Four Points by Sheraton, Jaipur

So we started our vacation by taking a stop over at Jaipur. We decided to break our journey to Udaipur because we were taking this second road trip with our one and half year old daughter. Normally we always have our daughter's grandparents with us and we were skeptical whether she would enjoy our company on such a long drive or not!

So on the decided day, we started late in afternoon. As I had some office work to wrap up and we did not want to rush. After all it is supposed to be a "vacation" :-)

On our way we stopped at Hotel Ramada, Neemrana for a fantastic fresh juice, pasta and burger!

Upon reaching Jaipur we took the bypass road and missed the exit which would have taken us directly to the hotel. So we had to take a detour which delayed us by half an hour.

The hotel is in middle of a busy locality. We were prepared for this, since we read a lot of reviews on the internet about the hotel being at the back of big bazaar. We were not so surprised.

Hotel has a separate entry and it is a part of a bigger commercial complex. Parking and check in was very smooth. The staff was very courteous and we were in our rooms in a jiffy. Our little one enjoyed the beds, the rooms were large enough and well maintained. We were too tired to go to the restaurant and planned to leave early for Udaipur next morning. Therefore, it was a quick dinner in the room - followed by a walk to swimming pool and recreation area. I would like to highlight that there is a special kids menu and is very handy to have.

Next, morning we had buffet breakfast. The spread was pretty standard and tasty - no complaints.

The big advantage of having big bazaar next door was that I was able to stock up on mineral water, formula milk for my daughter, few snacks and cold drinks. I somehow do not trust the roadside vendors on the highway and usually stock up these items. For me this was an amazing convenience to have and I was very happy that I was able to top up. This turned out to be even greater because the highway from Jaipur to Udaipur is pretty much deserted except for the toll plazas and the towns /  villages that come on the way.

There is absolutely no highway eateries which are decent enough. Especially, if you are spoilt with the food and choices you get on Delhi -> Chandigarh -> Shimla route.

That's it! It was a short stay at Four Points Sheraton, Jaipur. I would recommend this hotel if you are a business traveler,  frequent traveler to Jaipur or if you need a short one or two day stopover for your trip.

The staff is amazing, food is good, hotel is well maintained, the rooms are clean and super quite. There is absolutely no issues because of the main road.

Suruchi, Crown Interior Mall (Faridabad, India)

This is going to be a really short post as there is nothing much to write about the restaurant except for my rants.

Well, the first time we had dinner at Suruchi was around dinner time on a weekday and we were quite happy. I mention time and weekday, because these are the variables that will screw your experience at the mentioned restaurant.

Also, real test of the restaurant is when it is peak time. I have seen bigger, better and reputed restaurant(s) fall and struggle to breathe on the weekends. But, then how you handle it changes the experience of the diner.

We visited Suruchi in sweltering Indian summer at 7:15 PM on Sunday. First we were refused anything as they start serving at 7:30 PM. I insisted and said we will order drinks in the meantime as 7:30 PM is just 15 mins away. To which they hesitantly agreed. Clearly giving the signals that we were not required.

We sat down and realized that air conditioning was switched off as restaurant opens at 7:30 PM. At 7:40 PM we ordered our food and asked for AC to be switched on. But to our dismay it was never switched on. They just pretended. I could make out as there was no air from the Vents.

Yes to prove my point I had to get up and wave my hand in front of AC to confirm that there was not even hot air blowing from the AC Vents. Few minutes later there were 2-3 more tables full and mysteriously cool air from the vents started flowing.

For this I confronted the waiter and the restaurant manager, the talks to them turned out to be as useless as the restaurant. I asked were you lying to me, and the reply was "YES"!!!

How, rude can it be? I paid the bill and moved and swore never to visit any restaurant related to Suruchi. I hope and wish that you never have such an experience at a restaurant.

This restaurant absolutely falls in "No Go Zone" and "Enter at your own risk category".

Noorani, Worli (Mumbai)

People had been pestering me for ages to have Biryani at Noorani.
Finally, I gave in to the demands of the masses and went to Noorani for dinner and had the "Biryani".

Noorani is near to Haji Ali in Worli Mumbai. Here is the Link to the location. It is a small restaurant and can be safely called a Dhaba convert. Well, all this doesn't matter if the food is delicious and mouthwatering.

The waiters at the restaurant were not knowledgeable about the items on the Menu or the contents of different Biryanis mentioned in the menu. After long discussions we placed our order and I ordered veg biryani.

It did not take very long for the order to arrive. I was shocked to see the Biryani when it arrived at the table. Why? Because, it was green in color and first thought that came to my mind was "Oh my god it is Radioactive and emitting radiation!!!"

The biryani was bright green. We asked the waiter why it is not like original biryani and promptly came the reply that, because it is Veg it is green. We all had a good laugh at it and continued with the dinner.

It was one of the worst Biryani's I have eaten till date:

1. It was green in color.
2. It was soaked in oil.
3. There was basically no flavor and I renamed the dish to "rice chowmein".
4. I had to look for vegetables or basically anything except for rice.

Even the Deserts that we asked for were not up to the mark. Well, it certainly is a cheap location to eat and lives up to the mark. In my personal opinion it is just thriving because of its location and may be non-vegetarian food options. This is certainly not a place to visit if you into vegetarian food.

Pharrel Williams - Happy (Mumbai, India)

Finally Pharrel Williams - Happy - Mumbai

Konkan, Taj Vivanta (Mumbai, India)

On one of my business trips, I had the privilege of staying at Taj Vivanta President, Cuffe Parade, Mumbai.

During this stay I got to try all the restaurants there, as after work I did not had enough energies to walk to nearest restaurants. However, on my other stays in the same hotel I tried "Status" near Maken Towers and Moshes on Cuffe Parade. I will write about them later.

Yes, of course I have been to Leopold Cafe multiple times and it is not that great.

Coming back to Konkan; when one of my colleagues suggested that this was an award winning restaurant, we decided to have our dinner there. I was skeptical because I am vegetarian and coastal food does not give many options to us vegetarians.

Well the decor was like an eat out on a beach village in India.
I didn't like the mango drink that we ordered or anything else. Even the non vegetarians did not like their dishes. Even though they belonged to coastal regions and had coastal food frequently.

Good things to write about were highly obliging and courteous staff who tried a lot to make us comfortable. However, food may be good but was not to my tastes. May be they went a little bit too authentic, everything had too much of raw eilaichi. Which was a turn off.

Contrary to this Thai Pavilion which is another renowned restaurant at this Taj Property has good food. I loved eating there. I will write more about it later.

Hometel, Chandigarh (India)

Hometel Chandigarh is a wonderful relief from privately owned single hotels that dote the city. It is a typical budget hotel with all the necessary amenities and hygiene maintained.

Land use is optimum and car parking is available on the site unlike most of the Sarovar properties.

The rooms are decently sized and functional (IKEA types). We mainly used the hotel as a stopover while travelling to Shimla or Dharamshala and at times while visiting Chandigarh for attending a marriage.

Downsides of the hotel are:

1. The food is terrible and one of the worst breakfast spreads that I have seen. However, room service is OK.

2. The hotel is built on one of the industrial plots. Hence, it is surrounded by lot of factories and at the back side there is place where lot of horses are kept for load carrying. The stench is unbearable.

Italiano, Cyber Hub (Gurgaon, India)

Italiano is one of the numerous restaurants that have come up in Cyber Hub. At the moment it is the hottest spot in NCR. I went to Italiano for working lunch.

At first the restaurant appears small to you but once settled in it is okay.
One cannot overhear the conversation on the another table until and unless they are real loud.

Five cheese Pizza was awesome and the service levels were acceptable. The staff is not the best but effective enough to get the right order on the table. This are really needs some improvement.

Bill for 5 people was approx 3500INR.

Whispering Pines, Mashobra (Club Mahindra)

Shimla is one of the favorite haunts for the people living in the plains of Haryana and Punjab and be it winter or summers people find a reason to visit Shimla..

The biggest draw for me is the fine 8 lane highway up to Chandigarh and then the stretch from Chandigarh to Kalka which was a pain, is now 4 Lanes / 6 Lanes toll highway and cuts down the travel time drastically.

Yes, and how can I forget all those eating joints on the way.

Shimla is now very commercialized and to enjoy nature one needs to go farther from Shimla.
Being, a Club Mahindra member we chose the property. Like, any other Club Mahindra property the staff and the food is great.

It is at an ideal location and from the rooms you can see most pristine views of the mighty Himalayas.
The property also boasts of a great SPA at nominal costs.

However, from a great experience on my first visit. Things have gone downhill for the property.

1. The linen quality is really bad. They are old and torn and you have to ask for replacement every time.

2. Heating at the property is turned off at 6 AM (In winters - Dec/Jan/etc.) and then the vents in the room start throwing air at outside temperature and the room is super chilled by 6:15 AM. The only way to avoid it is to get up at 5:59 AM and switch off the central heating FAN. Especially, with young children this can be fatal if they get sick and whole trip might be ruined.

If they can come up with such a stupid thing, I did not even bother discussing it with the property manager or Club Mahindra. Because, if you talk to stupid only nonsense will come back to you.

3. Last time I visited I do not know why the Main Gate was blocked by a water tanker (Shouldn't they be using the service gate at the back). Well, the made gesture to bring the vehicle in but the space was too small and I had to back the vehicle. This was in the middle of the night with heavy snow. There was nobody to guide me and as expected I hit a huge stone with the back bumper of my vehicle.

The reception staff was unapologetic that the main gate was blocked and very completely immune to that fact there was no guard at the gate to guide customer vehicles.

4. There is no stand by bartender. So, when the bartender goes for dinner one needs to wait for good 45 mins.

Well having discussed above four points I have decided never to visit the property again, even though we had really great time there in the past.

Visit at your own risk.

Club Mahindra, Nawalgarh

Club Mahindra’s property at a non-descript place like Nawalgarh attracted our attention as it was totally unheard of. Upon checking with Club Mahindra we came to know that the property is still under development and may or may not look like as per the pictures.

We took the risk and planned our one week trip to Nawalgarh.

There were two ways to do reach our destination and they were:

1. Go to Jaipur to Sikar to Nawalgarh

2. Or try something new and turn towards kothputali and take the lesser travelled road.

We took option 2 and got to see great views. However, the only drawbacks were:

1. There were no good places to eat on the way and hence we survived on chips and coke that we     

        carried with us.

2. It took us longer than usual and the staff at the property was worried and kept calling us again and 

        again to make sure that we reach before dark.

3. Due to potholed road I had to frequently press the brakes. This heated up the discs and we had to stop        for a while so that they can cool down.

Upon reaching we were mesmerized by the remoteness and shocked by the first room given to us. The room was right in front of the pool. Ideal location, some would say. However, the pool was being built and there was cement, bricks, etc. everywhere.

We asked for another room and were given a room on the ground floor of the haveli. We asked for a change as it was right next to the hotel lawns and was too noisy. Upon our request they agreed to give us another room on the top floor the next day.

To our surprise we were given the room post dinner.

What we loved at the property:

1. NO TV. Yes there are no TVs at the property and the manager of the resort came and explained to us 

        the reason personally. We were skeptical at first and it was eerily quiet on first night. But this was the             best part of the stay.

2. Organic food. The vegetables are grown right at the back of the property without fertilizers and 

        pesticides.

3. Being woken up by the peacocks. Yes every morning you see so many peacocks and one is woken’ 

        up by their noise. Excellent way to be woken up.

Activities that can be done

1. Pottery class

2. Horse riding

3. Play badminton / cricket in the evening

4. Visit the haveli towns nearby

5. Visit Kathu Shyam and Balaji

Overall a nice property to stay. This is not your regular hotel but worth the experience.

Club Mahindra, Nawalgarh

One of the Haveli's

Le Meridien, Jaipur

After staying at Trident Jaipur I was tempted to stay at "Le Meridian", Jaipur. Finally they were offering a good deal when we were planning our annual trip to Rajasthan.

It was then that I decided to stay at the property for a night, as a stopover between our destination and Delhi. The deal was 9K INR (Room, Breakfast and one SPA session for a couple).

What I remember from the trip is:

1. Sitting by the pool procrastinating and sipping fresh lime juice.
2. Relaxing in the SPA
3. Feeling small in huge rooms with high ceiling
4. Wine on the first floor of the restaurant

The property is grand and rooms are of good size with good sized bathrooms. Had a great stay at the hotel and enjoyed it. The restaurant serves awesome food. Chef and waiting staff is well versed with what’s on offer and what's liked by the people.

Few little problems that we faced were:

1. The staff expects tips at every step you take.
2. English is terrible even with the reception staff
3. The cue by the billiards/pool table was broken and even after repeated complaints it was not fixed. (Again a staff issue)
4. They need to do something with pigeons sitting out in the balconies. Basically one cannot open the balconies because of the mess created by pigeons.
 

Flying with Indigo

While flying indigo airlines please do not sit at row 10 or the last few rows.

Trolley 1 ends servicing at row 10 and take up to 1 hour 20 mins to serve food which is pathetic if your flight is 1 hour 40 minutes (Mumbai - Delhi). If you ever get the seats mentioned have food before you sit in the flight.

Bon voyage! 

Full Service Airlines, India

After the embarrassing closure of Kingfisher Airlines, India is left with only 2 full fare airlines.

1. Air India

2. Jet Airways

We in India love bargains which is clear from the number of low fare airlines. Among the two full fare airlines mentioned above. Except for leg space there is nothing much to write about Air India.

Jet Airways gives some decent service which is at par with Indigo or slightly above.

I have been travelling a lot with Jet Airways lately; as most of the corporate(s) prefer to fly their executives with them. But, I cannot relate to Jet Airways as a full service airlines.

1. The food portions and good for a 10 year old.

2. They do not serve any soft drinks / mocktails.

3. Most of the food served is "Street Food" like Veg Noodles with Manchurian, Ragda Patties (Mumbai Steet Food), etc.

4. Planes are ageing. Which is evident from their upkeep.

5. In today's age they do not have any screens to watch movies, etc.

The only hope is Tata and Singapore Airlines tie up to fly in Indian skies. Lets hope and pray that it happens. At the moment it is stuck in red tape.

Taj Hotels may soon ink deal to manage Claridges Surajkund, Faridabad (Haryana, India)

Claridges Suraj Kund soon to be acquired by Taj Group

See the link for more details.

Places to eat out in Faridabad - II

Few more additions to the list:

1. Restaurant at The Vibe, Lalit

2. Dhaba, Calridges (I really don't remember how I missed it in my first list).

3. Restaurant at Millenium Hotel

Pirates of the Grill, Gurgaon (Haryana, India)

I had really good food after a long long time!
I think that sums it up, innit?

The Serious Stuff:

This  newly opened restaurant is located in the same mall as Vapour, Gurgaon. Decorations are average  and they try to do Pirates theme which is totally out of place. The food is served in same format as Barbecue Nation.

However, the POG (Pirates of Grill) is more spacious and tables are comfortably spaced from other tables. The snacks are served on the table and are excellent. Main course is buffet style and is average.
Desserts are awesome.

Waiters can be at times get overwhelmed with orders and service; especially when the restaurant is full.

Verdict:
Rating - 8 / 10
Will I visit again: Yes
Location: Excellent
Cost: 350 + Taxes for Veg (One soft drink included)

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 rented 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 a better option. As it is a bigger property within similar price bracket. 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.