Flipkart.com

Ordered a new DSLR bag on Sunday evening. On tuesday got an email saying that ordered is cancelled due to stock out situation. However, when I checked the website the item is still available to order.

My high hopes from flipkart crashed today.

Hunger Cure

It sure does live up to its name and cures hunger!

Well this is a little known eating hangout in Faridabad – Sector 14, Sector 21C and Sector 15 (takeaway only). A warning for hard core non-vegetarians; this is a strictly vegetarian joint and serves no non-vegetarian dishes.

The menu is full off mouthwatering dishes like steamed momos, grilled kulcha, pastas and salads. All are mouth watering and would make you come back again and again. Well as a caution don’t go for Pizza at it is tasteless and soulless.

The place is average on décor and cleanliness. It is better to get your food packed and move on to your home. Well if you are in Faridabad and fancy some tasty food, do try out hunger cure and for sure it will live up to its expectations.

Trident Jaipur

Trident, Jaipur is an excellent property right opposite JalMahal in Jaipur. The location is ideal as you cross Amer and Amer fort on the way. The same road leads you to the pink city and the major shopping destinations in Jaipur. Basically, it is neither outside the city nor inside the city.

The property is maintained very well and staff is very courteous. Sometime, that makes you a little uncomfortable. But, it is not hard getting used to all the pampering and attention received.

The food is excellent; however the ‘only’ restaurant serving food can get very busy at times.

The rooms are impeccably clean with all the necessities required. Keep in mind the 3rd floor rooms being sold as Lake View rooms do not offer the view of the lake as promised. The view is blocked due to the vegetation.

Well the only drawbacks are:
1. The property is very compact. The rooms are comfortable and nicely decorated but they are quite small.
2. Lack of facilities like SPA.

Le Meridien is a stone’s throw away and seems to be better option. As it is a bigger property with the similar price band. However it lacks the view and the location which Trident offers.

Places to eat out in Faridabad

Faridabad is part of Delhi National Capital Region, a lesser known sibling of Gurgaon and NOIDA. Although the place boasts of numerous malls, food courts, numerous take away joints (International, National & Local brands). There is no good place to sit and enjoy the meal.
Few decent names which come to my mind when planning to eat out in this NCR town are:
1. Silk
2. Zosse – Crown Plaza
3. Moksha
4. Pind Baluchi
After eating numerous times at Silk, it was time to try out something new. And, it turned out to be a great horror story.
Reached Moksha (In the same mall as Haldirams). The floor was stinking with garbage, tobacco stains on the wall, etc. It was like stepping into a railway station or a rundown movie theatre. However, braved everything and entered Moksha; the interiors quite decent considering the exteriors.
We stood at the reception for 15 minutes and nobody attended us. Finally, spoke to the guard and got a reply that, “Sir, nobody will attend you today, as there is a big party going on”.
Well why not open a banquet hall if the place is to entertain big parties and not cater to walk-in customers OR at least put a board outside.
Well with this attitude of a restaurant I will advise none to visit the place and any ways the place is filthy.
Rating: 0/10

Second Stop: Pind Baluchi was even worse in terms of services.
We were seated and the order was placed. However, I felt as if I was invisible. None of the waiters served the dishes, they just brought them and left it on us.
However, this was not the case with other customers who were in groups of 10+. I saw the partial treatment of the waiters because of large tips Vs small tips with all the customers.
On complaining to the head waiter the response was even colder. We were given finger bowls with cold water which was literally thrown at our table.
Well with such hostile nature of the waiters I will rate Pind Baluchi (– 10)/10
To top it all there were mosquitoes in the restaurant and dishes were not clean. Had to ask for replacement multiple times.I have never faced any problems with Pind Baluchi in Gurgaon. So I will not rate the whole chain as I have done above. But certainly Faridabad branch is one place I am never visiting.

Phirangi Paani, Gurgaon (Ambience Mall)

Phirangi Paani is a BJN property and is supposed to be good.
I have been to loads of other BJN properties and really liked Indijoes, Samarkand etc. but have never been to Phirangi paani in NCR or Bangalore.

I visited Phirangi Paani at Ambience Mall, Gurgaon this weekend.
The decor was inherited from its cousion (Indijoes) - however Indijoes is more american and sporty.

We all got to our seats and liked the place.
This was a place where we can sit, drink, eat, be merry and be sophisticated at the same time.
However, that's where the dream ends and the problem starts.

First of all - "No draught beer!!!".
So, went ahead with usual Kingfisher.

Then came the second blow - "no french fries".
Anyways, went ahead and continued with drinks and ordered paneer tikka and chicken malai tikka.

Both dishes were very well prepared and very tasty.
But, they were very expensive for the quantities being served.

So, after few pints down; it was time to visit the toilets.
Well, it seems toilets are 1and half kilometres away tucked inside "FUNCITY". You reach your destination after dodging few children and mom to be(s). Which is not at all fun on a Friday evening.

However, all said and done we get into a very nice animated high volume conversation and realise that we are not audible to each other. The reason, after 7:30PM phirangi paani decided to make everyone deaf. Upon asking the manager to slightly lower the volume so that we all can at least talk. Were polietly told that this is the company policy.

Well, it was time when we wrapped up, paid the bill and moved on to our next destination. And, decided never to return again (period)

Final verdict: Nice place, nice ambience, good concept, a concept which never conceptualised, not in tune with customers, over priced, lack of facilities.

4 / 10

Few good places to eat on GT road

Murthal - Jhilmil, Ahuja No. 1, Sukhdev

Few Kms ahead - Haveli

Ambala - Sagar Rathna

Chandigarh - a really long list

Ropar (Rupnagar) - Lee Rose

Spaghetti, Saket

I first tried food at Spaghetti, at Lido Mall Bangalore and completely loved it.

The food was great, the wine was great and the service even better.
Had a great time there and complimented the chef many times.

Then tried spaghetti at Saket and the service was cold, food not so tasty and overall not a nice experience.

Nothing much to write about the restaurants though.
My rating would be 5 out of 10 as all the franchisees don't maintain the same standards.

Cafe Coffee Day

I love going to cafe coffee day outlets across the city and enjoy a cup of coffee. But slowly the standard of service is going down on some of the cafe coffee day outlets. Some points which I noticed were:

1. Staff is pathetically lethargic.
2. Because of the above mentioned reason, when it gets busy in the evenings - there are missed orders, mud on the floor, dirty table tops etc.
3. Lately, I have observed at 4 different cafe coffee day outlets that they run out of stock for basically everything. (Whitefield, Hormavu, Kalyan Nagar and RMZ Infinity).

I had not been to barista lately so cannot compare their service. Barista is also catching up to CCD by opening more outlets across bangalore.

Jalsa, Outer ring road, Bangalore

Jalsa is located on the outer ring road between Marthalli junction and KR puram flyover.

About the restaurant - as the name and the picture above suggests it is a Mughlai restaurant. It truly lives up to its name in context to what it appears from outside. Stepping inside is like going backward in time. It is like a dance bar from the mughal times (no puns intended). All the staff is dressed in theme based mughlai attire. All this takes some time to sink and then the enjoyment starts.

They have seating in the middle area of huge hall (that is under the dome). They have seating around the central hall which is kind of small semi-private cabins and then there is seating outside. So there is loads to choose from.

Now coming on to food. Food is excellent but is priced slightly higher than the restaurants of same class. I personally loved the 'Aam Panna' (Mango drink). They have good variety of drinks, snacks, veg and non-veg food. Service is prompt and efficient.

Overall a nice restaurant which is different in its own way and provides a fun evening out with friends or family.

Average meal for 4 (without alcohol) would be 2000.00 INR

Fun Cinemas

Fun cinema located at Sigma mall, Cunningham road, Bangalore used to be one of the quite multiplexes in the city. However, now it seems everybody who wants to escape from the maddening crowds of Forum (PVR) or Garuda (InoX) is running to the fun cinemas.

The multiplex is same as any other across the country. However there are two major points at which the multiplex management should look at and also people going to watch movies there should consider.

1. Cleanliness
While you first sit in your allocated seat UGH!!! Factor kicks in. I don’t know whether they clean or do they dirty it?

2. Safety
(i) We usually watch 9-12 show and by that time the food court on the lower floor place all
their chairs in the service stairs area (which is used as exit for the cinema hall). Also, the staircase is very poorly lit, slippery and full of unknown dangers.

(ii) No proper security checks. People walk in with their helmets, gift wrapped gifts etc. Which
is major concern especially since Bangalore is now on the terror hit list.

Well overall the hall is very congested. It is not a place where you would like to be. But, due to scarcity of multiplexes in Bangalore, in spite of so many shortfalls they are doing good business.

I would rate the cinemas as poor.

La Plantation, Mauritius

I travelled to Mauritius in December, 2007 and chose to stay at La Plantation (4 Star).

The hotel is located away from city and has its own Private beach with loads of fun activities. If you are a regular visitor and don't fancy to move around much; except for relaxing. There is loads you can do at the hotel itself. There is a Spa, Sports such as volleyball, swimming pool, scuba diving, para sailing etc.

Food is mouth watering especially the breakfast. Pure vegetarian Indian food is also served.
The most amazing was the beach side restaurent and bar.

Staff speaks English, Hindi and French and the service is excellent.

Dragon Air

Flying to Hong Kong from Bangalore just got easier.

Dragon air a sister concern of Cathy Pacific has started a daily service from Bangalore to Hong Kong from 2nd July, 2008.

Good places to watch English movies in NCR (New Delhi)

Good places to watch english movies in New Delhi are Priya in Vasant Vihar and PVR in Saket.

Also the multiplex in Centrestagemall, Noida hosts good english movies.

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Cafe Masala, Eva Mall, Bangalore

CAFE MASALA

This is another BJN hotels property on the 5th floor of Eva Mall.

One can either chose to sit outside and enjoy pleasant bangalore weather or sit inside. However, balcony seating is void of any views. The food is really good, but avoid rumaali rotis.

We enjoyed north indian food that was ordered and the Kulfi was amazing. The tables provide enough privacy and are decently spaced. Also, the seating is very comfortable - puts you in nice position to enjoy food and conversation.

Turn around time is also decent and waiters are responsive. For example, as soon as our drinks were done. Table was set up immedietly for dinner and dinner was served.

For Saturdays and Sundays one needs reservation.

This is a decent joint in the heart of the city. I would recommened this joint for a casual dinner after shopping. I was also told that their lunctime buffet is really good and there are plenty of items to choose from.

I will post more on other BJN hotels property like Samarkand, Hypnosis, Indijoe etc.