spicy, hot, oh la la la

This one is a must for all mallu (kerala) food lovers, that is if you like the real hot spicy type. 

Nila (direction) boasts of many traditional dishes, but their highlight is the Kallu Shap Meen Curry (Toddy Shop Fish Curry) and Duck Mappas. The Kallu Shap curries are not for the faint hearted, its spicy, spicy and spicy...  will light your tongue on fire and the next morning ur arse too. But with Kappa (tapioca) it was phenomenal. I didn't like the kappa much, seen much better ones in other places, but the meen curry took care of that problem. 

The story behind Kallu Shap curries is that the toddy shops in Kerala are famous for its spicy dishes, like beef fry, mussels masala etc. They make it spicy to suit the drinkers palate. 

Nila has other interesting stuff too, like the Wheat Parotta (atta parotta), rabbit, fish peera, puttu etc... 

So it calls for more visits and more blog posts. For now the Fish Curry and Duck Mappas were excellent, Kappa was ordinary. Chicken Thoran was good, Kallu Shap Chciken Curry was above average and Wheat Parotta was excellent. Make sure you have it hot, it looses its flavour and texture when it turns cold.

And don't miss out the Samovar Chai (the one made in the old chai shop style from a samovar).

Space is very very limited, maximum 15-18 people can sit and dine at one time.That too you have to climb some steep stairs. The setting is ordinary, not one of those weekend family outing type.

The rates are very reasonable, portion size is just enough. Since the rates are on the down side its complete value for money. But make sure to order enough. 

It's advisable to order take away if you are a big group, especially with kids.

Decor is decent - not too loud and pleasant to the eye. Service is warm, quick and friendly. 

They have an afternoon special served in plantain leaf... more on that later.

Overall highly recommended for the food, preferably take away.And yes keep lots and lots of water ready... or some chilled beer will be ideal...

Sushi with a twist

Recently Chopsticks restaurant at Wyndham Grand Regency introduced a new kind of Sushi - I am not sure if they can be called Sushi.... as they are made with chicken and beef .... no seafood involved at all. 

They will serve both traditional sushi and this new fusion sushi...

Even though some sushi fans were not very impressed, many people, averse to sea food and raw fish, were happy to find something they can dip their hands into.

So if you are in a group and some one has a seafood allergy no worries... order a mix of both...

Taste wise they are excellant, especially the one with duck - my favourite. With the wasabi and soy sauce it tastes amazingly good... I wouldn't mind trying it again...

Chopsticks have earned a name for itself among Chinese food fans... Long queues were seen outside their stall at the recently concluded food festival... prawn tempura was a big hit... I had tasted it in the restaurant some time back and they are worth the wait in the queue... We skipped their stall as no one in our group was in the mood for Chinese. 

Chopsticks is highly recommended for the food and excellent service. The staff is very pleasant and helpful/

The only drawback is that its a dry hotel... you will have to be happy with lemon mint or ginger something (forgot the name, which is good if you like the taste of ginger)

To launch the new menu they made a giant sushi, which they claimed to be the biggest in town... more than 20kgs big... and edible too...

 

Lady Finger Chips

If you like Okra (lady finger) then these is a wonderful snack. Crisp Okra (i think baked). Its just washed and baked... nothing added or removed, even the stalk is there... I think its from Philippines, will check and update soon.

Korean Lunch

Nice Korean brunch at Rico, Grand Hyatt...Clockwise from left: Bulgogi, two types of Kimchi, pan fried fish and Spicy Korean Chicken...
Spicy chicken was good, not that spicy. Even Kimchi was decent. And to wash it all down nice red wine....
And not to forget the noodles...

one more pure veg restaurant

Doha gets one more pure vegetarian restaurant. Bombay. And yes it’s an Indian restaurant. It’s a small and neat place and serves all kinds of Indian chats and snacks. Not the proper dine out type restaurant more of a cafeteria type.The set meal in the afternoon is good. They have North Indian for QR15 and South Indian served in banana leaf for QR10. The samosas and alo vada (potato balls!) are good.


These guys are the same Bombay Sweets guys from the National area. When the shops there were demolished they shifted to Najma and removed the sweets from their name (Update: The name of the restaurant is Bombay Sweets & Restaurant. I missed the smaller details.) and made it pure veg. I didn’t try their pure veg Chinese Indian style. Not much of a fan of Indian Chinese dishes that too veg.They are situated at Kuwaiti building in Najma.

This is the North Indian Thali. One chapati, one roti plus what you see. Filling

Halloween pumpkin at LuLu

Saw Halloween pumpkins imported from US at LuLu hypermarket. Till now retailers were recreating Indian festivals here. Good to see other festivals coming into the market. More cultural integration is good.















The biggie. It's around 30 odd per kilo I guess. Small ones r cheaper.

Figus brings Saridnian cuisine to Doha

I don't know how many of you have heard of chef Nino Figus. If not heard before now is a good time to get to know him as he has opened a new restaurant at the Grand Heritage Hotel. What? you don't know where the hotel is? Okay, no probs... they r new and little low key... its a very grand and good looking hotel near Aspire, rather just behind Aspire.
The first impression is very good, it looks nice and really different from others. The staff is also pleasant and friendly, at least on my first outing will go there again soon... so hang on for updates...

Now to come to the best part... food... they have something called Sardinian cuisine... Its an autonomous region of Italy, an island in the Mediterranean Sea. The cuisine is kind of similar to Mediterranean and Italian. A little from this and a pinch from that and some of their own....

 This one was really delicious. Its an egg -- reallly tiny egg - on a tart kind of thing. One mouthful. I would love to find out how they made that egg so small.

 These are fish balls. Yummy... made out of fish head. Okay its tastes better without that additional information. Not that it made me eat less. Rather the plate was empty in no time.

Chef Figus at work in his kicthen. The dish on the right is made of mussles and it was good. Didnt like the centre one much.
Since it was a more of a food tasting session, I will not be able to give a correct picture about the service and the ambiance. Had a peep in to the restaurant before it opened for service and it looked decent. So will visit again for a more detailed look and tasting. So watch out for updates soon. Meanwhile read more on Sardinian cuisine