Essence, Park Plaza

After our debacle at 35 Brewhouse, we were contemplating going back home or to Park Plaza which is close to home, since it was past 10:30 pm. Mercifully, the good people at Essence, Park Plaza said they would have a table ready for us no matter how late we reach.

We reached there apprehensive about what kind of dinner we would get at that late hour, but all of us were delighted when the staff greeted us with smiles.

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We ended up ordering a lot of food, everything from breads to curries and multiple biryanis assuming that the kitchen would close at 11 pm. Nad then the staff mentioned they would wait for us and there was no need to hurry. Service was quick and we thoroughly enjoyed our dinner. Here’s what we ordered:

Laung wala paneer – Soft chunks of paneer in mildly spiced gravy. All of us loved it. I suppose when you’re in Punjab, you can’t really go wrong with paneer and dal makhni 🙂

Dal makhni – Can’t have bad dal makhni in Punjab

Chicken biryani – Though this was not my favourite Hyderabadi dum biryani, I quite liked it. It was not too spicy and chicken was cooked beautifully.

Mutton biryani – I loved this too, melt in your mouth chunks of mutton with delicately flavoured rice.

Assorted breads – Everything in the bread basket was perfect

The good food, an impromptu cake and friendly staff absolutely made our evening. Special thanks to Vikram who attended to us and was most helpful.

Ambience: 3.5/5

Food: 4/5

Drinks: 3/5

Service: 5/5

35 Brewhouse, JW Marriott, Chandigarh

Hey there! Hope you are safe, healthy and vaccinated.

It has been around one and a half years since we went out for a meal. Last weekend was a special occasion and we decided that it was finally time to step out and celebrate.

Most of us wanted to go to JW Marriott, and so we settled on 35 Brewhouse.

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The place was buzzing when we reached. I was expecting an elegant place with excellent food, especially with Chandigarh being a foodie paradise.

Our first disappointment was the lackluster treatment upon reaching the microbrewery. They were completely unprepared for us (even though we had made a reservation days in advance), and started fumbling for tables and chairs. We eventually settled down and asked for a beer flight followed by couple of beers, some cocktails and appetizers.

I didn’t find anything extraordinary in all the stuff we ordered; something that you generally expect at a place like this.

Hefeweizen – Flavourless and watery, you can give it a miss.

German lager – This was best of the lot. It was crisp and refreshing, nice brew for hot summer evenings.

Stout – This was average and lacked body

Classic margarita – This was too sugary and disappointing

Nachos – I had assumed that we’d definitely get housemade nachos here, but unfortunately these turned out to be doritos. At a place of this stature if staff is not even putting effort to serve quality nachos, there’s something wrong.

Malai paneer kebab – This was good. Paneer was fresh, soft and creamy.

We had just started with out food and drinks when it started raining. We were left stranded in the rain with our parents and none of the staff bothered to help us pick up our food and drinks. They were instead seen protecting their cushions and were least interested in attending to guests who were running for cover in the heavy rain. It was absolute chaos.

We were left unattended, waiting for a table for more than half an hour after which we decided to go to another place for dinner. We would have stayed back even with the average food, had it not been for the unprofessional staff. Hard to imagine this happened at JW.

All of us were cranky after this terrible experience, but luckily Park Plaza managed to turn our dreadful evening into a pretty good one. More about that in the next post.

Ambience: 3/5

Food: 2.5/5

Drinks: 2.5/5

Service: 2/5

Journey to the other side

Before you get worried or shocked, let me clarify right away that this is not about journey to the afterlife and I am perfectly fine. I just travelled to the other side of the city after a really long time. Sorry to disappoint! 🙂

Believe it or not, I haven’t stepped out of my apartment gate in almost five months. I just occasionally go downstairs to collect deliveries, but that’s about it. I used to get stir-crazy back in March, but now the confinement doesn’t bother me much (don’t know if that should be a cause for concern).

So, a few days back when my husband asked me if I could go to the bank and take care of some document verification, I was delighted.

On a normal day (I’m saying normal, because clearly these are not normal times you and I are living in), I would hate going to the bank. Now, you can clearly imagine my state of mind, given that I was actually looking forward to this visit! But with this virus situation, it was a little scary too.

On Tuesday morning, I changed into something other than my pyjamas and was extremely happy that my pre-pandemic clothes still fit (though barely). And my hair straightener finally breathed a sigh of relief that I hadn’t gone bald.

I booked a cab, masked myself, loaded my bag with sanitizers, an energy bar(it could have taken hours at the bank!), an extra mask(I don’t know why I did that) and set out.

The bank I had to visit is around 15 kms from my place, which on a normal day can take anywhere between 1-1.5 hours, if you start during peak office hours. It took me just 25 mins that day. It was a surreal sight to see only a handful of cars first half of the way. However, it was comforting to see that the notorious silk board hadn’t lost its enthusiasm and had a decent amount of traffic.

I realised how much I had missed the hustle bustle of Madiwala. How much I had missed all those daredevil pedestrians jumping in front of cars. But thanks to the sparse traffic, I could actually smell all those fresh flowers being sold in that market. I had even missed haggling with the taxi drivers over toll charges (though this one was honest and acknowledged that trip fare was inclusive of all charges).

I got all the work done and though it was a nice change, it was extremely worrying to see a lot of people without masks. I was finally happy to be back to my hopefully virus free home(or have I jinxed it now?).

I hope

The End

P.S. Have you watched Netflix’s new trippy movie “I’m thinking of ending things”? Toni Collette might just bag an Oscar for her performance!

My life or lack thereof with(out) internet

So my broadband connection went down today mid-morning and as I kept casting furtive glances at my router and hoped for the red LOS light to go away, myriad thoughts crossed my mind. 

I do have 4G, but the connectivity is patchy and that annoys me.

How was my life before I became totally dependent on internet? I used to go out, be with friends, talk to people rather than messaging them, read books. I still do these things. I still read and I always prefer buying actual books rather than kindle versions, but I can’t deny that a significant part of my day is dependent on internet. I talk less and prefer communicating over messages/emails. And I’m constantly doing one or more of these things:

What’s new on netflix? Let me get some new nail colors from nykaa. Let me see if there is something interesting available on amazon. Let me look up the recipe for alfredo sauce. Ooh, what’s happening on twitter? Cool! A new hilarious calvin & hobbes strip. What does that word mean and how’s it pronounced? What’s the next book I need to buy? I’m bored, will do some jigsaw puzzles(yes, they are available online for free!).

These are just some of my daily activities that require a reliable internet connection. So many other questions that come to my mind everyday and internet’s always there to help.

And of course there’s work.

Today when I saw that ominous red light on the wifi router, I suddenly felt ‘Oh no! My weekend is ruined!’. I reluctantly switched on my tatasky box and started browsing through tv channels. Turns out weekend was not so bad without internet. I watched almost two rom-coms with advertisements, which was a nice change.

I had my books, a packet of chips and a few days of piled out newspapers to keep me company 😀 And an occasional inspection of my outdoor plants 🙂

Halfway through one of the crosswords, connectivity was restored and my hand immediately made its way to the netflix button on my remote.

The end

Quarantine haircut

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A few good deeds

What comes to our mind when we hear the words ‘unselfish’ and ‘selfless’?

Most of us will instantly think ‘we have always cared for our families selflessly’ or ‘we have been unselfish in our relationships’ or ‘we have always done what is best for our families’.

But how many of us will think that we have cared a little bit for the society we live in or the environment? How many of us will think that they have done something good for the future generations to come?

What the Ale!, Electronic City

December is my favourite month of the year, and especially the last two weeks of it 🙂 Weather’s lovely and work’s not so crazy.

A few days back, I realized so many new eateries had opened up in Electronic city in the past six months or so. The F&B scene here has definitely been improving. A couple of new microbreweries have come up apart from our favourite 46 Ounces. While some of them opened and shut down after just a couple of months, this one called ‘What the Ale’ looked promising and decided to check it out.

Museum of Goa, Bardez

Museum of Goa is a contemporary art museum established by Dr. Subodh Kerkar. I immensely enjoyed the entire place. It had some very intriguing art installations and many interesting facts about Goan culture & history. It has paintings by Dr. Kerkar of course, along with a floor showcasing works of local artists.

Our hotel had recommended this museum, but I was not sure what to expect. I thought it was just another tourist trap and would be a boring place. But every artefact here had something to say and I am glad I visited this place.

Fisherman’s Wharf, Calangute and Fort Aguada

One of the days in Goa, we went to visit Fort Aguada early morning. We didn’t know that the fort opened at 8:30 am, so had to wait for a while. It’s a seventeenth century fort and has a picturesque view of the sea. There’s an old lighthouse in the fort, but that’s not open for visitors any more. The fort is beautiful, but needs some maintenance.

The Lazy Goose, Candolim, Goa

Goa has a vibrant live music scene and it’s always a pleasure to listen to local artists and bands. Most of the singers I’ve listened to, are quite talented. Last year when we were there, we were lucky to catch a performance of Toto and Petula(both of them are fabulous) from The Retro Project.

This time around, I looked up some places with live music and The Lazy Goose looked promising. The eatery has a beautiful view of Nerul river, but can be a little tricky to locate. I suggest calling up the restaurant and asking for proper directions.