Spice Kitchen... Food & Hospitality at its Best!

When it’s your bestie’s birthday what better place can there be to ring in a birthday than our favourite chain of hotels. Marriott properties have been our regular haunt for quite a many years now. Memories of her birthday celebrated a couple of years ago at Goa Marriott Resort & Spa still brings happy smiles to our faces. (Posting a birthday photograph from our Goa Marriott trip) As we happened to be in our own city (Pune), our choice of hotel was JW Marriott (Senapati Bapat Road). That Friday evening we decided to try the Thai festival that was on at Spice Kitchen, their 24 hour restaurant.

The carts for Thai starters were beautifully laid out in the open air section of the restaurant. Their chef, Pensiri Pattanachaeng, was in charge of the festival. She was extremely kind and attentive and took us around the buffet counters informing us about the dishes being served that evening.

We started off with a drink made of coconut milk, rose syrup and vanilla essence. It was light and very refreshing. It was an ideal way to soothe the palate in anticipation of dishes that were to come our way. Later we also chose a peach-lime mocktail (the name of which, I’m sorry, I do not remember) and a Virgin Mojito.

The first Thai starters brought to our table were Ho Mok Krok (Fish Curry Fry) and Khai Krok (Egg Chicken Fry). Both the starters were delicious and my bestie and I gave each a look that silently conveyed a message as in, ‘If the rest of the meal is going to be as good as these starters, then this is going to be a marvellous meal and a fantastic evening’. 

Next they brought us a platter Kanom Tokyo (Savoury Pancakes – Vegetarian and Chicken). They weren’t exactly like pancakes. They seemed like a cross between pancakes and a Dosa. This, though, is not a complaint because, both, the vegetarian and chicken fillings, were delicious! As we had told them not to bring us large portions they brought us just one pancake of each variety. As I carefully cut each pancake in half it brought to mind that cutie pie, George Calombaris, from Masterchef Australia who is forever in charge of portioning food into individual plates at a tasting. Sigh! ;-)

Our next starter was Chicken on Toast and I have absolutely no clue what they call it in Thai. It was exactly as named, marinated chicken mince on toast, fried to a golden crisp. When they set the dish at our table, for a minute it did cross our minds that the toast would be heavy and oily. We were pleasantly surprised and happy when we discovered our assumption was totally incorrect. Though fried, the toasts were light and delicately flavoured and not at all greasy on the palate.

They then brought us Pad Kra Prow Gai (Chicken with Chilli Basil served with Fried Egg and Jasmine Rice). The egg was fried to a soft yolk consistency, crisp at the edges; just the way I love it. The Jasmine rice was soft and sticky and the chicken was deliciously fragrant because of the infused basil. The chicken when had by itself was a tad salty but when combined with the jasmine rice and egg developed a flavour that was as harmonious as the love of a newly married couple. ;)

The final starter we had was Gai Samunpai which was fried chicken served with a sweet-chilli sauce. The chicken was beautifully cooked. It was succulent from within and crisp from outside. It was garnished with crisp fried basil leaves which along with the sweet-chilli sauce partnered the chicken perfectly. I liked the dish so much that when I went to pick up a few mains, I got one more piece of this starter to munch on.

Chef Rajan Kandel came over to our table to ask if we were enjoying our meal and whether there was anything special we’d like to have. We mentioned our undying love for Brie and Camembert cheese and Smoked Atlantic (pink) Salmon. 

Within a few minutes we had a platter of Brie cheese with crackers and sweet tuile and a plate of smoked salmon at our table. 

Chef Rajan then returned to inform us he was sending us something special. After having been served the most awesome plates of cheese and salmon we wondered what else could be so special. Oh boy, did he surprise us!



The server brought us two individual plates of Pan-fried Salmon on a bed of mash, with sautéed Asparagus and Broccoli. It was one of the prettiest plates of food I have ever set my eyes on. The salmon skin was crisp and the salmon flesh was flaky and cooked to perfection! We are regulars at the Marriott because their standard of hospitality is like none other but this was above and beyond the realm of kindness and service. Two kittens happily dug into their salmon! 

After having had so much food we barely had any place for the mains but as it was a special Thai festival I did try a morsel from each of the main course dishes. The Noodles, Rice and the non-vegetarian dishes were all very well made. No, I did not try anything vegetarian! (Bite me! :P ) The only dish that did disappoint was the Roast Pork. The flavours were all intact but the meat was tough and chewy. The rest of mains, however, were very good!

For dessert I decided not to have any pastry or halwa and instead opted for piping hot Gulab Jamuns. A pat on my own back for having made that choice because they were superb! I loved them! Greedy ol’ me also requested the chef at the dessert counter to make me a waffle. He made me a wonderful light golden, crisp waffle, served with Chocolate Sauce and Whipped Cream. Yum, totally yum!

As the Spice Kitchen Asst. Manager, Tushar, knew we were there to bring in my bestie’s birthday he very sweetly brought in two slices of cake at the stroke of midnight. He actually wanted to bring us a whole cake but since it was just the two of us hence we thought an entire cake would be wasteful. (Wasting food is not something I advocate) It was such an endearing gesture on the restaurant’s part!

What a superb evening it had turned out to be thanks to the excellent hospitality (and food) we experienced (as always)! Is it any surprise then that we frequent JW Marriott so often? Thank you Director F&B Jomy Abraham / Chef Rajan / Chef Pensiri/ Asst Manager Tushar / Team Spice Kitchen! Your hospitality is unparalleled!  You guys rock! Please, please keep up the great work!

As we visited them on a Friday evening the buffet was priced at 1350 + taxes. Their Buffet for Friday/Saturday is priced at 1350 + taxes. From Sunday to Thursday the cost of the buffet is 1250 + taxes.

The Chinese – Sichuan Festival:
Another festival begins at JW Marriott from tomorrow (August 12, 2016). The festival is on from August 12, 2016 to August 27, 2016. The festival theme is Chinese, predominantly, Sichuan! Chef Edward Ni has been flown in from JW Marriott, Beijing, to orchestrate this 16 day festival. Fried Shrimp Ball in Sichuan Hot Sauce and Stewed Pork Slices with Sichuan Chilli Sauce and many more signature dishes by Chef Edward Ni will be an integral part of this festival. I’d love to check it out and will do my best to visit the restaurant during the festival days but in case I don’t, you guys check it out and let me know how it was. With the personalized attention Marriott extends to their guests and considering their commitment to presenting thoughtful and flavoursome food, I’m very sure you all will have a fantastic dining experience.

Food: 4.5/5

Service: 5/5

Ambiance: 4/5

Address: JW Marriott, Senapati Bapat Road, Pune

Tel: 020 66832345 / 020 66833333

Effingut Brewerkz – An Afternoon to Remember!

Very Long Review Alert:

When five gals order 20 items off a menu (food, repeat drinks and extra desserts not included) then in no Universe can I type a short review about the food and do justice to the restaurant.

My first visit to Effingut Brewerkz had been a fleeting one. I had visited them sometime last June (2015) with a bunch of crazy school friends. The only dishes we had at the time were nachos with fried beans and some kind of vegetarian croquettes. The wacky 46+ year olds wanted to eat a wee bit of food and rush to a club to dance the night away. Yes, we girls from the 60’s era are like that! ;-) I remember both the dishes to be delicious but as we had only eaten two things I did not write a review then. It’s only right that I mention it now after my second visit to Effingut Brewerkz.

The second visit happened around mid July, this year. Our girl gang decided to catch up and the place decided upon was Effingut Brewerkz. As soon as we settled in we ordered our drinks: Fresh lime Soda, Virgin Mojito, April Lady, Coffee Porter (craft beer), Caribbean Martini and Iced Tea. Of course, most of us called for repeat drinks. The mocktail April Lady was a delicious blend of mango juice, coconut syrup and vanilla ice cream. All the other drinks, too, were ‘just right’!

One of the gals was a tad delayed but the rest of us decided to go ahead and order a couple of dishes to soothe our hunger pangs. Luckily, by the time the dishes arrived so had our friend and we all dug in. We ordered Jalapeno Cheese Crackers which are cheese croquettes with jalapeno and pepper bits served with a sauce.



The second dish we had was a dish we had merely been discussing. For some reason the server thought we had ordered it. That was how we ended up having Potato Corn in Honey Chilli Sauce. Oh God! Bless the server who made this ‘boo-boo’ because these were the best Potato Corn in Honey Chilli Sauce I’ve ever had at any restaurant.

Just this much food was definitely not enough for five hungry tummies so we went on to order more starters. These were Crispy Congee Lamb, Singapore Black Pepper Prawns, Potato Wedges, Garlic Bread (but of course, with cheese – it would be sacrilege to call for garlic bread without cheese) and Mustard-Chilli Prawns. Each and every dish was fanfuckintastic and that’s a blatant understatement!!

I have to make special mention of the Crispy Kongee Lamb and the Mustard-Chilli Prawns. Firstly, not many restaurants serve Crispy Congee Lamb and, if they do, not many nail the flavour and the crispiness that is such an important part of this dish. The chef had managed to achieve both brilliantly! A couple of friends hadn’t ever eaten this dish and hence found the texture a tad odd and different but two of us knew exactly what Crispy Congee Lamb was and all we could manage between bites was an orgasmic, ‘ummm’. :-) 

When two of my friends suggested Mustard-Chilli Prawns, I winced! I’m not a fan of the flavour of mustard. As we were a gang of five I did not want to let down the other girls by saying no to their choice so I thought to myself, ‘What  the heck, if I don’t like it I won’t eat it’. We went ahead and ordered the dish. The Mustard-Chilli Prawns were beautifully marinated and cooked. The flavour of mustard was right there and yet wasn’t over-powering in the least bit. My taste buds in true filmy style went, ‘oy-oy.. oy-oh-oh-ah’. :D Oh did I mention, the prawns were cooked to perfection!

We sat there discussing food, eateries, food forums on Face book and much, much more. After all, ‘talks’ play such an important role when girlie gangs meet up (wicked grin). After a while two gals decided to order soup and two of us decided to order Pork Ribs. The soup ordered was Crabmeat and Asparagus and the other was a Broccoli and Cheese soup. Being the crazy foodies we are the three gals who hadn’t ordered soup, stole a spoonful from each bowl. I have to say, though, I had a very valid reason to do so as I had to write this review. (I’m such a sanctimonious bitch! :D )



Both the soups were extremely flavourful and delicious but, strangely enough, the creamy deliciousness of the vegetarian Broccoli and Cheese Soup beat the Crabmeat and Asparagus soup by a few degrees. I’m a hard-core carnivore and yet I’m compelled to admit to this.

The pork ribs were so beautifully plated that I could barely take my gaze off them. The glaze on the ribs was mouth-watering but the cooking of the ribs was a letdown as the pork ribs did not fulfil the ‘fall off the bone’ criterion. I’m not giving up on this dish, though, as I feel it has tremendous potential to be a stellar plate of food.

By now you guys must be thinking, ‘Having had so much food it was time for desserts or the bill’. Hah! Think again!  Main course abhi baki tha, yaaro. For the mains we had a vegetarian and a non-vegetarian Khow Suey (with prawns). We also ordered for a Prawn Nasi Goreng.

The Khow Suey sauce was velvety and very flavoursome. The only thing we missed in the platter of accompaniments served to us, was peanuts. The crisp garlic and onions did their bit as delicious garnishes, but that certain crunch was lacking as there were no peanuts. I’m not going to hold this against them because the rest of the dish went ‘bang’ in the mouth in terms of flavour.

As soon as the Nasi Goreng was served my vegetarian friend cringed. She usually is very laid-back about eating vegetarian food at the same table with non-vegetarian food. This time, though, the aroma of the prawns and fried egg in the Nari Goreng was too strong for her. I have a sneaky feeling the egg was sprinkled with aji-no-moto because the whiff of the egg was exactly the same as that of the fried egg served on American Chop Suey. I didn’t mind as I don’t flinch at aji-no-moto. In fact, the Bawi in me wanted to get up and do the ‘jinga-lala-hu’ jungle dance around that beautiful egg. I loved the bold flavour of the dish. It was so very aromatic and savoury!

As we finished the mains we sat back, plump and satiated. With smiles on our faces we asked each other whether we wanted to order desserts. Each and every one of us had the same answer. YES! This was extreme bhukhadgiri (greediness) but we didn’t give a damn. It was our ‘girlie afternoon out’ and we were all celebrating our time together. Aise mauko par, dessert toh banta hai! ;-)

For dessert we ordered two servings of Gulab Jamuns with Ice cream, two platters of sizzling brownies and one honey noodles with Ice cream. 

The Honey Noodle Ice cream though perfectly made is not my favourite dessert hence I just had a noodle or two and concentrated on the Gulab Jamuns. ;) The Gulab Jamuns were so soft and sinfully rich that they bordered on immoral. :P

The brownies were a flaming dessert on a platter. The theatrics involved was a perfect finale to the wonderful meal. The server poured a very generous amount of rum over each of the brownie and ice cream platter and flambéed them. It was the most beautiful flambé I’ve seen in a long time. Usually the flame is a pathetic little flicker that burns for a nano second and sputters out. This was pyrotechnics on a platter!

I have to add, each and every dish that was served was beautifully plated. It is such a joy to see well plated food and such a vital add-on to the overall dining experience. 

Sone Par Suhaga Moment:

We availed of the Effingut Brewerkz’s Monday to Thursday, 1pm to 7pm, 40% monsoon discount. Does an afternoon get any better than this?

P.S: A few days back, I was out for work and by 02.30 in the afternoon, after work, I was famished. I ventured into this restaurant again (3rd visit). I ordered the Chef de Gamberoni; a dish I had eaten years ago when Effingut Brewerkz was the Kiva Lounge. This is prawns in coconut cream served with fragrant saffron rice and vegetables. The plating was very different from what I had seen years ago because then they used to serve the curry in a green coconut shell. This was just as soignee and just as delicious as I remembered it to be. Yes, I rarely forget flavours! The prawns were beautifully cooked in that delicately flavoured sauce and both, the rice and the coconut cream curry were superbly (yet, not overpoweringly) infused with saffron. Is it going to be any surprise to you all that I told them to omit the vegetables and give me some mash, instead? A perfect 10 on 10 was my rating for the dish then and so was it now! An added bonanza was the forty percent discount the restaurant has been offering this monsoon.  (Doing my familiar happy puppy dance)

Team Effingut Brewerkz, it took me a while to visit you guys but if this is the quality of food you serve you have my patronage FOR LIFE!

Food: 4.5/5 (The pork chops did you in by .5)

Service 5/5

Ambiance: 4/5

Address: 21/A, Plot 389, Lane No 6, Serene Bay, Koregaon Park, Pune

Tel: 020 30189858

The Fat & The Sexy Chef – Burgers, Hot-dogs & more...

A tiny, new, one week old cafe was our destination this Sunday afternoon. The owner had been kind enough to extend an invite to the ‘Food Prowlers’ and so ‘The Fat & The Sexy Chef’ it was for all of us.

The cafe is small and compact with an open kitchen, two tables on the ground floor and three on the mezzanine. The owner and chef Ravi hails from South Africa and has more than 20 years of experience in this field of work.

They served us some amazing Barbeque Chicken Burgers, regular American style Chicken Burgers, Bratwurst hot-dogs, Currywurst hot-dogs and Russian Sausage hot-dogs. We also tried their Three Cheese Pizza, Chicken Overload Pizza, various types of waffles and banana fritters with Ice cream.

The bread used for all the burgers and dogs was soft and fresh. The chicken in both the burgers was not overcooked or dry. Also, the barbeque sauce for the Barbeque Chicken Burger was delicious! I, of course, got rid of the cucumber slices and the lettuce before putting the meaty delights in my mouth. (Do I even need to tell you guys why? :P )

The sausages used for the hot-dogs are the imported variety and the dogs are served with caramelized onions and jalapeno slices. The sausages by themselves were delicious but when partnered with those sweet caramelized onions and jalapenos they ran riot in my mouth in a wonderful kind of way. I’m going to be greedy and mention that I would have loved a more generous helping of those onions on my dogs. That was not just me; it was the general consensus around the table. Chef Ravi, I hope you are reading this. ;-)

Both the pizzas were freshly made. The Three Cheese Pizza was a tad bland for my taste but that’s what a Three Cheese Pizza is all about so this is more as an observation than a complaint. 

The Chicken Overload, though, was a carnivore’s dream come true. Loaded with various kinds of chicken and a spicy base sauce this pizza had the ‘oomph’ that I so look for in a dish.

We also tasted a couple of glasses of Fresh Lime Water and Iced Tea. They were well made but they both lacked one very vital element: Ice! These were served warm, at room temperature. I wish they had served them cold.

We finished the meal with various kinds of waffles: served with Honey, with Chocolate sauce, and with Chocolate sauce with Ice cream. We also tried waffles with Strawberry and Blue berry compote, again, served with Ice cream. The first batch of waffles that came to our table were not as crisp as we would have liked them to be as the waffle machine probably hadn’t heated enough. The waffles that came to the table after that, however, were all crisp. I personally prefer a lighter batter for waffles. These came across a tad doughy. The toppings were all delicious though, so if the doughy aspect of the waffle can be worked upon, these waffles would be a delectable treat. The banana fritters were made with sweet ripe bananas and the sweetness of the fruit fried in hot batter combined perfectly with the Ice cream served with it.

We were informed that the cafe does not use any preservatives or artificial colourings in their food. This ought to be music to the ears of people who are allergic to such products. The portions served are not stingy and having checked the menu I can say the cafe is a good ‘VFM’ place.

Chef Ravi, soon, plans to start an American style barbeque in the evenings. He also plans to introduce various other mains in the menu. I hope the chef also brings the famous Durban Bunny Chow to our city. In spite of the cafe being tiny, I feel this place has a lot of potential to grow into a bigger cafe as the food served is really good.

Address: 24 Ashwini Palace, Kedari Petrol Pump Lane, Wanowrie, Pune.

Tel: +91 9860793058