Restaurant Reviews

Finally, I found a place that professes to serve authentic Mexican fare in the heart of Delhi – La Bodega. Coming from a Spanish word meaning ‘grocery store’, La Bodega…

Mozaic is the latest incarnation in a location that’s seem at least three different restaurants in the past ten or so years. First, it was Clouds, a nice, upscale, downtown-business-networking…

Mahabelly, which means big fat tummy, is actually a play on the name of the famous king Mahabali, This is a joint venture of two alumni of St Stephen’s College…

Who would have thought of getting the taste of Armenia in South Delhi? I was excited to try out a new world cuisine in town, and that too, reminiscent of…

Roses are red, Violets are blue; Romance is in the air and it’s time for Rose Cafe review. A cafe by this name warranted a visit, especially when it’s a…

The Peninsular Kitchen is a coastal cuisine restaurant in Vasant Kunj. Relatively new and untried, it looked tempting enough to experiment on a weekend. Now that Zambar has closed, it…

Okay, so Delhi has a new dining destination. Now, if you are tired of the Saket, VK malls, the overcrowded Hauz Khas Village and only-great-in-winters Khan Market, the new place…

This place is great. The food is great, the location is super-convenient, and the service could not have been better or more attentive, without being obtrusive. Plus, they put a…

The city of Memphis sits on the Mississippi River, kind of where the three states of Tennessee, Mississippi and Arkansas all come together. It’s famous for music, being one of…

The diner is a uniquely American invention. It was originally a side effect of the construction of the interstate highway system, in the 1950s. The idea was to create a…

Martine Café is a place with an enormous amount of promise that, unfortunately, does not quite deliver. Most of the meal was pretty good. However, the entrée was unbelievably not,…

There are days when one yearns for a home-style South Indian meal in a not-so-ostentatious place. More importantly, you can be in slippers and tracks. The newly opened Carnatic Cafe…

At the outset, I must clarify that Brasserie is a French word alluding to a French restaurant that has a relaxed ambience and serves alcoholic beverages and food. Elma’s has…

Claridges is one of my favorite places in Delhi. Situated in Lutyen’s Delhi, it has a wonderful old world charm. The Dhaba, one of their most popular offerings since my…

Churros are strips of deep-fried pastry dusted with icing sugar or cinnamon. They are a popular snack in Spain, France, the Philippines, Portugal, and the south western United States. In…

There were three traditional historic Lahori gates – one in shahjanabad( Delhi),,  another in Amritsar and the third in the city of Lahore, and now, we have a new one – Lahori…

Cafe Lota is a quaint artsy earthy restaurant nestled in the Craft museum in Pragati Maidan. It is a cafe that offers a contemporary take on regional Indian dishes. Being…

  Cafe Diva is one of the many restaurants co-owned by the celebrity chef Ritu Dalmia, along with Diva Italian, Diva Spiced,  The Cafe at ICC, Latitude 28, and Depot 29.I decided…

Delhi has such a mélange of desi flavours , traditional and fusion, that when I heard that there was a place for authentic Parsi food,  my tastebuds were tough to keep…

  When I heard that the South African casual dining restaurant chain, Barcelos, has opened its first outlet in India, I was pretty excited to see what it was all…

Indigo deli is a restaurant, cafe, bakery, patisserie,  ice cream shop as well as a gourmet retail. It belongs to the chain of Indigo started by Rahul Akerkar and claims to rewrite the…

The Garden Restaurant at Lodhi has to be the most picturesque of eateries in Delhi, set up front of the sprawling Lodhi gardens, right opposite Mausam Bhavan. It is an…

Located conveniently in Anand Lok, Diggin has made its place in the cafe style eateries in Delhi and is always a welcome venue for coffee and a bite. The Location…

Sydney is one of the rapidly urbanizing places in the world, yet The Rocks near the picturesque Harbour Bridge boasts of a historic environment of buildings and public places from…

More a sit-down restaurant and bar than a cafe, the ambiguity starts in the name (Urdu word meaning ‘fake’) of the eatery itself. A modern Indian bistro, this is Jiggs…

The Great Kabab Factory (TGKF) is the first locale that springs to my mind if I am in a mood for a high protein kebab meal. Kebabs derive their origin…

Benihana belongs to the Japanese chain of restaurants started by Rocky Aoki in 1964 in New York with more than 80 outlets throughout the world. Benihana refers to the red…

The idea behind Mr. Choy is to recreate the Hong Kong of the 1970s – a blend of the old China and contemporary world. The Location 75, Khan Market, Middle…

Smoke House Deli is a modern European café with quaint interiors. It sounds like a clash of interests but works surprisingly well. It is casual, friendly, inviting, and unpretentious. It…

Yeti – The Himalayan Kitchen started as a small eatery in Hauz Khas Village; however, now its new branch located in Greater Kailash 2 has sufficient seating arrangement at two…

  Introduction Rara Avis (Latin for rare bird) This unpretentious French fine dining restaurant hidden in Greater Kailash – II Market offers a unique experience. It is truly a rarity…

I hate restaurant reviews that breathlessly announce that Restaurant Whatever is a “hidden gem.” Basically, this is a humble brag, demonstrating that the reviewer knows more than you do, is…

Pacific Avenue is Santa Cruz’s main street. It’s a fascinating place to go for a walk – there is a lot of street theatre, both deliberate and accidental, and always…

Nizam’s is a blessing to any non-vegetarian person who has braved the streets of New Market, Kolkata. When we reached Nizam’s in New Market, we were famished- partly from walking…

Paris is a perfect study in the everlasting conflict between marketing and reality. The place is marketed, and brilliantly so, if I might add, as Chestnut Hill, Philadelphia’s version of…

In Mexico, one of the big holidays is the Day of the Dead, or in Spanish, Dia de Muertos. It’s a three-day holiday during which people remember and pray for…

This place does not fall in the category of fine dining restaurants- but besides Sourav Ganguly, Mohan Bagan football team, Jyoti Basu and Rabindranath Tagore, if there is something else…

With the Annual San Diego Food Festival taking place in September every year, we have compiled a list of restaurants where you can get into the spirit of the festival…

The largest city within Silicon Valley and the tenth largest in USA, San Jose marries Spanish historical structures with modern high rise buildings. A regular travel spot for business travelers…

The foggy city of San Francisco is the perfect excuse to explore the restaurants and bars that line the streets of the city. Almost all the cities in California have…

The largest and most important city in the fertile Central San Joaquin Valley, Fresno comprises people from 80 different nationalities, who have set up home here. Fresno has an eventful…

‘California begins here’. Sacramento, the capital of California has revamped its efforts on a huge scale to match up with more popular destinations in California like Los Angeles and San…

I liked this place a lot – it’s sort of the Goldilocks of restaurants in this area. It’s not too big and not too small. It’s sort of tucked away…

I have always been kind of uncomfortable with the while concept of obligatory gratitude. All the treacly demands that I practice daily gratitude, that it’s some kind of moral obligation,…

Santa Cruz is a town with a split identity. Wow, that sounds like the beginning of a detective novel, doesn’t it? One personality is Beach. Sun, sand, surfing, families, Monterey…

If you live by the idea that life is to be lived for the pleasure of the five senses alone, then you are lucky to be in Miami. Miami is…

While you hop about in this city in hopes of catching a glimpse of Jennifer Lopez or Johnny Depp, ignoring what the sun is doing to your flawless complexion, you…

I really, really wanted to like this place. I tried very hard. Unfortunately, there were two problems. First, the kitchen was unbelievably slow. And second, the food, to cut to…

Having lived on the East Coast for thirty years, and the West Coast for twenty, I have come to notice some differences. Besides climate, demographics and so on, there are…

Kauboi doesn’t really work. It doesn’t even seem as if they’re trying that hard. Oh, well. The name (say it out loud) is sort of an inside joke – the…

After you’ve done it enough, reviewing restaurants becomes, unsurprisingly, a little predictable. Preparing and serving food is, after all, a business. There are best practices, like in every business, and…

If you are looking to try authentic regional cuisine in Delhi, my suggestion is to make the state bhavans a starting point. These places serve authentic regional cuisine at affordable…

One of the things I find profoundly irritating about restaurants is the unfortunately common practice of Trying Too Hard. This entails dressing up what ought to be straight-ahead dishes with…

This place is a hidden gem, and an unbelievably romantic throwback to a whole other era in the history of the Bay Area. A little background: Santa Cruz is overwhelmingly…

Raven & Rose is an interesting place. I was steered there by the desk clerk at my hotel at the end of a long, long, long day. Dead tired, dead…

Radiator Whiskey was an incredibly lucky accident. I was staying in a hotel in Seattle while in town in business. It was time to go out for dinner, and I…

Lago di Como is an odd place. The food isn’t bad, and everyone’s friendly and everything, but you get the impression when you go there that they’re just kind of…

  Palapas may be the best Mexican restaurant in the Santa Cruz area. The food is terrific, the atmosphere is lively, fun and smart, and the staff is great. Here’s…

Santa Cruz is an unusual town. It has an amazing, and slightly unreal list of world-class things to do and see – the Boardwalk, Big Basin, Monterey Bay, surfing. But…

Vernick is wonderful. This is a place where they really know their food, and where everything they prepare is of the highest possible quality. This is food that’s creative, beautiful,…

The meal was excellent. However, a great deal else about the restaurant was either neutral, or actually unpleasant. This, plus the hefty price tag ($118, before tip) leads me to…

This was a very, very good meal. A few completely random thoughts: Afghanistan has basically been at war for the past three decades. The life expectancy there is 45 years.…

Caruso’s is, if not the very best Italian restaurant in the Santa Cruz area, damn close. It and La Casa Nostra are neck-and-neck, although they’re as different as two places…

Sports has undergone many innovations in the past decade. The emergence of Premier Leagues is various sports bounds people together and gives another media to talk about. India too took the…

If you walk down the breakwater in Santa Cruz towards the lighthouse on a summer night, you often can look across the harbor and see an enormous party going on…

As John Donne famously wrote, “No man is an island.” First of all, what other restaurant review have you read, ever, that quotes John Donne? Second, no restaurant, apparently, is…

UB City changed the skyline of Bangalore few years back. It has four towers built in the center of the city and was built in partnership of UB group and…

  It’s important to remember that, at the end of the day, restaurants are businesses. Not everyone can be (or should be) Thomas Keller. Foodies are, for the most part,…

This is going to be an unusual review. Usually, I talk about a lot of different dishes, and provide a lot of information. This time, I’m going to be discussing…

Assembly is the new “it” girl of Santa Cruz restaurants. Located in the former Aqua Bleu, Assembly has been packed since the night it opened. The day we reviewed it,…

I still remember the early mall days in Bangalore, Total mall on the Sarjapura road had opened first of its kind hypermarket and people from all over Bangalore loved to…

We tried out La Posta on Oscar night, 2014. Maybe, as Patrick O’Brian put it in one of his novels, I’m turning into a cantankerous old dog rather than being…

There are few things and places which stand the test of time and only ones with clear and sound roots around their values are able to achieve this. Talking about…

Church street has been one of the most happening streets in the city of Bangalore. Frequented by college students, office goers, couples, friends and families, it is bustling all the…

Who knew that a grant of land by the Chamaraja Wodeyar IX, Maharaja of Mysore to the Eurasian community would one day become a major part of one of India’s…

When I first heard about The Fisherman’s Wharf restaurant last year, the great bustling lifestyle of San Francisco in the bay area came to my mind. I remembered the shacks…

Many of my friends had talked to me about this in past few months, looked like this was getting high with many on their to do list. Chances are if…

This time around I was once again in Koramangala area scouting for my lunch after a hectic start to the day. The 1st cross road in the locality has gradually…

Every region in the world has its unique impressions on the culture, people, cuisine and so forth. While I traveled across Europe I found it very intriguing how these things…

This place is fantastic. No beating around the bush – it is just plain great. I never really had any idea what German food was, or could be, so maybe…

Brunches are getting towards the latest fad as more and more people look to spend quality time with friends and family. Just in the last year I’ve seen number of…

I saw a startling statistic few weeks back, the population of Bangalore has doubled in the last decade. Bengaluru is growing like a true cosmopolitan culture, with professionals coming from all…

The international cuisine restaurants used to be mostly restricted to star hotels until a couple of decades back. However this is another frontier on which Indian map has become more…

  Santa Cruz is one of America’s capitals of surfing. According to history, three Hawaiian princes who were in town to attend a military academy had crude wooden boards milled…

In a little spasm of curiosity, I googled the word “Malabar” before beginning to write this. Turns out, “Malabar” is a Spanish word that means “juggling.” Which is appropriate. This…

The Red Pearl is a dump. For ambience, it is easily the worst place I’ve reviewed in the Santa Cruz area. It’s cold, not especially clean, and decorated like an…

Barbecuing has always been fascinating to me, as I’m sure it is to a lot of you. Having stayed in number of countries, I’ve seen this activity as a common…

Mexican food is new to the Indian market, although I found about a decade back that it is pretty close to Indian taste. I started to like Mexican when I…

Oswald is a great little place, with exceptional food, but interestingly, it’s located in a seriously unglamorous part of Santa Cruz. It’s kind of a food fortress – there is…

Having tried Punjabi By Nature in Delhi, I was excited when I got a flyer at home announcing the opening of their branch very close to my home on Whitefield…

Suda is a great, big, huge, giant surprise. It looks like it’s going to be sort of run-of-the-mill. The restaurant is one big concrete box, with some arty touches for…

As a food lover, I’m fascinated by great names given to recipes and the way they are presented. The vegetables and meats can be cooked in different ways and named…

An initial word of caution, please, or a recommendation for a grain of salt. When I went to Bittersweet, I was sick. I mean, really sick. Like, people sitting nearby…

Apart from its artistic heritage, Montreal is very famous for its food culture as well. There is a wide variety of foods available in the city. Montrealers enjoy having great quality…

Chinese food in India has always excited me and I guess a lot others, as is evident by many of these restaurants opening in the city of Bangalore. At the…

In many, many ways, I am a complete sucker for a pretty face. For obvious reasons, this has gotten me into real trouble on more than one occasion. However, at…

The Stranger: Beer… and a bottle. Lutie Naylor: Ain’t much good, but it’s all there is. [brings drinks] Lutie Naylor: You want anything else? The Stranger: Just a peaceful hour…

This place wasn’t actually bad. I have had bad. I know bad. Sometimes it makes you physically sick, or sometimes it makes the entire act of eating seem sort of…

They always mess up the coffee. Every restaurant I have ever eaten in, that I can remember, always serves mediocre coffee at the end of the meal. It’s either watery,…

[easy2map id=28] (Click on the map icons to know the Address, Contact No. & Rating of a Restaurant.) Fremont in CA is famous for being the venue of many of…

[easy2map id=”25″] (Click on the map icons to know the Address, Contact No. & Rating of a Restaurant.) Santa Cruz has established itself as a beach resort community. It is…

Capitola is a little seaside resort town that’s kind of an extension of Santa Cruz. Downtown Capitola, such as it is, is wedged into a tiny little spit of land…

Click on the map icon to know Address, Contact No. & Rating of the Restaurant.[easy2map id=24] San Francisco Bay Area is full of eating joints for its popularity as a…

I sat and did a little sobering math before writing this review. If you multiply the number of meals per day (3) by the number of years I’ve been eating…

[easy2map id=27] (Click on the map icons to know the Address, Contact No. & Rating of a Restaurant.) Do you call yourself a gastronome? No matter what your taste be,…

I Love Sushi is fun. There’s really no other way to describe it. When you think of Japanese culture, at least as an American, you think of seriousness. Tea ceremonies.…

For seafood and steaks in an interesting setting, Horatio’s in the San Leandro Marina is a great spot. With great views of the waterfront and a menu that includes signature…

There are steak places in every major American city where the whole point seems to be excess. The steaks are wonderful, but they’re incredibly expensive. The side dishes are all…

Thanks to the trade embargo, Cuban culture is something that Americans, unless they happen to live in Miami, probably know zero about. There are lots of stereotypes, of course, and…

Steuben’s will definitely resonate with you if a) you’re American; and b) are of a certain age. What this means, basically, is that Steuben’s is a restaurant that, amazingly, seems…

Mission Coffee (or Fremont Coffee Roasting) is a local hangout, coffee shop, restaurant, and music venue in the Mission district of Fremont. Its cool and cozy vibes attract a hipster…

I am a huge fan of the remade Ocean’s Eleven series of movies. In the third one, Ocean’s Thirteen, a man goes into a restaurant in a fancy Las Vegas…

  Something that not a lot of people realize (there’s got to be a more elegant way to phrase that) is that California and Mexico have been, for hundreds of…

Gabriella Cafe is a funky, classic little French bistro located in downtown Santa Cruz. The décor is eclectic – the tables don’t all match, the interior is a series of…

They claim that they make the only pizza which is worth eating. In a city like New York making this claim needs a certain degree of confidence and a certain…

I have this personal preference for food that, for want of a better term, tastes like something. I like strong flavors. I like unusual ingredients – sometimes I will go…

Why go to the Melting Pot? Because it’s fon to due! When life calls for a celebration, it’s time to head somewhere a little bit special for a nice evening…

Introduction Whenever I’m in the mood for some hearty and consistent Mexican fare, Celia’s is my go-to spot. Offering all the familiar favorites, Celia’s is a fairly traditional Mexican restaurant,…

On the hunt for a new Thai restaurant, I came across Green Champa Garden, which categorizes itself as a Thai and Laotian restaurant. Laotian food is new to me, but…

You are going to NYC? Wow! Don’t come back without going to The Plaza food Hall opposite Central Park, it is amazing.” With a sell like this there was no…

A couple of years ago, through some finagling, I got to take a first-class flight on Singapore Airlines from Singapore to San Francisco. This flight, in this service class, on…

Not your typical pizzeria, Pizza and Curry offers food inspired by the fusion of Italian and Indian cuisines. My first reaction upon hearing about this pizza joint was bewilderment, a…

I have to admit, the entire mystique built up around New Orleans leaves me a little cold. I’ve seen The Big Easy, I’ve eaten at some Cajun restaurants, but ultimately…

Dinner at Shadowbrook, in Capitola, is not an undertaking to be, uh, undertaken lightly. It’s a big deal – expensive, sprawling, and really, really good. It is going to take…

Not that long ago, what is now the Paradox Hotel, in Santa Cruz, was, to put it sort of gently, a dump called the University Inn and Conference Center. Described…

The Red Rabbit is a trendy spot in Midtown Sacramento, popular among twenty- and thirty somethings looking for fun and a fancy drink. This place had been recommended by a…

When San Francisco offers one of its rare clear, sunny, and warm days, you have little choice but to make the most of it. With baseball games and the America’s…

Digger’s Diner is a casual restaurant that serves old-fashioned, classic American food, including classic burgers, as well as some dishes that are hard to find today, like patty melts, reubens,…

I spent the first part of my adult life living in South Philadelphia. South Philly is a somewhat rundown part of the city that once was solidly – like, completely…

1,2,3,4,5 – It was that simple.  The limited special offers probably made me walk in. Unless of course I was already sold on such a picturesque dining option. With options…

Kabuki is a small and inexpensive Japanese restaurant in Fremont, a real Mom and Pop restaurant, run by a Japanese couple. It’s not glamorous or fancy, but it’s clear that…

There were no worshipers having their Sundaes when I passed by, but that was not to be a deterrent for me. I was not hungry, I had resolved not to…

Red Chili is a Thai and Vietnamese restaurant in Hayward. Though that might suggest a fusion of the two types of food, it was more like a restaurant that served…

Canopy Restaurant at Sydney – Quick Review: Restaurant? Canopy on Hyde, 157 Liverpool Street, Sydney, NSW, Australia. What? Pan-fried Mirror Dory, Pomme  Puree, Curry Butter, Chervil. How Much? Australian $…

This part is easy. As far as I can tell, Soif is the best restaurant in Santa Cruz. I may be wrong – there may be others I haven’t discovered…

Some of the best authentic Mexican food is found in the strangest of places around here. It’s not unheard of to find great home-style Mexican food served in the back…

Quick Review: Restaurant? Grill’d at CBD World Square, 644 George Street, Sydney, NSW, Australia. What? Tuscan Delight Chicken Burger How Much? Australian $ 16.7 (12.5+3.5+.7) Fries? They saved the meal,…

The Santa Cruz Harbor is home to several hundred boats – everything from stand-up paddleboats to the Chardonnay  to every kind of boat in between. Particularly in the summer, it’s…

Quick Review: Restaurant? J & D Gourmet Food Bar, 9 Hay St  Sydney, Australia What? Omelet with mushrooms, olives and sun-dried tomatoes How Much? Australian $ 9.50 Omelet? Yes, they call…

One of the fascinating things about review restaurants is that along with being a place to eat, a restaurant is also a business. It has a number of different moving…

A local establishment that’s been run by the same family for over 20 years, Mission Pizza is a surprising spot, not just for food, but entertainment, too. In all those…

There’s a certain mystique attached to the California beach restaurant. A lot of the myth about California is attached to the beach scene, and places right on the water almost…

It was the name and the logo that got me first. Spanky’s Dog House – the logo of a cartoon hotdog wearing a spiked collar. How could I pass that…

There is a lot – I mean, a LOT – of mediocre Middle Eastern food out there. Here’s your hummus, here’s you falafel, here’s your pita, thanks a lot, pal.…

I hardly know where to begin to review the Paradise Beach Grille, in Capitola. To say that it was bad is an understatement. It was bad in a way that’s…

If you’re going through an Italian food phase, you’re in luck. After all, Italian restaurants are known for their elegance and make perfect venues for social gatherings and birthday dinners…

If you’re missing home food then this is definitely the place for you. A lot of Indians prefer Bombay café because there is no other place especially anywhere near Bloomington,…

Le Moose Crepe Cafe offers what sounds like a bizarre blend: Thai food and French crepes. This strange mixture of cuisines may have been why I was hesitant to try…

  If you drive North up Route 9 out of Santa Cruz, one of the first towns you come to is Ben Lomen. Tucked into the redwoods on the southern…

Stagnaro’s is a Santa Cruz classic. It’s been in operation since 1947, and is still run by the original family. It’s right on the Municipal Wharf, and in good weather,…