Going to Shangri-La, always becomes a nostalgic experience for me, not because of the hotel itself, but because of the group it belongs to, the Eros group. This is because in very initial years of career I got an opportunity to work with Parkroyal Hotel by the same group, which is now known as Eros Intercontinental, and somewhere I still feel connected to it, so even though Shangri-La had not opened then, its belonging to Eros group, gives me that sense of a mutual connect.

Now coming to Mister Chai, its a newly opened tea restaurant at Shangri-La, and its appropriately located right in the middle of the hotel lobby.
I have been to Shangri-La a lot of times in the past, and hence can vouch for the fact that this place in the lobby which earlier served just as a lounge, is completely revamped. The look and feel, the interiors, the menu, everything is new and thats what makes it very very exciting to visit.

The beverage menu also consists of other drinks like  Black Teas, Green Teas, Oolong Teas and Herbal Teas, Regional Teas as well as a selection of Iced Teas and other drinks like Neembu Lemon, Ginger Punch and Coffees, both hot and cold.

I have visited a lot many restaurants and amazing food joints, but this one is a class apart. From ambience, to the food and most importantly the novel concept, this place entices you through and through.
Let me introduce you to ‘I Do Barbecue at Metro Grill by Jaypee Siddharth’. Metro Grill at Jaypee has introduced this very innovative concept ‘ I Do Barbecue’ which is synonym to DIY (Do it Yourself) and winters in Delhi has been the perfect time to launch this concept.
The ambience is just beautiful and apt to spend a winter evening enjoying with your family and friends, its one of those places, where the more people you visit with the more you will enjoy.

Now the idea is, that they have these shops, from where you buy your selection of meats or veggies, then select your marinates or rubs, and then they set up a barbecue grill for you, which comes with all the necessary equipments and spices, oil, utensils etc.
The meats start for as low as 90/-Rs for 100 gms and veggies for Rs. 65/- onwards per 100 gms which makes it very reasonable and affordable as against normal 5 star rates.One can choose the accompaniments and dips as per liking from a variety of offerings.
You are also given a chef’s apron and all necessary assistance you could need to become a chef and barbecue for yourself. The staff is extremely friendly, takes care of minutest details and makes you feel very very comfortable. BTW, they also have few leisure games to take care of those long interesting hours that you sit and enjoy while barbequing the food.

Well, in my case I left the decision of choosing meats and marinates in the hands of extremely talented and friendly chef, chef Ashish Joshi, who is the executive chef for Jaypee Siddharth. To start with chef brought us Five Spiced Chicken Picatta, Cajun Chicken Breasts & Tandoori Marinated Cottage Cheese Steak.

The chicken breasts were very tender and very very yummy and so was the chicken picatta. I was surprised to see that the cottage cheese was very well coated with the spices and retained the complete flavour, because normally the paneer tikkas that we get at restaurants end up tasting bland with a very thin coating of the marinate, but this cottage cheese tasted amazing, were grilled to perfection.

The fun of doing it one self, makes the barbeque experience indeed a unique one and most enjoyable. The next set included some Curried Spice Fish Fillet and Indian Spiced Pineapple and both the preparations were impeccable. The fish was succulent and pineapple very very juicy and both the marinades had a very distinct flavour complimenting the dishes respectively.

The place in itself fills with so much excitement, that one starts looking forward to going there again even before the first visit comes to an end. My son accompanied me on the visit, and we thoroughly enjoyed ourselves, because its not just eating, but the entire process of choosing things, wearing the chef’s aprons, chilling and relaxing, sipping a mocktail,/cocktail while you see the food getting grilled, and giving them twists and turns in between.We tried the Fruit Punch and Mixed Berries Mocktail and both were amazing

The next we tried some Garlic Peppered Marinated Chicken Sausages and Orange Citrus Glazed Chicken with Skin. I am personally not very fond of Sausages, but all I can say is they tasted quite nice, but this zesty chicken was something I cannot forget, it just tasted amazing. It had a perfect zing because of the orange flavour and the spices balanced it nicely, so as to not overpower the citrusy taste.

Last on the barbeque were some Chicken Thighs with Balsamic Reduction Marination and Garlic Peppered Chicken Breasts. And once again they tasted awesome, though we ended up tasting quite a variety of marinades and rubs, but I must say that each one had its own distinct flavour and cannot be compared. One must definitely try all of them and pick your own favourites.

Well they also offer a Lazy Menu, for those who do not want to indulge in this process of Barbequing, though I highly recommend giving it a try, its so much fun. The lazy menu includes some pre decided food combinations and have quite a few options to choose from, not only in Indian, but Continental, Italian and other Cuisines as well.
In spite of feeling too full with the over load of Barbeque menu, we ordered Dal Makhani and Butter Naan. Somehow without a Roti, Indian meal seems incomplete and hence the choice. I suggested the chef to keep some Roomali Rotis as accompanimants with the Barbeque Menu, so that it becomes a complete meal in itself, and I hope they would try and accommodate the same in near future.
The Dal was simply top class and proves the quality of overall preparations of the restaurant.

I really cannot put in words how much I enjoyed being at this place, and I extend my wishes and thanks to Chef Ashish Joshi, F&B Managers Prashant and Ravish for their hospitality and excellent fooding experience.

This place is highly recommended if you are fond of Barbeque Items and want to spend a great time in the company of your family and friends trying your hands at doing the Barbeque on your own without worrying about getting and collecting the ingredients and cleaning the mess next day. I give it a very deserving 4.5 star rating out of 5.

Weekend in other words means exploring new places to eat and spend fun time with family and friends. This weekend was no different, and I got a chance to visit this newly opened cafe and bar called the “Filmy Cafe & Bar by Deez”.
Deez Biryani has been a synonym for best biryani for almost all Delhi Walas and I am no exception, so when I came to know about this new venture of theirs I got all excited.
Filmy cafe & bar is a cosy place tucked away in one of the most prime locations in Delhi, i.e. Connaught Place and further more, it is very prominently located in the PVR plaza building and makes it an ideal place to indulge in food after a movie at PVR. Anyway, movie, or no movie, it surely calls for a visit if you are a film buff. The entire place has a very thematic ambience with posters and dialogues of famous films adorning the walls. The seating is very comfortable and we see filmy cushions thrown away on couches adding more to the theme.
The music at the place, is a great mix of bollywood and hollywood numbers and keeps you in an upbeat mood.

Now coming to food, they have an elaborate menu to choose from, and very cleverly, the menu is also divided into bollywood and hollywood flavours, where in bollywood represents our very own Indian food, and hollywood serves  a mix of International cuisines from American, to Italian, Continental and Chinese.

They have a great bar menu as well and a wide range of cocktails and mocktails to choose from.

As per their manager, Mr. Subhash’s recommendation, we ordered Chilly Chicken Dry and Bhatti Ka Murg Tikka for starters, along with Cosmopolitan( A vodka based cocktail) & Safe Sex on the Beach.
The drinks were fabulous and so were the starters. The chilly chicken was spicy, just the way it should be, and the bhatti ka murg was a sure shot hit and highly recommended.

For the mains, we settled for the bollywood menu, aka our Indian cuisine, because of the big bollywood keeda that I have in me 🙂
We ordered, Dal Makhani, Peshawari Korma Gosht, and Murg Handi Biryani(how can one not try the biryani that the Deez group has been known for all the time).
Dal was rich in its texture and had a perfect taste, the mug biryani was great as expected from Deez, but the only surprise part was, that it had pieces of chicken tikka rather than the usual road chicken pieces. It did take away the authentic biryani taste somewhat, nevertheless the biryani in itself was good. The clear winner was the peshawari gosht, the gravy was very rich in texture and tasted just awesome. The mutton was tender and makes for a perfect meal with hot tandoori rotis. Trust me, you don’t need anything else, if you are a mutton lover.

I was almost full, but was tempted to try the desserts, because of the filmy names that they were given and got most interested in “Chakki Peesing Peesing” and ordered the same, and also on staff’s recommendation ordered “Fried Chocolate Bars”.
Chakki Peesing Peesing was a twisted version of Kesar Kulfi on a bed of strawberry crush, topped with vanilla ice-cream and chocolate sauce. It made for a rare combination and definitely a must try.
The fried chocolate bars, were also good to taste, but the only disappointing thing was, that barring one main flavour, which is the chocolate bar, and the kulfi, there was no differentiator in the desserts. The chocolate bars were also served with vanilla ice-cream and chocolate sauce and had the strawberry crush on the base. As a good gesture of Mr. Subhash, we also got a complimentary Paan Bahar to taste, but again the same thing, only the pan kulfi as a central flavour was different, rest all same. After the initial bites, once your dessert starts melting somewhat, all the desserts start tasting same. This is something I am sure they need to work upon.

All in all, it surely is a highly recommended place, and food and film lovers must give it a try. It has a great ambience, great music, and great food and you would not mind splurging your money on this one.

How do you feel, when you visit an unknown place, for a cuisine you haven’t tasted before, and you are completely unaware of whats in store..?? You either come home disappointed or you come home pleasantly surprised.

This Sunday, went by for me in a similar manner. We went for Guppy by ai, and I have to admit that I was completely unprepared in terms of what was I expecting. I had just no expectations, I had never tasted Japanese Cuisine before and didn’t know what it would be really like, would be spicy, would it be mild, what kind of appetisers, what soups, what main course.. I just had no idea.

But yes, I was very pleasantly surprised indeed. The moment I stepped in, I was in awe of the place, the ambience itself is so overpowering, that one automatically starts to get curious on how the food would be.

Guppy has introduced this special Sunday Brunch Menu, so you don’t have to toggle your head on what to order, you just sit back, relax and let the surprises come in. I didn’t even bother to look at the menu, and surrendered myself completely and waited patiently for the course of meal to start.
My mother accompanied me for this surprise brunch, and unlike me, she did have a pre conceived notion, and wasn’t really happy at my choice of coming for a Japanese Food Brunch.

As we sat down, the first thing that we were served was a variety of two soups, MISO SOUP and MUSHROOM SOUP, and it was a great start indeed. The soups tasted very different from the regular soups, but they tasted awesome. My mother too had her inhibitions dropping down and seemed pretty glad now.

The next in line was a set of cold appetisers, which included TENDERLOIN TATAKI, SALMON TATAKI, TOFU SASHIMI, POTATO SALADA, TAMAGO YAKI and SPINACH GOMA, barring the SALMOM TATAKI, which was a raw salmon, I tried everything and liked them all. TOFU SASHIMI was the best out of the lot, and its sauce was simply amazing.

Next was CHICKEN SHUMAI STEAMED BUN, and this cute little thing, tasted as good as it looked. They had options in PORK and MUSHROOM fillings as well in the steam bun, but I was content with my chicken bun and also by the time I finished it, I had already started to feel full.

And now it was SUSHI time, and to be honest, this word doesn’t excite me enough as raw fish is something I am allergic too, but after a lot of convincing from the staff, I settled for a VEGETARIAN SUSHI and I have to admit, it was a delight. I did tempt me to try the non- vegetarian versions, but I somehow refrained.

But I can surely say, for those who like SUSHI, this is the place. As and how I was tasting these dishes, my curiosity for what next was increasing. The next thing to be served was the TEMPURA FISH, a perfectly golden fried fish, very mild in taste, but fried to perfection. The spicy mayo that accompanied it, made up for the mildness of the fish. I also tried the TEMPURA ROCK CORN, which was basically baby corns fried in the same way as fish and they were delicious too.