Summer Shakin!

Summers are here and it's time to relish on some chilled Milkshakes; which is my go-to drink this season.

I've compiled a list of my top three favourite milkshake joints in Abu Dhabi.

1. Mugg & Beans – The Milkshakes at Mugg & Beans come in 3 sizes, priced at AED 14, AED 19 and AED 25 respectively, which is good for people who don’t want to risk drinking too much, as at most other places you get only the standard size which could get too heavy for one person. My personal favourite Milkshake here is the Peanut Butter Milkshake, which is creamy, thick and lush. The peanut butter blends in with the milk and whipped cream like a dream. 

Location - Mugg & Beans

2. The One Café – This is almost like a secret café, located inside the popular furniture store, The One, in the Bateen area. You’ve the option to choose a milkshake from the Regular shakes and the Deluxe shakes, no points for guessing, the deluxe shakes are far more premium and rich. I recommend the Strawberry Cheesecake Milkshake here which is 1 of their most popular deluxe milkshakes. Believe me, one sip of the Strawberry Cheesecake Milkshake tastes like a slice of heavenly cheesecake, but beware as you may need a spoon to enjoy every last drop of this luscious ice cream concoction. Also a major plus here is that they are generous with their portions. It’s priced at AED 25 and the milkshakes here truly live up to the outlet name in terms of it's ranking, definitely, The One ;)

Location- The One

3. Shake Shack – Well a place that has a ‘shake’ in its name can’t possibly go wrong with its milkshakes, right? The Shake Shack milkshakes are so thick & clotted. My personal favourites here are the Peanut Butter Milkshake and the Black & White Milkshake. Both of these are hand-spun with frozen custard and whole milk. The Black & White milkshake is basically, Vanilla frozen custard hand-spun with fudge sauce, while the Peanut Butter Milkshake is obviously hand-spun with creamy Peanut Butter sauce. Both these shakes are extremely rich in taste and fortunately not extra sweet. These are priced at AED 25.

Location - Shake Shack 

If you know of any other place in Abu Dhabi that serves good Milkshakes, then drop me a comment here or on Facebook 

Also girls, just FYI!

#sorrytobreakyourbubble

Science, like never before

What is Molecular Gastronomy?

Molecular gastronomy is a subdiscipline of food science that seeks to investigate the physical and chemical transformations of ingredients that occur in cooking. Its program includes three axes, as cooking was recognized to have three components, which are social, artistic and technical. Molecular cuisine is a modern style of cooking, and takes advantage of many technical innovations from the scientific disciplines.

Sometimes I don't even know why I bother, Science is definitely not my thing, but this involves food, and that definitely is my thing. 

Yup, that's me!

Tresind, located on the 2nd floor of Radisson Royal Hotel, Sheikh Zayed Road, Trade Centre area in Dubai is an Indian restaurant with a modern twist & it being a popular spot for team outings, our Marketing Manager fixed a dinner here for the Radio Mirchi team.

Me being the enthu cutlet that I am, I decided to go through the menu of Tresind & see the ratings, and basically do my little homework before getting there & trust me, that just added to the excitement; because one glance at the menu is all it takes to get mind-blown. Tresind by far has the most innovative menu I've ever come across, you know, one would like to believe that there isn't too much you can experiment with, when it comes to Indian food, but Tresind shall prove you wrong & how. 

What We Had?

Deconstructed Pani-Puri - Given that we were having an alcohol free dinner, the Deconstructed Pani-Puri which was more like a Paanipuri shot was definitely the best way to kickstart the evening ;) 

Mushroom Chai - This, because having a Mushroom soup is too mainstream. This was basically dehydrated mushrooms with white truffle powder. Was initially a little reluctant to have this; but am glad I opted for it. Much recommended. 

Misal Pao - You know it's funny because the only time I have had Missal Pao before this was at a 10 x 10 thela (stall) outside my college in Mumbai, and let me tell you I wasn't a fan. But this Misal Pao definitely did the trick and hit the right spot. 

Chaat Trolley - Was this fascinating? Or was this FASCINATING? As soon as the chef walked in with the Chaat trolley and started explaining, we stopped doing whatever we were doing and paid attention like obedient students to what he said (that's a rare sight in our team ;)). He showed us how the steam Dhokla is frozen in liquid nitrogen and then rehyderated to get mixed with all the possible chaat masalas, chutneys and papdis; trust me, the entire process looks magical & the final product won't disappoint you either. 

 

Khandvi Sorbet - Seriously? How does someone even come up with something like this? Beats me. This almost tasted like a Khandvi Icecream, your taste-buds are for sure to get confused but let that not bother you, simply sit back and enjoy this while it lasts ;) 

South Indian Chicken - So I don't quite remember what this dish was actually called, but it definitely was prepared in a South Indian manner. The chicken was cooked to perfection and blended well with the black pepper it was cooked in. Quite liked the Dosa touch to its presentation.

Butter Chicken - I think we were slightly spoilt by the time this arrived, as even though the Butter Chicken tasted good, it still lacked something. Am guessing the reason being, there was nothing extra-ordinary about it and lacked the fun quotient. 

 

Dessert - *Hold your breathe* 

Daulat Ki Chaat - This is called the Daulat Ki Chaat, because it's actually quite a rich dish, rich in flavour i.e. (<--- kindly ignore) Basically, its Rabdi in a mousse form, extremely light and creamy, isn't very sweet thankfully and The Bappi Lahiri in me loved the gold dust that was spread across the Rabdi. Do yourself a favour and don't leave Tresind without giving this a try. 

Jalebi Tacos - I don't even know if it's possible but this just for some odd reason made Jalebi look healthy. 

Maybe this is what Mallika Sherawat should actually endorse instead. You know, like?

Paan flavoured Candy Floss - Just look at it? Need I say more? What a fabulous concept and lovely twist to a mouth-freshner post a meal. Absolutely loved it and couldn't stop myself from sharing a picture of this on every god-damn social media platform. 

Staff - The staff was extremely well trained and well-informed, Also, Science is not an easy Subject, but these servers were pro's and knew their dishes in & out, infact, they also threw a few technical jargons about gastro-molecular food now & then which got RJ's to keep shut (that's an art, right?) *wink*

Also a special shout-out for the Chef Uncle, err I mean Angad (So this is an inside joke, wherein Yachna from our team called out to Angad & fortunately or unfortunately he misheard that as Uncle. But don't worry girls, Chef Angad was far from being an Uncle, he was young, witty & a food magician. 

Ambiance - Tresind was divided into 2 seperate areas, one was a more formal set-up where people were sticking to just food primarily, while the other seemed like the more exciting section with good commercial music playing in the back-ground. Not too sure why was I seated in the first section, that speaks volumes about me, sigh. 

Cost - Places like these makes you want a rich boyfriend or a very kind work-place who sponsors your meals ;) Tresind is definitely an expensive restaurant that you don't simply walk into every other day, but it definitely is a must-try & I recommend it for an anniversary special/ birthday special or just a celebration in general. 

Overall - No points for guessing, we of course has a spectacular time at Tresind and I would rate it a perfect 5/5 and get into my little Mithun Da Judge Mode and say....

P.S. Today is a Wednesday & they have their ladies night tonight. You're welcome ;)

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GIVEAWAY - Bloomsbury

It’s the first day of the month and I thought of doing a little give-away for all you lovely people & what better than a box full of cupcakes and a 1 Kg Red Velvet cake from Bloomsbury?

To participate – Click Here 

Good luck x

Ashas - Yas Mall

Firstly, I would like to use this platform and apologize to Zomato for canning on the foodie meet-ups every single time, clearly I had no idea what I was missing out on. 

A few weeks back I finally managed to attend a Zomato meet up at Ashas - Yas Mall

Honestly I went there with no high expectations from the food at Asha's, because from the little I could remember, the food at the Khalidiya branch (Which is shut now) was very average.

This fine dine restaurant is located on the first floor and no before you pop the question, let me clear this out, they don't continuously play Asha Bhosle songs, just a song or two per hour. 

On getting seated, we were offered a variety of attractive looking mocktails, however, unfortunately I had a sore throat and had to give that a miss. 

There was a customized menu created specially for the meet-up, which I think was extremely impressive.

What I ate? Dal Shorba, Mushroom Kurkure, Chingli Chapp, Seafood Seekh Kebab, Murgh Malai Kebab, Muscat Gosht, Prawn Masala, Butter Chicken, Goan Cashew Chicken, Dal Makhani, Kesar Biryani and Chocolate Mousse Cake. 

The Dal Shorba was a bliss for me that afternoon, considering how bad my throat was then. 

Mushroom Kurkure - This was basically battered, deep fried mushrooms, stuffed with cheese, bell pepper and crushed black pepper. An absolute delight for a vegetarian, if you're looking for an option besides the usual Paneer. 

Chingli Chaap -  Before I tell you what this is, honestly, I've been dreaming about this dish ever since that day. Chingli Chaap is basically jumbo prawns that are marinated in spicy ginger-garlic yoghurt paste, then breaded and deep fried. This may sound a little silly, but the Chingli Chaap tastes like the spicy chicken crust you would find on a KFC chicken piece, stuffed with well-done prawns. Much much much RECOMMENDED, even if you aren't a seafood fan.

Seafood Seekh Kebab, I was pretty fascinated to try this out, as I had never indulged in a Seafood Seekh previously. The seafood seekh was basically finely chopped prawns and fish seekh kebab with cheese and bishp seeds, mildly spiced with green chillies. Thankfully this didn't have a pungent smell of seafood, and was very well cooked too, but somehow, it did not appeal to my taste buds. I would give this a miss. 

Murgh Malai Kebab - These were boneless chicken cubes, that were marinated in a creamy cheese and cashew nut paste with a touch of cardamom. This was extremely tender and juicy. 

Moving on to the main course, 

Muscat Gosht - The muscat gosht was basically boneless tender lamb cooked with butter in a spicy, rich onion and tomato gravy, and Anupa from the Asha's team did such a brilliant job in pre-selling this dish that she convinced my Vegetarian friend to actually give this a try. Everybody on the table unanimously rated this dish a 5/5 - I would definitely recommend this.

The other two Non Vegetarian main course dishes i.e. Butter Chicken and the Goan Cashew Chicken were average. Although I think the Goan Cashew Chicken would have tasted better had it been served with rice (which was suggested by the server too) however, I was too stuffed for rice. 

Kesar Biryani - You could literally get the sniff off the rich saffron from a distance, absolutely loved the Kesar Biryani. 

Lastly, they had two options in their desert menu, Chocolate Mousse Cake and Pista Kesar Malai Kulfi, here again due to my sore throat, I opted for just the Chocolate Mousse Cake, which was not just physically appealing but was delectable too. 

The service? Thanks to my sore throat (wow I've mentioned this way too many times) I came across as one of those cranky and demanding kids, because every 10 minutes I would request the server for a glass of hot water, but clearly that didn't seem to annoy the server at all, as he brought it with the same enthusiasm and smile every single time. 

Also a special thank you to Anupa who has been working with Ashas for over 10 years now, it was a pleasure meeting her, as she gave us an insight on the food served at Ashas. 

Interiors - Most fine-dine Indian restaurants go over the top with their interiors making it look a little tacky, but the atmosphere at Asha's is classy and calm at the same time. 

Pricing - Asha's is definitely heavy on the pocket, but a good option for a special family lunch/ dinner. 

Rating - I would rate Ashas a 4/5 

P.S. Post this meal, all I would like to say is, Dear Asha's

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