The Pasta Bowl Company - great Italian food in Gurgaon

" Bursting with Flavor", yes, that's how my daughter described the chicken lasagna at 'The Pasta Bowl Company". 

The restaurant is fairly new and is located at the Crosspoint Mall in DLF phase 4, Gurgaon, it's a nice cute little place with seating for 20. The decor is simple and the white walls have pictures of stuff Italian; you know - a map of Italy, a photograph of the leaning tower of Pisa, an ad for Vespa Scooters and plates with dry pasta representations. The plates on the walls can look cute or kitschy depending on your mood.

The place was empty when we walked in and we wondered whether we had made the right choice.

Pasta is the hero of their menu and we ordered a fettucine carbonara, the chicken lasagna and a roast chicken panini. The just so awesome aroma of garlic being sauted in olive oil soon wafted across to us from the open kitchen. Lasagna takes a while to bake and we were quite hungry, something to munch on while we waited would have helped. We did find it odd that the server assumed that we would have our beverages with our meal instead of just asking us.

I had a diet cola and the wife and kids went for the cold coffee, the coffee frappe was really flavourful, made with freshly brewed espresso shots.

Our  plates arrived shortly and I have to say this, they looked awesome and smelled fabulous. The fettucine had a generous shaving of parmesan and the lasagna had a sprig of parsley on top. What really got me was the parsley, it was beautiful, a lovely green, fresh, vital sprig of parsley, I admire a chef who takes care to pick a garnish beautiful enough to grace his creation.

The fettucine was nice and creamy, the pasta cooked Al Dente, really delicous. The lasagna was the star, the cheese stringy and melty and hot, delightful herby chicken mince between soft sheets of pasta with a gorgeous tomato sauce. The pasta was as good if not better than what we've had at Zanotta, the Italian restaurant at the Leela, Gurgaon.

For dessert we had the Tiramisu, artistically layered light and creamy spoonfuls.

A wonderful evening, with some great pasta totally bursting with flavor.

La Dolce Vita!

Cafe Delhi Heights

I had a lovely meal last week at Cafe Delhi Heights at the Ambience Mall Gurgaon. The decor is very simple and the place has a relaxed atmosphere. The chairs are a little uncomfortable though. The menu is extensive and you'll find salads, sandwiches, pasta and popular mains both asian and continental.

After going through the menu a couple of times wondering what to order, something familiar or unusual, I just gave up and asked the service staff for advice. The young man suggested I try their famous Juicy Lucy burger. The name sounds pretty weird however it tastes great and they've already sold over 22,000!

My colleague ordered pasta with mixed sauce, I know, sounds plebian right, but you'd be amazed it tastes delicious!

The chef rings a little brass bell whenever an order is ready for service and soon the bell rang for us. 

The portions are huge, reminded me of the ones I've had in the US, the lamb burger lived up to its name and was very juicy. Just a little note to the chef, the juicy stuff actually makes the lower part of the bun soggy and unappetizing. The pasta was very nice, tomatoey and creamy, with shreds of chicken adding to the flavour.

While we were having our meal, the table next to ours had ordered what looked like mocha frappes in these cute glass jars. Very creative.

In case you plan to go there on a Friday afternoon, plan ahead, there's a huge rush and the wait time is over half an hour. In fact on the previous occasion we were unable to get a table and went to the Zambar, a Kerala themed restaurant on the same floor. Had an interesting meal there too, but that's going to be another post.

Aphrodisiac foods?

Research by some scientists in England says that you should drink pomergranate juice for 15 days for good sex, yes, it was in an article in the Times of India. Hmm. got to buy some anaars (pomegranates) before the prices go up. 

Bet you've heard the joke about the man who was told to eat a dozen oysters before his wedding night, his well meaning friend asked him how it went the next morning, the man was upset and replied " Humbug, only six of them worked"!

Hotel kitchens are full of myths and stories around the approdisiac properties of food. Our chefs have various recipies for what they call 'Palang Tod' or bed breaker food,  recipes passed with a nudge and a wink from one chef to another, guaranteed to enhance performance.

One that chefs at The Oberoi New Delhi used to make was the mutton ishtew (stew), the duty was assigned to one of the cooks  in the afternoon shift. Cubes of mutton on the bone were cleaned and put into a large pot along with cloves, green and black cardamom, cinnamon, nutgmeg, mace, cumin seed, ghee (clarified butter), ginger,  lots of garlic, tomatoes, onions and lots of fresh cilantro. The whole thing was stirred over a flame till the meat caramelised and then the pot was covered with a lid which was sealed with dough and left to simmer for seven to eight hours on a low flame. 

At dinnertime, the lid would come off and there was a wonderful, flavourful stew, the meat delightfully tender falling off the bone, this would be accompanied by tandoori roti (an Indian flat bread baked in an earthen oven). The long slow process ensured a thick gravy with all the goodness of the meat and the bones that the cooks felt added that extra to performance.

Another chef friend of mine would lovingly make lobster thermidor, this served with rice was his idea of  a winner combination for the sack race :-), others would vouch for the dark freshly squeezed juice of passionate red grapes.

Ripe bananas are another favorite, probably the potassium helping to keep the heart healthy and of course if the heart is healthy and throbbing well, it does the same for other parts.

At the end of the day I guess  what really do the trick are the stress reducing micronutrients in food, fresh, healthful ingredients that keep on cleaning the arteries and washing away harmful clots.

Some people swear by the wonders of wine, especially Champagne, a couple of glasses with the object of your affection (or seduction)  helping to smooth the way to the silky sheets. However before throwing too many down the hatch, remember - wine makes the spirit willing but the flesh weak ;-)

Hello Starbucks!!

I heard whispers while asleep last night and opened my eyes just a wee bit. There they were, both my feet; conspiring to kill me. One of them, I think it was the left one, was very vocal, at times agitated and determined, while the right foot was more for being discreet and you know 'wanting to make it look like an accident'.

Of course I was terrified, yet I didn't move a muscle, pretending to be fast asleep. I could understand their anger though; the wife had dragged me along to the monsoon sale at Ambience Mall, Vasant Kunj. We walked from one store to another, and another and yet another, well she was doing the walking, I the man was doing the trudging. Yes the sort that you see in old war documentaries when soldiers are returning from a long and bitter campaign.

I trudged and my feet grumbled. All the time, sending me messages through my crying calves that either I sit down or they'll go on strike and leave me stranded having to be carried out on a stretcher.

My nose saved the day, it caught the smell of freshly brewed coffee and led my feet and portly frame to the new Starbucks store. Man, was it crowded, the wife entrusted me with the task of finding a place to sit while she stood in line for our order.

It's quite a nice store, though very crowded and not just because of the loads of people that were there. It was the seating, some chairs and small tables, a long tall table with high chairs, for a more communal coffee experience. And then , there was a big bloody dining table in the center of the store. Now tell me, who orders their furniture and who paid the designer?

Just walking in and out of the mess was a big challenge, as it is I am five feet something and navigating my way in the store was about squeezing my frame between other patrons without having my oysters crushed.

Our frappucino was good, not my usual cold coffee with blended ice cream, but a milk slush flavored with a lovely aromatic roast. The chicken reshmi roll, was nice, spiced cilantro flavors with chunks of a curried chicken in a roll. The lattice chicken thingy was not quite there, the puff pastry lattice was good but the filling was too tomatoey and sweet, I would have added a little basil and oregano to it. 

Their choco chip muffin was passable, Costa makes it better and they use choco chunks instead of chips. We also tried the iced teas, the green tea one and the hibiscus or whatever, that was good.

Overall a nice experience, the coffee was flavorful, the snacks were reasonably good and priced lower than Costa, the desserts are more expensive comparitively, the team however is way better than at Costa, more friendly and communicative.

We must have sat at Starbucks for close to an hour and our table had a nice view of the BMW display on the ground floor. My feet made peace with me for a while, though hostilities broke out as soon as I got up to leave.

Welcome to India, Starbucks!!

Masala Chai Monsoon Magic

Take a little over one cup of water, put it to boil in a small saucepan. Add two cloves, one green cardamom, three to four peppercorns, a small stick of cinnamon and  a little grated fresh ginger.

No, no, this is not the recipe for a good Indian curry, it's actually the base for Masala Chai or 'spiced tea' in Hindi, a very popular beverage in India, especially during the monsoons. The spices are very good if you have a cold and help clear up a blocked chest and nose.

Of course to complete the tea, once the water and spices are boiling, add a teaspoon of sugar or honey, a teaspoon of tea leaves, preferably Assam tea or other black tea and add milk. Bring the whole thing to a boil, strain and pour into your finest bone china tea cup or a small steel tumbler as we did centuries ago in my childhood. 

Best enjoyed sitting in your balcony with a plate of vegetable fritters and chutney, watching the dark monsoon clouds disgorge their fat life giving pearls.