1222 Slurps N Burps -Ahmedabad

Recently we were invited to this place by its owners and honestly I am not a fan of the food trucks in ahmedabad because so few of them are actually good with their food given the prices they charge. But this place got me thinking and maybe I'll be less skeptikal about such places in the future. Having said that, I'd say that in more clearer terms that this is a good place that is moderately priced and has good food.

Located in the "food yard" behind khetalapa tea stall opposite karnavati club, the place is easy to locate. The seating is low yet comfortable. We loved the tires that they have converted into seats and almost no one day on the chairs. The menu isn't that small and they have quite a few options when it comes to Mexican or italian food which was quite something! The service was quick and efficient and the people there are very polite.

We started off with a pizza which was great! We had three pizzas in all: peri peri, 1222 special and the cheese o garlic pizza and we loved the 1222 special and the peri Peri ones, not that the cheese pizza was bad, just a tad too salty when compared to the other two which were almost perfect! Perfectly seasoned, great crust and loaded with toppings. We loved the thin crust that was cooked to perfection in the wood fired Owen right in front of us. That was a visual treat in itself. After that we were served the Mexican dishes that went by the name of "up side down". One had a filling of paneer (cottage cheese) whereas the other had a filling of beans and red sauce. We liked the one with the cottage cheese but the beans filling was a bit too sweet for our taste. We told the owners about the same and they agreed on improving the same.

Then came in the Florentine which also took us by surprise. Hot breads and cheese have the tendency of doing that to you. The Mexican toasties again had the same sweet sauce so we avoided that but the texture was perfect. Then came in the aglio olio and we were actually floored because none of us expected that we could have such an amazing dish at a food truck. No offence but I can say that from my past experience. Excess of nothing. Simple and elegant dish prepared and served in the simplest way with all the basic and necessary flavours. Loved it. The Mexican hot pot looked great and had the sweet tinge again because I am guessing they are obviously using the same gravy for all their Mexican dishes but again the textures and the flavours were bang on. No complaints there. You can always squeeze in some lime and sprinkle black pepper over the top! There you'll have it!

The beetroot risotto was a sight for the sore eyes! The baby pink Colour was spectacular. The proportions of cheese to rice were also in sync and that is what made all the difference. Unfortunately the rice was a tad undercooked but the dish would have been perfect if not for that. Last but not the least. For those of you who have a sweet tooth, you'll love their shakes. Be it the cookie shake or the kit Kat or ferrero rocher, all of them were sweet and cold and lovely! What a wonderful addition to our food truck park! Go there already. I bet winters would be a perfect time to have a hot meal on a bench by the side of a wood fired Owen!

Bon Appétit!

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Dhadoom - Ahmedabad

Everyone knows about this place. Anyone who is anything on the food scene in Ahmedabad has known about this place. Why so? Because of the extensive publicity and marketing that was undertaken by the owners and promoters. From inviting foodbloggers, instagramers and reviewers in the tens to radio announcements to distribution of free goodies to having the popular chef (who owns the restaurant) come down to Ahmedabad, these people left no stone unturned. But to no avail! Why? Because in the end, all that matters is food. Good food, which sadly they overlooked.

The décor is very loud and flashy. Something your kids or teenagers might like but is certainly not suitable for adult gatherings. And you’ll even see that kids and teenagers are their target customers from the way they present their dishes, in toy trucks i.e.!  The seating however is comfortable. The crockery, again flashy colors in plastic. Everything about this place is loud. The staff is still to be trained about the menu because they don’t seem to have a clue about half of the things that they have in there. But they are polite so at least that’s good. It is a semi open kitchen so you can peek inside to see what’s going on in there, but you won’t really get a clear idea.

Coming to the menu, I haven’t seen any place in town that has taken fusion foods to such levels and I don’t mean that in a good way. It is okay to fuse two different cuisines or dishes together to come up with an exciting new formula but things don’t work out well when you try to over do that and it was quite evident just by reading the menu. But let me explain this with a demonstration. They have a burger that is called “NRI Pav Bhaji Burger” and the description says that this burger tops their must try list! So we went for that and from what I assumed was that it would be a burger that would have a patty made out of the bhaji of pav bhaji or just the ingredients would be the same or they would have simply added pav bhaji masala to a regular patty along with the veggies to make it taste like the bhaji. But all that was thrown to the wind when we saw what arrived at our table! First of all it wasn’t a burger at all! IT WAS A HOTDOG. And a very weird looking hotdog. As to why it was weird-looking, read on, the monstrosity does not end here. The bun of the hotdog wasn’t toasted. All we could see was cheese. Weird looking orange and yellow cheese! So we had to dig in to see what it had inside. And we tried to lift the bun but that seemed to be rather impossible as the bun wasn’t toasted, so it had gone all soggy and limp from the hot bhaji that was poured onto it. As if that wasn’t enough, they that poured on hot cheese sauce which I can’t stress enough, was very yellow! So with our spoons we tried having a hotdog and all we could taste was salt and cheese. As to its weird appearance, they had stuck a chain of long banana wafers onto one side making it look like a scale-backed stegosaurus, not to mention, the part of the chips that was stuck inside had gone limp and they did not help with the cheese overkill at all.

If you’re still not convinced, we even ordered “Flaming hot curried noodles”. Appearance wise the hotdog and this dish felt like conjoined twins except one of them had bread in it. So again there was excess cheese and something that looked like Punjabi gravy on top of that. We took one bite and all we could think of was paneer makhani gravy. Because that is how it tasted. The noodles were cooked perfectly but how does it matter. The cheese sauce did not go with the rest of the contents. And when we were nearing the end of the dish, we found a large lump of mashed potatoes sitting right in the center. So this dish had French, Chinese and Indian elements along with bread sticks and crispy fried Spinach on top. None of it made any sense together. And if you like anything and everything that is dipped or drenched in cheese sauce then this is THE place for you! Good luck with the sodium intake.

If I still haven’t made my point, they are selling their brand in the name of fries and poutine. So obviously we ordered one and a tiny cone was given to us filled to the brim with fries and what looked like fritters of some sort latched onto a wooden ice cream stick. We really liked those fritter balls until we found a wooden shard inside of it. Why? Because they had broken 1/3 rd of the wooden stick to get rid of its smooth round edge so that the fritter would stick to it better. Well I don’t know what to say. Also, all the sauces were added just on the top so by the time we reached the mid-section of the cone, all we were left with were fries. When we suggested that they should either toss the fries before packing them up in the cone or add more layers of sauce in between the fries, they said they cannot do that as the paper cone might get soggy. Because that’s what the customers are really worried about! Keeping their paper cones intact! I don’t even want to say anything about the “doreamon pasta” or the “Italian rajma” or the “fanta santa soda”or the “teenage mutant ninja pasta”. We did have two drinks namely coke and paan shake. The shake was decent. The Korean “I” cream which was conceptually very wrong and nothing like the actual Korean dessert but I guess they were trying to fuse some other cuisine into that.

We also have pictures of human hair that we found in the food which I have put up here and on zomato. Not to mention how disgusting that is. When informed, the lady there did apologize in a manner that they did not really care and kept saying that this cannot be, all the chefs are wearing hair nets suggesting as if we had added the hair to the food ourselves. I wanted to say so many things to that lady manager then and there but her demeanor made me realize that it wont have any effect on her. So I let it go. 

The PR team of the popular chef got it all wrong! Had they promoted the place as a new restaurant for the kiddos, it would have been great, but they did not. They want to see mediocre food with excess of cheese to the crowds. Well, I don’t think that is acceptable. If you are in fact taking your kids there, do make sure food does not have any wooden shards or hair or any other such thing in their food. And the initial rating and reviews by all these invitees might be good but as the weeks go by and I read the latest reviews about the service and food by the new customers, my notions about the place stand firm. Such a waste!

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Belgian Waffles - Ahmedabad

Given they are spreading all over the town like anything, the thing that I would like to mention is that quality should always be given priority over quantity. Having said that, I do not mean in any way that they are lax when it comes to maintaining quality but when it comes to taste or consistency, they definitely don’t top the charts.

We have visited three of their outlets and the one that we have visited the most is the one on SBR, because it is quite close to a lot of my friend’s houses and mine for tat matter. When it comes to any dessert place, there is not much to the ambience, in Ahmedabad i.e. and I don’t know why they don’t seem to be putting any effort into that. The décor is decent and minimalistic and the place is so cramped that we never seem to find a seat because honestly, they don’t have any space to put up more chairs. The staff is polite and courteous but twice it has happened that they have made an error with our orders and after waiting for almost 20 minutes (not once but twice) it does not feel any better when they say they’ll resolve the issue within a couple more minutes. So that’s that when it comes to our experience. Even that hasn’t been consistent. The next thing would be the sweetness. I have a bias towards Nutella and so I tend to order that along with any other waffle that we might be having. So naked Nutella almost always used to be on the list. But it so happens that is a a tad bit sweet on some days and not so sweet on others. Idk how they manage to that.

Coming to the waffles. They look and feel great but something is not quite correct with the consistency and texture. They do not always seem to have the crispy exterior that one looks for while ordering a waffle and honestly, you don’t really want to be having a soggy-at-places waffle. That kills the charm all together. So if you are in luck, you’ll find a perfectly crisp waffle with a soft interior and if they are under staffed that day (as it happened during one of our visits) or if they have an unexpected surge in the clientele, then you might get one of the not so perfect waffles. They also have other things on their menu, say drinks for example which have been more consistent in the taste than the waffles. One of my friends also wanted to try their Nutella banana on a stick thing, I don’t exactly remember what they’ve named it and trust me it looked great in the picture! Don’t they always? And we were fooled by that. So what we guessed from the picture was that it would be a super chilled banana that would be attached to a skewer and dipped into Nutella so it would instantly freeze up making a perfect outer chocolate coating! We couldn’t have been more wrong! I forgot to tell you that it is an open kitchen so you can actually see what they are making and how. So the guy in-charge of that banana thing took a fresh banana, peeled it and to our horror, dipped that into the tub of Nutella. Out it came and voila! Nothing stuck to that because obviously the banana was slimy! But since he had to provide the order anyway and he did not have a chilled banana, he dipped that into the tub again to no avail, so he finally takes a butter knife and starts slamming Nutella from the tub onto the banana. By that time, the image on the menu board of that perfect banana had lost all its charm and we did not want to have the gruesome looking thing that he was handing over to us. Nutella was literally sliding off the fruit and because the banana wasn’t chilled and it was slimy, the thing tasted disgusting!       

In the end, I’d say that if you haven’t had waffles before, you can definitely try this place. Their ice cream waffles are quite nice because of all the ice cream but if you are an ardent waffle fan and know what the real deal is, you should probably give this place a skip or not have high expectations as you enter its doors.

Bon Appetite!

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Whatta Waffle - Ahmedabad

The debate has been going on for quite some time now in Ahmedabad. It has almost been the talk of the town when it comes to deciding between the multiple tsunami of waffle outlets in the town! So what’s the debate? Well, it is the same as choosing between FRIENDS or HIMYM, honestly! (P.S. it would always be FRIENDS for me.) Case in point here being do we go to whatta waffle or belgian waffles. Honestly, after going to different outlets of the latter we have fixed our place with the former when it comes to waffles because hands down, whatta waffle is far better! If you want to know why, you’ll also have to read the review for Belgian waffles but it won’t take long so you can do that after you finish this.

Currently there is only one outlet of whatta waffle, as opposed to the many owned by Belgian which gives it a niche. Waffle after all is a waffle, but it’s the recipe that makes it divine or ordinary and that’s what happening here. I am not blaming or praising the waffle irons or the staff because honestly, they don’t have to do much once the batter is handed over to them. It is all in the recipe and the duration for which they allow it to “soak”. These guys have nailed it and how! The waffles are super crispy on the outside and soft and fluffy on the inside, which is how I love it! They have three variants when it comes to the waffles namely the waffwich (which is basically a waffle sandwich), a regular waffle and the puffle which is the waffles with those round blobs instead of those square depressions. They serve the last one with an ice cream and all of these are topped with the various sauces that you may either pick or they’d have a set combination.

They have been around for quite some time now and have been very popular. They have been set up right against the competitors and even that hasn’t been a hindrance to their loyal clients. You’ll see the crowd when you go there, no matter what day of the week and that is something! Coming to the waffles, be it the regular ones or the puffle or the waffwich, they are all perfectly cooked. Crispy on the outside and fluffy on the inside. They won’t go soggy even when you get the ice cream add on. Not until the time the ice cream melts at least. It is always a delight visiting them! They also have drinks but we haven’t ordered anything apart the iced tea, really! You need good strong coffee with the waffles and nothing else. Also, the oreo smoothie is to kill for. We love its thick creamy consistency. We love the place really. Usually it is super cramped with kids running about after their sugar rush. And the seats taken up by families and young crowds that have sprung up from all parts of the city just to have their melt in your mouth waffles. Do give them a try and let me know if you’ll pick FRIENDS or HIMYM, if you know what I mean ;)  

Bon Appetit!

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Terra - Ahmedabad

Very few places would cut the mark when it comes to actually healthy food that both, looks and tastes great! And Terra made that cut with its inception! The place has replaced the old Philosophy Club nest to Gulmohar Mall on the Satellite Road if you’re familiar with the area. Also, if you’ve been to the old philosophy club, you’d know how small it used to be. Well, this one is even smaller as they have put these two ginormous refrigerators to accommodate the freshness of their food and the oh so good fruit juices!

They don’t have a very extensive or complicated menu and that is a good thing. It is better to excel in a few things that you offer rather than being average or mediocre at most of them in case you have a really inclusive menu. I’ll begin with the juices first. Fresh cold pressed juices with absolutely no preservatives. You have to buy those cute tiny bottles and have to finish them off within 24 hours. You’ll see the ingredient list on each bottle that specifies the fruits or vegetables that go into the making of that and I have to say this one thing, the colors are absolutely amazing! I mean I have been drinking fruit juices all my life, but there’s something about these bottles and you’ll see for yourself what I am trying to say here. So they have a huge variety of these cold pressed juices that you’ll absolutely love. They even have kale and avocado and activated charcoal and all the shebang that people go gaga over these days. So you have to give that a try and also they have fruit smoothies with fresh berries and all, again with no added sugars or preservatives so again you’ll have to gulp these down within 24 hours. So if you are a fan of the cold pressed juices, like the ones offered by the RAW Pressery then you should definitely give this place a try. You wont be disappointed. Trust me on that.

The next thing would be the salads which again have been amazing so far. And mind well, I am not saying this on the basis of a single visit but several over a span of just one month. I have taken different people there in groups and singularity, who have different concepts of what healthy food should be like or taste like and they’ve all loved this place. Even the ones who absolutely did not do salads, fell in love with them. We have a particular favorite when it comes to salads and that is a must have when we go there and that’s the Mediterranean salad. It has so many components in it that you’ll be absoluetely delighted and they taste so well both, individually and together. It has these amazing falafel that are always cooked to perfection and they are so crumbly and green on the inside that they go very well in the salad. The hummus and especially the beetroot hummus tastes so well and they are a sight for the sore eyes. The garlic yogurt dip goes wonderfully well with salad as well as the falafel. The salad leaves are always fresh and crunchy and we are yet to find any gunk on them.

The next would be the sandwiches and we have tried a few but again we lean more towards the three cheese sandwich. I know that’s not a very healthy choice but all that melted and gooey cheese make our day!  They even have dessert options both healthy and the other ones including all sorts of fruits and yogurts and the cinnamon buns that are toasted to perfection along with sweetened cream (you’ll have to ask for that separately) acts like a perfect catalyst ending a great meal! All in all, don’t shrug off looking at their menu and dispersing this as a place for the health freaks because it is not. They are simply providing you with a healthier version of regular food with a few added “health foods”.  We are not a fan of the soups that they have but that isn’t their fault. We do not like the ingredients per say that they use for their soups, say pumpkin! Uugghh. Also, the guy there is super calm and down to earth and always wears a smile. He’ll take all your suggestions and if you want any of the item that you’re ordering modified, he’ll happily do that and what more, he’ll remember your preferences the next time you visit them! We always have a lovely experience there!           

Bon Appetit!

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