I’m not sure if it’s a deep ingrained habit or just some weird eccentricity, but I hate being late. I’d rather wait for half an hour than be five minutes late. And on those extremely rare occasions that I’m behind schedule, the feeling can only be described as a mild panic attack.Seasoned Mumbaikars will tell you to factor in “traffic time” into your travel. Which I did… I left more than two hours early for the Phoenix Market City Food Crawl in Kurla. If anything crawled that evening, it was the traffic. I reached an hour late.
The insane holdup + above said panic attack + prospect of missing the food at the first restaurant at the Food Crawl = *think of your worst case scenario and insert here*
DESTINATION 1 : SICHUAN HOUSE
Thankfully, Sichuan House is located on the ground floor just as you enter the mail! On entering it like a hot mess, the tweeps and bloggers were just about finishing up with Soups and Starters. Sichaun House is a beautiful looking restaurant with a cool, oriental ambience that’s not over the top.
I can’t really say I loved, (or liked) the food here. Our menu featured Manchow Soup and three kinds of dumplings – Prawn & Chive, Pakchoy & Black Mushroom and Mixed Vegetable & Cilantro.
The Manchow soup was the best among the lot. The texture was rich and it was bursting with the flavour of finely cut veggies. There’s no better way to compliment this steaming hot soup is with a handful of fried noodles on top. While in most restaurants, you need to ask for it separately, the eager-to-please staff bought it out along with the soup
I don’t have a favourite pick among the dumplings. They were all presented well but the prawn dumplings weren’t light and juicy. It was quite dense, and a little hard to cut through – like birthday cake that’s kept in the fridge for two days. The vegetable dumplings had a weird, silky, slimy texture – in fact, I don’t even know what vegetables were in the dumpling.
Mushroom and chive was again dense on the outside but the filling was okay-ish. Definitely something I wouldn’t order again, if I happen to visit.
DESTINATION 2: AMAYA
The time spent at Amaya passed in the blink of an eye. Not because I was having such a wonderful time, but because the meal was itself was rushed and hurried. I don’t remember the names of the dishes, nor the ambience… pity! We were probably in and out of there in under 20 minutes, if I had to take a guess.
Amaya had the best and worst food of the night. One thing I loved on the menu was the Hari Mirch Dhaniya ke Tikki. I would consider going back to Amaya just for this! Crispy melt-in-your-mouth kebabs made of potato and slivers of green chilli, stuffed with cheese. It was simply gorgeous! The Paneer kebab was good too! Flaming red and seasoned beautifully, it was super soft and deeeelicious! I wish they would have put more thought into the plating.
Strange that my faves are vegetarian right? The non veg fare was quite disappointing. The chicken kebabs were crisp and flavoured with yoghurt and garlic on the outside, but was completely raw inside. It wasn’t a one-off piece. Everyone on the table was in agreement. The tandoori prawns were great, however, they were really small – not what you would expect in a large restaurant like this one. Same goes with the mutton kebabs… these pics have been clicked after zooming in to the max!
What was nice was that the chef came out to say hello and ask for feedback. Also, the chutneys and sauces came in little chai glasses… nice touch, Amaya!
DESTINATION 3: 212 ALL DAY
My prayers for meat were answered at 212 All Day Cafe. The interiors looked artsy, lively and upbeat and I would have loved to sit indoors. However we were seated in the Alfresco area to enjoy a live comedy show! The staff was super attentive and despite the noise and chaos, they would respond to merely a look in their direction.
Our menu included a thin crust pepperoni pizza and homemade mini veg burgers with fries. Since the table consisted of all vegetarians, I had the pizza all to myself *evil grin.*
The pizza was alright – thin crusted and light with a lot of seasoning and cheese! What would have made it better was more pepperoni and some kind of toppings (it had exactly one pepperoni placed in the middle of each piece… no more, no less.)
The desserts were average as well. I don’t know why everyone loved the Tiramisu! I certainly didn’t think it was overly special. I liked the Peach Yogurt Cake more. It was made using hung yogurt, cream and peaches. Aside from the fact that it could have used a little more sweetness, it was a quite interesting.
Aaaand that all folks. The good, the bad and the ugly from the MarketCity Food Crawl.
Has anyone tried these restaurants yet? Maybe you’ve had a better experience or ordered something I need to try. Tweet to me @ImGoanCrazy or catch me on Facebook @ThatGoanGirl