What Sam says about____

Saturday 23 July 2016

Asia Alive - Double Tree Hilton - Gurgaon - 4/5

I will sum up my Asian meal experience at Asia Alive last night as Supercalifrajilistic.

My love for Double tree goes back to the days when i was in love with their Moroccan restaurant Casablanca that closed some months back. I still have very fond memoirs of the superb food i had at Casablanca.

I am so glad that I chose Asia alive for our Anniversary dinner and I can't stop raving about the food and the service. Located at the Double Tree by Hilton at the end of Golf course road in Gurgaon Asia Alive serves a variety of dishes across Asia. The menu includes specialities from Malaysia, Indonesia, Burma, India, Thailand, China and even Vietnam. They also have a very impressive Buffet spread if you choose not to go for A la carte. The buffet has a live dessert counter, a live satay station; a live dumpling counter and dishes across the Asian cuisines.

The ambience is very colourful. Bright colourful chandeliers and massive buffet spread sets you in the perfect gastronomic mood. The staff is very very courteous and one of the best service staff I have encountered.

We ordered a portion of Malaysian Laksa Noodle soup, veg dumpling clear soup, veg steamed Vietnamese Popiah and my favourites steam rice with Thai green curry veg. Since the order was taking some time our server was sweet to tell to pick any starter or desserts we like from the buffet till the order was ready. We enjoyed some yummy olives and paneer tikka and some soft dahi kebabs. Everything was perfect.

The order arrived and the meal was simply superb. The Laksa was outstanding and so was the Popiah. The Thai green curry is one of the best in the city.

Then arrived my anniversary cake and let me tell you it was one of the best chocolate truffle cakes i have ever eaten.

If you are looking for a great Asian fine dine experience then Asia Alive should be your next destination. Two thumbs up from Sam.

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Junoon Restro Bar - Gurgaon - 2.5/5

Visited junoon by chance. Had zeroed down initially to Colonels kebabs but it was like we were destined to visit junoon.

Located slightly inconveniently and a little hard to find lift /staircase even though their signage is quite prominent from the entrance of Baani Square. The place was slightly dark when we entered so I took time to adjust to the lighting and then I actually observed the ambience which seems pretty decent and yet colourful. Some nice music was playing and only about 3 tables were occupied.

The staff handed the menus promptly and we placed an order for a fresh lime , a tawa Mushroom , A tawa soya chaap, some garlic Naan , Tawa Chicken and Paneer Butter Masala.

Order arrived pretty swiftly and we asked the servers to serve the very small portions that were given. I was actually astonished that post serving both Appetisers to all 3 of us present whatever was left in the serving bowl the server immediately removed and took the serving bowl back to the kitchen. When I asked him that there was some portion left and he must serve, he politely refused and said nothing was left. I found that pretty strange.

Taste wise I could not differentiate between the tawa Mushroom and the Tawa Soya firstly because both were over loaded with onion and tomato which dominated the flavour. Secondly taste wise there wasn't anything new or unique but I must give them credit that atleast the names of most dishes on the menu were unique. May be we did not order the right dishes, but the servers who were polite though , didn't recommend either.

The chicken was decently but the star of the night was the Paneer Butter Masala which was delicious and the portion size was great. It was one of the best Paneer gravies I have had in this city. The garlic Naan really complimented the dish.

Before we were about to end our meal they served us Golgappa shots which were nice with a shot of whiskey in them. Did not understand the logic of serving them post the meal.

Over all I would say Junoon is just an OK place you can visit if you order the right dishes.

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