Dr. Bubbles - Ahmedabad

The rage for bubble tea that had taken over the world sometime back has finally engulfed Ahmedabad in its swirl. The very popular brand of Dr. Bubbles is finally working its way up from Mumbai, then Surat and now Ahmedabad. Before I tell you more about the outlet, let me tell you something about bubble tea first, for those of us who are still unaware ass to what that actually is. Quite frankly, when I heard about bubble tea for the first time I kept wondering as to what they mean by the nomenclature and what are these bubbles actually made up of! So basically it is a drink that originated in Tainan or Taichung districts of China in the 80s. Yes, this amazing drink is a gift to the world from our neighbors. This drink is primarily a tea base that is mixed with either milk or fruit juice or sparkly water, depending on the likes of the customers to which chewy tapioca balls are added. These tapioca balls can either be sweet or tangy and can be paired up in various combinations depending on the flavor of the tea that you’ve selected as a base. Now this is where Dr. Bubbles differs from the other major brands world over. They don’t have the usual jelly-like tapioca balls that are rather firm all over, rather they are syrup filled spheres. Yes, they don’t have the jelly balls but a thin edible film that encases a small portion of flavored syrup in the form of a ball, which is quite interesting. For those who are not familiar with the concept of these “bubbles” in a bubble tea might love the burst of tang or sweetness that flows out of them as you bite into them. But for those like me, who have had the ones made out of tapioca and are looking for the familiar jelly-like chewy balls might be a bit disappointed.

Coming to the outlet of Dr. Bubbles in Ahmedabad. They have opened up in a locality that is quite popular for cafes. Right next to Pakwan Cross Roads amidst various other already popular cafes like Huber and Holly and Santushti, this is yet another addition for the dessert lovers in the town. Why dessert lovers you’d ask, its only sweetened tea! But no, that’s their flagship. They also have other variants such as cotton candy and waffles with ice cream so that makes this a dessert parlor. The outlet is small, with four or five tables. The kids surely would love the décor if you plan on taking them there for a sweet treat. It is an open kitchen so you can see how they’re making your teas and waffles. Plus they’ve laid out the entire array of colourful bubbles right in front of you to make your selection.

The pricing is moderate unless you consider the add ons. We actually wanted to pair both sweet and sour bubbles in our tea so we asked them if they could do half and half but they said that would cost extra. We were okay with that until we asked the price. The tea that we had ordered had a cost of about 140 bucks and the add on of just additional flavored bubbles would cost us an additional 75 (with no increase in quantity as we had asked for a half and half). So we said no thank you and stuck to their pre made mix of tea and bubbles. I have already described their bubbles so that was that. The tea was quite refreshing. We had ordered a water based iced tea and not the milk based one but apart from the consistency, I don’t think the flavors taste much different when it comes to the two liquids. So for those who haven’t tried the almost gone over fad of bubble teas should definitely go and try them. You won’t be disappointed and take your kids along, they’ll love the concept of these popping bubbles in their mouth! All in all a nice addition to the city’s food scene that takes it closer to the world cuisines and food fads at a moderate price.

Bon Appetit!

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Mount Everest - Indo Chinese Restaurant Ahmedabad

This again is a late post given the 10 review limit per month by Zomato. This is yet another place that claims to be “Indo-Chinese”. So what’s the difference between this and the several others already existing players in the market? Well, quite a lot!

First things first. The parking here is ample on weekdays but given the number of restaurants in the vicinity, it becomes a task on the weekends. But if you are willing to walk for say 30 seconds, I bet you should find some nook or cranny where you can squeeze your car! The place has opened up in the same spot that previously was occupied by the prahaldnagar branch of Wok on Fire (which happened to be one of our favourite places) and I did not realise that until the food was served to us. How did I figure that out so late you ask? Well, they had the same crockery (quite a Sherlock moment we had then)! Coming to the ambience. The seating is quite comfortable and the lighting is very soothing. For those who love taking pictures of their food, you’ll find the hanging lamps very helpful.

Coming to the food. We had two soups. One indian and the other Chinese. The cream of spinach soup was a revelation! And I am not exaggerating. We weren’t so convinced when we were given the suggestion to try that out but that turned out to be the best course of the meal that day. not that the other dishes were bad, just that this was extremely good! The other soup was the Chinese wonton soup and although it was a tad bit oily, we loved the consistency and the taste and the best part of this soup, obviously was the wonton. A really good start to the meal. Next came in the starters and the dahi kebab demand a special mention here. They were perfectly cooked. Crisp on the outside like a kebab and soft and juicy, almost crumbly to the point of falling apart, on the inside. The cigar rolls however were a disappointment. Too oily (for the obvious reason of being deep fried) but even the stuffing and the textures weren’t as they should be. But the biggest disappointment for us would be the momos. Now it so happens that I love momos! And seeing them on the menu I almost forced the others into submission to order that (given the place is Indo-Chinese)! They looked really great! We had ordered the assorted ones and the texture or the outside coating and the taste were very good. It was cooked perfectly and the presentation was spot on. So was the schezwan chutney that was served alongside that. But the stuffing was a disaster. It had mashed potatoes inside which took me by a surprise. And the worst part, the assorted platter did have variation in the stuffing, say paneer or mixed veggies but everything was added to the mashed potato mixture and we did not like that. It is the season of new potatoes now but when we visited the place about a week or so back, they still hadn’t arrived or maybe the restaurant guys had not started buying the new potatoes, and you know how the old ones have a sweeter tinge to them when compared to the new ones. Maybe the new potatoes could have worked, but definitely not the old ones. Period. So that was ruined for us.

The Karari roomali was spot on the first time but when we got a repeat, it was a tad bit raw at certain edges, so it wasn’t as crisp as the first one. But the taste was very good and we loved the crispiness of the first one. It went really well with their green chutney. We also had the aloo papdi chaat which looked really great but again, the potatoes were very warm and so all the green and the red chutneys that were poured over it became warm, so that wasn’t so appealing but the flavours were good. If only the potatoes had been cooled off to room tempretures, it would have been spot on.

In came the main course after that but honestly we were quite full by then, given we had so many dishes to begin with. So first came the Chinese main course which was the hakka noodes and I loved it! not oily, not spicy and perfectly cooked noodles. The freshness from the onion greens and the garlic was bursting and by adding just a little bit of schezwan sauce that was given on the side with momos, we had a superlative version of an already good dish! Loved it. I tend to forget the name of the subzi that we had for the Indian main course, which obviously had something to do with paneer! ;) that too was good when it came to taste and we alos liked their roomali roti! Sofy and tender and did not go dry in 5 minutes, like it does at so many restaurants.

For drinks we had a spicy amrud drink which was an instant hit among our entire group. Everyone loved it so much that we went for a repeat order. The spicy hit of tabasco with the sour guava flavor worked really well and the salt rimmed glasses just added both, charm and flavor. Absolutely loved it. The other drinks would be the fresh lime soda and the apple mojito both of which were average. Nothing special. On the contrary, there was so much apple in the apple mojito that it felt more like a liquid salad than a drink. And the mint leaves in there weren’t muddled so there wasn’t any fresh flavor, just felt syrup-y.

They also have desserts on the menu but honestly we were so full by then that we could not have had any more food. No. not even dessert. So all in all a great place with a huge space that can easily accommodate a large party and cozy enough for a small gathering. With a few misses and major hits, I think the place is definitely worth a try be it for its Indian cuisine or the Chinese. With some improvements, and luck, I think they’ll do really well as they have the taste that people in Ahmedabad would surely like! Go give it a try.

Bon Appetit!

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Gormoh - Ahmedabad

I’ve heard of its existence since the day I arrived in Ahmedabad years ago. Back then it was a very popular restaurant and given its locale, it did not come as a surprise to me. I had visited this restaurant several times in the past and the service and staff had always been good. The food however failed to impress me. Not that it was bad but it just lacked the wow factor. So when I heard that the place had been revamped, I thought wow, about time it moved with the times. So when we were invited for a tasting, I leaped forward.

They have redone both, the interiors as well as the exterior of the restaurant and it looks really suave now. The modern art on the walls of the restaurant provide it with the much needed appeal. The tiny windows with intricate frames and wooden shutters look really nice. All in all, they set the mood for you as you enter the new place with new expectations. The menu too has been given a makeover and that was what I was more interested in, since I wanted to know what dishes have been dropped and what new cuisine has replaced the old one.

Coming to the seating, it is quite comfortable if you adjust the distance of the table to your chair on your own. Its quite doable sine the furniture is quite light and so that should not be an issue. Different people like the distance in different way so you cannot really blame the restaurant.

I’ll start by giving the ratings to the food first and then explain the reason for the same.

è Cucumber mint mojito - 2/5

è Berry San Francisco - 2/5

è Burmese Khow Suey Bowl – 4.5/5

è San Marino Cappuccino – 2.5/5

è Lebanese Platter – 4/5

è Leon Style Cottage cheese – 4/5

è Fauladi Paneer Tikka – 2.5/5

è Fattoush Salad – 4/5

è Lasagna – 1.5/5

è Mexican Twist Blast – 2.5/5

è Massaman Curry – 3.5/5

è Chiang Mai Noodles – 2/5

è The Avengers – 3/5    

è Paneer Shaan-E-Nawabi – 2.5/5

è Paneer Dhaniya Korma – 3.5/5

è Laziz Kofta – 3.5/5

è Subz Begum Bahar – 3/5

è Bread Basket – 4.5/5

è Nawabi Biryani – 2.5/5

è Brownie Fruit cake Fudge Sundae – 3.5/5

è Orange Flavoured Darsan – 2/5

è Faluda – 3.5/5

è Gulkand Gulab Jamun – 2/5

To begin with, both the drinks felt very syrup-y. you could taste the cucumber in the cucumber mint mojito but it was the syrup and not the fresh flavor that you’d expect of a drink. Also, there was no mint flavor whatsoever because the cucumber syrup had masked all the other flavours in the drink. The same was the case with the berry san Francisco. It was more like a strawberry-colada. Strawberry syrup in coconut milk. None of the drinks felt refreshing, which is what they are supposed to feel like especially at the start of the meal. On the contrary the berry drink was quite heavy. You don’t want to order that before your dinner.

We loved the Burmese Khow Suey bowl. It came with an array of ingredients, some fresh, some fried that you could add as toppings to your soup and the quantity too was humongous. The flavours were fresh and subtle and nothing was overly done. So that is a dish that I recommend, i.e. if they are consistent with the taste, you’ll definitely enjoy this one. The second soup, san marino cappuccino, had no flavor of coffee or espresso whatsoever. It tasted more like a coconut rasam, so I don’t know the basis behind this nomenclature.

The Lebanese platter was a delight to look at. They had served sliced of pita along with crispy flat bread which was accompanied by labneh and hummus and some sort of a tomato dip of theirs. The dips went well with the breads. We also liked the leon style cottage cheese which was a stick of paneer with some sort of spinach filling encrusted in bread crumbs and deep fried to a golden perfection. The mayo sauce however, that was served alongside, did not do the dish any justice. It went perfectly well with the green chutney. The fauladi paneer tikka was good to look at but too dry to swallow on its own. The best of all was the fattoush salad. Fresh and aromatic. Loved the combination of the ingredients. It would have been a 5/5 if they had an appropriate amount of dressing for the same.

The main course was kind of a disaster. The world cuisine i.e., not the indian main course. The lasagna had a very Punjabi taste to it which was weird. The sauce felt like a Punjabi gravy and it had ingredients in it that weren’t supposed to be there. The pasta was al Dante but that did not really matter since the sauce wasn’t what we expected. The Mexican twist blast again belonged to the category of visual delights but unfortunately, it had very few Mexican ingredients and did not taste Mexican at all. Also it was more of a Hodge podgy kind of a dish where you could not taste the individual flavor of any ingredient. A bad dish that had a wonderful presentation. We were given the masssaman curry which again was a coconut overkill and I don’t know why that was given as there was nothing to which we could add the curry to. The chiang mai noodles were cooked perfectly but again had the distinct coconut flavor to it, which isn’t an issue the whole dish in itself lacked flavor and felt very bland. The avengers is their version of a sizzler sans the hot plate. It did taste good. It had patties that were covered in different sauces which went well with the other accompaniments.

The indian main course was way better than it’s other counterpart. However, we could not feel any major difference in the gravies of any of the subzis. The taste was good, a typical Punjabi gravy with different attractions, some had koftas while others had paneer but the base, even if it had a different colour, felt the same in taste. The breads were amazing however. Be it the naan or the paratha or the roti, it was all very good. The nawabi biryani was a miss however. It was plain old pulao that needed more punch and regulated flavor. Better avoided. There was a dal darbari on the menu but that never arrived so I cannot comment on that.

The desserts were a mixed scene of both indian and western and also a mixed scene of deliciousness and blunders. The faluda and the fudge sundae would be the ones that I can place under the category of delicious where as the orange flavoured darsan and the gulkand gulab jamun were a disaster. The darsan did not have any distinct orange flavor to it and the quantity of the fried ice cream was too meagre compared to the chips they had provided with it. the gulab jamun was huge to look at but I guess that is the reason for it not getting soaked to its core with the sugar syrup making it hard and dry at the center instead of how it should have been, soft and gooey.

If you want to have an indian main course with good soups and salads, this is the place for you. But if you are a fan of the vivid varieties of the world cuisine, it could be a complete hit or miss for you.

Bon Appetit!

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