Atul Karmarkar.Com

Dining at Lagerbay, Mumbai

Atul Karmarkar — Thu, 29 Mar 2012 15:17:47 +0000

Wasn’t really expecting to check out a new watering hole mid-week. However, a few quick calls between some other friends and a meeting materialised. The majority seemed in favour of Lagerbay – the latest addition to the list of restaurants/pubs in Bandra(W).

Situated where Zenzi used to be, the look and feel immediately reminded me of a cross between an HRC and a sports bar, with the pictures on the wall and Union Jack cushion covers. It is decently sized with well spaced out seating, so conversations can remain private. The interiors are pleasant and comfortable enough. The music playlist seemed random, with songs from all genres and ages playing. The volume was just right, except on a couple of occasions when it seemed louder than needed.

Given it’s name, I was quite surprised to see the lack of beer on tap, reminding me of Kiva Ivy in Pune. The beer menu had 6-7 of the usual beers served everywhere, which we began proceedings with. For starters, we ordered Onion Rings, Chicken Caesar Salad, Chicken Wings and Fish n Chips. Good stuff, though the fish was a tad disappointing. For mains, we ordered a Mushroom Risotto, Prawn Ravioli, Grilled Chicken and Grilled Tenderloin Steak in Red Wine Jus. Overall, the food was good, though personally I did feel the quantity of the portions was a bit less as compared to the price per dish, or maybe I was just too hungry.

The drinks of course flowed on merrily and after the beers and Jack Daniels, we tried out the cocktails on offer – Blueberry Cosmopolitan, Sour Apple Martini, and of course, two of my favourites, Long Island Iced Tea and Bloody Mary. Quite well made, though at Rs.450, the Long Island Iced Tea was even more expensive than the one at Touché in Bangalore.

We were feeling quite full and content, so nobody was really keen to have dessert, though mentally I was dreaming of the Tiramisu and Blueberry Cheesecake

All said and done, Lagerbay is a pretty good place and it makes sense to go there with more people around, so the per head cost remains reasonable. They also serve burgers, but only till 7pm, so must try those out the next time, which means I’m coming back!

* Not a single picture though – as we all attacked the food and drinks, there wasn’t really time to ‘set up’ the dishes for a pic.

Lagerbay
183, Waterfield Road (opp Subway),
Bandra(W),
Mumbai 411050
Tel: 022 67369900

This post, Dining at Lagerbay, Mumbai, was originally published at Atul Karmarkar.Com

Pot calling the kettle black, Kapil paaji?

Atul Karmarkar — Thu, 23 Feb 2012 13:32:03 +0000

Was surprised to read about Kapil Dev’s outburst against Sachin Tendulkar recently. Kapil was quite scathing in his remarks and said Tendulkar should have ideally retired from ODIs immediately after the World Cup win.

Image Credit: yahoo.net

Now Sachin’s performance in Australia has been nothing like what we know he’s capable of, and I’m sure Kapil’s theory will have plenty of backers especially after the recent two ODIs at Brisbane.

What gets my goat is, Kapil of all people commenting on Sachin’s retirement. Retiring from a sport is never easy and only a few sportsmen worldwide have really gone out on a high. Some faded away on account of injuries and poor form, others well beyond their prime had to be shown the door by the selectors. It is also a personal decision and deep down, each sportsman yearns for that final hurrah before hanging up his boots, bat, racquet, whatever.

It seems not too long ago when Kapil, struggling to get his stock outswinger working and even to take a wicket per match, was allowed to play on well past his usefulness just so he could capture the world record for most wickets. He was a shadow of his old self and was being routinely thrashed by even debutants from Sri Lanka and Zimbabwe. Nothing highlighted his decline more than the fact that Anil Kumble, then on a rampage as India’s best bowler, actually had to bowl wide of the stumps to avoid taking a wicket, just so Kapil could take one.

It is therefore, quite ironic that Kapil should be calling for Sachin to retire. Not done, Kaps!

He’s also said that some players didn’t get a chance to play as Sachin’s presence in the team kept them out. Hell yeah, this is not a new phenomenon in Indian cricket. In the past, when India had their famed quartet of spinners, they (especially Bishen Bedi) kept out bowlers of the calibre of Paddy Shivalkar and Rajinder Goel.

He’s forgotten that he himself played at a time when the zonal rivalry was quite fierce, and it was no secret that players from the North weren’t too happy with the number of Bombay players in the national team. In his time, Kapil did everything to include Madan Lal in the team or promote the likes of Chetan Sharma, while keeping others like Raju Kulkarni and later Salil Ankola, out. Many other promising fast medium bowlers also fell by the wayside while he was around.

In India, cricketers are like demigods and every action of theirs is analysed under a microscope, viewed by millions. For the same reason, our selectors are shit scared of pulling the plug when they need to. They can learn from the Australian cricket board, which recently dropped Ponting, pulling down the curtain on his ODI career. There was no browbeating, outrage or raging debate on prime time television, the likes of which we see here.

At the end of it, Sachin is experienced enough to know when it’s time to call it a day and repeated failures while chasing an elusive record isn’t making things easy for him. He would do well to remember the words of Sunil Gavaskar, someone he idolises. Gavaskar quit Test cricket on a high, scoring a masterful and almost match winning 96 against arch rivals Pakistan, on a minefield of a pitch where all other batsmen floundered.

When asked why he’d retired when he was still playing so well, he said, – One should retire when people ask ‘why’, and not ‘why not!’

This post, Pot calling the kettle black, Kapil paaji?, was originally published at Atul Karmarkar.Com

MAD Orders – ordering food late night in Mumbai made easy

Atul Karmarkar — Sat, 07 Jan 2012 00:49:50 +0000

Was having a conversation with a friend on GTalk when the subject of ordering food at night came up. She stays with friends in Bombay and finds it a pain to order food when staying back late in office, or even at home sometimes, as most food outlets shut shop by 11pm.

Came across this new venture called MAD Orders. Started by a team of IT professionals from an office in Ghatkopar(E), they promise to deliver piping hot food to you between 11pm and 7am the next day. The modus operandi is simple. You register on their site or call them on +91 8080204041 to place your order.

The menu seems pretty decent at first glance and it is an all-veg menu comprising of Pav Bhaji, Burgers, Pizzas, Sandwiches, Soft drinks and Desserts. The food in the pictures above definitely looks yummy though I’d have liked inclusion of non-veg too.

They’ve mentioned corporate incentives on their site, but it isn’t immediately clear how these will be doled out. Nowadays many companies have in-house canteens, especially those that have employees working from 11pm to 7am, often called the graveyard shift. The canteen is on the premises and quickly accessible, though quality depends on the caterer and varies from company to company. It remains to be seen whether MAD Orders can successfully wean away employees from their canteens.

On the residential front, they don’t yet deliver to all locations but that should be sorted out once they ramp up and roll out services across the entire city.

Let’s see how they fare – if you’ve already experienced their food and service, do share your thoughts in the comments.

MAD Orders
106-107, B Wing, Kanarra Business Center, Off Laxmi Nagar,
Behind Everest Garden, Near Ghatkopar Bus Depot, Ghatkopar East,
Mumbai 400075
+91 8080204041

This post, MAD Orders – ordering food late night in Mumbai made easy, was originally published at Atul Karmarkar.Com

Dinner at Malaka Spice, Pune

Atul Karmarkar — Thu, 22 Dec 2011 01:42:19 +0000

Got a message from Malaka Spice one fine day, mentioning their Winter Menu, inviting me and a friend to try it out. I’ve been there several times, right from the time it was in a small place in Koregaon Park itself, near Arthur’s Theme. Now of course, it is bigger and more spread out, and definitely one of the better restaurants in Pune.

Told a friend about this when we met. Initially, she wasn’t too keen as she’s a vegetarian and the Malaka Spice menu is more to a non-veg person’s liking, even more so if you enjoy Southeast Asian cuisine. Misgivings aside, we decided to give it a shot and try out the winter menu on a Sunday night.

We’d made a booking in advance, knowing the place is crowded on Sundays and sure enough, once we reached, it was already getting packed. We wanted to sit outside but there was no decent seating available, so inside it was, where a table was kept reserved.

We started off with drinks, and cocktails seemed to be the order of the day – Virgin Mojito for her and a Long Island Iced Tea for me. For starters, we ordered Marital Prawns – crisped prawns paired with chicken, and “A Jolly Good Fellow” – freshly farmed portabella mushrooms with vegetables, balsamic vinegar and basil. Both the dishes were pretty good, though we felt the mushrooms could have been just a little bit ‘softer’. The prawns were a delight, crunchy and crisp.

For the main course, it was Phad Thai – noodles with crunchy peanuts, and Khow Suey (Burmese curry noodles with chicken). Both tasted good, though the noodles in the Khow Suey were slightly cloggy (I prefer home-made Khow Suey). Both these dishes were from the main menu, as we found the winter menu slightly limiting in terms of choices and probably what we wanted to eat just then.

As always, the service was good and attentive, without being obtrusive, though it seemed just a bit slow at times – maybe for the ambience to sink in, as well as letting the drinks and conversation flow, both of which did

For dessert, we decided to order the Chocolate Sin Mousse Cake and Apple Pie with ice-cream, and both of us looked like content Cheshire cats after polishing it all off. They were sheer sinful delights and undeniably the best part of the evening

* The only regret – I didn’t take a single picture. Maybe next time!

Malaka Spice
Lane 5, North Main Road,
Koregaon Park,
Pune 411001
Tel: +91 98230 64050

This post, Dinner at Malaka Spice, Pune, was originally published at Atul Karmarkar.Com

Lunch at Terttulia, Pune

Atul Karmarkar — Sun, 18 Dec 2011 01:52:17 +0000

Planned to meet a couple of friends for beer and lunch. After the usual back and forth about time and place, we decided to meet at Terttulia in Koregaon Park. Nestled in the leafy lanes of South Main Road at Sanas Corner, it can be quite easy to miss, especially during the day.

They have both indoor and outdoor seating – and as the sun was benevolent that afternoon, we chose the latter. The tables are well laid and decently spaced out. The wooden chairs do tend to be somewhat unstable though, so check before descending on one. I’d been there once before for breakfast (which is served all day), and not much had changed in the layout.

Initially there were just 2-3 people sitting in the outside area. However, this being the kind of place you come to just hang out at on a lazy day, the place was packed within half an hour. Like other joints in Koregaon Park, it’s quite popular with foreigners, who trooped in every few minutes.

The ‘proceedings’ began with a pint of Kingfisher each and before we knew it, we had nine of ‘em down the hatch by the time we had to order lunch. They have a board by the side of the counter which lists the day’s specials. The food on offer at Terttulia is quite varied and we took some time poring over all the dishes before zeroing in on our respective choices. Besides the breakfast menu, they have the usual complement of soups and salads, sandwiches, burgers et al.

The service did seem a tad slow at times, and though the stewards are always smiling and helpful, it only takes the entry of a few foreigners to the cafe in order to divert their entire attention from your table. I really dislike this kind of attitude and I’ve seen shades of it at German Bakery here and even Cafe Leopold in Bombay – one of the reasons I’ve never frequented either of these places much.

We decided to order a burger – the Quarter Pounder – flame grilled beef tenderloin on a sesame seed bun, Herb roast chicken with mashed potatoes and gravy, Filet Mignon – quarter kilo of char grilled tenderloin with red wine jus and mashed potatoes.

Owing to all that beer, there was no scope to try out any of the other dishes (maybe next time). The food was pretty tasty and succulent – overall good value for money, though it was hardly surprising that the amount spent on the beer exceeded that spent on the food

Terttulia
393, Sanas Corner, South Main Road,
Koregaon Park,
Pune 411001
Tel: 020-26052180

This post, Lunch at Terttulia, Pune, was originally published at Atul Karmarkar.Com

Cream Centre, Pune – A Veggie Delight

Atul Karmarkar — Wed, 30 Nov 2011 01:52:35 +0000

Was meeting a good friend for dinner after quite a while as she’d been busy the past few weeks. This time around, the plan was to eat at a place neither of us had been to before. However, by the time we set out, owing to time constraints we decided to visit one of the usual haunts like Dario’s or Squisito. We had crossed Camp when I casually mentioned that I’d been meaning for us to check out this all-veg place in Kalyani Nagar. Of course, as I hadn’t been there, I had no idea of exact location, seating, ordering+serving time etc.

It took us just a minute to decide. Also, as she’s a vegetarian, Cream Centre (all-veg) seemed like an obvious, if intriguing choice. Had heard about it from friends in Bombay but surprisingly, not much buzz in Pune. Maybe the veg bit had to do with it?

As we drove towards Kalyani Nagar, we overshot by a bit before Google Maps came to the rescue. Cream Centre is located in the lane which has Marrakesh and Bounty Sizzlers. As you enter the lane and go in further, it feels like such a totally residential area that it’s hardly surprising I had no clue it existed there. It is a part of Hotel Cypress, and the entrance is from the left side as you face it. They have outdoor as well as indoor AC seating.

We thought sitting outside was a better idea but the hostess said it wasn’t open yet, and proceeded to guide us inside, where we were led to a table for two by the side. The interiors are pleasant and the red leather bit on the sofas for family seating reminded me of the decor at TGIF outlets.

Image Credit: Cream Centre

As we sat down to have a look at the menu, the first thing I saw was a sheet with various puzzles and a couple of pencils beside it. Elementary stuff like spotting differences between two pictures, but a fun activity nevertheless. It reminded me of the games at Touché, Bangalore.

The menu is a thick and chunky book with some mouth watering pictures of all the food on offer. They have a pretty diverse menu and it is not possible to do justice to all the food at one sitting. They claim to make the ‘World’s Best Nachos’ so ordering that was a no-brainer. We also ordered Babycorn Crisps, which sounded pretty appetising. The pizzas and desserts looked yummy too.

I don’t know about ‘World’s Best’ but they were definitely the best nachos I’d eaten in a long long time. We just couldn’t keep our hands off them and all that lovely melted cheese (we both looooove cheese), as well as the salsa dip. Absolutely lip smacking to the extent of licking off that cheese from our fingers

The Babycorn Crisps were nice, though a tad too ‘peppery’ in some places. The dip served with it was good too, but both of us kept eating the crisps with the melted cheese from the nachos.They were an ideal snack though, and I liked that they stayed crisp for quite a while and didn’t become soggy.

By now, the place was slowly getting packed, probably the Sunday crowd – which means we arrived at just the right time. Must say between the conversation and these starters, we were feeling quite full already. Question was: skip mains and order dessert directly or check out the offerings in the main course.

We certainly didn’t want to have ragda pattice, chana bhatura, chaats, lebanese stuff, soup/salad/sandwich combo, sizzlers and the like and even pasta had a ‘heavy’ feel about it. However, one look at the pizza options and we decided to go for it. The steward helped matters by saying it was extremely lightweight and thin crust, so Classic Veg Pizza was ordered.

It looked delicious, but we both agreed that the pizza was the let down of the evening. Too salty at some places, totally bland at others, it lacked taste and flavour, and we ended up actually craving a Dominos Cheese Burst The other weird thing was having our fingers covered with flour from the pizza base, which I found quite surprising. Never seen this happening elsewhere at any pizza outlet. We decided to parcel the remaining slices.

Wish we’d ordered dessert directly after the starters – the sizzling brownie and triple chocolate sundae we saw others having were droolicious. Maybe on the next visit!

It’s a nice place with good and decently priced food (Our bill came to just over Rs.650). The service was attentive too. Yes, in spite of the pizza, there will definitely be a next time, to sample all the other delights on offer

Cream Centre
Hotel Cypress, Lane No 10,
Opp. Kalpataru Regency, Kalyani Nagar,
Pune 411014
Tel: 020-40180000

This post, Cream Centre, Pune – A Veggie Delight, was originally published at Atul Karmarkar.Com

Cafe Linger On, Pune – true to its name

Atul Karmarkar — Sat, 15 Oct 2011 04:59:46 +0000

Had some work near Baner in the morning last week, part of which also involved a bit of waiting. Looking around the area, the only place that seemed conducive to this was Cafe Linger On.

Located a bit ahead of Kiva Ivy and opposite the LG showroom and Food Bazaar, this is a small cafe, started around 8-9 months ago. It is open all days of the week, from 8am to 11pm. I’d passed this way several times before but somehow, had never seen it till now.

It’s well suited for a quick meet up and they have 2-3 tables outside too. However, with the mercury soaring, the obvious choice was to sit inside. The seating is well spaced out and comfortable. They also have a TV in case you wish to catch up with the news or live telecast of a game.

Met a friend there, and though initially breakfast (sausages, eggs, toast, pancakes etc) was being considered, the need to have something a bit more substantial ensured that the Chicken Pesto Pasta was ordered, which actually tasted much better than it looked.

Besides breakfast, they have a pretty varied menu, with rolls/wraps, appetizers, sandwiches, pastas, pizzas and desserts, which is quite sufficient for a full fledged meal. For kids, they also separately have hakka noodles, pasta and smiley fries.

As I looked around, the first thing that caught my eye was a bookshelf, packed with business and management books, magazines, board games, newspapers and… COMICS!

Initially thought of some board games, but as the friend had to leave early and I anyway had to wait, I happily grabbed a couple of comics to check out. A couple of hours passed by quite easily, poring over the adventures of Tintin and Asterix along with a cup of hot green tea to keep me company.

It was a decent first time experience here and the prices were pretty reasonable too. There wasn’t enough time to sample the other dishes on offer like the Honey Chilli Chicken, Lemon Garlic Prawns, Chicken Calabrese or ‘The Linger On Jumbo”, an open chicken steak sandwich layered with lettuce, tomato, cheese, grilled salami, served with spiced potato wedges and boiled egg. Wonder of wonders, among their “Specialities” they also had Moussaka (a Greek dish), incidentally the only aubergine based dish I like. Phew, a more comprehensive visit is certainly called for.

Oh yes, all that reading stuff also ensures that if you’re looking for a place to kill time, there is ample scope to “linger on” here for quite a while.

Cafe Linger On
Mont Vert Zenith,
Baner Road,
Pune 411045
Tel: 020-46778757

This post, Cafe Linger On, Pune – true to its name, was originally published at Atul Karmarkar.Com

Rickshawale – Autorickshaw on call in Mumbai

Atul Karmarkar — Wed, 12 Oct 2011 12:40:50 +0000

The war for providing the most affordable and reliable commute just got hotter. For long, radio cabs and regular taxis have ruled the roost in Mumbai. Rickshaws have always been there too, but they either refuse to ply to certain areas or charge a bomb when they do, courtesy ‘fast’ meters. Even though taxis have the same problem, people usually end up hailing a radio cab / taxi rather than an auto, though the former costs more.

This is where Vikhroli based Rickshawale aim to change all that, by having

Registered drivers & live tracking of every Auto Rickshaw
Strict Pay-by-meter policy
No refusal of service
24 Hr service
Computerised call centre with trained staff

They aim to make it worthwhile for the rickshaw drivers too, by providing them benefits like accident insurance, genuine spare parts and qualified servicing for their vehicles as well as financing opportunities to meet personal and professional obligations. This is pretty good because drivers are the backbone of any such operation, and attrition is pretty high so it helps to look after their needs as well.

There is a Fare Calculator on the site which gives you an idea of the approximate fare so it doesn’t come as a surprise when you actually have to pay. I filled in Bandra and Goregaon as the coordinates and was shown the fare as Rs.113 (no idea how accurate this is – I haven’t taken a rick between these places) along with the route on Google Maps.

Their web site could do with some QC as there are typos galore, though I’m just nitpicking. The actual proof will be in the quality and level of service they are able to provide. This is not an easy task, and there will certainly be teething troubles, as Pune based AyAuto have been finding out.

However, the key lies in being reliable and if they crack this, it would provide some much needed respite to Mumbaikars.

Rickshawale are going live on Saturday, October 15th 2011, so we’ll find out then just how they are faring

This post, Rickshawale – Autorickshaw on call in Mumbai, was originally published at Atul Karmarkar.Com

RIP Steve Jobs

Atul Karmarkar — Thu, 06 Oct 2011 03:00:29 +0000

Steve, you were truly one of a kind and left well before your time was up. R.I.P

This post, RIP Steve Jobs, was originally published at Atul Karmarkar.Com

Get your driving licence delivered at home

Atul Karmarkar — Thu, 01 Sep 2011 04:17:44 +0000

Sounds unbelievable, right? But it’s true, and not only for driving licences, but even Registration Certificates (RC).

The RTO, Pune is all set to make this a reality from today, September 1. Other neighbouring RTOs like those at Pimpri Chinchwad, Baramati, Solapur and Akluj will start doing so from September 11.

In the present system, one usually appears for a test and collects the licence from the relevant RTO after 4-5 days. This new method is sure to ease worries for a lot of people who have to travel long distances more than once just for this purpose.

One good thing to come out of all this is that hopefully, the number of fake licences just might lessen. This is also likely to reduce the usual chaos in the premises, courtesy the hundreds of people who visit the RTO daily.

So, going forward, you need not visit the RTO office to collect these documents personally. However, to ensure that they are delivered to your house, you should provide a correct and accurate address while filling in the application form, as delivery will be via the post office, not a courier company who would call to verify the address. A charge of Rs.50 will be levied towards postal charges.

However, as of now this is valid only for permanent driving licences and not learner licenses. Hopefully this meets with more success than it did at Bombay recently, with a huge pile of returned licences for want of correct addresses.

This post, Get your driving licence delivered at home, was originally published at Atul Karmarkar.Com

Atul Karmarkar.Com

Dining at Lagerbay, Mumbai

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