The Black Chimney - Ahmedabad

The Black Chimney – Ahmedabad

I recently came to know of this place from one of my friends and he asked me to give them a try given he knows my midnight hunger pangs. So yesterday night when I was scrolling through the online order section on zomato, the name of this restaurant popped up and I was like, why not! I scrolled through their menu and the first thing that impressed me was the sheer length of the menu. Usually, places that are “delivery-only” and that too the night delivery ones do not have an extensive menu and I don’t blame them for that because honestly, not many in Ahmedabad order food past 1 AM. So when I saw this extensive menu I was quite excited. And the length of the menu isn’t the only thing that excited me. They serve CHICKEN! Well, they serve non-vegetarian food and that’s the crux of it. given that you don’t find that amongst the delivery-only restaurants, I was happy.

Given my appetite I was looking to order in two or three dishes but I wasn’t somehow able to make out the quantity from the 20 odd photographs that the restaurant had posted to its page. So I decided to order in just 2 things. Now the next thing was to decide what to order and trust me, it felt like a task at 1 AM given the number of dishes they were providing. I for one, completely over looked the vegetarian section because honestly every other delivery place is veg in Ahmedabad. So to hell with that, I wanted chicken! And chicken I did order.

Frankly, the menu sounded so good that i added like six items to my cart and then literally went inky-pinky-ponky over the cart list to pick two lucky ones out of the six. I know it’s sad at 1 in the night but that’s me! So I decided to order in a chicken biryani and a keema paratha. They reviewed my order and accepted it in a jiffy. The 50 minute long wait began.

After about 30 minutes, I get a call from the restaurant asking for a prominent landmark near my address and I gave them the details and they said your order is just leaving the place. I was super excited. And the person over the phone was so polite and so considerate that honestly I felt overwhelmed because you don’t find that a lot in Ahmedabad. Or maybe it was just because I was hungry and they were being nice to me, but that is what I felt.

The delivery guy arrives before time, I pay him, collect my order, go to the kitchen, take pictures, and then open the boxes, which are very sturdy by the way, and the moment I open the container of biryani, I am floored! First of all the aroma that burst out into the kitchen! It was so good that I knew this was going to be great. The aroma was so good, trust me, I did not realise how good it actually was to look at. Perfectly, fluffy rice, white yellow and saffron stood out in front of me. And the chicken looked so good! I took a few more pictures but then I had to dig in. one spoonful and it tasted like heaven! Trust me, I am not exaggerating. Ahmedabad has a lot of places that serve shitty chicken biryani, be it a dine-in place or a delivery place. Some of them are so bad that should not be addressed as biryani. The chicken was cooked perfectly. Moist and juicy and pink on the inside. I was loving every bit of it. The keema paratha too was still crisp after its sojourn from the restaurant to my place and it tasted delicious. My only complaint, however, is that they did not send any curd or raita with the biryani or the paratha. There was a small packet of pickle that accompanied the paratha, but what you really want is curd. But again that is a personal choice and I do not begrudge them anything. After all, they had done such a splendid job at such an ungodly hour! I was in love with their food. It was smack on! And coming to the quantity, I ate the entire paratha by myself but could only finish about a third of the biryani. I saved the rest for breakfast and it tasted even better in the morning. J so they’re quite generous with the quantity and it is an absolute value for your money. I am going to order from them the net time my tummy goes haywire at 1 AM and I suggest you do the same. Hope they don’t disappoint you.

Bon Appetit!

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Brick Kitchen - Ahmedabad

The first thing that you’ll notice when you reach Five Petals are the amazing series of lights that cover the entire front façade of the building. It’s hard to miss them. There is ample parking space here so that’s not an issue, really. The gate keeper would help you with that if you ask for assistance.

The restaurant is on the 2^nd floor of the hotel and has a huge waiting area along with an enormously large dining area. Now I have been here several years ago so I felt the need to update my old review. I distinctly remember having tandoori momos during my last visit and I thought of giving them a try again. And as expected they were still brilliant. I got a takeaway that day because it was the Diwali weekend and I did not want to wait the long hours or go through the commotion of it all, just to get my food. I told the staff my order, got the things and was on my way when all the people started rushing in for their dinners. It is quite a popular place, or so I gather from the number of people that came to dine in while I was waiting for my order to be ready. The staff is courteous and polite and very efficient with their work. I was really impressed.

So this is an all vegetarian restaurant, not a very uncommon notion when it comes to Ahmedabad, but it most definitely is one of the good ones. I placed an order for tandoori momos, a paneer main course and some steamed rice along with butter naan. The food was packed in shiny black boxes with a transparent lid along with some salad and sliced onions. The momos were accompanied by the green chutney. We particularly liked the momos and the rice. It was super long and super fluffy. I don’t know how they managed that but it was a delight! The paneer subzi too was moderately spiced and was quite nice except for the fact that the gravy was too scanty. The portion sizes of all except the subzi were decent to feed two people. I say that because the restaurant has its menu priced a little on the higher side when you compare it with the quantity. So keep that in mind. The salad that was given to us, wasn’t the usual chopped veggies but nicely dressed up in some sort of vinaigrette and curd. It tasted really good and went well with the momos. So all in all, it is a great restaurant with a nice view, good staff and ample space that could accommodate even a large party of 20 with ease!

Bon Appetite!

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Cakes and Bakes - Ahmedabad

So this one is going to be a short review because honestly, there isn’t much to say. The outlet is tiny with one person managing the front area and they have a display of cakes and pastries that are sitting up looking at you, some good, some bad, some plain right ugly. So I pick up one such white forest pastry because I was averse just by the look of them. I also pick up a packet of kulcha bread from their shelf and head home.

After reaching home, I open up the packet of bread, slice them horizontally and make some French toasts. The bread was fresh and tasted good and so the toasts too came out nicely. No complaints there. The pastry that I had saved for dessert turned out to be not so good. Now I am not comparing the taste or the finished to say Huber and Holly but this one was bad. It was topped with tuty-fruity or hard jellies as we know them but they had dried up. The pastry was covered in sweet whipped cream and the cake inside was hard and dry. None of it made sense and the whole ensemble together did not go well. I threw away most of it. it definitely wasn’t fresh so that’s that.

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Knight Rider - Ahmedabad

For a person like me who is less of a human and more of an owl, late night hunger pangs are a big issue. So again when my stomach started churning late one night (01:00 to be exact) I decided to order in. The worst thing about zomato however is that the delivery places do not deliver pan-city! They are restricted to a certain area that they cater to and which makes you very sad when you see those amazing menus and gorgeous pictures that they have on their page and you wish so very dearly that they’d deliver to your area but no! I guess that would increase their delivery time and thus the restraint. So I went looking my knight in shining armor that would provide me with food at that ungodly hour and as it so happens, I found one!

Anyway, so this place does deliver to my area and so I shuffled through the menu and settled on Hakka noodles and Mushroom fried rice. The sole reason behind selecting this place was the limited options I had and the photos that they had put up. Also, the recent rating streak for their orders was quite impressive. So I went ahead and placed the order and it said they’d take about 50 minutes to deliver which was fair enough.

I had some work to finish that night so the usually long wait of 50 minutes went by in no time. On the contrary, the delivery guy arrived within 30 minutes and I was taken by surprise. The package was hot and quite sturdy. It came along with a set of spoons (no fork, given I had ordered noodles), tissues and a mouth freshener. Being an Indian, I guess frugality is deeply embedded in me and given how sturdy their boxes are, I am afraid I asked the maid to wash them and use them in the kitchen! ;)

Coming to the food. I’ve already said that the food was hot. So hot that I had to take it out on a plate to cool it down to an edible centigrade. The noodles were cooked perfectly and weren’t anything like the usual ones you get here, excess of everything, soy sauce and vinegar and chili sauce. They weren’t even the dark mahogany color that we usually associate with Hakka noodles on stalls but a refreshing pale yellow and green. However, it was a bit too spicy for my palate and I wondered if leaving an instruction would have helped. But the point has been noted for a future order. The mushroom fried rice too had a similar tinge. The onion greens looked lovely amidst the full and fluffy rice. The taste too was great. The mushrooms could have been sautéed a bit more to give them a deep brown color but again that is a matter of personal choice. In fact I liked the rice more than the noodles because honestly. They were too spicy. I had to refrigerate them until I ate my rice because you usually feel more heat from the chilies when the food is hot than when it is cold. And the trick worked fine but I was still sweating bullets by the time I finished it. the portion sizes were quite decent. One person can easily eat one dish on his own and be content unless you have a monstrous appetite like mine, you’ll probably need two dishes. The prices too are in accordance with the portion sizes. No complaints there. The next time you’re looking for a late night delivery service, give them a try and hopefully you won’t be disappointed, i.e. if they deliver to your area of course!

Bon Appetit! 

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Khandvi - A super quick and super delicious gujarati snack

Everyone loves khandvi. Wait what? Yes! Everyone loves khandvi when it comes to eating. But this gujarati snack has quite a notorious reputation when it comes to making it at home. Few people try to attempt this at home since they fear they won’t be able to get it right. Well, that’s when I come in. I have developed a simple and fool proof recipe for those who want to make delicious khandvis at home. I have tested this recipe over and over again and it hasn’t failed once. For this all you need to do is follow the recipe strictly. Read it. And read it again. Before you start you should be aware of all the steps mentioned below and be well prepared as this recipe requires a little bit of prep because once you put the batter over the flame, it would be a quick affair and your hands won’t be free to do the rest of the stuff, unless of course you’ve help. So here you go!

For the khandvi

1 cup Besan (Bengal Gram Flour)

1 cup Curd (Make sure it isn’t too loose or watery, must be firm)

1 cup Water

2 tsp Ginger garlic paste

1 tsp Turmeric powder

1/8 tsp asafoetida

Salt to taste

For the Tempering

3 tbsp. Oil

½ tbsp. Black Mustard Seeds

½ tbsp. White Sesame Seeds

1 tbsp. finely chopped Green Chilies

A pinch of Asafoetida

1/3^rd cup freshly grated coconut – for stuffing

1/4^th cup fresh chopped coriander – for garnish

·  Take a heavy bottomed deep pan, preferably a no stick pan and put all the other ingredients for the batter into it, except for the water. Mix well with the help of a whisk and make sure that the batter is smooth and does not have any lumps. After that gradually add the water in and mix well. Do not add all the water in at once or you might have a lumpy batter.

·    Take 3 metal plates or 2 sheet pans and grease them with oil on both the sides. A few drops on each side should be enough. Rub it well to have an even coat all over. Keep them aside. You can even clean and oil your platform or cooktop with oil if you don’t want to use so many plates.

·        Place the pan on the stove and turn the flame on to medium or medium low heat.

·        Stir the mixture continually or else the batter can turn lumpy or would stick to the pan and start to scorch. It would take anywhere from 10 to 15 minutes to get to the desired consistency depending on the heat.

·    After 10 to 15 minutes of stirring, the batter would become thick enough and start to leave the pan (not entirely though). Even a drag with the spatula would leave a gap in the batter. It should now be the consistency of creamy scrambled eggs, without any lumps

.

·   Once you’ve achieved the said consistency, lower the heat. Take a small spoon and spread just a little mixture on the greased plate as thinly as possible and let it cool for 10 seconds. If it firms up and rolls up like a khandvi, you’re ready to spread up the entire mixture. Do not forget to lower the heat and stir the mixture as you wait for the test batch to cool or it would stick to the pan.

·      Shift the pan to the smallest burner and put the flame on to the lowest setting so that it keeps warm while you’re spreading the mixture in batches. If you’re spreading it over your cooktop/platform, you can do that in a single batch. If you remove it from the flame, it might cool down and set up and give you a difficult time spreading it.

·        Take the greased plates and put roughly about ¼ cup of mixture onto the front side and spread it with the help of a spatula into a very thin sheet. Quickly reverse the plate and repeat the procedure. Then take the next plate and spread the mixture on both sides in the same manner. Do this until you run out of batter.

·    You’ll have to be very quick with the spreading of the mixture because it cools down very quickly and it won’t spread once it sets.

·    By the time you’ve spread the last portion of the mixture, the first plate would have cooled down. Sprinkle the grated coconut over all the sheets. Make long horizontal slits about an inch apart and one vertical slit at the center of the plate. Gently tug at the end of the plate to release one strip of the dried mixture and roll it up in the shape of khandvi.

·      Once you’ve rolled up all the khandvis, heat up the oil for the tempering in a small pan and add the mustard seeds, sesame seeds, green chilies and asafoetida in that order. Let the first ingredient crackle and let the noises subside before you add in the next one.

·     Pour this mixture over your khandvis and then sprinkle the coriander over them in an even layer.

·   There you have a perfectly wonderful Gujarati snack! It may seem like a very long recipe but it is mostly instructions. And It may even seem quite fussy, but trust me, it’s not! And the end result is worth every bit of your patience! 

Quick tip for clean-up. Don’t try to scrub the dried batter off your pan. Just submerge it completely in water for 20 minutes and the residual batter would release itself into the water. No fuss at all!

Bon Appetit!

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