Daddy’s Deli Restaurant-Cafe- Lets not judge a book by its cover, and the Restaurant by its Café sister.

Lazy days, them Sundays; so after some TLC at the local salon and a dekko of the ‘there-and-yet- not-there’ Galaxy Tab (arguably larger than my face), it was time for some Chai. After our sojourn to the much recommended Café Max (Opposite to Fab India, on Indiranagar) fizzled - they close at 5:00 PM on sundays, we wanted to take up Sravan on the Daddy’s Deli suggestion -a humble Parsi Restaurant-Cafe on 12th Main, Indiranagar.

Sravan, by the way is my substitute to the Times Food Guide- a better substitute that is. He’s this crazy colleague of mine, who’s more serious about Restaurants, food & fun than he is about HR- And I like that! Sravan’s moment of glory by way of this mention is over, and it’s time for some food talk.

So I’ll caution you before hand: Daddy’s Deli is famous for its Parsi food and not for the chai- time snacks we had, but having had them, it’s unfair to not caution you against them.

The ‘Bhajias’ that we got totally excited about were flat & garishly dripping with mustard oil (A big ewww). The ‘Pea chutney patties’ were potato cutlets with excessive corn flour and un-mashed ‘Safal Matar’ sans the crispy outer. The Pora/ Poro (their Parsi Omelete) was the most credible of the lot. The cinnamon flavored coffee and the masala chai were bang on! I go batty when restaurant/ café/ hosts tend to screw the simplest of concoctions into a sweetened insipid sheera (unbeknownst to them).

I H.A.T.E it if my chai is screwed, so the Café obviously did get brownie points for getting IT right.

The odds are against it, innit- so prey why would I want to go to this Café that has snacks that you wouldn’t want to snack on- for their breakfast mayhap, which I have heard “IS” Parsi and which did, on paper, (read menu) look redeeming.  For the ever-slim and brave, there is a heartening menu replete with fresh ice creams/desserts but with Corner house 20 meters across the road, I reckon you would give the ice creams a miss. The Pannacotta under the Desserts section had me goggly eyed(Remember my previous post of TRET Bistro)- Will remember to carry this as a souvenir for the TRET Chef.

Will I come back? YES: The Husband wants to try ‘Dhansak’ and this seems to be the only other place (besides my kitchen), where he can get it. Will it be better? ---Going by our luck, maybe not, but in all fairness we ONLY did try the Café.

Here’s hoping that the homely Parsi fare served on cheerful melamine platters will entice and engage and enamor true to its homeli-ness, and break the Jinx.

• 
  Our Order: Masala Chai, Cinnamon Coffee, Green Tea, Pea Chutney Patties, Bhajia, Omlete (with Brown Bread)
• Ka- Ching: Totally Reasonable fare, though I’m thinking the homey omelet shouldn’t ring 90 apiece, but well what-the- heck
• High Five: Chai, undoubtedly!
• Pits:  Bhajias, Pea Chutney Patties

iReview: The Rogue Elephant Terrace Bistro: 6 hours later I...

iReview: The Rogue Elephant Terrace Bistro: 6 hours later I...: "As a non- carnivore, it DOES become difficult to eat out, mostly because you aren’t spoilt for choices and then also because there are only..."

The Rogue Elephant Terrace Bistro: 6 hours later I’m still reeling from the “This-Too-Shall-Pass” experience!

As a non- carnivore, it DOES become difficult to eat out, mostly because you aren’t spoilt for choices and then also because there are only so many chefs who know a thing or two about veggies without slopping them with a generosity of this or that. The Husband and I tried TRET Bistro tonight and we were nothing short of disillusioned—we would be, especially since Google was replete with recommendations of this place. The ambience was average and unassuming- lots of cheesy water bodies, real & artificial plants and a humble seating arrangement. We’ll hand it to the service though- smiling, attentive and courteous, even though the server could not explain why the pannacotta tasted like feta cheese sans the salt.

The ‘Pannacotta & Fig salad’ is a ‘specialty’ here, though I could not fathom what was so special about being served green lettuce with reduced balsamic vinegar, walnuts and the famed (uh huh) pannacotta? Agreed the portion was huge and the serving of pannacotta generous, but since fresh figs were unavailable in this season (or so said the server), the burden of assuming the legacy of this salad fell onto replacement strawberries.(A 300/- tag for this wishy-washy excuse of a specialty made it somehow more unpalatable).   

The main course of Moroccan stew with couscous didn’t taste awful but when I ordered a Moroccan stew I expected it to have some elements of butternut squash, sweet potato, apricots, and almonds, but most importantly cinnamon (A vital component of Middle Eastern Cooking). So while the dish was Ok, it was nothing short of Chickpeas and exotic vegetables in sweetened tomato puree.

But the real magnum opus in all fairness was actually the bread. Since this restaurant does not serve a complimentary bread basket, we ordered a round of breads. We were told that, “They serve Fresh herbed Panini with olive oil”. Now here’s the fun part, not only was the Panini hard, it was also the same Panini that we get from ‘Bread’s & More’ that retails at most grocery stores a.k.a Spencer’s, Namdhari’s, M. K Ahmed etc. And this, in a “Bistro”- Shame, Shame!

After 30 minutes of exaggerated facial exclamations, the Husband decided to call for the cheque without the dessert– I heaved a sigh of relief!

Definitely not a veggies’ haven, definitely not fine dining and definitely not authentic recipes! The Rogue Elephant Terrace Bistro is mediocre at best, perhaps the Non-Vegetarian fare samples better.

• Our Order: Nimbu Paani, Nimbu Soda, Bread Basket, Pannacotta & Fig salad, Moroccan Stew with Couscous.
• Ka-Ching: Not expensive per se, but expensive for the quality of food they dish out.
• High Five: Service. Keep it Up!
• Pits: Haven’t I said enough?