Restaurant Review- Beauty and Essex

Imagine taken from foodcomas.com

So you're looking at the picture above thinking that I must have made a mistake. The title of this post after all promises a restaurant review, and immediately below shows a picture of a pawn shop! Well, that's exactly what my new favourite restaurant in NYC, Beauty and Essex looks like from the outside.
Every year I come to NY and love to visit my old favourites and have a few new ones thrown in. Since I usually am here around once a year (with maybe a short trip in the winter thrown in that doesn't really count) a lot of times what was my favourite restaurant or club the previous year won't even exist the next. If you've been reading my blog for over a while, you'll remember that last year it was all about Bagatelle. This year, Bagatelle doesn't exist anymore as it is relocating, leaving a huge void in it's place of what I think is the most fun NY restaurant! There are 2 that I've visited so far that honestly make any place I've been to so far (and I mean ever... including Bagatelle) look like child's play- Beauty and Essex and another place called Lavo. But I'll do a separate review on Lavo later and give B&E it's place in the spotlight!
Had my friends not warned me about the entrance of the restaurant, I'd have thought the cab driver that dropped me outside had made a mistake and would've wondered where he brought me. Well, maybe the long line of trendily dressed people waiting to get in might have been another tip off. If you're planning on heading here, book early.. it isn't the easiest of places to get a table at, and like I learned the hard way, don't try extending the table to fill more people who want to head there either- it ain't happening. Once you're in though, and I mean really in.. past the pawn shop, you are caught by surprise about how large the place is, and how gorgeous. In New York some of the best restaurants have absolutely dismal interiors and this is probably the first one that kept up with and even surpassed my extremely high Dubai standards.

Image taken from here

A huge drop down chandelier welcomes you as you walk in, talking you to an upstairs area that I never ventured to, but which apparently has a lounge and the DJ booth. The restaurant is long and like I said, shockingly big, and has a stunning decor that just seems to keep going.

And of course, the main part of any restaurant is the food, and in this area the restaurant doesn't disappoint either. Dishes are supposed to be had sharing style and my friends absolutely loved the Lobster tacos and Meatballs in particular. The only complaint I had was between all the comfort food available, there weren't many healthy options on the menu, which in NYC is really surprising. But then again it just meant that my delicious martini went to my head that much faster! I bumped into friends on the next table that are vegetarian and they said the food was delish as well, so if you are vegetarian be rest assured you won't be going home hungry that night. Unfortunately, I didn't have a camera with me so I wasn't able to take photographs of the food.
My favourite part of the restaurant however has got to be the music! The music was INCREDIBLE and we couldn't stop moving to it from the moment we sat down. Popular songs mixed in with old time classics was what the DJ was going for, and the amazing vibe of the restaurant meant that you just didn't want to leave. But alas, leave we did, and tried going out clubbing after with all of us feeling the same way an hour later- we should've just stuck on and taken the party to the lounge upstairs. Aah well... I'm back this Friday night to continue where I left off from. Yes, THAT'S how much I loved this place!
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Restaurant Review: Junoon, NYC

 

I'm not usually a huge fan of Indian food and apart from having sporadic cravings for chaat while I was visiting NYC last year, I never need my Indian food fix while I'm away. So when my best friend suggested that we go to the Indian eatery Junoon for dinner, I agreed more to make her happy than out of having any desire to have Indian that evening. Payal's (said BFF) Father in Law, Sushil Malhotra is actually a partner in this upscale restaurant and I'd heard so much about it that I really wanted to try the food. He actually has been in the food business for decades now and used to be the owner of the restaurant Dawat and the popular chain Cafe Spice and has now moved on to Indian catering, pre-packaged and microwaveable meals under the name Zaika, which if you live in the city you must have definitely seen around. Bottom line- they know their food. 

Junoon as a concept is an interesting one- the food isn't traditionally Indian, but doesn't stray so far as to be weird and gimmicky. I didn't quite know what to expect but was quite blown away by the Interiors of the restaurant when I visited. Fun fact: the same designer that has done up Mr Malhotra's gorgeous home has also designed the restaurant which is a cross between elegant and homely, while having the perfect balance between traditional and modern. 

 While I've taken these pictures from the Junoon website, they unfortunately don't have pictures of my favourite part of the restaurant which is the entrance which has 3 massive candle-like structures in the middle of a bed of water. Well, my favourite part about the restaurant is actually the food, but I'll come to that in a moment. 

The restaurant has received rave reviews from both, the New York Times and New York Magazine and it's no wonder why. Unfortunately I did not have my camera on me, neither did I have my iPhone on hand, and the pictures on my Blackberry made the delicious tasting and looking food, look quite insipid so I decided not to post them. As I wanted to stick to my diet, we ordered mostly the kebabs and a few other dry starters, and followed it up with a chicken, the lamb chops, a yellow daal and saag. I absolutely LOVED the lamb chops and that was by far my favourite dish of the evening. I also couldn't quite stop having the daal with rice, as it was extremely flavourful without being spicy. The meal was amazing and you could tell the quality of the meats were really good and the food, unlike what  is available at other Indian restaurants, was not at all greasy nor was it lathered in butter or oil. If you usually find Indian food too spicy or heavy or have to have a generous helping of Tums to relieve heartburn after dipping into regular Indian fare, you're definitely going to want to give Junoon a try! And I haven't even reached the best part! The dessert! Payal had warned me that the restaurant had an incredible Pastry Chef and that I would want to set aside a few calories to try bites out of what she ordered. Since we were three of us, we ordered the Passion fruit Bombe and the Seasonal Trio of Kulfi. I can't quite remember the Kulfi flavours we had but I do remember one being some sort of fruit and the other being a cardamom. Apparently their Paan flavoured Kulfi is to die for, but they didn't have any that evening. Payal literally had to pull my spoon away as I couldn't stop once I tried a bite! Again, there are no standard rasmalai's and gulab jamun's at Junoon, but I urge you to definitely have the dessert a try... You won't be disappointed.

All in all, a fabulous meal and all you need to do is read the reviews of the restaurant (can be found on their website here) to know I'm not being biased! I can't wait to go back again and have the incredible lamb chops. Oh, and the Executive Chef, Vikas Khanna has also been nominated by online magazine Eatery as New York's Hottest Chef! Alas, he wasn't there the evening I visited, so that's yet another reason for me to want to visit very, very soon. 

Restaurant Review- The Ivy at the Emirates Towers in Dubai

If you like trying different restaurants and if you follow the constant influx of "the" place to see and be seen in Dubai, you must have definitely heard about the opening of The Ivy. If you haven't, the restaurant has opened up at the Emirates Towers at where Scarlett's used to once be. Everywhere on Twitter and Facebook I had friends posting up pictures of the restaurant saying how delicious the food was and how they couldn't wait to go back, etc. I was quite curious to see how it was, and since I owed my friend Jimmy a birthday lunch, I took him and another common friend over to this new chic restaurant to give it a spin.
Since my female friend and I were counting calories, we ordered the smoked salmon as well as the Yellow Tail Sashimi to share, while Jimmy went for the Caesars Salad. Here are some pics of what the food looked like-

 

As you can see, the portion sizes are quite generous! For the main course my female friend had fish (i think it was the Dover sole that she ordered) while I had the Thai-baked sea bass with fragrant rice. Thr birthday boy had the lamb shank curry with saffron flavoured rice. Here are the images of our main courses-

As you can tell, the food looked quite interesting and really, really tempting. The presentation was great and everything was fine.... but (there's always a but isn't there!)... the food really didn't blow me away. Yes, The Ivy is a chic restaurant-of-the-moment and yes people have been raving about the food, but whatever we had really didn't knock our socks off. Jimmy who ordered regularly off the menu without any dietary restrictions thought the food was ok and my other friend and I thought it was, well, meh. I guess if you ordered some of the more of the more calorific meals, maybe they would taste better? The thing is, I can easily go to ET Sushi next door or to La Petite Maison five minutes away to get some fabulous food that is less in calories and tastes SOOO much better than The Ivy meal I had. While smoked salmon is nice and all, I'd much rather have LPM's crab and lobster salad or the lentil salad to start with. My sea bass wasn't bad, but it really wasn't wow either and I definitely have had better fish.

Having said that, the food I believe is only half of the story. You can have amazing food but with bad service an entire mood of the meal could be completely ruined. Honestly, I can't remember the last time I'd gotten such great service in Dubai! The staff was friendly and smiling and extremely attentive, and I don't think it was just because my friend knew our server from before. My friend had tweeted about looking forward to me taking him for his birthday meal there and another friend had alerted one of the hosts who was on twitter that we'd be coming who had in turn tweeted back that she was looking forward to seeing us, etc. We'd forgotten all about it, till Jimmy's desert (he'd also tweeted that he wanted the creme brulee) came out with a birthday message on the plate!

I'm sure I'll be back at The Ivy a lot and I'm sure it will be a very popular hangout for the next few months till something more exciting pops up. I don't think it will be the runaway success LPM has been simply because I really don't think the food is comparable. Would I however suggest you to go there and make up your own mind? Yes I would! Because the service was so bad, I almost feel bad giving it a bad review, and before writing this I thought it was quite unfair for me to judge a restaurant that I visit while on a diet. But then again, a lot of people these days are opting for healthier dishes which restaurants are increasingly conscious about. I know my favourites all have their healthy options as well as deliciously divine sinful ones so maybe it isn't asking for too much for a restaurant to have both. Anyhow, I'm sure I'll be back at The Ivy very soon but alas, not for the food. I just hope the service will be just as good even after they read this review!
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You can reach the restaurant at (04) 3158767 for reservations and questions.
You can also check out pictures of the restaurant and their complete menu on their website here 
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Review of Ibn Battuta Gate Hotel

Last evening I decided to head to dinner with my family to the Shanghai Chic restaurant at the Ibn Batuta Gate Hotel. My sister and my mother had I guess, heard lots about the new hotel and this specific restaurant and we decided to try out something new rather than revisiting Bice, La Petite Maison or Zheng He's for a meal, which are standard favourites for everyone in the family, including my 5 year old nephew. Since my Mother and I go for a movie together every Friday, we decided to go to the Ibn Batuta Mall for a movie and head to dinner from there. Oh by the way, Ibn Batuta movie goers, and here I'm speaking to the ones with kids... please for God's sake keep your children in check! If your 3 year old is going to stand above my seat and yank my hair, don't be a shameful cow and ignore them and continue watching your movie!!! Yes, that's precisely what the woman behind me decided to do and when my Mother complained, she glared at her and sat back while her brat of a child yelled in our ear. Why are toddlers allowed in 3 hour long Hindi movies anyway?? Have decided to never go back there... Thank God for Mercato!!

 (Pic taken from TimeOut Dubai)

Anyhow back to the Gate Hotel and the Chinese restaurant... We should have figured that maybe the moron-trend would have carried on from our movie into dinner it being Friday the 13th and all that mumbo jumbo about the law of attraction and all. You know, like when you stub your big toe and get into a bad mood, you "attract" one horrid incident into your life after another? Well, after the obnoxious child and bratty mother (or was that the other way around?) we should have just packed up and gone home! But we'd heard that the Chinese restaurant had hired the chef from Zheng He's and really wanted to try some place new and have a nice dinner.  On reaching there we tried to ask questions of our waitress only to soon realize her broken English didn't carry her far enough to understand what we were actually saying.
Mother: "We hear the chef has come from Zheng He's?"
Waitress: "Yes! Shanghai!"
Mother: "No, no.. Zheng He's from Madinat!"
Waitress, "Yes! Shanghai!"
So apparently the Management thought they were hiring for a restaurant in China Town and didn't think the woman needed a language skill beyond Chinese. When we finally tried to order, we kept requesting the lady write down what we wanted as my Mother and Brother in law are vegetarian, my sister's on a diet and my nephew is fussy. Despite asking her 5 times to put it on paper, she kept insisting she'd remember, only to later bring out a dish that we hadn't ordered but had inquired about. The food was average, the cutlery strange and my soup spoon looked like a baby spoon which would probably take me half an hour to get through my bowl of soup. The service was slow and they took fifteen minutes after bringing out the main course to bring us plates, which meant our food was pretty cold by the time we got to try any of it. Oh and during this 15 minute wait, they decided to come out and talk to us about the dish we hadn't ordered (but they'd brought anyway) despite us repeatedly telling them to bring our plates first! Anyhow, the food was average and not exactly value for money. They didn't seem to think so though, as my Mother's card got swiped twice over and if it hadn't been for the SMS notifications she gets on her phone, she'd probably have headed home not realizing she'd paid double for a very average meal. They took another 10 minutes to try to figure out what had happened and bring her another slip of paper to sign to void the transaction.
After all that drama we were happy to be leaving and going home and had decided while we wouldn't return to the Chinese restaurant, we may decide to try the Indian restaurant there which seemed quite full as we were walking out. We handed our tickets to the valet which took 15 minutes to bring my sister's car, and 15 minutes after that showed no signs of bringing mine. After the half an hour wait, my Mother and I started to lose our heads to the valet drivers over there who seemed extremely clueless and didn't know what was happening. The valet desk was a MESS with keys and papers lying everywhere and they kept asking me for the smaller portion of my valet ticket which they hadn't given me in the first place. I even posted a pic of the Valet desk on my Twitter account as I was shocked to see how badly organized they were. Another 2 ladies were standing there yelling their heads off as well as they'd been waiting since before us and hadn't gotten their cars either. After another 10 minutes of yelling my Mum and I decided to go down with them into the parking lot to see what the problem was. Turns out they couldn't locate the car. We scanned their entire wall of keys for my car keys to no avail and were informed then they finally found the car but not the keys. The Valets seemed annoyed and pissed off with us and, apart from one apologetic soul, seemed irritated by OUR presence. The Manager of the Service was Filipino, the Valet drivers Indian, and there seemed to be lack of communication there as well, not only because of the language barrier, but because they had no walkie talkies or devices to be able to speak to each other. So if one guy went down one level in the parking lot to find the car, and one went up to the main entrance of the Hotel, 2 others had to be dispatched after them to find out WTF was going on. Not smart. Anyhow, long story short, one hour later they found the keys and the car, and when I was yelling at the Valet while getting into my car, he decided to slam my car door on my face. Oh and the poor ladies waiting for their car? The drivers had screwed the car up which had stalled it in the middle of the lot and it wouldn't start. Thank God I was able to get out with my Vehicle working fine!
On reading the restaurant review on TimeOut Dubai they didn't seem too impressed with the restaurant either, but have made no mention on the service in the rest of the Hotel. They probably won't be going back to Shanghai Chic but I don't think I'll be going back anywhere in or around Ibn Battuta Mall or Hotel anytime soon. I remember another friend telling me a story about how the valet driver in that very same Mall was using my friends car (a Rolls no less!) to transfer people from one part of the mall to another, as he'd been told by my friend that he'd return in 2 hours but was back in 15 minutes. I don't know what Valet company both the places employ, but they might want to rethink their strategy!!
If you want GREAT Chinese in Dubai, go to Zheng He's at the Madinat for a great meal that is slightly expensive, the Shang Palace at the Shangri La for something in between and Nanking in Bur Dubai for the BEST Indonesian and Indian Chinese for an amazing value for money meal! And most definitely give Shanghai Chic and the Ibn Battuta Gate Hotel a skip!!
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M&M's get a Kiran's Corner makeover!

If you've been following this blog for a while, you'll know I'm a nutter for exclusive stuff and I HATE having stuff that other people own. Sometimes yes, made-to-order or "limited edition" things do have a hefty price tag to them, but sometimes personalizing your everyday things can cost very little, and you can transform stuff that everyone has and make it your own- like I did to my iPad and iPhone.

What do you think of these M&M's... Kiran's Corner Edition? ;)

Ok no, I wasn't approached by M&M's to custom design their chocolate (I wish!) neither did I decide that ordinary M&M's were.. well.. too ordinary for me to have! The story is this- Right before I left for the US, my sister and I were thinking of throwing a party together and were looking at fun things to do to do for it. We'd come up with a whole bunch of innovative ideas (or I thought so anyway!) and I wanted to have a few personalized touches along the way. Since napkins and coasters are all so "been there, done that" I was looking at some different things to have, and one of them were personalized M&M's. Since they only deliver within the US and I was heading over in a week or so, I went ahead and ordered them and brought them back to Dubai upon my return. You can order a whole bunch of them in different colours and can mix it up with faces, messages or logos- the other one that you see in there is my sister's personal logo and are her initials- BMG. Of course, I used my Kiran's Corner one!
Unfortunately our party never happened so we didn't decide as to whether to keep them on tables in bowls or to have them put on bite-sized cupcakes. Since my Mother's been threatening to hand them over to my little nephew, I thought I'd photograph them and show them to you guys before they got consumed. They'd make a great idea as a gift for a loved one or birthday parties don't you think?

You can get the personalized M&M's by ordering them online here
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And if you haven't visited my blog over the past few days, you might not know that you have until the 31st of March to follow 3 easy steps that could potentially make you the proud owner of the Apple iPad!!!! Go here for details- http://www.kiranscorner.com/2011/03/win-ipad-with-kirans-corner-and-jumbo.html
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Vandana Bhatia on Winter in Cape Town!

She was the first person I profiled for my Profile Corner, so it's not surprising that she is the first guest blogger I have on here too. The gorgeous Vandana Bhatia very kindly took out time to write a few words on her trip to Cape Town to give you guys tips on where to go, what to eat and what to see in the scenic city. Vandana was there with her family over New Years and from the sounds of it, has probably got the city pretty high up on her "favourite places to visit" list so read on for some insider tips from her vabulous vacation!

Lively beaches, beautiful scenery, gorgeous weather, fabulous beach houses, outstanding service, exquisite food and of course... the wines. Aah the wines. If you've never visited I suggest you start accumulating those miles and push Cape Town to the top of your destination list. You won't be disappointed. With its immense natural beauty, a myriad of things to do and places to see, you'll be spoilt for choice. 7 days are easily fulfilled here (or 12 in our case) and you'll still be compelled to return.

Things to do: rent a villa (Kia Ora or Villa Yvette, Clifton Road), climb to the top of Cape Point to witness the merging of the Indian & Atlantic Oceans (and take pictures of the baboons on the way), go for a drive at night up to Signal Hill, try the seafood linguine with truffle and the half metre long pizza for lunch at  The Grand at the Beach (and discover the cute gift shop), take a ferry to Robben Island to relive Mandela's imprisonment and the apartheid era, people watch at the Virgin Active Gym (what I really mean is ogle at the hotties), join the Capetonians for a cappuccino at Giovanni's (and take home some fresh cheese with their homemade fig jam), explore the boutiques in the trendy Cape Quarter (and pick up great accessories from local designers), buy meat from the local butcher on Kloof and invite some friends over for a braai, buy an exotic skin clutch bag, discover a cute little restaurant in Constantia (our fave -La Colombe), Stellenbosch or Franschhoek (our fave - Reubens), rent a bicycle and ride around Camp's Bay, opt for a healthy, organic brunch at Manna's, obsess over the super quirky crockery designer Carrol Boyes, go wine tasting to one of 600+ vineyards (our favs -Ernie Els Wine Estate and Hamilton Russell Vineyard Estate), take the funicular with spinning floor to Table Mountain (and take cheesy souvenir pics), have dinner at The Duchess, go paraglidiing (or not and say you did), have high tea with scones at the Table Bay Hotel or Ellerman House, watch the most breathtaking sunsets while listening to your in-house pianist, waddle with the penguins at Boulder's Bay, have a boozy brunch at Paranga's (preferably on a Sunday as the locals do), stock up on Charlotte Rhys products (South Africa's answer to Jo Malone at a fraction of the price), and finally, realise you've started saying 'ja' instead of 'yes'.

Right, now time to fulfill those New Year's resolutions of a healthy diet. Ja.

                                                   Some pictures of Villa Yvette (above and below)
 

 

The Grand at the Beach

 

La Colombe

 

The View from Table Mountain

 

View from Table Bay Hotel

 

The always impeccably dressed Vandana while in Cape Town

Thanks so much Vandana for this very informative piece! You've got me (and I'm sure my readers too) very envious of your lovely holiday. Now if only you'd succumb and do my 7 day fashion diary, life would be so much easier now wouldn't it??

And guys Vandana is soon going to have a blog out of her own where she covers all the latest Fashion trends and the best of all the lovely brands she sources from the world over (including some insider tips and exclusive offers)  for her Odyssey Trunk Shows. Will alert you guys when she has that up and running.. Have gotten a sneak peak already, and it's looking great!

My Fave French Restaurants around the world

So it could either be that Dr Shefali has me eating next to nothing (no carbs, sugar, gluten, dairy,eggs, lentils, soy,etc etc etc) that has me thinking constantly of food, or Gwyneth Paltrow's review on her blog of her favourite restaurants, that made me want to do the same. Since there are too many to name in one post, I decided to split them by cuisine, rather than country, to give you guys an idea of my favourite restaurants in the world. Also, I'm tired of doing so many fashion posts!
If you remember this post of mine you'll remember how intrinsically French Food is woven in with memories of my Late Father. He absolutely adored his French meals, a trait that I and all my family members inherited from him. In fact, not liking it was not really a choice- when younger, we were only allowed to glance at the prix-fixe menu, written in all French, before we had our elaborate meal of 5-plus courses ordered for us. This was before the days we learnt the French words for things like rabbit, kidneys, pigeon, etc, and realized that was what we were being fed! All we had to help us out were our taste buds, and a glass of wine that my Father insisted we enjoy. [Funny story- my Father himself was a complete teetotaler and never touched the thing, but insisted we-especially I, being the youngest by many years, have a glass or two in front of him so I'd never be tempted to drink behind his back. I grew up however, loving my Vodka and hating champagne and wine, so definitely don't try this strategy at home! Years later when my parents came to visit me while at college, my apartment was completely cleaned out of all traces of alcohol, but I forgot the Vodka that was kept in the Freezer. I almost had a panic attack as my Father opened it and pulled out a Jumbo sized bottle out and looked at me in horror. "I'm dead" I thought, as I waited for him to read me the riot act, but I'll never forget what he said after. "Kiru!" he said, shocked and appalled, "You drink ABSOLUT??!!" Being a liquor manufacturer, he was horrified by my choice in brand!]
But I digress! Back to my post... here are my top 3 favourite French restaurants in the world-

Le Gavroche, London-

I believe a great meal has as much to do with the memories associated with the meal, as much as it does with the food. There might be better French restaurants in London, many more renowned and even a few 3 star Michelin options. However, I grew up eating at Gavroche and if I had to pick my all time favourite French restaurant in the world, this would be it. This two-star Michelin restaurant run by celebrity chef Michel Roux, was my introduction to gastronomy and has since, maintained it's charm and allure, as much as it has it's quality of food. I've literally never had a bad meal there. My Father would be very happy to escort us, his four women there, and would beam with pride as we raved about the food, starting with the amuse-bouche had at the lounge upstairs, right up to their incredible deserts and Petit Fours had in the main dining room. Unfortunately I haven't been there in a few years, as my visits to London haven't been as often, but I've heard it's just as good as it's always been, and is definitely worth a visit!

Enoteca Pinchiorri, Florence-

In complete contrast to Gavroche, that I've been to time and time again, I've only visited Enoteca Pinchiorri once in my life two years back. I've eaten at some of the best restaurants in the world, so you can imagine when ONE visit is enough to make a restaurant into my all time favourites list, how absolutely fabulously DIVINE the food must have been. To celebrate my Mother's 60th birthday she had taken my two sisters and I on an amazing vacation to Rome and Florence, and Enoteca is where we'd booked us in for her birthday dinner. All we knew of the place was that it was a 3 star Michelin restaurant and had rave reviews, but none of us had been there before. We were blown away. Not only was the food exquisite, but the service we got that evening was beyond anything I'd ever experienced. To bring my mum's little cake out, they even turned off all the lights in the main living room, with us thinking, "oh crap! The electricity's gone!" for a few seconds (the after effects of living in India for 6 years I guess!) Everything was decorated to PERFECTION and the attention to the tiniest details could be clearly seen. The food was more Italian-French rather than plain French, and was just incredible. I didn't have my blog then so the idea of photographing the food never occurred to me, but here are some pictures I did take that night to give you an idea of what I'm talking about-

I think this was a picture of the ice cream or sorbet that night. Everything was just as elaborately presented!

My Mother, smiling as her birthday cake surprise was brought out in the dark. The entire staff, as well as the restaurant joined us is singing "Happy Birthday" for her. Does she look 60 to you? :)










Le Pont De Brent, Switzerland-

Going back to my post I did here I'd mentioned that I'm convinced the only reason we even had a house in Switzerland is because my Father LOVED the French Food there. Obviously being cut off from civilization and being able to enjoy nature, etc, also had to play a role, but I'm sure it was more the food than anything else. Our house in Montreuax is situated slightly up on the hills and is far removed from even the main restaurants and shopping of the city. Our days there used to be pretty basic with my Father doing the driving and my Mother, the cooking. We'd go for long drives and have very elaborate lunches and were usually too stuffed to have a full dinner which suited my Mum just fine. But on days we wanted a great meal close by, we headed to Le Pont De Brent a couple of times each trip. It became our neighborhood restaurant so to speak, as it just took us less than 10 minutes to get there. The food was always out of this world, and we always had personalized attention given to us in the tiny, cozy restaurant. Imagine my surprise then, that while researching it yesterday, I found out it is a 3 star Michelin restaurant! I don't know if they had their rating back then, but I can definitely say it was very well deserved. My Mother is vegetarian and back in the 80's and early 90's it was very hard for her to get great French food, and Le Pont was always the one place where she relished her meals as they always made an effort to prepare Veg-friendly options. In fact all 3 restaurants I've mentioned above, are also her favourites, so if you're vegetarian you can definitely visit and not worry about getting fed only grass.

Apart from these three favourites there are also a few that perhaps should get honourable mentions. Americans for some reason just CANNOT get French food right and I've eaten at what are supposed to be best restaurants, and hated the food. My best friend in fact refuses to go to any French restaurant with me because she says I complain about the food non-stop.. she is right. I went to the restaurant of 3 star Michelin chef, Guy Savoy in Las Vegas, and had food poisoning and was in bed for 3 days after, so I would say I have good reason to complain too. L'Atelier de Joel Rubichon however, is the only restaurant in America where they have French style of cooking done right. Very American influenced, but really great food. Visit the one at the Four Seasons in New York though, as I wasn't impressed with the food at their restaurant in Vegas.
Another honourable mention has to be Zodiac Grill in Bombay. This along with Golden Dragon (for Chinese at the same hotel) were our standard Saturday night meals when we were kids. Their age limit was 18, but they used to sneak me in and have my back facing the restaurant so no-one would spot me. I still have dreams about their Camembert Dariole.. The best cheese souffle I've ever had!
In Dubai again, any French restaurant has yet to impress me, although I've heard fabulous things about Pierre Gagnaire's restaurant, Reflets.
Anyhow, hope for all the foodies out there, hope this post was helpful!
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La Petite Maison lands in Dubai!

Recently when visiting London I'd done a review of La Petite Maison there, which after one meal itself became one of my new favourites. Imagine my excitement then, when I found out LPM was soon to open in Dubai! Well, today was D-Day for this charming resto, and LPM Dubai finally opened it's doors to the public this afternoon. My mother was lucky enough to get a sneak peak at the restaurant last Thursday when she was invited for dinner by the Owner and Founder, Gulu Waney and his charming wife. My mother is vegetarian, very picky about her food and very critical- and yet, she absolutely LOVED the place and the cuisine. I can believe that, given the extensive choice the menu has for vegetarians, and the quality of the food. I made her promise that she'd take pictures for me, but apparently once the scrumptious food came out in front of her, she completely forgot. Who can fault her, since the exact same thing happened to me at their London branch! I did request Mr Waney though to let me in for a sneak peak of the place, and he gladly obliged. While I've booked myself in for lunch on Saturday, I wanted to be able to give you guys a sense of what to expect with the extremely stylish decor. SO chic!

LPM Dubai is now open at the Gate Village in DIFC and is taking reservations. Call 04-439 0505 for more information.

UPDATE: Got a call from them today.. Apparently they made a mistake and aren't open on Saturdays. Looks like I'll have to wait a while before I get to go. If you have been over the weekend, do let me know in the comments below.. I'd love to know what you guys thought.
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Shang Palace- 8 for 88!!

One of my favourite Chinese restaurants in Dubai, Shang Palace at the Shangri La, is having an amazing promotion going on. The promo is called "8 for 88" and basically means you can get 8 dishes per person for the price of Dhs 88, and is available at lunch only. One of my closest friends in Dubai lives at the Shangri-La apartments and was actually the one who introduced me to the Shang Palace in the first place. The amount we go down for meals there is absolutely ridiculous, and we've usually always stuck to the same thing- dim sum, peking duck and/or prawns with egg fried rice. We never really ventured out of our comfort zone food-wise, but the food is always so good we could happily dine there once or twice a week. A few months back they had an "8 for 88" promotion and it gave us a perfect excuse to try some other stuff on the menu (as between us we had 16 options), and it was all delicious! And considering the restaurant usually isn't cheap, the promotion was fantastic because in around 200 Dhs, you've literally sampled half the menu.
And when I use the word "sample" I use it quite loosely as the portions are huge! While each piece of dimsum counts as one, and a green tea for example, counts as another, a main course dish is just a little smaller than what you'd normally get and is an extremely generous helping. Trust me, there is NO WAY you could possibly finish all the food they bring for you. You have options for soup and desert as well, and have a huge variety on the menu to pick from, so it's not like you have to pick 8 items from an option list of 10- its more like 30.
Anyhow, I was super excited when I came back to town and found that they've made it a permanent lunch promotion. They don't have it on weekends though, so make sure to call ahead to check availability. The last time I was there, I had my camera with me and took pictures of the dishes. Just look at the amount of food on our table.. we couldn't finish a third of it!

                 They have the best dim sum in town. This is their prawn and chive I think

              This was an interesting egg and shrimp dish- more like a prawn omelet!

The beef is amazing, as is the fried chicken you can see next to it. Like a Chinese chicken nugget. SO good.. but so not good for your diet.

This is my new favourite dish. For people on a health kick, the steamed garoupa (or Hammour) in soy and ginger is delicious and has no oil in it. If you're ever in the mood for Chinese but don't want to break your diet, this is as tasty as the chicken nuggets above, with zero guilt attached to it.

Definitely make it to the Shang for their "8 for 88".. the food and service is always amazing and you won't regret it.
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Review of the RL restaurant in Chicago

I'd first heard of the RL restaurant in Chicago, the restaurant owned by and named after Ralph Lauren, by my art teacher in Dubai, Mrs Roy. I've been working on a series of angel paintings for the entrance of my still-uninhabited apartment in Dubai, and Mrs Roy had given me the idea of doing a series of them, all clustered together with different mismatched canvases of various shapes and sizes, much like the type she had seen at RL in Chicago. This is a style she has used to hang artworks in her own living room with gorgeous results, and I loved the idea of imitating the same for my own place. This in itself should be a telling sign of what the restaurant is like, given that it's inspired an artist, halfway around the world, to emulate it's style and sophistication.
While restaurants in Chicago generally paled in comparison to those found in New York, RL was the only restaurant my best friend and I wanted to visit a second time during our weekend away there.  The first time we went, I met up with a wonderful friend of mine from Dubai who is originally from Chicago and was spending the summer back home, and we dined outdoors, enjoying the perfect weather, great food and fabulous company all at once. The day my friend and I were leaving, we went back there, this time to sit indoors and enjoy the gorgeous artworks on the wall while grabbing a quick bite before running to the airport.

Both times we went, the place was packed, and since the first time we went for a late lunch, and the second for an early brunch, it would be safe to advice you to make a reservation before heading out there. I can imagine RL being very nice for dinner, but unfortunately we never made it up there in the evening.
Of course how can I talk about a restaurant without talking about it's food! The food will not be the best you've ever had, but is still pretty good. Besides, you'll be so happy with the great service and ambiance of the restaurant, you won't really have cause to complain at all. The second time I visited, my best friend and I decided to split the Lobster club sandwich as well as get an order of the Jumbo sea scallops. The food was brought out quickly with each of us getting a plate with the orders pre-divided. It was so well presented, I snapped up a picture of it for my blog-

And yes, it was as delicious as it looks.

If you're visiting Chicago, RL is a definite must do, after which you must go and check out the gorgeous furniture section in the Ralph Lauren store upstairs. If you're a fan and looking to buy their furniture for your home, they've shipped over tons of furniture, as well as flown down to fully furnish plenty of houses in Dubai as their pieces are a FRACTION of the price of the stuff being sold at Harvey Nichols. I wish I'd known before I'd splurged and bought my dream bed from them in Dubai. Aah well.. it's always good to know for next time.

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Gwyneth Paltrow to publish cookbook, "My Father's Daughter"

Gwyneth Paltrow is on the most recent cover of the US Vogue, talking about the cookbook she has penned entitled, "My Father's Daughter." Quite a strange name for a cookbook isn't it? Well, it turns out that all the recipes in there are derived from recipes of dishes her father used to make when he was alive, and her interpretation of his favourite dishes at different restaurants around the world. The introduction to the book is also very moving- " I always feel closest to my father, who was the love of my life until his death in 2002, when I am in the kitchen. I can still hear him over my shoulder, heckling me, telling me to be careful with my knife, moaning with pleasure over a bite of something in only the way a Jew from Long Island can, his shoulders doing most of the talking..."

I've always felt a sense of familiarity with Paltrow's reaction to her father's demise, mostly because I have felt the same way. I've written many articles about my own Father, and like her, I too felt like I lost the most important thing in my life upon his passing. While I've read her talk about her father over the years, and while I've written about mine through them (who incidentally too passed away in 2002), I didn't realize we had another common ground that bound us together- our memories with our respective Fathers that were associated with food. While her's cooked the dishes they ate, mine painstakingly drove us to some of the best restaurants in the world to sample their cuisine. While my father was fond of all different types of food, his weakness really lay with French food, and I always say, I'm convinced the only reason he ever bought our house in Switzerland was because of the restaurants it had. The whole family would rise early and be up and ready only to drive a few hours to Vevey, Martigny, Lausanne or other such destination, to go to one of their fine dining restaurants there and enjoy a delicious five course meal. When my sister, brother in law and I drove an hour away from central London a few weeks back, to dine at The Waterside Inn, we couldn't help but think of my Father, and reminisce about how he would have loved the small restaurant, it's cottage-like atmosphere, and not to mention, it's food. Towards the latter part of his life, my father had been ordered to be on a strict vegetarian diet free of sodium, and to take away his food from him, was in many ways to take away his reason for being. He'd sometimes hide from us and go for a meal where he could enjoy his foie gras in peace, or he'd live (and eat) vicariously through us, ordering too much at restaurants and insist we enjoy the delicacies that he was forbidden to indulge in. He absolutely loved his food, a trait, if you've been reading my blog while I've been on holiday,  you'll see I've inherited.
While unlike Paltrow or her father, I can't really even make an omelet to save my life, I too always feel closest to my father while sitting at a quaint French restaurant, about to take a tiny bite out of my already bite-sized first course. I smile, just as he would have, ignoring all the butter and cream that is deceptively concealed in such a tiny size, and just like he would have (probably somewhat wrongly) advised me all those years ago, I postpone the worry about the calories till later.
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Review of "I tre merli"

A few days back my friends and I were downtown and looking for a place nearby that would serve us great food to appease our starved appetites and would be casual enough for us to go dressed as we were. "I tre merli!" my friend suggested.. a suggestion that brought back so many memories! Years back we would frequent this restaurant when it's bar was more popular than its food- so much so, that in all those times I'd been, I'd never actually eaten there. The nicely lit up restaurant without the throngs of people proved to be unrecognizable to me, but my friend promised that he'd had dinner there a few weeks back, and that the food was great.
We were extremely hungry and went a little nutty while ordering appetizers. I absolutely adored the mushrooms cooked with garlic and the Kobe beef meatballs were probably the best meatballs I've ever had. Ever!

 My friend ordered a pizza too, which tasted really good. However, the best pizza in New York still remains at Serafina (yet unreviewed!)

The buratta on the menu brought back flashes of the one I had at La Petite Maison in London, but this was more cube-like and stiff- but good nonetheless.
The service was good and the food was really yum, but they sort of goofed up right at the end. We ordered a chocolate souffle, which we expected to get all fluffy and well, souffle-like. They brought it out fairly quickly which in itself should have set off a few alarm bells (most places require 15 to 20 minutes to prepare it.) The souffle looked delish but on digging in, was more like a jar of nutella than anything else. On requesting them to take it back and let it set some more, they insisted, "no.. this is how a souffle is supposed to be." Really??? Either they thought we're from a village or someone needs to let them know their desert chef is making an ass out of them! I'd understand if they'd said that's the way THEY make it, but to tell us the goopy gunk is the way it's supposed to be everywhere? Now that's just dumb.
Anyhow, the food was great and apart from that little mess up right at the end, the service was quick and polite. If you happen to be in the neighborhood, do go in for a relaxed meal. Just remember- don't order desert!

                       Pretty looking chocolate souffle, presented with almond biscotti

                                                            Goopy gunk!!!

                              The cylindrical thing is the oven located by the bar

Nice, relaxed ambience- I tre Merli is worth a visit if you happen to be in the area. Read more about the restaurant on their website here
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