The Dutch Affair!

My first day today off from work! went for a morning 'Stroll"which was quite a lot of workout after very long. Later went to Phoenix Mills Lower Parel, for the Dutch Food Festival called 'Holland meets Mumbai' at Food Hall in Palladium. It was quite an interesting fair, the first of the kind i think, never been to an Dutch food festival before. 

The Food Fest started today on 1st June 2015, and is on till 7th June 2015. This fest will introduce to some amazing delicacies the Orange land offers such as StroopWaffles - waffle made from thin layers of baked dough with a caramel-like syrup filling and world famous cheeses like Edam and Gouda. They have a demo counter filled with a variety of Dutch dishes for you to try. The event was launched by the Dutch Ambassador who also tried his hands at giving us some yummy dutch food. Do try the pancakes, waffles, white asparagus with hollandaise sauce along with mashed potatoes, its like heaven.

Making my day a little different

Mumbai, the city of dreams! Everyone is so busy in their jobs and routines. At times i feel that the city runs on a clock only for some people atleast.  6 o'clock get up, 8 o'clock leave for work so on and so forth. I don't blame anyone, living in this city is getting expensive. hussshhh!!!! Now even i have become one of these people so functions around clocks. Home to Work  to Home to Work from monday to friday and at times on a saturday also. There is nothing exciting or different about my day left. Same old Same old! But there always comes a break to such routines i hoped and prayed to god to help me make it happen. And it did! Yay!

A impromptu diner got scheduled(God my language has gotten so like formal now) with a friend. Being a Thursday night, we decided to go some quicks but yum food! Always when i passed pedder road, i saw this small place next to VAMA, called 'The Loco Chino'. Was curious to know about this place when my colleague mentioned that it was quite good. So we visited this beautiful and quirky place situated on the traficcky peddler road. 

The LOCO CHINO! sounds quite different right. Well hell it is! It a fusion of Mexican and Chinese Cultures. The whole place including the menu, decor and ambience lives upto to this USP of theirs.
A small shop, with painted walls of Chinese characters dressed in Mexican clothes and colours. It gives a very nice and positive feeling. Now coming to the food, the food here is quite delicious. Not very spicy being a mexican place. Loco Chino has a small menu with chinese and mexican dishes which are quite reasonably priced! Service is quite good! Staff is very friendly. We eat quite a lot of food like Fiesta Nachos,Chicken Tacos, Veg Buritos and smoked spicy chicken Dim Sum which all were amazing! But the star of our meal was the dessert, Churros with chocolate sauce! YUMMY!
The best i have ever eaten! Must go for the bad boys! They were so good that the removed the stress of the entire day and made me feel wow again! :D I had a huge small on my face after eating those! wow i would love some more again!

Cost For two people: around 600

Location: Pedder Road, Next to VAMA

Going Quirky!!!

A long weekend on Holi! Doesn't it sound like a great idea for a trip! When nothing works up the best thing is to enjoy the Saturday with your bestie. A fun filled day with movies, lunch and shopping.

We went to PVR Pheonix and saw Dum lag ke haisha which is a very good movie! A must watch! Promising performances and great direction of photography!

While waiting for the movie to start, I began browsing through the kiosks on the second floor near Audi 5&6. There was a kiosk of 'Chumbak', a great brand who designs colourful and quirky products like bags, wallets, stationery, t shirts etc. Immediately was drawn to the colourful shop. There were so many many things to buy but i ended up buying to 2 notebooks and a wallet.

One notebook with pages with lines, to do lists, and the awesome thing a tic tac pod! which costed 295/-. It had multi coloured designs of building on the cover making it so cool to own it!

Another notebook is just a blank book for sketching and writing with graphic rickshaw designs on the cover giving it a very fun feel. Price Rs 95/-

And a pocket sized wallet, which has 4 card slots, one coin pouch, inside pocket, strap on press button closure. Price Rs 795/-

Do visit the website for some colour in your daily stuff!

http://www.chumbak.com

New Year with My Sista!

On 31st December afternoon, post work (I know working on 31st December very blah!!!) But pre- partying with my sister from another mother :P was going to be fun! Very intense talks about people :P, happening in the surrounding etc. needed a place as hoopla as us!!! So we decided to go to the new little European place called 'Terttulia' in Shivaji Park. 

A beautiful cozy place with such a great ambience, food and drinks we needed in this area! The decor is one of the best restaurant decor i have seen! Cute Chandeliers, vintage chairs and tables all the works. Plus it has a bar where you can sit and have a nice chat with the bartender if you can't get a table. Our drink of the evening was their special Sunday Sangria. Its one of the best sangrias you can ever taste. It is a must have! If you are chocoholic, please try their MUD CAKE!!! Yum is a understatement for the divine feeling you get after eating the cake!!!




Must Eat: Terttulia's Sunday Sangria, Pizza Terttulia 

Timings: 9 AM to 1 AM

Location: The lane before Open House on Veer Savarkar Marg

Cost: Rs.1400 for two people (approx.) Cash and Cards accepted

Kalaghoda 2015

Finally got the day off that was needed! But also on the luckily on the first day of the Kalaghoda festival. I would say in the many of the visits we generally make, the first visit should always be alone. All the time needed to walk through the fest you can get. Its like getting the whole feel of the place. And after you there, do you feel the vibe in the air which says creativity art and fun! 
So today on the day one of Kalaghoda 2015, i walked around the entire festival, bought a bag which was made out jeans! not just denim but jeans! In the main chowk of Kalaghoda opposite the Sasson library or which is otherwise the parking area right outside the Jehangir Art Gallery, is a stall which was selling bags, diaries etc made up of old used jeans! All types of jeans were used! They are calling this entire setup as 'Bum Bags'. It is called as the denim project by a Bangalore based NGO ' A hundred hands'. They make these recycled products to provide employment to the needy. Their Stall No is 62 NGO Section. It's must visit and buy also!
This is the bag i got for Rs 500.

Also, there is the Heritage Bus Tour which takes people around the famous spots like CST, Taj, Marine Drive etc. Its free! And only available on the weekends at 4.30 and 5.30 pm. The passes are available from 2 pm to 2.30 pm at the help desk. Try and get the passes for seats 1 - 30 as they are the upper open deck seats. Here are some photos i took from the Bus Tour

Is it Generation Gap?

Last weekend travelling with my parents to Pune for a family function, was quite an epic trip. Wanting to reach Pune as early as five, i was ripping the car on the highway when my father suddenly  decides he wants to drive. After we switch, we made a stop at the food mall after the Ghat. Being in a rush, we decided to just pick up quick food and head ahead. Me and mom got out of the car. In the Food Mall, there was a McDonalds, A CCD and a normal food mall kitchen. My instant reaction was to walk towards the McDonalds shop. I bought an ice tea and a medium fries costing up to 200 something rupees. As i walked out, i saw my mother coming with getting her food which was a cup of tea and batata vada. At that point of time, my father made a comment saying his generation's enjoyment is much lesser in pricing than mine. It got me to thinking that is it really my (me representing my generation) needs are unnecessarily high. Or are we bought up only in such a time where we generally go for the names like Mcdonals etc while even enjoying the occasional vada pav too. Like my parents also like eating at these places but their habitual actions makes them buy a cup of hot tea and vada on the other hand its the exactly opposite for us? Is it the generation gap or we simpliy making the wrong choices in lifestyle?
The Food Mall after the ghat has an very good functional McDonalds that i have seen in a very long time. Even though being out on the Mumbai Pune Express Highway, the food quality was quite excellent. the staff was super friendly and very well spoken. Must stop if you want to enjoy a decent happy meal or a take away. It has ample sitting place and special seats of the young ones.