“There is no love greater than the Love of Eating”: Revisiting good old Mocambo

P and I decided to stop over for lunch at the good old “Mocambo” after the first phase of the sight-seeing we had arranged for P’s relatives. After visiting Victoria Memorial, St.Paul’s Cathedral we headed straight to Park Street.  Park Street houses some of the good old restaurants and continues to add glamour to the city of Joy’s night life. Despite the malls that dot the city’s landscape, Park Street continues to attract the city’s food lovers and no travel to Kolkata is complete without a stopover at Park Street.

This place has never disappointed my taste buds and it has an old world charm of its own. Though its decors are criticised for being too bright, I really love the red sofas and chairs.  Since we were a group of five, we were given the corner table. Even in weekdays the restaurant was brimming with foodies. P and I share a love for food so A kept on teasing us with why we keep coming back to Mocambo as it helps us reaffirm our principle-  “There is no love greater than the Love of Eating”. We started our meal with soup. We ordered Cream of Tomato Soup, Cream of Asparagus and Cream of Crab Meat. While Cream of Crab Meat tasted good, the cream of asparagus was full of cornstarch. Infact the base of the soup of Crab Meat and Asparagus tasted the same. After a bumpy start we headed for your main course.

We ordered the following:-

1. Cheese and Spinach Pillows
2. Vegetable Surprise ( Rice and some vegetables)
3. Chicken Ala Kiev
4. Fish Steak
5. Cold Everest
6. Mango King

Please skip the soups. While they are served in brass bowls, they taste like soups made out of ready-made soup packets. Soups were a huge disappointment!

Chicken Ala Kiev is not a dish for the faint hearted calorie watchers. If you are brave enough to enjoy the butter flow like a gush of stream from the deeply fried chicken breast, you will enjoy this dish. Though I have an emotional bonding with Oly Pub’s Chicken Ala Kiev as well, Mocambo’s Chicken Ala Kiev has never disappointed me.

Chicken Ala Kiev

Sinful butter

Fish Steak continues to be another favourite.

And both the desserts were the perfect end to a happy meal.

Mango King

After the lunch we were ready to explore the story telling museum of Kolkata’s rich history housed in Town Hall. This Museum is treat for all those who want to soak in the socio-cultural history of Kolkata. Though the voiceover is available in Bengali, the guided tours are available in Hindi and English.  The Museum opens at 10am and closes by 6pm. Ticket counter closes by 5pm.

Town Hall, Kolkata

If you want to share your gastronomic experience in city of Joy do drop in a line… till then happy cooking, happy exploring and happy eating…

©itiriti

A hearty meal

What is a hearty meal?  A low diet, cholesterol free food that keeps your heart beat in normal pace or a heartbeat racing recipe with everything in excess. While minimalism seems to dictate the terms and conditions of most of the silhouettes; we also have our frenzies for dollops of full cream on our hot chocolate fudge; fetish for picking up a full cream milk for that lavish payesh garnished with dry fruits or for that chocolate excess. Excess meals are globally acclaimed to curb and aid depressed patients. They are supposed to be instant tonics for bringing a smile across old age groups. “Excess” in meals has always been associated with eating out. And multinational food chains across the globe has managed to cash onto people’s fetish for “excess” to introduce a category of  customers always in constant search for excess through those “add on” options to our pizza, burger and even fried chicken. But are “add-on”s a way to define “hearty meal”?

Personally a hearty meal would be one where I enjoy the food in a social gathering. A social recluse for instance would call himself/ herself  a social animal when he/she goes dining out and enjoys a hearty meal with dollops of meaty conversations with that perfect punch of  pepper, salt and sugar to finish it off.  So a hearty meal has to be with likeminded people who share your appetite beyond the table that is laid out. The hearty meal is bonding and rebounding of lost souls, lost friends and unexpected encounters. The unexpected encounters with new cuisines in hearty meals can be excess. But excess of laughter can satiate the extra calories we gulp in every bite of the hearty meal.  Hearty meals are successful in small groups when you do not have to strain your ear to hear the person at the far end of the table.  While I have enjoyed hearty meals with friends in most of the metroes in India my favourite hearty meals of late has been in Bangalore thanks to my cousin, her husband and my friends. My top picks of hearty meals places in Bangalore are :-

Breakfast:  When you want to treat yourself to a hearty weekday breakfast away from home and hotel buffet try out the delicacies @ Koshy’s. If you are bored of breads and eggs and for all my vegetarian friends you can have a lazy breakfast of luchi, alur dam and cholar dal at K.C Das, St. Marks Road from 9.30 am onwards. On Sunday please ensure you reach early.

Lunch : Bheema’s on Church Street truly represents “excess”. Specialising in Andhra Cuisine this place offers carrier meals which can serve up to three people. A great place if you have a mix of vegetarian and non vegetarian friends.

Coffee : Indian Coffee Home, Church Street. Simple, great filter coffee to keep you awake in the pleasant weather of Bangalore

Dinner: Sorry this section is dedicated to all the meat eaters. My two picks are steak places tucked away in two busy parts of the town but you will love the ambience and food once you hit there. First and foremost, I would recommend The Only Place, tucked away in Museum Road. Please try out the section on fish and for all those who are brave enough and really hungry can head straight for the steak by the name “A hearty meal”.  One great thing about this place is that it is at a walking distance from St. Marks road and yet enjoys a quite ambience. The place is not pretentious and fancy. Even on a weekday you might have to wait but it is worth the wait. Love their steaks, and their desserts are worth a try.

My second pick under this section is Millers 46, near Cunningham Road. The restaurant is for the brave and prosperous souls who are willing to dig into steaks. It is a popular joint  and it is a beef lover’s paradise and when we say “well done” they do it really well. The beef is cooked to perfection and for the frail hearted please avoid this place. Please book a table in advance to avoid the rush and enjoy steak to the fullest.

© itiriti