Stanley’s Food Box – A Scrumptious Affair!

A couple of weeks back a gentleman (Stanley) who I’d been in contact with on Facebook (for over a year - but we’d never met) messaged to ask if I was going to be in Camp area the following day. I told him I actually would be, as I had errands to run, with mum. He requested we meet up there as he wanted to give me some Pork Sorpotel and Goan Prawn Curry. 

I’ve known about Stanley and his cooking skills for quite a while via the food forums I ‘stalk’.  *evil grin* I’ve been itching to order from him for ever so long.  

Stanley is a home-chef and I have known of his ‘home-kitchen’ ever since I read Uday Potdar’s review of Stan’s Food-box. As he is based at Hinjewadi for all the months that I’d been craving to order from him, mere dil ke armaan aasuo mein beh chale the. 😉 That is, precisely, why there was no way I was going to turn down his kind offer. We met at Coffee House the following day. In tow, was his pretty and petite wife, Mekhala. We sat talking about food for nearly an hour. Yes, that invariably happens when I meet people who are passionate about food.

Cut straight to the scene where I return home...

The aroma of the sorpotel hit me as soon as I opened the food container. Making Pork Sorpotel is a labour of love because it is time consuming. The pork meat, pork fat and liver have to be chopped into tiny cubes/pieces; it can’t be any other way. Oh, do not cringe at the mention of pork fat and liver; it adds so much depth to the flavour of the sorpotel. *drool* The spicy-tangy flavor also has to be spot on for it to be stellar and this was just that! I’d brought home some crusty Brun bread to pair with the Sorpotel. I loved the robust flavours!

I cooked some Jeera Rice at home and we ate the Goan Prawn Curry with that. There are many places in Pune that make a good Goan Curry but take it from someone who has tried Goan Curry at various places in the city, nothing comes close to the curry made by Stanley. It brought back memories of the Goan Prawn Curry that my Rita bai (God bless her soul) made many moons ago. That familiar flavour hit my taste buds after years. I could have cried with joy.

I shamelessly pleaded with Stanley to get a delivery system in place for greedy souls like me who live 30 kilometers away. He promised he’d do his best to get that going. Until then, I guess he will be working hard in his kitchen and dishing out awesomeness to those lucky enough to stay close by. Sigh, some people have all the luck!

 

Stanley told me he merely brought me the Sorpotel and the Prawn Curry as he knew I’d been patiently waiting to try his food for months. He, in fact, specifically told me no write up was needed or was necessary but there is no way I could not pen this. Good food should be eaten and spoken about and good chefs should be given their due recognition.

Friends, Indians, countrymen.. If your heart craves Goan food, look no further! You can thank me later! 😉

Shine on, Stanley, shine on!

P.S: Please get that delivery system going. I need more of that Pork Sorpotel, Prawn Curry and I'd also love to try the Pork Chilli Fry that I read on your menu. 😊

By the way, you may buzz Stanley on these numbers: +91 9773134126 / +91 9821520693

Elephant & Co – ‘Mammoth’ in Quality!

Elephant & Co (ECO) has been on my ‘to-visit’ radar for a very long time which is why when Team @FoodProwl extended an invite to me for a tasting I jumped at the chance to check it out. They have a very hip and happening place at Kalyani Nagar and they have now opened a new branch at Baner. It was to this new Baner branch that we were invited.

The restaurant has a bright and airy outdoor section and an inner section which is, mainly, the bar. The inner section isn’t brightly lit, and the music tends to get a bit loud, but they play an excellent selection of retro, pop and modern music so I’m not complaining. As long as they play a few songs from ‘my era’, that I can sing along with, I’m a happy puppy! 😊

As soon as we rested our butts a friendly face turned up at our table and set up glasses of mocktails and a huge bowl of salted popcorn for us to munch on. 

I love the ‘popcorn gesture' they extend to every table and, they aren’t stingy with it either! The citrus based mocktail was also very refreshing!

To begin with, we were served Salt & Pepper Water Chestnuts, Paneer & Veg Tikki Slider, Butter Chilli Oyster Wings, Salli Kheema Slider, Egg White Souffle Omelette and Mushroom Crepes in Chilli Garlic Sage Butter Sauce.

I am not a big fan of water chestnuts, but I did like the dish. It didn’t wow me, but I think that is bound to happen if one is not too fond of a particular ingredient. 

The Paneer & Veg Tikki Slider and the Salli Kheema Slider were excellent. Both were so well made that I simply could not decide which one I liked better. I took the easy route; I just kept alternating between sliders! 😉

The Butter Chilli Oyster Wings were juicy and made for excellent finger-food. ECO serves a fiery Bhoot Jolakia Sauce and we requested them to give us a very tiny bowl of it. It’s potent with regard to its chilli heat and I do not use the word ‘potent’ lightly. If you aren’t used to spicy food, please avoid it or have it in teeny tiny quantities. I say that coz I do not want it burning a hole in your gut (and you just may need a lot of ice the next morning – evil grin). The wings served were delish, but the devil in me simply had to keep dipping the wings into that bowl of fiery goodness. For those of you who are wondering; I did not need any ice the next morning. *cheeky grin*

The White Souffle Omelette was very delicate in flavor, fluffy and felt fabulous on the palate with regard to texture and taste. For those of you who are health conscious and are fond of egg white omelette, this is a must try!

Of all that we ate that afternoon, the Mushroom Crepes in Chilli Garlic Sage Butter Sauce was the star among them all. Delicate silken crepes stuffed with toothsome mushrooms, finished off in a Chilli-Garlic-Sage Butter Sauce; these were supreme in every sense of the word! I don’t ever want to miss out on this dish when I visit ECO; trust me, you shouldn’t either!

Tofu Steak, Dosa Waffle with Chicken Chettinad, Champagne Risotto with Aglio Olio Prawns and Lamb Chops with Beer Reduction and Mash were the other dishes served that afternoon.

I did not eat the Tofu Steak as the smell it imparts is not something I can handle. 

The Dosa Waffle with Chicken Chettinad was superb! The waffle was light (not at all doughy) and the Chicken Chettinad served with it was absolutely delish! I do wish, though, that they’d cooked the waffle a tad longer. A crispier outer texture would’ve given this dish an even bigger plus. Would I order this again? In a jiffy! I loved it! 

For the Champagne Risotto with Aglio Olio Prawns, while the Aglio Olio Prawns were beautifully done, the risotto was a letdown. It lacked seasoning; majorly! By just adjusting the seasoning for the risotto, this could go on to be a gorgeous plate of food. 

The Lamb Chops with Beer Reduction and mash was also scrumptious! The chops were well cooked, and the mash was divinely buttery. 

We ended our meal with a decadent Flourless Chocolate Cake served with Vanilla Ice cream. Sinfully delicious!

This is a place I’d like to go back to time and again. There is so much more on their menu that I’d like to try. I’m a teetotaller but my friends aren’t, and they could not stop raving about the cocktails they had that afternoon. If you are anything like my friends then, rest assured, you are going to love the cocktails at ECO.
 

Good ambience, a good selection of drinks, good food, good friends… I’d term this as, ‘A Sunday, perfectly sorted’.

Address: Shop No 5, Ground floor, Sai Heritage, Survey 131/1B/1, Baner Main Road, Baner Pune

Buzz: 020 71967272

For those of you staying at the other end of town, do remember, they also have an outlet at Kalyani Nagar. 😉

Some more photographs...

Wicked China – Wickedly Delish!

Grey skies, a light drizzle and sudden bursts of heavier rain! That was what the weather was like on the Sunday afternoon when Team @FoodProwl walked into Wicked China for a tasting. 

Wicked China is a new baby on the Creaticity (Ishanya, earlier) block. Its owned by ‘The Chocolate Company Pvt Ltd’ which has many stellar names under their wing, namely: The Sassy Spoon, Sassy Teaspoon and Baraza Bars & Bites. 

Wooden tables with orange and blue chairs and a long red sofa at the end of the room gives the restaurant a lively look. Unique ceiling lamps and a big bright Chinese photograph/poster adds to the ambiance.

To begin with, our choice of drinks were the Kala Khatta Slush and Cheeky Linghun Fizz. The Kala Khatta Slush was good, but it could do with a bit more tang. The Cheeky Linghun on the other hand was beautifully made. I only wish they hadn’t added the limp coriander to the drink, as garnish. If a garnish is on its way to the graveyard, please dump it! Having said that, I must repeat, the Cheeky Linghun Fizz was truly a very good mocktail.

We began our meal with appetizers: Turnip Cakes with Burnt Garlic & Chillies, Wicked Filo Spring Rolls, Drunken Chicken Cigar Rolls, Crispy Prawn and Chinese Mushroom Cheung Fun, Fish & Chilli Garlic Dumpling, Prawn & Chicken Sui Mai and Sichuan Chicken.

The Drunken Chicken Cigar Rolls needs to be worked on with regard to flambéing the dish correctly as all the liquor settled to the bottom of the dish, resultantly, the bit submerged into the liquor was a tad ick-y on the palate. If they cannot get the flambé right, I suggest they scrap the ‘drunken’ part and merely serve the cigars with a nice sauce on the side. I say that because the bit of cigar that I ate, that hadn’t been corrupted by the liquor, was very nice in taste. 

A tone down on the tang factor for the Fish & Chilli Garlic dumpling would do wonders for the dish. It was the excessive acidity in the sauce poured on top that marred this dish a wee bit. I could, however, find no fault in the texture of the dim sum casing or the filling. That was excellent! 

The Filo Spring Rolls needed to be seasoned better as well. When had with the mayo foam and the sauce it was kinda good but when had by itself, it lacked seasoning.

The Turnip Cakes with Burnt Garlic & Chillies completely blew me away (that’s an understatement). They have this dish so darn right that it goes into my ‘never ever miss out on this’ category. Crisp from outside and beautifully soft from within and garnished with crisp burnt garlic and chillies; this dish was stellar! Though veg, I was totally ‘fida’ over this one. Sigh! 

The Crispy Prawn and Chinese Mushroom Cheung Fan was another big-time winner! I love Cheung Fan and the chef had done a marvellous job with it. I call well-made Cheung Fan a ‘perfect mouthful’ and it was exactly that! I could easily have polished off the platter by myself but, damn, I had to share. *evil grin* 

The Prawn & Chicken Sui Mai was delicately delicious! I say that because the dim sum casing was delicate, and the prawn-chicken filling was delish! 

The Chicken Sichuan bordered on ‘Chindian’ but in terms of flavor, I could find no fault. It was yum! I loved the crisp noodle netting they served it with. Gave the dish an added texture!

We moved on to mains and were served, Braised Lamb with Pak Choy & Chinese Mushroom, Sweet & Sour Chicken, Mushroom Pot with Oyster Sauce, Wild Mushrooms & Glass Noodles, Classic Hakka Noodles and Classic Fried Rice.

The Braised Lamb with Pak Choy & Chinese Mushroom and the Wild Mushrooms & Glass Noodles, both, were served on a large bed of glass noodles. Somehow most of us at the table felt the glass noodles took away a bit of flavor from the gorgeously robust sauces that were an integral part of the dishes. It would be great if they could do away with the glass noodles entirely. Of the two, I, of course, preferred the Braised Lamb with Pak Choy and Chinese mushrooms. That lamb was superbly braised, and the flavor shone though. 

The Sweet & Sour Chicken, Classic Hakka Noodle and the Classic Fried Rice were the regular kind and all three dishes were very nicely made.

Our desserts were the Flourless Chocolate Cake with Basil Ice Cream (the cake was good, but the Basil Ice cream was fantastic), Jasmine Tea & Dragon Fruit Mousse (this looked as if it had come straight out of a Master Chef kitchen – I could not fault it for presentation or flavor) and Lemon Grass Crème Brûlée (of all the desserts this one stole my heart as I love Brûlée – this was served with a stunning pistachio biscotti).

Waking up early and missing out on sleeping-in late on a weekend is truly worthwhile when a restaurant that invites you, serves food as good as Wicked China did. Except for the tiny changes I have recommended for certain dishes, everything they served was truly very nice. I look forward to visiting them again, this time with mum in tow as I have a sneaky feeling she’ll love the food served here.

At the end of the tasting, Wicked China gave us cute coasters as gifts. The coasters were printed with funny Chinese puns hence I’ll end this review in the same tone. ‘Miso happy coz Chow was Fa Kin Su Pa!’

Heartfelt thanks for the invite and the cute gift! 

Address: Unit 11, Pubtown Creaticity, Yerawada, Pune, Maharashtra 411006.
Tel: +91-93268 51111

Some more photographs...

 

Photo Credit: Food Prowl