Toscana - Tantalizingly Italian!

Toscana is located in the busy and bustling Dame Street which is packed with restaurant's aplenty. When most eat outs these days are hardly in existence for a year or two, this one sees it's entrance from way back since 1999. One good thing with most eateries in Dublin is that they place the menu along with the prices right at the outside giving a glimpse of what to expect for the customers. I happened to see a two course lunch meal for a price of about 20 Euros and decided to give it a shot. The rate looked like quite a deal especially since most singular items themselves cost around the same and with this you get to try 2 items for more or less the same fare.

Being a vegetarian however, options are limited to the bottom. With less choices available at hand, it wasn't much of a hassle choosing the appetizer and main course. In the appetizer section, I went in for the 'Suppli' which are basically Italian breaded rice balls in the form of a croquette. There were 4 of them and the plating was done up nicely with each of them given separate space and coming along with a garlic dip. The arborio rice inside stuffed with mozzarella tasted quite creamy and fresh.

On the main course side of things checked out the Vegetarian Lasagna. This was pretty tantalizing with cheese infused all over the plate surrounding the layered sheets of pasta which themselves were quite hard hitting and deliciously creamy comprising major portions of broccoli florets along with pomodoro, courgette, spinach and ricotta cheese. It would have been nice if there could have been a piece or two of garlic bread to additionally complement it but however the dish overall felt quite full fledged and nice on the tongue.

The service was quite quick with hardly much waiting time. They were also quite sweet to check in regularly if things were fine. The rates in general seem a bit on the higher side but thankfully with this combo deal didn't really set back too much. The ambience is designed in the form of a pub and gives a laidback insouciant feel with dim lights and dark color palette doing a tango. Overall a nice little eatery for craving Italian delicacies which has been serving customers right from even before the turn of this century.

Mayflower - A melange of Multi-cuisine

Mayflower is a restaurant constructed out of an olden day house bungalow. It retains a lot of old world heritage and tradition and that seemed pretty appealing about the place. It is pretty spacious and you even have a compound space stacked up with books comprising the autobiographies of interesting personalities. The white pastel shades and the plants in the background give it an vibrant touch.

The restaurant is largely multi-cuisine tapering into a broad way of cuisines ranging from Continental, European, American, Italian, Asian, Mediterranean and many more. It doesn't stick to one particular nook and handling a finer variety of fare didn't seem to be hampering on the quality in any way.

We started our coarse with a broccoli soup. It was green and thick with laces of cheese stringed in. It had a rich taste and came well served up in a mug. On the appetizers section the dim sums comprising inset water chestnut, corn & broccoli were minced well and went really well with the range of dips. The crispy American corn as well as the lotus stems as the name suggested were crispy and well cooked. We also tried a Jamaican Panneer skewers which were a tad disappointing. The pieces were a bit hard and the taste didn't come out apparently.

The real show sealers were however on the main course section where virtually each of the items we encountered fought for bragging rights to be the best of the lot. The seven cheese pizza was marvelous. It was insanely cheesy with different variants and it was a joy pulling and playing with the pizza not to mention the delectable taste. We also tried an exotica pizza in addition as half and half along with another seven cheese version and this too was yum loaded with a mix of veggies and was also really cheesy. The one which smeared the aroma and roused the taste buds were however the khow-suey. It had a fantastic smattering taste with the Burmese aroma being really rich with a fine essence of coconut cream and this was insanely enjoyable. We also got to slurp a creamy pasta.This was a make your own version where we went with cream sauce, penne and a tinge of veggies. It was really cheesy with the contents floating dangling and dancing around and tasted fantastic.

In the desserts section, their stock is limited with just two specialized items namely the Orange Darsan Flambe and the Death by Chocolate. The former was quite nice with the orange essence over the crisp noodly pieces giving a lovely fine taste. The latter was decent but nothing much to rave about. I believe very soon there will be a few more specific stuff added to the attic. The drinks, beverage and shakes however are considerable in number. Among the ones tried, the Kit Kat shake easily stood out.

The service was friendly and suggestive. The pace of time taken to bring the items could be improved marginally as we had to encounter some waiting time. They are competitively priced and for the quality which you get as output seems justifiable. On the whole,a restaurant that specializes on a lot of stuff and also succeeds. Definitely worthy of giving a shot.

Cafe CakeBee - Luring in time and again!

Cafe CakeBee is another recent cafe which has cropped up in town. Located in a quaint location in a small suburb in Alwarpet, it rings the right noises. The space is quite massive with very nice open seating arrangements in the lower tier on top of a closed air conditioning surrounding at the top. You are also greeted to some lovely looking desserts and bakery products displayed as you enter.

We were here on a weekday evening and just had a couple of stuff. We started our foray with a starter in the form of New way Mac n cheese. These were fried nugget balls comprising inset a swirled up layer of mac n cheese and coming alongside a raunchy tomato dip.

For the mains, tried their Primavera pizza which was aced artistically. It had the cheese, the veggies, the sauces and the crust. All of them intermingled with each other delightfully giving the tongue a soul satisfying taste.

To round up with desserts, we had the brownie with salted caramel ice cream. It was gooey, chocolaty, fudgy, crumby, saucy, salty, icy and all that. It was wonderful to polish this one off.

On the whole it was a satisfying experience. The service was neat and tidy. The rates were little on the upper side. Overall, though Cafe CakeBee passed the test resolutely and if you're the kind looking for a cozy cafe associated with good food, this outlet can definitely be checked out.

P.S : I have been visiting this place time and again and have thoroughly enjoyed some of their crafty creations which I am specially describing below based on my experience.

Saffron Cream Sauce with splash of vodka pasta:
This was done up immaculately and simply watered along the mouth. Swish, swash, swirl - this pasta possessed the firepower to induce the taste buds to have a glorified gala.

Pistachio basil pesto pasta with pine nuts and sun dried tomatoes:
Relished slurping this one up. Deliciously creamy and a hard hitting flavour of pesto to give the requisite smack.

Mezze Platter:
A good old fashioned Mezze platter comprising all the essential Mediterranean goodies to sizzle up a feist!.

New York Cheese Cake with Sorbet Ice cream:
Simply devoured this mouth watering melting new york cheese cake with soft slushy marmalade mellow orange sorbet. Ended up being a dream combination and the mouth just floored delicately with excitement.

Sitcom - The cafe enticing Friends & Food

Sitcom with the caption 'The Drama Diner' is one of the latest cafe's to hit tinseville. From the name it's rather apparent that it borrows heavily on the theme of tv series and this is where they cash in with their set up. It's located on the lengthy stretch of ECR in the Neelankarai road in a complex occupying 2 storeys. The downward side is predominantly a bakery cafe consisting of plenty of stuff like puffs, pastries, quiches, mousses, eclairs, sorbets and a host of other items in the attic. And on the upstairs is where the real dine out cafe action takes place.

The ever popular Friends and Big Bang Theory are the 2 serials which make a big impression on this place. They have quirky dialogues from the sitcoms plastered on the doors apart from having posters depicting characters and footage from the show. In tune with the drama culture, they have also placed sufficient tv screens playing episodes of these shows. I believe these large screens will also cater to sporting action as and when they occur. The decor feels laid back and relaxing with those bent orange couches igniting the comfort factor. It looks like an ideal place to come as large set of folks to spend quality free time and in the process also do some binge eating.

The menu touches different borders with American cuisine being the most significant. Whatever an outlet tries to showcase through it's ambiance, there's no denying that food plays the numero uno part and everything else takes a backseat. In that line, I must say for a new place the food served appeased quite a lot especially with the starters being of the highest order.

We began our dinner sojourn with a french onion soup which was wonderfully presented in a large bowl with a circular piece of soaked bread immersed right over floating on top of the soup. The sprinkle of caramelised onions was well played and this one was really flavourful and a good way to begin proceedings.

The starters totally lorded the show. First up, I fell in love with the Mozzarella cheese sticks. The orangish cheese sticking inside that hollow tunnel covered on the exterior by a breaded texture was all gooey and drool worthy. Dipping it with some chilli mayo added to the excitement. The cheese stuffed mushroom croquettes were not far off from the show. Just childishly poke these balls with a fork and you will witness cheesy awesomeness enveloped all over juicy chunks of mushroom. The outer layer comprising the breaded texture was super solid and the interior had a molten perfect liquid material oozing out providing for a delicious confluence which can be felt when inserted in the mouth. To add a crispy touch were the onion rings which was a great snacker to consume along side the white cheesy dip.

They have an interesting combination of momo's and we tried 3 veg versions viz spinach & corn, mushroom and the sticky rice dumplings. The former two were lovely to munch with just about the right bunch of ingredients and being delicious in taste but what really stole the headlines were the sticky riced one which was quite a revelation. They almost looked like a porcupine with thorns holding up firmly on all sides of the momo's and when picking them up they were so soft, floaty and loose that you almost wanted to play with them. It had a nice curried veg taste to it with the ingredients melding and mingling well. This was truly one of a kind and very interesting and innovatively made.

In the main course section, it was the pizza that was top notch. The 7 cheese pizza was messy with variants of cheese meltingly flowing across all directions but the joy I tell you of biting this cheesy delight was another level. The Sun-dried tomato pizza may not have had the same level of attraction as it's predecessor but it was strong on the base and that's what mattered. It was really delivered well and gave that feel of eating a good thin crust pizza. On continental, we tried the Fettuccini with Basil. I kind of felt this was slightly short on expectations and pretty pale on flavour not really embarking the desired taste. We were also served a thai green curry which was remarkable. It was a little darker than the usual one's I've had but the aromatic presence of coconut cream was hovering all over and it was lovely to eat with plain rice.

They have an extensive array of desserts and we just tried a sample few. The Peach flan was soft and creamy. The Mississippi mud pie was one amazing chocolate based cake. The choco caramel mousse could have been a tad better as the caramel taste was hardly prevalent. The Tiramisu was strictly okay and I've surely had much better ones. We also had a bite at few exotic pieces of little chocolates in various flavours and they were all nice. We ended the evening with sorbets where both the raspberry and blood orange hit the bulls eye. The iced chill which you get complementing a fruity sweetened essence is quite a surreal feeling. It was like the perfect tonic and it doubly sure ensured to end the show on a high.

Looking at it from a holistic picture, it was a very satisfying and engaging dinner with majority of the items denoting a plus point. The ambiance can be spruced up a little more as there are lots of empty grey spaces where lot more can be done. It felt a little gloomy and a dash of colour could invigorate the place all the more. From the little sample that we savoured, the food can be termed a real win. They have lot more stuff such as burgers and steaks which I'm looking forward to try. On the whole, Sitcom is a lovely little cafe in this neck of the woods where you can shower in a bit of nostalgia with the place invoking you snippets from memorable tv series from the bygone era and which also serves some appetising food to rejoice to your heart's content.

Chocolate Haven - A heaven for the chocolate aficianados!

The Chocolate Heaven prides itself in serving a plethora of stuff based predominantly on chocolate. Their menu is large and a majority have a presence of this brownish substance and the title of this outlet having the moniker 'chocolate' comes as no real surprise. Apart from the diverse variants of waffles, pan cakes, shakes, desserts etc, they also have reasonably good stuff on the savoury side much akin to a cafe style playbook.

The ambiance is fairly straightforward. It's a pretty small joint covered up with a nice green patch depicting the words inscribed "India's ultimate chocolate cafe". Apart from that there are wall arts highlighting food pictures and a few quirky quotes. The decor is colourful with mild alternative colours and the brick art which is mostly brown goes well in sync with the surrounding. The subdued dim lights also hold good stead.

We were here on an invite and tried pretty much most things on the menu. It is a pretty large one at that running into a number of pages. We loved most of the one's with overdose of chocolate in them. Immense liking was towards the waffles and pancakes. The Nutella one was just gooey and lickalicious. Absolutely insane it tasted. The waffle with mud biscuit pieces were no less and one other with layerings of 3 different versions of chocolate - white, dark and milk was totally sinister. The monster shake was an avalanche of chocolate with lovey dovey bits flowing across all directions. Even the other shakes be it the Ferrero Rocher and the kitkat was terrific. Chocolate is well and truly their forte and they got it bang on right on almost every item which had it's manifestation.

Contrary to the chocolate brilliance, the other items were a tad average and could have been better. The fries were the usual with the masala version not being special in any way with just powdered chilli rolled on. The pizza's were decent but felt like they were home made with the cheese rightly giving it away. The Mac'n'cheese lacked flavours and the salt content could have been managed better. The other cream farfelle pasta though was fairly good. The sandwich and the burger were par for the course but nothing really exceptional to mention about. The signature cheese fondue didn't really appease with neither the cheese being really flavourful nor the sides being good enough to back it. Nachos were topped with oodles of cheese with the bottom portion being exposed. And more so, the taco chips lacked crispiness. The drinks were overall okay but some had an extra sweet tinge which didn't go along well.

On the whole, the chocolate stuff reigned supreme and it's fair considering that's their flagship. And also with 80% of the items having it's influence, it can be easily said that it was a pretty satisfying experience. The other sides though can be aced up a wee bit in order to make the overall experience even better.

The service was fast with stuff coming to our tables in rather quick fashion. They were also helpful in going about with our orders and always willing to address our concerns. The outlet as such is located right on the dot at TTK road and it's difficult to miss . Parking could be a bit of an hassle but with streets adjoining here and there, shouldn't be too much of a problem.

If you are a lover of chocolate, there's no second thoughts that you'll end up falling in love with the Chocolate Heaven. This cafe is designed for the out and out chocolate loving aficionado.

La Porschetta - A little road side Italian delicacy at Surfers Paradise

La Porschetta is a very nice little Italian restaurant by the road side serving some great Pizza's and Pasta's. It is very simple in its appearance with nothing much on the interiors and there is just a few plastic chairs and tables underneath a roof. The place also has a small seating space inside.

It feels like a perfect getaway spot to gorge on some tantalising Italian food while shopping by the wayside. We ordered for a pumpkin based salad, veg pizza and a gnocci with pesto sauce and all of them turned out to be pretty sumptuous.

The salad was well tossed up with leafy veggies to go along with pieces of pumpkin and balls of cheese. The veg pizza was a lovely thin crust one with veggies nicely spread across. The Gnocci was another good dish to round off proceedings with the chewy potatoes floating around a lovely aromatic pesto sauce with herbs added on.

The service was fairly quick and the rates seemed reasonably nominal. A pretty nice place to have an easy laidback Italian meal.