What Sam says about_____?: January 2016

Tuesday, 26 January 2016

Thaichi Street Baani Square Gurgaon - 4/5

I am a big fan of South Asian Cuisine. And the lack of great places in our city selling amazing Pan asian food breaks my heart. One wintry weekend we were planning to raid sector 29 Gurgaon and go food trucking however since the mercury levels in the weather were playing havoc we decided to sit somewhere and have some hot soup and dimsums.

Having heard so much about Big wong, we decided to visit Big Wong at Baani Square however Saturday night dinner rush made it impossible for us to get a table without a prior reservation. And boy am I glad that happened. It was serendipity. We decided to visit Thaichi street and the only reason that made me decide on the place was the presence of Burmese Khaosuey on the menu.

Located on the ground floor of Baani Square, though Thaichi Street is a small joint, yet it sweeps you off your feet with some excellent food. The Ambiance is pretty colorful with cute Murals on the walls reminding you of Thailand and other Asian countries. Since the place has limited seating, I recommend you make a prior reservation. The menu has Thai, Malaysian, Chinese and influences from a lot of southeast Asian countries and is yet a crisp and interesting menu. There's a Thai green curry to an Indonesian Nasi Goreng and even the Malaysian rendang.

So all 4 of us decided on ordering Chicken and Veg Khaosuey and a portion of Yaki Gyoza Veg (pan fried Dumplings). We were greeted with a cup of hot Jasmine tea. Nice strong aroma of Jasmine tea leaves was mesmerizing and only preceded an even better meal. Then came the Khaosuey. Even though the pricing is a little steep, and quantity could be more, yet the taste makes you forget everything else. Perfect Khaosuey with the vital ingredients used as garnish. Loved the subtle taste of coconut milk and the lemon grass and bamboo shoot. Perfection to the core.

I was pleasantly surprised at the superb taste of the Pan fried dimsums. I have had loads of them before at a lot of places. But could not fathom that veg pan fried dimsums could taste so good. They were absolutely delicious and a must have if you visit Thaichi.

The service is pretty swift, and even though the staff is a bit rough around the edges and needs a bit more of training on service like preplated food to be served from which side and clearance from which side. Other than that the staff is very friendly and hospitable.

I would strongly recommend Thaichi Street as one stop shop to satiate your Pan asian cuisine cravings. So visit as soon as you can.

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Thursday, 21 January 2016

Sam's recipe: Spaghetti and Meat Balls in Tomato Sauce

Well, this recipe was more like a last minute emergency dinner thing, but turned out really well, so took the trouble to pen this down for you so that you could enjoy this as much as I did.

You need :-

1 pack 500g Spaghetti
3 medium sized ripe blanched tomatoes, peeled and finely chopped
7-8 cloves of Garlic
50g butter
20g Fresh Basil
250g Venkys Meatballs packet (you can use any other ones also)
Salt to taste
1 tea spoon dried Mix herbs
handful of green / Black Olives
2 tablespoons Olive oil
Juice of one lemon

Method

Boil the spaghetti in Water with a tea spoon of salt and 1 tablespoon olive oil. Boil till al-dente. Strain and keep aside.

Wash the Meat balls and Boil them in water till soft

Add butter to a pan and add one tea spoon of oil

Add chopped Garlic, Olives and chopped Blanched Tomatoes and half the basil and herbs and juice of one lemon. Cook till the tomatoes are soft and the mix transforms into a thick sauce.

Add the Meat Balls and the remaining basil.

In a serving plate keep a ladleful of spaghetti and make a depression in the middle and add the fish in tomato sauce on top

Garnish with fresh basil leaves and a dollop of butter on top and serve

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Firangz, Dwarka - sad - 2.5/5

Honestly I never thought I would visit the place. But when I did I was neither too impressed not too disappointed. This place is sort of like a small room where benches and a few tables have been squeezed in so forcibly that one has to make an effort to get in and sit. Ambiance is kind of zero. Not sure why could they not stick to delivery only because the dine in set up i very disappointing. The person who took our order made a phone call post taking the order and asked someone to come and sit so that he could go to the kitchen and cook. Man! What a downer I thought. We ordered veg bruschetta, chicken caesar salad and chicken penne in white sauce.

It took them almost half hour to bring the food on the table and the owner justified that by saying that they were short staffed and had some delivery orders too. How unprofessional I thought. The bread of the bruschetta was so hard that I thought I was eating rusk rather than a bruschetta. The ceaser salad wasnt bad taste wise. Dressing could have been slightly lesser. The pasta had an overdose of butter / oil and I felt as though I was digging into an iraqi oil well trying to find pasta. The chicken wings were oh so hard.

I think they must either stick to delivery only or mend their ways, coz I do not see this place surviving in the long run. Sorry did not have the heart to click food pics post my sad experience. But have attached the picture of our food bill

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Saturday, 16 January 2016

Sam's Mulled wine recipe - To warm you up this winter

Mulled Wine is a very European thing to have during winters especially with the start of the Christmas season. Mulled wine is more popular in United Kingdom than most European countries. Mulled wine is usually made with red wine and flavour is imparted by adding some fruits and spices and served warm or absolutely hot.

This winter drink is your perfect companion to warm up your senses and get you a little happy high. So here I bring to you my very simple recipe that even the non-cooks can make at home and enjoy with the family. Cheers!

This recipe is being made with 2 bottles of wine sufficient for 6 people considering they have 2 glasses each.

Ingredients

1 lemon sliced

1 big ripe Orange, sliced with the zest

Sugar to taste (if you are using Port wine, you may not need sugar, be your own judge, taste and decide)

7-8 cloves

1 stick cinnamon

a couple of bay leaves

1 piece of nutmeg , grated

vanilla essence 1/2 tea spoon

2-3 star anise

2 bottles of any red wine (when making Mulled Wine I prefer Port wine since its sweeter)

a couple of slices of Orange with the peels pierced with 6 vertical lines of cloves to use as a garnish.

2-3 pieces green cardamom

Method

Use a big Bowl or a sauce pan and put it on medium flame. Add all the ingredients in this container including the bottles of wine on low flame. Let this simmer till the sugar has completely dissolved and the mix starts to boil all on low flame. We want the flavour of the spices to get infused in the wine hence cooking on low flame is important. Also because we do not want to burn the wine. Let it boil for only 5-8 minutes, ladle it out and serve.

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Chefingo - Healthy low cal food - Gurgaon - 3/5

My lunch today was from chefingo. Food panda was giving a 30 % discounted menu coupled with the fact that Zomato had decent reviews I decide to give this place a shot. I read that a nutritionist has planned the menu, seems interesting, however the menu is very very limited and not many vegetarian options and now as a vegetarian I realise that most places have very few veg options as compared to the non veg items. The food panda menu showed a chicken sandwich without the option of a single veg sandwich. Nonetheless I placed the order for a veg ceasar Salad and a Tofu Fajita.

Order arrived about ten minutes late than the time promised, however that one can ignore. I am surprised some people in their reviews on zomato mentioned they were happy with the quantity. Either I ended up getting smaller portions because it was a food panda discounted order or those people actually got huge quantities for the price.

The fajita tasted good but for the price one is paying for it did not match the size. They could probably use a longer wrap or use more stuffing because the quantity seems almost miniscule vis a vis the price. And what let them down big time was the quantity of the salad. For the price the quantity can be most definitely be more. Also I am sure the nutritionist can advise the chef to use a slightly lesser dressing in the salad, because people who order salads are calorie conscious, or dressing can be given separately. My salad tasted decent, however it had soggy croutons and an overdose of dressing. Guys, if Low cal is your USP please use this USP to your advantage vigilantly.

The place definitely has potential but they need to realise that when you are new you need to create a good first impression so that you get repeat orders. SO it does not make sense to compromise on portions and prices to maximise margins and end up driving away customers, because taste wise I see no problem here.

Guys, I hope the place works on my recommendation, however you could give them a try, they are probably still recovering from the nascent stage.

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Wednesday, 13 January 2016

Sushi House Mafia - The new Food truck in Gurgaon - 4/5

Leisure valley in Gurgaon today is home to a number of food trucks. Amongst these I have tried the Eggjactly food truck, drifters cafe, something saucy and now Gurgaon gets it's Ist dedicated sushi food truck. Presenting to you Sushi House Mafia from the house of the Eggjactly Food truck. Having tried the superb food at Eggjactly I was certain that this truck is also bound to be a winner. And normally one thinks twice before going an expensive Sushi bar and trying your hand at over priced Sushi. So the idea of a Sushi food truck excited me and considering that they have both have and non veg variants this truck should attract a large number of junta.

Since I was planning on taking the plunge to vegetarianism I thought I can't go to the other side before trying every meat on the planet. And fish was on that list of meats, hence sushi. Priced at 350 bucks for 8 pieces of non vegetarian Sushi Sam says it's a steal. Decent size Sushi served with pickled ginger, wasabi and Soy in a take away box with two chopsticks is damn neat. Your order is taken and is ready pretty swiftly in about less than ten minutes while you wait in your car. What more do you want.

I tried the Dynamon Sushi which was salmon coated with sesame and the Crispy Prawn Sushi and let me tell you both of them were mind blowing with that kick of wasabi and soy!

Boys this truck is a sure winner. May be I will try veg Sushi next week n tell u how it was. In the mean time go take your cars out and heat out today evening and explore Sushi house Mafia and you will go back home with a yummy tummy.

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Thursday, 7 January 2016

Nooba - Golf Course Road, Gurgaon - Superb Fine dine Asian bistro - 4.5/5

It was new years eve and we kind of made last minute dinner plans and decided on visiting Another fine day in Gurgaon, however my husband just did not want to drive past the Ibis hotel and asked me if we wanted to dine at Nooba. I instantly said yes and we landed ourselves at Nooba. Even though we were one of the only few to be dining at Nooba on New years eve, but I had a hunch that we were up for a good time.

Nooba has a nice fine dine ambiance, and like most asian places red dominates the colour scheme used in the furnishings and fixtures. I like the fact that it is a “No frills attached” kind of a place. Nothing too flashy nor too simple. They have nice casual to semi formal seating. We seated ourselves and ordered ourselves a bottle of red wine Sula Chiraz. Even though I felt the menu is pretty limited but has decent options in both veg, non veg and various types of meat and fish. We ordered a variety of dishes ranging from prawns to fish amongst other vegetarian dishes. Food was superb portion wise, pricing wise and taste wise. The staff is very courteous and attentive.

Coming down to taste test this is what we had.

Ø Chengdu Chilli Garlic Fried Prawns – Batter coated prawns served with a nice dip, it is a must have for prawn lovers
Ø Mushroom Seasonal Panfried Dumpling – One of the best I have had and they certainly out shone the non veg starters.
Ø Lamb steamed dumpling with herbs – Nice dumplings, even though they could add a couple of more pieces to the portion
Ø Salt and pepper fried Mushroom – Nice hot and crisp batter coated Mushrooms which were outstanding
Ø Sliced Fish noodle bowl in Chilli Garlic Sauce – One word to describe them – outstanding! Portion size is good
Ø Sliced Chicken Noodle bowl in Black pepper sauce – A great portion for 2 people and is almost a meal in itself
Ø Seasonal Vegetable noodle bowl in Sichuan Sauce – A great meal for vegetarians.
Ø Apple Pie with Ice Cream – A great pie complementing the ice cream.
Ø Walnut brownie Cake – Full marks. A perfect treat for ones sweet tooth.

I enjoyed our meal and had a great time with my family on New years eve. Nooba is a place I will recommend if you love Asian food and are not stuck up if the food is 100% authentic or not, because the food is outstanding, atleast the dishes I had were fabulous. So this place definitely deserves a visit.

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