Breakfast @ Café Style, Noida

UPDATES (16 Sep 2013) - Cafe Style is closed now. Something which was becoming evident due to low turnouts at the place. There is a Bikanerwala at the same place.

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It was a relatively free Saturday today, after few last weekends, when we decided to have breakfast outside. We have thought about having breakfast out of home earlier as well but there were not enough (read good) options for that in Noida. In Dehli, there are better breakfast and brunch options for the weekends but traveling to them and that too empty-stomach is not a good thing to do for me:)

But I have read about this place in Sector 18 Noida, where they have good breakfast menu. So, we decided to check it today. The place is near Superstars and called 'Café Style'. It is a new joint but has received good reviews wherever I have read about it. It is quite laid-back, spacious and 'stylish'. The first thing that you notice on entering the place is the whole concept. The sofas are comfortable and the chairs are more than spacious. The place is spread in two floors and they have some outside sitting as well. They have some old artifacts (mostly from UK of 50s and 60s) spread across these sitting area - a 1954 scooter, a 1962 car and more.

Since we were there for breakfast, we decided to stick to their breakfast menu only. The breakfast menu is available from 8 AM to noon and has well thought variety. There is a Punjabi style breakfast (Alloo parantha along with curd, pickle, butter and tea), a Mumbai style breakfast (Pao Bhaji along with tea), an English style breakfast (three egg omelette of choice - masala, mushroom, cheese, toast, salad), an Obama style breakfast (bowl of cereals with milk, fruit salad, sausages, croissant and choice of juice) or just plain old cornflakes.

We order one Punjabi style breakfast and one English style breakfast. All the preparations were well done - paranthas were not oily at all and appropriately stuff, toast were properly 'toasted', omelette was also wonderful. And this all topped with masala tea was wonderful. Overall, we had a good experience. We did not go further than the breakfast menu - something left for next time.

Contact Information:-
Café Style
K-1, Dharam Palace,
Sector 18,
Noida
Ph. 0120-4548472

Khandani Rajdhani - Great India Place, Noida

UPDATES (16 Sep 2013) - Khandani Rajdhani is closed now. It has been replaced with Thali Vadi - same setup but different name. Have not tried it yet.

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To get over the Nirula's experience, we headed to Great India Place again to celebrate. This time we did advance booking for Pind Baluchi but once again we were not supposed to eat there. Just as we reached there, we found out that it was filled with women kitty parties:) It was like sitting in between firing across the border with tambola numbers flying through our ears. Since, it was just not the setting we would have liked, we decided to move on to Rajdhani restaurant nearby. And, this time it was a good move.

Khandani Rajdhani is a chain of restaurants which offer the traditional thali concept. They offer unlimited thalis with different items each day on a reasonable cost. The decor and ambience is calm and serene here - no frills and no fuss. So, do not expect luxury here but do expect wonderful food. The thalis consists food items mostly from Rajasthan, Gujrat and Maharastra. Just as you settle down the server will come with warm water to wash your hands - tradition style. And then you are served with welcome drink - in our case it was skimmed milk and aampanna. Then came the starters (Farsan) - White Dhokla and Aloo Tikki. Next in line was main course - a lavish spread of nearly 2-3 chutneys, 5-6 dishes, 2-3 types of breads, and 2 types of rice. So we had, potatoes with gravy, dal, Rajasthani kadi, bhindi rajasthani style and more in main course dishes. While there were green chutney, imli chutney and mirchi chutney along with roasted papads as accompli. Apart from this they had Rajasthan speciality - Dal, Batti and Churma. In the sweet dish, they offer Aamras, Aam Rasmalai and Moong Dal Halwa.

Overall, a truly wonderful experience - all traditional home style food. Meal for two would cost less than Rs.400 here.

Contact Info:-
Rajdhani - Noida
The Great India Place Mall,
3rd Floor,
Sector 38A Noida - 201301
Ph:- 91-9311759990, 91-0120-6488933/4

They have branches all over the country. Have a look here to find out if they are open near you.

Khaja Chowk, Sec-18, Noida

UPDATES (16 Sep 2013) - Khaja Chowk closed down a long time back. There have been several restaurants opened and closed as same place. Not sure which one is running there now.

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Khaja Chowk, a concept-based restaurant chain, has opened its outlet in Noida's Sector 18 market. It is a restaurant inspired by Indian street food. The overall ambience and setup of the restaurant is about daily activities and common scenes across Indian streets. There is also an auto-rickshaw-converted-into-dinning-table for four people. There are also small auto rickshaws as decorative artifacts. Overall, the setup is quite unique and good.

Now, to the food part. The lunch buffet is not good - very less in variety. They claim it to be a five course buffet - which it is not at all. It has no starters, no soups - just 3 veg and 2 non-veg dishes plus one salad + one sweets. Although the rates are cheap (175 for veg buffet and 195 for non-veg buffet), the less of options in the buffet makes it a not-to-go-for thing. We tried a-la-carte instead. One of the starters which we liked was "Khaja Chaat Platter", it was really wonder. It was basically traditional Indian chaat items served with some innovation in terms of toppings & fillings. In main course, we liked "Besan Ke Laddu" a lot - it is Jodhpuri-style filled gram flour dumplings in lemony flavored curry.

Overall, a good place of occasional visit - fits the budget nicely and will go well with each age group.

Chor Bizarre, Noida

UPDATES (16 Sep 2103) - Chor Bizzare at Noida is closed now.  If you want to experience the Chor Bizzare, you would have to go to Hotel Broadway at Asaf Ali Raod in Delhi.

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I thought a lot about which restaurant to rate first. I wanted a favorite of mine to be rated first. And after several thoughts from Flavors to Diva to Pind Balluchi, I settled for one of my most favoured restaurant - Chor Bizarre @ Noida.

Although eating at Chor Bizarre is more towards upper side on the purse but it is good value for money. Beleive me, I have eaten at much expensive places where food does not deserve the price they charge. Plus, the music which they play there is very soothing - old hindi songs from 50's & 60's.

Chor Bizarre is a unique concept in itself. Its name is derived from the famous thief market of old times in Delhi. The restaurant actually started as a collect-from-all collection of different items used - from chairs to paintings to tables to spoons - everything was taken from that thief market. And once the restaurant became popular - it was made the USP of the chain. The one at Noida also has the decor based on same philosophy.

The food is inclined towards Kashmiri & Wazwan cuisine (the original Wazwan cuisine used to had 36 courses - a lot to eat!!). My suggestion would be if you go there for food then order Kashmiri or Wazwan food - it is one of the best you can get outside Kashmir.

My recommended menu would be:-
1. Go for salad bar + buffet - unlimited salad/food/sweets (part of a fixed price menu)
OR
1. For starters
- Go for non-veg platter as a starter. It consists of delicious sheekh kebabs, shammi kebabs, fish tikka & chicken tikka.
- If you like seafood a lot - go for "Tandoori Prawns" instead.
- If you insist on kashmiri food only, then go for a delicious kashmiri dish - "Tabak Maz". It is flattened lamb chops and the taste is oh-just-so-good.
2. In main course go for
- Hak (a light and pleasant tasting dish made of Collard greens is cooked in water, salt and oil). It is the most simple-yet-wonderful vegetarian dish I have ever eaten. Served with a bowl of rice at Chor Bizarre.
- Gushtaba or Rishta (dishes of minced mutton balls served with a ladle-ful of its Gravy). Rishta is small spicy lamb balls in red sauce, melting-in-the-mouth , Kashmiri dish. Gushtaba is mutton, bigger round ground pieces, made in white sauce, again very tasty. Their sauces are of rather strange-yet-feels-good-to-me taste - tangy (this is word closest to their taste).
- Breads (with these dishes anything would go)
3. In the sweets
- Phirni is worth trying; rest are just okay. You can actually skip them, which I usually do.
4. Drinks
- Do not go for them (except a beer, maybe). Reason being they are costly and nothing not available anywhere else.

Cost for two person:-
1. Without drinks it would be around 1K.
2. With drinks - sky is the limit :)

Go there for:-
1. Best Kashmiri or Wazwan food in NCR
2. Good Music

Contact Info:
Chor Bizarre
Savoy Suites,
A-79A, Sector 16,
Noida
Uttar Pradesh
Phone:- (0120)-2511420