Happy Easter!

Hey everybody, wishing you all a very Happy Easter.

All weekend I had messages popping in on my FB chat with people inquiring about places that were doing something special for Easter, which is why I thought of doing a little research work and compiling a list of few places in Abu Dhabi and Dubai that are celebrating Easter

Firstly if you're in Abu Dhabi - 

Easter Sunday Brunch at Urban Kitchen
This Thai restaurant will be buzzing with live music, face painting, an Easter egg hunt, cookie decoration and a visit from the Easter Bunny himself. Brunchers can relish a selection of fresh seafood, roasts, French cheese and authentic made-to-order Thai curries. INFO: 12.30pm-4pm Sun 5 Apr, Dhs199 with soft drinks, Dhs299 with house drinks, children aged six-11 dine for Dhs80, kids aged five and under dine free, Dusit Thani Abu Dhabi, 02 698 8137, reservations.table@dusit.com

Book in for a Sunday Brunch in Bab Al Bahr
For those who have the luxury of taking the first day of the week off to celebrate in the traditional way, Fairmont Bab Al Bahr will be offering a brunch spanning three of its restaurants, CuiScene, Frankie’s and Marco Pierre White, for a buffet offering with barbecued delights, British staples of ribeye, rotisserie chicken and Yorkshire puds and fresh homemade ravioli and risotto. INFO: 12noon-4pm Sun 5 Apr, Dhs269 with soft drinks, Dhs319 with grape and hops, Dhs489 with bubbly, Dhs135 for kids aged six-12, Khor al Maqta, Abu Dhabi, 02 654 3238, dining.bab@fairmont.com

Explore Jones the Grocer’s Egg-tastic Menu
The Australian food emporium is presenting a Chef’s Special menu with treats such as omelette with green and white asparagus, smoked salmon and hollandaise sauce; salt cod quiche and dukkah-crusted lamb rump with beetroot, roasted onions and peas. You’ll also find hot cross buns, plus gourmet chocolate eggs that sounds way too good for the kids! Choose from Artisan du Chocolat’s Kaleidoscope eggs with folded layers of dulce de leche, couture ganache and praline overlaid with a myriad of natural colours; Pandora Bell’s Real Eggshell Eggs filled with chocolate praline or Valrhona’s Milk, Dark and Grand Cru eggs. Mmm! INFO: Until Sun 12 Apr, Abu Dhabi branches in Al Mamoura, Khalidiyah, Al Raha Gardens, Al Muneera and Sowwah Square, for all stores ring 02 4438 762; Dubai branches in Al Safa and Sheikh Zayed Rd opposite Time Square Centre mall, for either store call 04 388 1038, www.jonesthegrocer.com. 

And for the Dubai folks,

Try International Fare in TECOM
Buffet restaurant Channels will be hosting an international Easter brunch with an Easter egg hunt and face painting put on for youngsters. INFO: 12noon-3pm Sun 5 Apr, Dhs195 with soft drinks, Dhs270, with selected grape, Dhs290 with spirits, kids aged six-12 dine for Dhs100, those aged five and under dine free; Media Rotana, Hessa St, TECOM, Dubai, 04 435 0201, fb.media@rotana.com, www.rotana.com 

Enjoy Easter Brunch - Al Bahou hosts festive brunches on Friday with an appearance from the Easter Bunny. Dhs 295 (soft drinks) Dhs 395 (house beverages) Dhs 495 (bubbly) Dhs 145 (ages 13 - 16) Dhs 95 (ages six - 12) Free for children aged six and under. Fri and Sat 12.30 - 4 pm.  04 444 5613 Mövenpick Hotel Ibn Battuta Gate 

Eat at Suq this Easter - Brunch with the kids and the Easter bunny or head to the evening outdoor barbecue. Friday : Dhs 350. Half price for kids under 12. 1pm - 4pm. Sunday : Dhs 275. Half price for kids under 12. 1 pm - 4pm, 6 pm - 11 pm. Four Seasons Resort Dubai, Jumeirah Beach Road. (04 270 7777)

Hope the list helps you; have a superb Easter :) 

Mumbai, the Pub Hub!

Once you've lived in Mumbai, there is absolutely NO place that can ever replace it. 

Now inspite of moving out almost 2 years back, there is still something about the city that just calls you towards it. 

I was lucky enough to spend a week in Mumbai recently and was amazed with the escalating pub-culture in the city. It's almost like every other building has a pub or a lounge; however what's even more amazing is that each one of these places has something innovative (hatke) about it. And no I'm not talking *Gold Plated Stuff* #DubaiContext

Among all the new pubs I visited during this trip, my top 3 favorites have got to be Hoppipola at Khar, Bar Stock Exchange at Oshiwara and He Said She Said at Andheri. 

Hoppipola - Khar 

You say quirky? I say Hoppipola. This is truly a place for you and your friends to have a *hoppy* time! They have an indoor and outdoor seating, however we opted for the indoor seating, which was equally good. Their tables have a blackboard table top and you would find a chalk or two lying somewhere on it, so like everybody else, almost like a reflex action, we too started to play tic-tac-toe. But once we were done doing that, we decided to finally place an order for a Beer-Tower (INR 700) and The Smokin Carlos - Mexican style corn and jalapeno cigars (INR 160) and OMG which are cheese-stuffed button mushrooms (INR 170) now honestly a person who knows me well or has been following my blog would react with an OMG on reading about how both my dishes are Vegetarian, because am quite a non veg fanatic that way, but trust me both the dishes were b.r.i.l.l.i.a.n.t (I like writing this way) and we actually decided to call for 2 more plates of the same dish. Having said that, I would have obviously loved to try out the non vegetarian appetizers too but I was just trying to avoid judgmental looks from my Gujarati friend (jk) was just way too full! But moving on from the food, what really got me excited about this place was the fact that they had an entire shelf filled with board-games such as, Taboo/ Snakes & Ladders/ Pictionary/ Ludo/ UNO etc and what better combination with a mug of beer? I'm already looking forward to my next trip and Hoppipola has quite the role to play. 

Bar Stock Exchange - Oshiwara

Nasdaq/ Sensex, not your thing? Don't worry here is Bar Stock Exchange that could probably make you feel better about your investment skills ;) However I'm not too sure about how your liver would respond to that. 

As the name suggests, Bar Stock Exchange is basically a stock market based pub, where the drink prices change based on a real time demand and supply. 

Now honestly I had heard tons and tons about this place and was sure about visiting it, but I was informed that it's almost impossible to get a table here because of how popular the place was and well also because Mumbai is filled with alcoholics *wink wink* but we being quite the go-getters, we decided to reach there at 6 pm so that we could get ourselves a table, but unfortunately we still had to wait for an hour, but once we did get one, it was absolutely worth it, the concept is fresh and extremely fascinating. We were constantly glued to the LCD screens/ LED tickers and used our phone app to place orders as soon as we noticed a drop in price. Also much later there was a Market Crash that happened, which is when the drinks fall to rock bottom prices. Moving on to their food, we ordered for two bizarre sounding dishes, one was the Popcorn Chicken Tikka and other was TheBarStockExchange Pizaan. The Popcorn Chicken Tikka was basically chicken tikka that is fried and comes with a mint sauce, it was quite crispy and mildly spicy, we all loved the dish and re-ordered for the same. The other was the Pizzan which was a Indianised naan pizza topped with chicken and a few vegetables, now even though I quite liked this but it neither looked or tasted like a Pizza. Lastly coming to their playlist, from what I remember, it was quite random, because it ranged from Akon's Smack That to Pussy Cat Dolls, Back Street Boys to BLUE, so I'm not sure what that was about, but well then again, it's me and I can groove to almost anything, so I wouldn't complain. Overall it was quite a fun experience and is much recommended. 

P.S. Please ignore the nasty lady (keeping it clean) standing outside for your reservations because she perhaps will be your only disappointment at The Bar Stock Exchange. 

This is what TBSE looks like (Yes, free Wifi, yay!)

The Bar Stock Exchange App

The super-fascinating LED screen

He Said She Said - Andheri 

My friends told me about how "He Said She Said" is a place famous for its variants in shots, post which I obviously decided to give it a shot (get it..get it?) okay let's ignore that happened and move on to my review about the place. I'm honestly quite the no-shots person, simply because it does not go down too well on me, but the menu is sure to excite a non-shot drinker like me as well with its diverse range of shots. Right from Kitkat shots to Kadak Chai shots, Ice-Cream based shots to Tropical Shots, this place has it all and that too at very affordable prices (INR 140 - 350)

The interiors of the place is extremely vibrant and colourful and they also have a photo booth and who doesn't like one of those. 

Unfortunately we were done with dinner and didn't try out the food but I'm hoping to try it out the next time I'm in Mumbai. 

The music at He Said She Said was perfect, wasn't too loud and disturbing like most places in Mumbai but at the same was good enough for people to enjoy it. Exactly what I needed on my first day in Mumbai. 

So yes these were the top 3 places on The Anorexic Hog's list. If there is a fun themed lounge you know about in Mumbai or here in the UAE (highly unlikely) then do let me know by dropping me a message in the comment box below. 

P.S. I'm looking forward to similar stuff opening up in Abu Dhabi (Ok maybe that's pushing it, but Dubai atleast? Please?) 

#MasalaFoodFair

The weather has had its ups and downs in the past few days; some may have enjoyed it while the others were rather disappointed.

#MasalaFoodFair was scheduled to be on Friday (20th) and Saturday (21st) but unfortunately the sandstorm played a spoil sport on Saturday & the event had to be rescheduled to Sunday; however that worked out perfectly for me as I was able to drive down to Dubai for the fair.

First things first, I personally absolutely loved the concept of Masala Food Fair, because as their name suggests, the event has everything you need in order to have a "Masaledaar" day, good music, live entertainment, bollywood stars and most importantly numerous stalls all around you serving food ranging from the east to the west of India under one roof, well not roof, given that it was at Zabeel Park, but you get the point.  

What I tried at the #MasalaFoodFair

Kulfilicious – Saffron Tea

Wow! The irony of me having Chai from an Ice-Cream stall, but in my defence it was the 1^st chai container I noticed and I’m glad I did, because it was exactly what I needed in that weather.

Price – AED 5  

The Kulfilicious Stall 

Appakadai - Appam and Chicken Gravy

The appams were fluffy, soft and fresh; however I was hoping they had more variants to it and had not limited themselves to just plain appams. It was served with Chicken Curry, which complimented the Appams well. 

Price - AED 12

Appam with Chicken Gravy

Yalla Momos - Chicken Steamed Momos

Now this is one place, that needs to, has to, MUST open a branch in Abu Dhabi, since there is no specialized Momo restaurant in Abu Dhabi. I've heard a lot about Yalla Momos and was quite excited about giving the chicken momos a try and was not disappointed. The Momos literally melted in my mouth, the stuffed minced chicken with the hint of garlic made the momos succulent. 

Price - AED 15 

Chicken Momos 

Mezbaan - Mutton Seekh Kebabs

The mutton seekh kebab was cooked to perfection; though it was not as juicy as I expected it to be. But I shall like to give them the benefit of doubt and maybe head to their restaurant their other kebabs. Oh and the servers were kind enough to serve us 1 extra plate as they were planning to shut their stall soon. 

Price - AED 10 

Mutoon Seekh Kebab

Kulcha King - Chicken Keema Kulcha which came along with with Chole and Tangy Tamarind Chutney.

The Chicken Keema Kulcha was hot and seemed fresh (Inspite of us ordering for this towards the end of the fair) and was stuffed lavishly with minced chicken. It was extremely tasty and very filling, although, the chole were bland and seemed slightly stale.

Price - AED 15 

Chicken Keema Kulcha and Chole 

Also I've to add that the chefs from Kulcha King were a part of a live cook off challenge, during which, one of them had made "Amritsari Fish" & I consider myself luck that I was given a chance to try this out because take my word on this, it was perhaps the spiciest & tastiest I've ever had & since spicy food is like candy to me, I was instantly in love with it. Hence I definitely plan on heading to Kulcha King to try out their food.

Live Cook Off - Kulcha King 

What I missed out on? Unfortunately the Mr. Sugarcane stall had shut down way before the fair ended and I couldn't try it out. Also by the time I got done with Kulcha King my appetite had given up on me and I wasn't able to try out the Butter Chicken from Dabbawalla which I've heard is quite good. 

Also a major highlight from the 2^nd day of Masala Foor Fair is the presence of Raveena Tandon who according to me is the yesteryears Nargis Fakhri, smart, stunning and witty. So inspite of Raveena Tandon being away from the limelight for ages now she was still able to woo the crowd just by being there.

Raveena Tandon (Image Courtesy - Twitter) 

Lastly like I said the event was rescheduled to Sunday which resulted in a very low show up which obviously was good for people who don’t like waiting in long queues to grab a bite, but at the same time, I really wish they were more people at the #MasalaFoodFair because it being a "Masala" event, you can trust the who's who of Dubai to be there. 

So overall I had a great time at the #MasalaFoodFair and was able to relish on some mouth-watering food and a little birdie told me that they plan on doing this more often, so yay! 

P.S. You can check out pictures from the event on Masala!

Wafi Gourmet - Nation Towers

A friend had recently suggested a place called Asia De Cuba at the St. Regis (Abu Dhabi) and had asked me to give it a try, so I decided to head there on a Friday evening with a few friends, but unfortunately since the much spoken about outdoor area at Asia De Cuba was shut (Due to the weather) we decided to come back there some other day.

But that resulted in my friends and I getting back to Square 1 in terms of where we could possibly chill that evening. But thankfully after spending a few fruitful minutes on Zomato we decided upon Wafi Gourmet which is at the Nation Towers (Besides St.Regis)

Now on entering Wafi Gourmet, we were rather amazed with how massive the restaurant was, they have an indoor and outdoor seating area, however the outdoor is not really in the open, its just surrounded with glass that overlooks Marina Mall/ Corniche. But the latter is where they serve sheesha, hence we decide to sit outdoors, as that's what we were primarily wanting to do.

We ordered for a Mint Sheesha and for a Mixed Platter with garlic dip and hummus. 

The Mixed Platter was a rather small portion and did no justice to it being priced at AED 80, it consisted of Mutton Seekh Kebabs, Chicken Shish Tawook, Lamb Kofta and the Arayes style bread. 

The Mixed Grill 

My personal favourite was the Chicken Shish Tawook which was extremely well cooked, the meat was tender and the seasoning was spot on. Also the mutton seekh kebab wasn't too bad either. However the Arayes style bread and Lamb Kofta were very average. 

The platter was served with a basket of khubz (bread) which was warm and fresh and was delectable on being accompanied by the garlic dip/ hummus. 

Moving on to the Mint Sheesha, the sheesha was very ordinary, it wasn't bad but not great either. This is priced at AED 56. Also an advise would be, don't forget to carry your ID cards if you look young, because they are quite particular about it.

Lastly the staff was quite friendly, however there was a slight language constraint. 

Overall it was quite an average experience at Wafi Gourmet and I would rate it a 2.5/5

Also 1 last thing to add, Wafi Gourmet follows an Arabic cuisine version of the Subway sandwich concept. You can choose your kebabs and dips and create your own sandwich which apparently costs you about 15 AED for a take-away and 30 AED if you plan on dining in. (And no I don't understand the logic behind this either)

P.S. For regular updates, you can follow me on Twitter / Instagram

Siddhartha Lounge - Grosvenor House

You know there are a few simple yet fancy words that you probably know off, but don't really end up using too often. One such word, for me, would be "Magnificent" I don't even know why, but I've never used this word, but today I will, because there is really NO better word to describe the place I'm reviewing today i.e. "Siddhartha Lounge"

So on a Friday evening, my friends and I were planning to head to Buddha Bar at Grosvenor House (Dubai Marina) but unfortunately they were fully reserved and so the bouncer suggested we try our luck at Siddhartha Lounge which was bang opposite Buddha Bar. 

Now when I initially heard the name Siddhartha Lounge, I being me, giggled to myself, because it seemed like 1 of those shady bars in Mumbai, you know like, Arjuna Bar/ Rameshwa Bar? But Siddharhta Lounge was clearly far from that. 

You are sure to be mind-blown by the view it over looks, which actually changes depending on which side you're seated at, so it could either be overlooking the Palm or the towers at Marina (Habtoor Grand etc) We were seated outdoor, which I preferred as it had an extremely cozy setup, with floor mattresses spread across stairs. However, the indoor area looked spectacular too with the classy white and golden decor.

THE OUTDOOR SETUP

THE INDOOR SETUP

What we ordered? We ordered for Stir Fried Chicken which was undoubtedly very tasty, but at a Desi-Chinese restaurant, because it had this very masaledaar thing to it, and we almost wanted to stab ourselves for ordering the dish, as it was exorbitantly priced. This dish alone costed us 180 AED *yup, you can point your gun towards me* 

Stir Fried Chicken 

We also ordered for a thin crust chicken pizza, which was originally not on the menu, but the server willingly accepted to make it on special request. The dough was fresh and the chicken was well cooked, also it was for 70 AED which was not as bad. 

Uhm yes that's what my photography looks like!

Now thankfully that was pretty much what we had called for food, post which we decided to just stick to drinking at Siddhartha and ordered for cocktails from their extensive list of cocktails. I ordered for two rum based cocktails and both tasted great. The alcohol & fruits were well-blended. It was neither too strong nor too light. Also the cocktails were priced for about 65 AED which is similar to any other lounge in Dubai. 

From my eye to yours ;)

Service? Inspite of being a girl, I couldn't stop myself from crushing over the stunning ladies who were servers here, and their gorgeous white gowns just added to their beauty. So yes, the boys are definitely in for some eye treat. Also I must add that it's common for these fancy places to have really hot female servers but unfortunately they either turn out to be extremely slow and silly or are extremely arrogant, but at Siddhartha, they were neither slow nor did they come across as arrogant. #Win

Music? The music playing in the background was great, exactly what we needed infact, as it sounded great and wasn't too loud, which is a good thing incase you're going here with friend to catch up or for a date (however the latter depends on you and your partners conversational skills) ;) 

Overall I absolutely loved it and would rate Siddhartha a 4/5 

For more updates, you can follow me on Twitter and Instagram

P.S. Most pictures in this blog post have been taken off Google, because clearly photography isn't my forte.

El Chico

Firstly this review has been long over-due, I had listed down pointers about the restaurant a while back and then never got back to it, thanks to my latest addiction of online shopping which very easily managed to distract me every time I tried completing this blog post, but now that I'm on it, let me tell you El Chico is what I'm reviewing today. 

El Chico has been at Delma Mall for a while now and has newly opened a branch at WTC mall, which btw I must say is becoming quite a hub for foodies.

So the other day, we decided to do family lunch at El-Chico (WTC) and I was rather shocked on entering EL-CHICO, because the restaurant has just about opened up and yet had quite a decent amount of people who were dining in, however the place is spacious and can easily accommodate a lot of people, so there was absolutely no complaining and we were instantly guided towards a table of four by the server. 

As soon as we settled down, we were given the massive menu card and a complimentary bowl of crispy nachos accompanied by mild salsa.

What we ordered? Top Shelf Guacamole, Chicken Fajita Nachos, Sombrero Platter, Chicken Chipotle, Chicken Fajita Quesadilla, Strawberry Cheesecake and Chocolate Lava Cake.

Top Shelf Guacamole - The guacamole, which is a mixture of avocados, onions, jalapeños, lime and black salt, is made fresh on the table for you, which is also what happens at Cantina Laredo, but take my word on this, it was definitely the best guacamole I've had. My dad was extremely fascinated with the man making the guacamole and was trying to figure out what goes where and how exactly do they make it, so I won't be surprised if he soon experiments and decides to surprise us with some home-made guacamole inspired by El-Chico. 

Top Shelf Guacamole 

Chicken Fajita Nachos - The bean & cheese nachos were topped generously with the well-cooked grilled chicken fajita. However the taste of the beans were slightly over-shadowing the cheese flavor, which is not something I would like in my nachos. But otherwise I quite liked the nachos. 

Chicken Fajita Nachos 

Sombrero Platter - I absolutely love platters, because that way I get to try more dishes :D So this platter was a mix of, fried mozzarella cheese, BBQ chicken wings and chicken strips. The mozzarella sticks were crispy but not the best I've had, the BBQ chicken wings however was extremely juicy and something we all enjoyed having. But amongst the 3 if I had to pick a favorite, it would be the crispy chicken which was extremely tender and literally broke into pieces on touching it. 

Sombrero Platter

Moving on to perhaps the most disappointing dish at El-Chico, which was the "Chicken Chipotle" which is basically supposed to be chicken breast topped up with cheese and chipotle pepper sauce. But unfortunately the only thing I tasted was SALT! Also the chicken wasn't cooked well and was extremely hard. 

Chicken Chipotle

Chicken Fajita Quesadilla - The chicken fajita quesadillas were spot on, it had the right amount of juicy grilled chicken fajita, pepper, onion and cheese. Infact I'm not sure what exactly is it called, but from a lehman perspective, the tortilla was wrapped in a slightly different manner as served in other mexican restaurants (Don't give me that blank look, you might know what I mean once you look at the picture below)

Chicken Fajita Quesadilla

Now inspite of being stuffed with all that we had ordered for, the desserts looked absolutely tempting (they bring a platter to your table with all the options they have, so you get a better idea of what the desserts actually look like) We ended up ordering for the strawberry cheese cake and the chocolate cake which was served with vanilla icecream and topped with chocolate and pecan. Both the cakes were simply out of this world. Infact the chocolate cake did the impossible and kind of took over the 1st place in my "Favourite Dessert" list which was earlier held by the molten chocolate cake from Chilis. Yup, its that good. 

Strawbery Cheesecake

Chocolate Cake

The Quantity? The 1 word to describe it is INSANE. Also going by my past experience, quantity is never an issue with Mexican restaurants. 

The Price? The bill was about 420 for 3 appetizers, 2 main-course dishes, 2 desserts and 4 drinks, which I think is not bad at all, especially for a family lunch/ dinner. 

The Interiors? The interiors are very similar to CHILIS (Which is a part of the same group of companies) however I wish they had added a little more Mexican touch to its interiors. 

The Staff? Extremely friendly and well informed staff. The latter is usually uncommon in newly opened restaurants, but here the server knew the in and out of their menu card. Also the manager   was kind enough to check on us before and after the meal. 

Overall I quite liked the place and will definitely recommend it, I would rate El Chico a 3.5/5 

For more regular updates on restaurants and other random things I indulge in, follow me on Instagram / Twitter.