly well aware of everything on the menu, she along with the servers shall make sure you’re treated in a royal way. I noticed her visiting the other tables too to check on them.

Also, it was lovely meeting Avasa's head chef

I’m definitely going to go back to Avasa to try out the main course and other appetizers & would recommend it to you as well.

Location & Contact info : The Collection, The St. Regis Saadiyat Island Resort, Saadiyat Island, Abu Dhabi. 02 - 6742221 (For reservations)

Find them on Social Media : Facebook  Twitter  

Rating : 4/5

P.S. They have something called Peanut Butter Paneer on their menu that I just noticed on Zomato, why wouldn't I want to go back?