Kitchen 187 - Cafe of Creperies!

 I really like the setting of Kitchen 187. It gives a very languid feel and the blend of the colonial style vintage ambient with the new age brushstroke touches certainly points towards the right path. There are cafe's all over town but only some get that perfect laidback atmosphere right and Kitchen 187 falls in the affirmative. It is converted from a quaint old house and is located next to Raintree hotel in St Mary's road and it shares space with The cupcake company.

Brick walls surround the outside enclosure and on the inside is a splash of painted red walls and black sofa seating and lazy wooden chairs. The chess board style flooring adds a rather nice touch going in sync with the surrounding environment and the miniatures hanging are minimalistic and mild music is played at the background.

We were here on an invite to try out some of their offerings. We got to try various sections from their menu with different naming conventions such as All day breakfast, Salads, Sandwiches&burgers, Health bowls, Indian bites, Italia Cucina, Tex Mex, French crepes, smoothies, milk shakes, desserts, ice creams and hot&cold beverages.

The shakes and beverages were up on the mark and I personally enjoyed my Nutella chocolate milkshake having a strong essence of stirred nutella which was lip-smacking. Even the other shakes viz the hot fudge, cookie monster, nutella banana et al all were pretty good in their own sweet way. The lemonade drink in a conical shaped bottle was also quite refreshing.

In the Indian bites space both the onion rings and the Gongura potato were top notch and were stand out performers. The onion rings were crunchy and laced with a dripping of cheese and garlic aioli. The Gongura potato rolls were quite a revelation with an Andhra style mix inside a kathi roll. The salad in the form of Quinoah Tabouleh comprising of parsley, tomato and cucumbers wasn't much to speak about and on the Tex Mex side, the Nachos felt a tad too try with the cheese strangled awkwardly and but for the kidney beans by the side wasn't really too appetising. However the Quesadillas inset with mexican veggies and cheese made up more than lost ground by being remarkable. The Mexican corn on cob were pretty much your usual beach corn kinds with a mexican dressing to boot. We tried the Burmese Broth from the health bowl set and it was quite interesting. I've never tried such a thing before and I fairly enjoyed slurping this up. The fiery Mexican burger was pretty mainstream and managed to serve the purpose.

Both the pizza's we tried competed for top stakes and especially the Tomato basil pizza was one of the finest I've tasted. They nailed the spicy gravy mix which was superlative. The mushroom and cheese version was nice too. For pasta, we preferred the cream and mushroom spaghetti and though the dish was well delivered, that extra zing factor was slightly missing. The crepe lasagne was a master class and again something unique and divergent. And so was the egg in a hole under the all day breakfast category which was an interesting banter between bread, eggs and cheese. The vanilla cinnamon french toast went jocularly well with the maple syrup and the sweetened essence was tapped wonderfully.

The desserts too went in line with the high standards set by following it's predecessors. The nutella crepe with bananas is like your go to dish to satisfy your sweet cravings. Known for their crepes, it must be said they did a great job of it both on the savoury as well as on the sweetened avatars. The ice cream sandwich though hard to crack was regal and rich in taste.

The service was in adherence throughout and we never really had a long waiting time in between the items. Also they were very helpful with all our requests. Pricing is not applicable as it over an on the house. A glance at the rates would indicate they are a little on the higher side but considering the fest on offer seems a fair bet.

To adumbrate the experience at Kitchen 187, the positives far outweigh the negatives. You cannot ask for more from a place having the ideal cafe like setup with some lovely food on offer. If your quest is towards comfort and good food, Kitchen 187 will ensure to have that satisfied for you.

Cappuccino @ Crowne Plaza - Coffee never goes out of favour!

'Cappucino', the all day dining restaurant at the 'Crowne Plaza' is up and about with it's newly launched menu titled 'Unconventionally Conventional'. It's basically a twist to their existing menu along with adding selective special dishes from across the globe. Some of the stuff fall under the radar of 21 dishes to try during your lifetime. It's pretty exotic and curated to bring the best of the Western world right in front of you.

We were here on an invite to sample some of the items from the new menu. We began our journey with an immensely refreshing litchi cooler. The tall glass had a lovely frothy layer and a gulp of that sweet drink was energising. Then our tryst with food began with the super food salad in the mode of a waldorf based one with plenty of apples, berry tomatoes, strawberries, cabbage, lettuce and roasted flax seeds. It was dressed up with honey and mustard which had a subtle essence to it. The tanginess and flavour of apple diluted the spread but the taste of the salad made it's presence felt. Then we moved on to the Asian summer rolls comprising of a unique mix of crisp vegetables, ragi, vermicelli, sprouts and being covered in thin rice sheets. This seemed pretty opaque with a glassy layer and for company was the sweet chilli sauce. It felt a tad different from the regular spring rolls and lacked the usual crispiness but had a hint of sweetness to it. It's hard to classify if this will be lapped up and I personally found it pretty nice but not extraordinary by any means. Then came one of the show stealers of the day in the form of the Pesto and Garlic toast with a cup full of cheese fondue as condiment. This three cheese fondue was totally drool worthy and possessed the ammunition to melt waftly in the mouth. The breads were superlative and it was a delight squishing those crusts in that melting layer of fondue and crunching it over. Just as we were relishing our breads dipped with fondue, came the roasted garlic tomato soup which was well delivered having a lovely smoky aroma to it.

One of the highlights in the main course section was the gargantuan one metre pizza being made in a length of over 3 feet and comprising of 5 variegated toppings of both veg and non veg. It was massive in size and a major star attraction on the night. And further on main course, we tried the Orcheeti Al dente pasta. These are pocket sized pasta sheets with a saucy layer inside those conch shells and the interesting thing about them is that the sauce never remains on your plate when you eat these thumb pressed delicacies. We also had a crack at the eggplant zucchini which had a tantalising layer of cheese bottled up over a bunch of veggies with a strong odour of the egg plant.

Desserts section we literally had a ball and got to savour one after the other bombshell. The presentation was immaculate and especially the Hazelnut creme brulee and chocolate cheese cake were the silver linings and stood out from the rest of the pack. The blueberry muffin like cake was also fantabulous but the Tiramisu missed a little of the zing.

The ambiance is very coffee book style. It characterises a free open style ambiant giving it a very laid back and breezy feel. The decor is cozy and comfortable and overall it's designed in a very inviting manner. The open kitchen also adds to the mix. The service tended to be a little slow but it was because they wanted to take extra care of the proceedings and I must say we felt really hospitable dining at Cappuccino.

Taking the full ensemble into equation, Cappuccino works on a number of fronts and I can confidently say having had a fair share of the sample from their new menu that the outlook points towards the right direction. As a vegetarian, my choices were a wee bit limited but still I loved most of what I had. For the meat lovers this menu is gregarious and an absolute largesse with exquisite stuff such as Shepherd's pie, Cichetti and many more as part of the deal.

Cappuccino is a nice little restaurant to dine and can be categorised as an ideal place to have a relaxed and whole hearted meal over some easy confabulation.

Godka - Class and Finesse!

Godka impresses immensely with its ambiance and that's one of the sterling factors giving it a major head start. The interiors are intricately weaved and the vibe suggested a beautiful subtle confluence between a vintage olden style diaspora and a relatively modern quirky avatar. I found the whole place reeking of splendor and the artisan touch was pretty prevalent with the surroundings being quite artistic. Combination of music, movies and sports as themes was another well played part giving it a theatrical influence. The portraits of superstars from respective fields along with few fancy motivational quotes and places of importance definitely helped in hefting up the atmosphere of the place. Also the inherent middle eastern touch was evident with the Arabian Jewel boxes, rich flowy curtains, chandeliers, miniatures and antiques. The dim lit lighting played to the gallery and the color palette comprising hues of asparagus green with predominantly brown wooden based decor gave quite a fine imprint about the aura of the place.

We were here on an invite to savor some of the signature specialties dished up by this restaurant. The sabzi shorba soup had a lovely essence to it with the veggies being very finely grated. This one wasn't usually as light as a shorba and felt riveting to taste. On the mocktail front, we got to sample quite a few varieties and the one which stole the show was the Litchi based one having a flavorful punch to it. The orange + vanilla medley mix was fairly decent but the pineapple drink with several cut pieces inset seemed a dampener. The other drink was more like a mirinda fizz with thin shredded mangoes and felt a little extra sweet.

For starters, we were initially served a platter comprising of Sheekh kababs, mushrooms, panneer tikkas and cutlets. They weren't too impressive except for the minced cutlets. The Panneer Tikka and Sheekh Kababs also came as standalone starters and felt much better separately. There were also some cheesy rolls served which were breaded on the outside comprising oodles of cheese inside with french fries for accompaniments. It was lovely, just that would have loved a nice mayo to dip in those delectable rolls. In the main course side, we began our foray with Thai food in the form of rice with both green and red curry. The green curry lacked that authentic Thai flavor but the red one more than made up for it having a nice pleasing coconuty aroma with exotic veggies to boot. The veg biryani was one of the best I've tasted anywhere. It was wonderfully well curried and flavored and it was a delight consuming those colorful morsels. The Pizza comprising of a bunch of exquisite toppings was another crowd pleaser. The Roti's were soft and well prepared and the Panneer gravy which came along was passable although felt a bit too pureed and artificial. The white sauce spaghetti intermingled with olives, corn and rosemary felt slurpy and creamy. Didn't have much of a shot at the desserts, but they were really good from whatever little I could conjure up. There was a strawberry panacota, brownie with vanilla ice cream and chocolate and strawberry ice creams.

Overall, the food seemed to have passed the test with more hits than misses. The service seemed a little extra slow and there was a really long waiting time between items. However the staff seemed really courteous and more than willing to help us by whatever means. I'll skip commenting on the pricing as it was over an on the house invite. Other facilities like valet parking is very much available which is a boost.

'Godka' seems a nice little place to chill out and for those looking for an insouciant easy paced dining option, this seems such an apt and perfect place to relax over a comfortable and relaxed meal. It can also be considered a good stop over point for those heading on the ECR stretch.