Mumbai Matinee (The Bollywood Cafe), Sector 18, Noida

This review comes after a long time. First things first, I have decided to change the format of reviews to include different aspects of the place and give ratings to each one of them. Most common aspects would be - food, decor, and service but there could be other occasional things which are worth mentioning for a particular place like music, drinks or USP etc...

Mumbai Matinee (The Bollywood Cafe), Sector 18, Noida

Discovered by chance while roaming around in Sector 18 market and after being to this place three times, this place does not live up to its "name" hype. Well, for a place called Mumbai Matinee, one would expect blockbuster food - isn't that what Bollywood is all about. But Mumbai Matinee fails miserably in food department. Seriously, how can one go wrong with Vada Pav.

Decor
Nostalgic. Do I need to say more. For someone who grew up in 80s & 90s and had always loved the wonderful bygone era of Bollywood, this place is really nostalgic. It has posters from old movies - some of them which even I had not seen till now. And then it has the LPs (not the real ones but very much realistic fakes) on the ceiling. Plus it has famous dialogues from some of the movies in the outer room (on first floor). To complete the look, there are boxes created out of old cassette covers - remember those tapes we used to play in our cassette players. Now this one is old for some of the readers to understand:)

One thing which hurts me in the decor is the 'Wall of Legends'. It contains a small biography of legends of Bollywood. Nice concept but the hurting part is
- There is no mention of Dilip Kumar there. I mean - this is tragic!!!
- And then there is Parveen Babi and Firoz Khan. With all due respect to the latter, isn't this too much and then Parveen Babi - seriously ???

Music
For someone who has grown up hearing 80s and 90s music - don't laugh - this is a good place to enjoy those songs. Music is indeed good here - one can enjoy oldies as well as 80s/90s music. The volume can be tones down a bit due to the small place and closed interiors but then it depends on your mood as well.

Service
Overall pass-able. I have not waited too long for my orders ever - which is what matters. Plus the staff is courteous. Only thing which I noticed was the staff to be less knowledgeable. For example, if they cannot understand a demand for Pesto sauce pasta then something is missing. But then, Noida has always been devoid of good knowledgeable staff in restaurants. No surprises on this one.

Food
Coming to the probably the most important in a restaurant, food fails to make a mark to me at this place. On all my visits, I have tired nearly all items from their 'Mumbai Matinee Special' section and some pastas for my young one. Anything listed as 'Special' in the menu should be special but I am afraid they fail to make a mark. It is not that they are bad but they are just not special. I have tried Misel Pav, Vada Pav, Keema Pav, Pav Bhaji - nearly covering the whole 'Special' menu but none of them are outstanding. Moving on to pastas, they are very much 'Indianized' so to say. The sauces smell and taste very much Indian. Overall, food needs a huge lift in this otherwise good conceptualized eating joint.

Drinks
Well, this the part I have been there 3 times - specially their cutting chai. If you want to get a good cutting chai - this is the place to be in Sector 18. The cutting chai is just the right quantity of tea one would want to enjoy with the food. Made with perfect amount of milk and perfectly sweetened, it makes the food taste somewhat better.Perfect for a rainy day.

Here are the ratings on different aspects
Decor - 4/5
Service - 3/5
Music - 4.5/5
Food - 2/5
Tea - 5/5 :)

Details
Mumbai Matinee
J-19, Sector 18
Noida
National Capital Region (NCR)

New Town Cafe - Park Plaza, Noida

After nearly one year break on this blog, I have now decided to pen down my experiences and reviews once again. Let's hope this stretch continues unremittingly.

So, the first one after a long hiatus is New Town Cafe at Park Plaza, Noida. Over the time this restaurant has become one of my families preferred choice to spend a relaxing, cool evening out. Main reason is the relaxed ambiance plus lots of space for our daughter to roam around. The only drawback is their focus on buffet leaving their a-la-carte menu limited in choices. But nevertheless, if you want to relax and have good food, this is the place to go although a little bit costly than most of the other places in Noida.

NTC surely have the most elaborate buffet menu in whole of Noida. The choice of dishes specially the starters, cold cuts and deserts is sufficiently wide. And that is the main reason for us to not try that - we basically do not eat a lot. From the a-la-carte, worth trying are Antipasti Platter in the starters, Nasi Goreng from oriental selection, Grilled tenderloin steak or Ratatouille Lasagne from international selections, Nalli Awadi Korma (slow cooked lamb shanks in a curd based gravy) or Anjeer Ke Kofte (cottage cheese dumplings stuffed with figs and cooked with tomatoes). Their Indian dishes are served with rice/choice of bread, salad, pickle and Dal Makhani (black lentils). Top it up with Paan Ice Cream at the end.

Also, one of the places in Noida where you can get good food till 1 in the morning. Meal for two would cost something like 1600 bucks.

Contact Information:-
New Town Cafe
Lobby Level, Park Plaza
C Block, Sector 55,
Noida
Phone - +91-120-4678888

Kaustubh - Great India Place, Noida

Last evening, after not being able to handle the scorching heat of Noida, me and my family decided to spend some cool time by window shopping in Great India Place and increase the footfall in the mall by some numbers.

So, having gone through some shops specially Odyssey, we decided to have dinner in GIP itself. With my father-in-law opting for a Dosa, and me being not so excited nowadays for South Indian food, I thought why did I actually gave him the choice :) :)

But in the end, we decided to step into Kaustubh, a super specialty South Indian restaurant, on the third floor. Kaustubh is a chain of South Indian QSR (Quick Service Restaurants), which have now opened their branches in NCR region - one in Saket and another one in Noida.

And I must say that having South Indian food there was a different experience altogether. It was wonderful to see so many varieties and proper main course offerings. As a part of menu offerings, the restaurant offers a wider range from all the four states of Andhra Pradesh, Kerala, Tamil Nadu and Karnataka. This is something hard to find in NCR since most of the South India restaurants either offer just the 'dosa-idli-vada' thing or include North Indian offerings in their menu as well.

But the food at Kaustubh is South Indian only. Although, they have 30 kinds of Dosas with them, I would suggest to go for more traditional cuisine like Chettinad or other local cuisines. The flavor is truly wonderful and the preparations speak of someone who knows the South India cuisine. They also have fixed meals and thalis to sample different items but most of them are restricted only to normal dosas, idlis, vada and do not include other specialty cuisine items.

Although the service could have been better for a QSR but overall a must go. Meal for two would cost something around 350-400 bucks.

Contact Information:-
Kaustubh
3rd Floor, Great India Place
Noida (U.P.)

Also at
D-2/5&6,
Southern Park Mall,
Behind Select City Mall,
Saket,
New Delhi-110017
Tel:44625611/22/33

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.

Nirula's, Great India Place

Last week, colleagues in my office decided to celebrate an occasion with eating out. So, we decided to go to newly opened Pind Balluchi at Great India Place. Once we reached to this place, we were told there is around half-an-hour waiting due to some kitty parties going on. Dejected, we went to TGI Friday’s but discovered probably world’s only TGIF serving no liqueur leading us to once again looking for a new place to eat. Running out of options, we zeroed-in at Nirula’s. They have this so called multi-cuisine restaurant.

I have read somewhere that sometimes you take wrong turn in life and regret it later on. Going to Nirula’s on that day was surely such a wrong turn. It was the worst food, worst service, worst staff and worst value-for-money I have ever seen in my life. I have to Nirula’s other outlets in the past like the CP one or the one at Noida Sector-2, the food has been just about okay – nor too bad neither something to go ga-ga over. But the food at this place is worst one can make and even charge heavily for it.

Since we were in a group of 12 people, we nearly tried at least one item from each of their sections. We tried assorted non-veg kebabs, non-vegetarian kebab platter with dal / roti, chicken fillet burger, chicken chop, fried chicken, fried fish, non-vegetarian thali, mutton sausage pizza and non-vegetarian pizza - and nearly each one was equally bad. Only good thing was a starter called samosa sticks. I do not how one can consistently make each dish as bad as previous one – but it was surely done by the cook at this place. Also, the staff was aloof – not well trained and the place was full of flies all around. Water was warm, cold drink machine not working, food was served pretty slow and air conditioner was not working.

I hope somebody from Nirula’s upper management reads this blog or my comments with the local management at this place and do something about it. It is like killing a brand – if they continuously keep serving such stuff customer after customer.

Never ever go to this place.

Swagath Restaurant

Swagath Restaurant is a famous chain of restaurants in NCR which specializes in Indian Mughlai food and Coastal food. It is surely the best restaurant in the coastal food category in Delhi and NCR. The main restaurant is at Defence Colony with branches at Malviya Nagar and Noida. It is a non-vegetarian foodies paradise - nearly any non-veg item from their menu is worth ordering. Vegetarian food is also quite good - although it is more famous for its non-vegetarian offerings.

For the starters, try Fish Tikka Ajwani (Boneless Fish Marinated with Yoghurt, Ginger, Garlic and Gram Flour; flavoured with Ajwain cooked in Tandoor), Mutton Seekh Kebab (Minced Lamb Marinated with Ginger , Garlic Paste with touch of red chilly, finished in clay oven) or any Fish Fry. For the main course try Chicken Stew, traditional Butter Chicken (some of the critics do rate it as one of the best butter chicken in Delhi) or Chicken Masala Chettinad. Try Mutton Biryani or Subz Biryani - they are really wonderfully cooked. Since I am not a great admirer of coastal food, I have not tries their coastal food options more but they are surely regarded as the best in Delhi.

They also offer Chinese food but I will suggest to just skip it since this is not what they are best at. The cost is little bit high but it is worth every buck you spend. Food for two would cost around 900 bucks (without drinks). They do home delivery as well and their portions for home delivery are quite large.

Contact Info:-
Swagath
14, Defence Colony Market
New Delhi
Ph:- +91-11-24337538

Swagath
C-8, Malviya Nagar
New Delhi - 17
Ph:- +91-11-51830622, 51830613, 51830640, 51830649

Swagath
J-57, Sector - 18,
Noida (U.P.)
Ph:- +91-120-2516066, 4240619

Lemon Twist

Lemon Twist, at Sector 63 Noida, is a new restaurant from people behind Lotus Pond, Delhi and Bamboo Shoots, Noida. The restaurant is a variation from their older tradition Chinese cuisine restaurants - here the focus is more on fusion cuisine. The restaurant is situated in two floors - the lower one is a tradition restaurant setting while the upper one is a open terrace setting along with a grill. They are promoting the place as a Oriental Wok and Grill place. Since I visited the place for a lunch, I was seated in the lower part of it. The decor is good - place feels comfortable. The staff is surely not up to the mark - they seems less knowledgeable about Chinese food (which is a bad thing if the place is termed as Oriental Wok place).

We ordered two starters - Vegetable dim sum (which they called SiuMai - although they were no way close to the SiuMai we are fond of) and Crispy Spinach With Red Peppers. The second one was good but the dim sums were just okay. In main course, we went for Exotic Vegetables In Lemon Chilli Sauce, Shitake Mushroom In Fried Sesame Rice along with American Chopsuey. I think this was after a long time that I had order Chopsuey at some place - and I was again disappointed with it. The main course and rice were good although the rice quality could have been better. Overall, we left with a mixed feeling towards the food - sometime good and sometime not-so-good.

Although they are terming their place as the one where a "portion" of salad, soup, starter or main course is sufficient just for one, it is still enough for two people in most cases. The rates are not high, when compared to Bamboo Shoot or Lotus Pond. But then the food is also not that good. In my opinion, worth an occasional visit only. The location surely makes it an easy access for people working in Sector 55/56/58/62/63 and other nearby sectors.


Contact Info:-
Lemon Twist
H-1A/16, Sector 63
Noida
Ph:- (0120)4217500

Brahmputra Complex, Sector 29, Noida

This is road-side eating at its best - the evening food stalls at the Brahmputra Complex, Sector 29, Noida is just fabulous. The food at these around 15 stalls offers great variety while being not heavy on your pocket. You have to eat standing up or in your car but you will not regret coming here just for that.

In vegetarian food, there are momos, soups, chaat, aloo-tikki, steamed corn and bhelpuri. The aloo-tikkis are crisp and good on your tongue. Bhelpuri is also spicy and you would surely ask for second helping. In non-vegetarian food, the variety increases a lot. Numerous stalls offer different tikkas, seekh kebabs, boti kebabs, shammi kebabs, chicken/mutton korma along with roomali roti and chicken/mutton biryanis. The tikkas and seekh kebabs are specially worth trying along with mutton korma. But there is a warning here - some of the stalls serve very spicy food, so be ready to deal with it. And then there are two good juice shops if you feel to beat that heat on your tongue or in your throat. Plus, you can always try some sweets from Evergreen later on to complete your dinner.

Surely, worth a place for good enough food at reasonable price - provided you are not too keen on ambience.

Pearls Regency, Noida

Pearls Regency is situated in Ganga Shopping Complex, Sector 29, Noida. It is a place very hit with office crowd in the afternoons and with families in the evening. It has three portions - a Chinese restaurant, a bar and an Indian restaurant. In the evening there is a live ghazal program in the Indian restaurant, where you can ask for your choices. The ambience is okay but the food is cheap, good and quantities are big.

Best is to stick with Indian cuisine here. Try Murgh Sheekh Kebabs or Murgh Tikka for non-veg starters. If you are into vegetarian stuff only then go for Tandoori Bharwan Aloo. In main course, go for Paneer Tak-A-Tak Masala, Plain Dal or Malai Kofta in vegetarian. In non-veg stuff, go for Murgh Makhan Wala (Butter Chicken) or Rogan Wala Gosht. Accompany it with Pineapple Raita.
Wonderful stuff - good typical Indian food in reasonable prices. Liquor is also not too costly here. Do make sure that you do not order more than you can eat - they have good servings. Also ask for company discount - you would usually get 15-20 percent discount. They have home delivery options as well which is quite reliable. They offer 10 percent discount on home delivery as well.

Contact Info:-
Pearls Regency
R-253,
Block 1, Ganga Shopping Complex,
Sector 29
Noida - 201301
Phone: (0120) 2450061, 2450062, 2450063
Free Delivery Timings: 12:00 Noon to 3:15 PM and 7:00 PM to 11:15 PM

Pind Balluchi, Noida

Yes, the famous Pind Balluchi restaurant is now open in Noida as well. It is situated on the top floor of the Unitech's Great India Place in Sector 38A (in front of Sector 18). Since the Lajpat Nagar's Pind Balluchi is now closed due to sealing done by government, this is the closest Pind Balluchi for Noida people.

The ambience is surely not as good as the original one in Lajpat Nagar but the food is still the same. Classic punjabi food and pretty cheap - to read more about what good there, have a look at http://gluttonous-me.blogspot.com/2008/01/pind-balluchi-lajpat-nagar.html

Berco's, Noida

Berco's in sector 12, Noida is one of the oldest restaurants in the city. It is a oriental cuisine restaurant, specializing in Chinese. Its Chinese cuisine may not be the authentic one but still it is worth a visit (a maybe more). If you are working nearby, then it is a really good place for a lunch. The place actually gets very much crowded for lunch - so start early (12:30 types) if you want your orders to be quickly served. Also, it is a good joint for having reasonably priced liquor - they have happy hours during the day (till 7 or 8 in the evening). I have been to this place many times because it is pretty close to my office.

On to food, as I said most of it is chinjabi food. But it is still very good - and surely looks great with good liquor/beer. In veg starters, you can try Crispy Corn Pepper, Spring Rolls and Crispy Chilli Potatoes. In non-veg starters, you can go for Juicy Chicken Drumsticks, Chilli Garlic Crispy Chicken and Chicken Kunchao. In veg main course, try Vegetable Holy Basil, Three Treasure Vegetables Hunan Style or Classic Thai Red/Green Curry. In non veg main course, one can go for Holy Basil Chicken, Mongolian Chicken or Chicken Peking Delight. They have some pre-defined meal combos as well containing salad, rice/noodles along with main dish in sauce of choice - which is worth the money.

Average cost per person is around 200 bucks (no drinks). If you go for combo meal, it would be much cheaper (only around 150 per person).

Contact Details:-
Berco's
R-1 Barat Ghar Complex
Sector-12
Noida
U.P.- 201301
Phone : (120)2545376 / 277
Mobile : 9350583325

They have other branches in NCR as well:

CONNAUGHT PLACE
G-43/3, Middle Circle, Connaught Place,
New Delhi-110001
Phone : 41513541 / 42
Mobile: 9350536583

JANAKPURI
R-2, DDA Building
Janak Palace District Centre
Janakpuri
Phone : 25532777 / 999
Mobile : 9350536712

KAMLA NAGAR
38-UA, Jawahar Nagar Bungalow Road
Kamla Nagar
Delhi-110007
Phone : 23854660 / 23856988 / 32905525
Mobile : 9350583279

PREET VIHAR
A-Block Market, LSC No.6,
New Delhi-110092
Phone no-65486551/64683651
Mobile no.9899795568

PITAMPURA
Pankaj Arcade Plot No 18, Road No. 44,
Rani Bagh Commercial Complex
Pitampura
Delhi-110034
Phone : 27011527 & 37
Mobile : 9350584711

VAISHALI
Ansal Plaza Opposite Dabur Factory
Vaishali
Ghaziabad U.P.
Phone : 95120-3261363 & 65
Mobile : 9350585044

GURGAON
S-01, Central Plaza Sector 53,
DLF Phase-5
Gurgaon Haryana
Phone: (0124)4143001-003
Mobile : 9911675299

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.

Latitude @ Mosaic, Noida

Latitude is a multi-cuisine restaurant at the mezzanine level of Hotel Mosaic, Noida. From past sometime, it has become a frequently visited place by me. The decor is quite subtle and professional. Seating arrangements are comfortable and the staff is cheerful. Food is of varied cuisine - Oriental, Indian, & Continental and nearly most of them are good.

For starters, try Greek Salad or any of the kebabs - they are really good. In the Indian menu main course, try Nalli Gosht (a lamb curry on the bone with grindless gravy), Bhindi Jaipuri (crispy, stir-fried Okra) and/or Paneer Lababdar (cubes of cottage cheese cooked with tomatoes, cashew nuts and whole ground spices). Go for Hyerabadi Gosht Biryani (rice + lamb with tasty spices) - it is really one of the best ones I have tasted in Noida. In the Oriental menu main course, try Chinese Vegetable in Hoisin Sauce. They have a daily buffet in lunch also which has good number of items and variety - costs a little on higher side though (699 plus taxes).

Overall, a good place to go with your family and enjoy good food. Average cost of two person would be around 800 (without drinks).

Contact Info:

Mosaic Hotels
C – 1, Sector – 18, Noida – 201301
Tel Phone: (0120) 4025000

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