Jack's Pizza

         

              Jack's Pizza is at Grant Road in Mumbai. It's one of my go-to places for pizza home delivery. After ordering the first time, I started receiving regular coupons which were total VFM deals. I've had the Al Funghi, the Abruzzo, Bellasai, Pesto Chicken and Marinara. The Al Funghi as the name suggests is more of a Mushroom based pizza namely using wild mushrooms, shiitake, and something called black fungus. This is definitely a pizza you acquire a taste for, and in spite of being a mushroom lover, I've never ordered this pizza a second time. The Abruzzo had olives, broccoli, artichoke, and sun dried tomatoes and for some reason, these toppings just didn't go well together.

Bellasai and Marinara

The Pesto Chicken was nice and simple: pesto, chicken and cherry tomatoes. The Marinara is not related to the tomato sauce itself, but is basically prawns, herbs and parsley. Prawns on a pizza and it worked! The best thing I've tasted here is the Bellasai. Olives, mushrooms, cherry tomatoes and extra cheese. Delish!
            Today when I called on their main number, the first time my call was cut without picking up and on my first ever delivery, the delivery boy acted like he did not have change, when I clearly saw he did, so as to get a tip out of me. These are just two minor setbacks in an otherwise faultless service and considering how good their pizzas are, these can be overlooked.

Pesto Chicken

Bellasai

             The prices are similar to what we would ideally spend on a pizza from Dominos, Pizza Hut, etc. But the coupons of buy 1 get 1 free they keep sending me are what make it truly worth it. I think, after using those coupons, it's just not satisfying to order without them. Just broke foodie things, I guess. So what makes this place so different that you go out of your way of ordering from your regular pizza places? For one, there's no place like it in the area. They may take a while for delivery, but what's delivered is truly worth it. They use a variety of ingredients that your regular pizza delivery service wouldn't use: Black fungi, prawns, shiitake, cherry and sun-dried tomatoes and the like. Another thing I love about the place, Tax included! Two words I love hearing. So you're assured the price you see on their menu is the price you're going to pay, nothing more, nothing less.
              Apart from being a place I resort to for good pizza when I'm broke, their menu comprises pizzas with unique flavour combinations that somehow seem to work, and for an experimentalist like me, that's awesome! 

Shabu Shabu

The Laksa broth with condiments

Well, it's a dish, Japanese at that too apparently, but the one I had wasn't authentic. The original is a beef broth with thinly sliced beef, but for obvious reasons ( the beef ban, for those still living under a rock) this was just another of those classic Asian soup type broths like tom yum, but we chose the Laksa and boy did we choose right. It's made in the way of a hotpot at this particular restaurant. Comprising basically of a broth, protein, veg and some starch.

Lobster, Crab, Scallops, Pomfret, Bak Choy, Mushrooms, Broccoli, Radish, Carrots, Spinach, Tofu

The protein: Pomfret, prawns, mussels, clam, scallops and chicken were pretty much delicious. The lamb or mutton slice should have just been kept in the bowl with hot broth poured over it and thus keeping it tender. On discovering it in the pot 20 minutes into the meal, the thin slice of meat was chewy and overcooked. The lobster wasn't fresh as pointed out by my friend and neither was it quite delicious. The crab was the biggest disappointment here, as again was pointed out to me, it was not only old but also was one of those packaged precooked types. Sushi was spot on. The boiled eggs were left untouched.

Fish balls, Dumplings, Prawns, Chicken, Fish, Lamb

Veg: Mushrooms (shiitake and button), bak choy, tofu, carrots, radish, broccoli and spinach all pretty much average. The shiitake with its meaty goodness stood out.

Starch: Noodles which I never ate much of; dumplings which were just simple prawn dumplings with a thick delicate layer of the dough around it were awesome and the fish balls were just not appetising.

Condiments: The usual Asian sauces, the sushi accompaniments and a few more to accompany the broth. 

                With 3 helpings of the soup for myself and 2 for my friend, there were still a few to go around. The protein was finished off. A single serving of sushi remained because the rice was just too heavy and the vegetables remained. The tofu here I pretty much enjoyed though the broth had become too fish infused at the end to really savour the tofu. It was soft and delicious nonetheless.

The Sushi

A complaint goes out to the staff to be more attentive and come help us out when we were clearly struggling at times to find a prawn or mussel. Also, whichever broth one takes, the dish does get monotonous after a few servings, and I think we left more full of the taste than the food itself. We did choose to go for the Shabu Shabu combo meal which included everything, should you choose to try only selected stuff, your bill might come a whole lot cheaper with a more tailored experience to suit your palate.
                       Don't get me wrong, in spite of a list of complaints, this is the first of its kind in Mumbai as hotpots go and it was a wonderful meal. Trending as it is on Zomato, it didn't live up to my expectations. Albeit there were many condiments to alter flavours, there was just a sense of love missing in my experience and maybe had we split the hotpot with more people, thereby having a restrained amount of it, we may have appreciated it better.

Place: Haibao, bang opposite Juhu Beach

Rating: 3.5/5

Price: 2400 All Inclusive

Enough for: Easily 3 people, and a massive monotonous buffet for 2

Will I Return?: No. Its a once in a lifetime dish to try, and I would've still died a happy man not having experienced it. Also, this being the unsaid USP of this place, doesn't give me a reason to return.

Taste: 4/5 :The spiciness of the broth did delay the monotony till the end

Value For Money: 3.5/5 : Could have scored it better had I not been a broke foodie. 

                 Again, this is a review pertaining to the Shabu Shabu of Haibao and the place itself. The Shabu Shabu at other places will differ and I bet the beef one will be truly over the top. 

There's something however, charming, about having a delicious spicy broth simmering in front of you. This experience was definitely much better than many other hotpots in the city so if you're around I suggest you try a different variation with this dish and spice things up a little. Then, maybe, you can decide for yourself. :)

Red Everywhere!

I do mean Red Velvet, of course.

Red Velvet started out as the Red Velvet cake or Devil's cake as some called it. One may wonder why, in the course of history, patisseries suddenly decided to colour a cake red (mostly with beetroot but now sadly food colouring), and why particularly red! Had the course of events been any different we could've possibly had maybe a blue, yellow or even green velvet but somehow, now having been spoilt, anything but red doesn't go down as appetising. So, in my wonder of how Red Velvet took the world by storm, I researched further and found, probably, the reason for its name. 

                The answer is as nerdy as it can get but for those really keen to know, It's ideally the reaction of buttermilk and acid that brings out the anthocyanin in cocoa giving the iconic red colour and making it moist, hence velvet. The ideal toppings for these, that I have personally tasted, would be buttercream and cream cheese and both go really well, though cream cheese definitely rocks the boat and tradition states there was a Roux Icing too but I can see why that wouldn't have worked. The main question one asks, is what is so extra-ordinary in red velvet, unlike the Cronut, the Pizza Cone, Cinnabon and many others like it that took this city by storm and then suddenly just disappeared while Red Velvet remained to haunt us. I mean haunt in the literal sense of the word, Red Velvet has diversified into cakes, cupcakes, shakes, ice creams and many more. It's freakishly everywhere I go and I'm frankly done with it. Last night, as I glanced over the menu of Byblos, the restaurant I last reviewed, I did notice a particular dish that caught my eye: The Red Velvet Gnocchi, a detail I reserved for this article solely. 

                I've spent many hours indecisive whether this was truly worthy of writing about, whether maybe, I was wrong about how mainstream this is. But that dish on the menu confirmed my beliefs that night and hence the article. So it was basically Gnocchi with a few flavourings and beetroot predominant for the colour. Red Velvet now in savoury? Great. Well it wasn't Red Velvet in the true sense of the word but it had beetroot which lent it an authenticity most dishes using that title don't possess these days. Red Velvet Milkshake has always tasted like shit to me. Red shit with milk and red cake powder sprinkled on top. Red velvet cupcakes and cakes all come down to the frosting. Cookies on the other hand, another fad likely to stay, just don't go with red velvet while those cake jars definitely do. And ladies, anything that's red velvet isn't fucking cute or always delicious so please just shutup till you taste it. 

                Coming back to the everlasting question in my mind, well it'll last till red velvet stays at least, which seems like a long time; is why red velvet got so famous in the first place? Was it the colour? The name? The Cream cheese maybe? Or was it just bloody-well timed! 

Whatever the goddamn answer, it looks like Red Velvet is here to stay and I'm just gonna have to deal with it.

Byblos Kitchen + Bar

Drunken Brie

So the name itself suggests the Mediterranean city and hence the cuisine should follow, but in fact its a much broader scope of cuisine ranging from the Middle East and the countries we associate Mediterranean food to, to the less known countries surrounding the Mediterranean such as those of the African subcontinent. I'm also sure I saw the word 'Kimchi' on that menu somewhere which didn't make sense but I'm just going to look past it. Located in Phoenix at Lower Parel, they could have definitely chosen a better location for their restaurant, nevertheless, once you enter and the doors close behind you, the world gets zoned out and you take your seat.

Chicken Roll-up

            For a Saturday night, it was quite empty at 9 pm but by 10 it was pretty much full. The décor is elegant and yet the ambience forces the occasion to a much more chilled out experience. Its not a place one goes to hush and eat decently but a place one goes to eat well and make a lot of noise doing so. The garlic butter accompanying the complimentary breads( served in a half cut Sula wine bottle) was delicious. We ordered the Drunken Brie for starters. It came baked and yet not runny, just the perfect amount of gooey with a whiskey reduction and caramelized onions and more bread accompanying it. It was just to die for. For mains we ordered Jamaican curry dip + Shawarma stuffed Tafnoon ( Iranian Naan), Chicken Roll-up, and the Fish Fifelchuma. The Shawarma stuffed Tafnoon didn't really make me reminisce any Shawarma I've had in my life and without the Jamaican dip it was subtle bordering on bland. The dip was a rich and thick curry, as delicious as curries get. The fish was flaky and cooked to beautiful perfection. No spice rub detected on the fish but the lemon accompanying it had it all. One little squeeze and it was perfect. This coming from a person whose not a huge fan of fish. The Chicken Roll-up was easily the highlight of the meal. It uses the concept of a roulade but I think each little piece was rolled individually rather than cut from a single roll and cheese oozed delicately from the top and bottom openings of each pretty roll. It was absolutely stunning and the combination of well cooked chicken, mint and cheese went brilliantly. The mains were served like starters, but it only made it easy for us to share and the plate presentation was spot-on. There was a lot of bread and cheese throughout the meal though and portions were more than expected so a little food went waste. Dessert was 'Oops I dropped the lemon pie' and was ideally a de-constructed lemon tart with a tiny jar sleeping with lemon curd made to look like it spilled out of it, little meringues and a short-crust spoon. I personally would go back just to try out their remaining desserts because they all sounded delicious as was the one we ordered. The bill with service charge and service tax was around 2800 for 3 people and we found it totally worth the money.

Am I going back? Soon.