Flame And Grill

I was in kolkata for a few days during my vacations and as planned I went to some new places so that I could write about them

For lunch I went to flame a grill, a part of the specialty group of restaurants which include mainland china and oh Calcutta. This restaurant serves preset buffet consisting of kebabs for starters, a completely Indian main course and desserts.

Ambience

The ambience is cool and beautiful but the restaurant is often very busy so it tends to become a bit loud. Serene lighting and open kitchen with non stop working chefs adds to the beauty of the restaurant.

So from my side

3 stars

Food

For starters they served us chicken peshwari tikka, mutton seekh kebab and fish tikka. We were very disappointed; the kebabs were very dry and chewy. The chicken tikka was hard and lacked seasoning and marination. The fish was chewy, and a touch over cooked. The mutton was actually worse; the pieces of seekh kebab didn’t hold and was flaky and slightly chewy.

Overall a through disappointment

For main course we had murgh biryani, prawn stew, mutton curry along with assorted breads and paneer khurchana.  The main course was average. The biryani was actually good, light and tasty. With good flavours made it the best of the day. The mutton curry was actually very delicious. It was slightly spicy and had depth in flavours and pieces of mutton were succulent and well seasoned.  The prawn stew was too salty for my taste, this made it almost inedible.

The combination of paneer and naan was good but lacked the zing to be a brilliant dish.

I would give it

2 stars

The desserts were very good. The mousse was light, sweet and beautifully balanced with the bitter chocolate taste. The raita was good and slightly spicy which suited my taste. The rice kheer (payesh) was also very good; not too sweet and a smooth texture of the rice made it the best of the day.

So I would give it

Overall I would give them

2/5 stars

Service

The service was good, the food was served quickly, the waiters were quick to serve the kebabs, and the beverages. They were patient to take the specific instructions.

So overall the restaurant is not up to the standard of the other specialty restaurants and I would suggest giving it a miss.

Amici Cafe

Yesterday, my parents and I went to amici café at hauz khas. The hauz khas village is itself a little crowed and small but the entire atmosphere is great. Its calm not very busy with cars and bustled with restaurants.

Amici is a proper Italian restaurant which serves wood baked pizzas, grilled bruschettas, classic soups and salads and a good selection of pastas, coffees and desserts.

Ambience

The ambience resembles a café in Italy, with wooden tables and wood chip oven, partially open kitchen and chairs. The walls are lined with fun movie posters and racks of amici boxes and sauces.

It makes it a soothing atmosphere.

Food 

For starters we ordered for a plate of piri piri chicken and cheese bruschetta. The bruschetta is essentially garlic or plane bread toast served with desired toppings and finished with melted cheese on top. The bruschetta here was perfect, flavorful and crunchy yet soft. The cheese along with slightly spicy piri piri chicken was well balanced and complemented each other. The chicken itself was delicious and succulent. Try the bruschetta with a dap of pepper sauce and it becomes the perfect starter

I would rate it

For main course we had lasagna al ragu, barbeque chicken burger and “the starving celebrity”-gourmet pizza. The lasagna is served with bread roll.

Lasagna is layered sheet pasta served with a chicken and tomato based sauce. Lasagna itself has a tendency to be overpowered due to the tomato and chicken and cheese. But amici’s lasagna was perfect- succulent lamb, thin slices of pasta , the tanginess of the tomatoes  balanced with the saltiness and the rich flavor of the cheese. The dish was very well presented and the crunchiness of the bread gave it texture.

The pizza was even better. For all those who have not eaten Italian pizzas- it was completely different from the pizzas we eat from dominoes or maybe pizza hut. The crust was thin, crunchy, lightly charred and carried with it the flavor of the wood oven. The pizza had tomatoes, sun dried tomatoes, parmesan, spring onions, chicken and mozzarella. The pizza was delicious. The combination of cheese and the concentrated flavor of the sun dried tomatoes that cuts through the richness was amazing. The asparagus and the spring onions provide it freshness. Basically this pizza will make you forget all the pizzas you may have eaten.

The burger we ordered was a barbeque chicken burger- served with caramelized onions and fries. Barbeque burgers are a very acquired taste for the rich, smoky and slightly bitter flavor of the BBQ sauce is not something everyone appreciates. Yet the burger was amazing the chicken patty inside along with the onion rings gave it both body and texture. Only let down the caramelized onions were slightly burned around the edges

Overall it was a brilliant lunch.

I would give it

 

For desserts we ordered for a chocolate fondente.  Rich chocolate cake with two scoops of vanilla ice cream was the perfect end to the beautiful meal. The cake was rich, the chocolate warm and with a melt in your mouth texture. The warmth of the cake was well countered by the ice cream. the dessert showed both balance and harmony between the rich cake and the light ice cream but the dessert lacked a certain textural element maybe an almond praline or maybe roasted almonds to give it a little crunch.

But overall

I would give it

Service

The service is very good, the waiters are very much aware as to what they are serving, what the ingredients are and how to enjoy them the best.

But most importantly the service of the food is rapid. This makes it an experience one thoroughly enjoys.

My verdict

Must visit place in hauz khas