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Thursday 22 December 2011

Chili's @ Phoenix Market City

Chili's is an American restaurant chain operating since the year 1975 in America. They recently opened an outlet in Pune, in Phoenix market city mall, and of course, duty called and I reviewed Chili's... just for you :).

[Ambience]
The restaurant has a very "American diner" style look and feel. High-back benches to sit on, tables with a mosaic of ceramic tiles on top, poster's and car licence plates like decorations lining the wall, complete the look and feel of the restaurant. Seating is quite comfortable.

The restaurant is well lit, not too bright to make you squint. Every table has a steel lamp over-hanging the table (can be seen in the photo). Nice, but may be a little irritating for very tall people.
A view of the restaurant
The seating arrangement
There are a couple of t.v. screens present. The bar has a very nice look and feel, with bright blue/turquoise neon lights. The staff is quite nice. When they take your order, they kneel down to table height, and then jot down your order. I found that to be a little...odd.

The restaurant is pretty new and opened recently, which is why I found it very unsettling to see the menu cards look very old, a little "damaged" at the corners and edges, and looking a little "brown".

The bar
[Dinner] 

Their menu largely consists of American and Mexican fast food. Supposedly, the Margaritas at Chili's are world famous and they do boast about it.

Margaritas :-
There were quite a few flavours of Margaritas available. I tried the Tropical Sunrise flavoured Margarita. It was a somewhat orange flavoured Margarita. I quite liked it and do recommend you try it. Unfortunately, I do not have a proper reference of a good Margarita to tell you if they got it right or not.

However, each Margarita is Rs. 525 + taxes! That is really very expensive in my opinion.
They usually have happy hours ending at 20:00. During happy hours, you get any drink on a buy one get one free offer, the free drink is the exact same drink, mind you. This offer definitely should be taken else it would be way too expensive overall.



The famous Chilijs Margarita

Another view of the Margarita
Chicken Platter :-
The chicken platter was really awesome. It came with a piece of grilled chicken, sauteed vegetables in garlic butter and flavoured rice. The chicken piece was grilled to perfection. It was soft well cooked, the marinade was proper, the way you get it outside of India in Europe or US (bland of course, not masaledaar at all but still nice), and the chicken was grilled just right; by this I mean that it was not dry and chewy like over-grilled chicken can be. The vegetables were simply amazing. The rice served with this dish did not really impress me and seemed a little bit tasteless.

The rice was common to both dishes which also disappointed me as I usually like variety in dishes and less "re-use".


The Chicken Platter
Chicken Quesadillia Fajita-
I totally loved the Quesadillias. The best part was that it was nice a filling too. The triangular pieces of Quessadillias were filled with large, soft, brown slices of caramelised onions and cheese. Delicious! You should like slightly sweet food to enjoy this one.
The rice was the same as the rice that came with the chicken platter, and it was rather tasteless. The back beans were okay, not great or noteworthy. The beans do get boring to chew after a while, however, the Quesadillias totally make up for it.

Chicken Quesadillia Fajita
The Guacamole that came with the dishes were...well...in a word...terrible.


[Pricing]

Total bill was Rs. 1838 (including a buy one get one free Margarita for Rs. 525 each + taxes).
The above meal was shared by two, and we were really quite full. At Rs. 919 per head I would say it was rather expensive, considering that there were no starters. I would definitely go back though to check out the remaining items so see how the other items on the menu are.
Chilli's is a must visit.

Chilis Pune

UG-49, Phoenix Market City, Viman Nagar, Nagar Road, Pune
Tel:- 020 - 30950400, 30950401, 30950402, 30950404, 30950405

Reviews at Zomato.com 


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Friday 16 December 2011

Diamond Kathi roll @ Kalyani Nagar [Thela/Hand cart]

I have mentioned that the best Kathi rolls in Pune are found at Kapila Kathi Kebab, however, I think I may just have found the second best Kathi Kebabs in Pune.

In Kalyani nagar, on the road between Gold BIG Cinemas and Ram wadi naka, opp. Bank of Maharashtra is Diamond Kathi roll.

They have a huge menu of Kathi variations, and I definitely think they are worth trying.


I had their Chicken hara bhara kebab (Rs. 75) roll and Chicken Tikka kebab roll (Rs. 65). They are pretty good. The Kathis had different tastes and not like they are passing off similar tasting rolls with a very small variation.

The Kebabs are not very masaledar (like the ones you get at Kapila), so you don't end up feeling heavy or a little uncomfortable in the stomach after eating it (which may happen to you at Kapila since it has a very, very strong masala).

The kathis have a slightly sweetish taste because of the mayo-based white sauce that they use.

Overall, I would recommend that you try out Diamond Kathi roll next time you are in Kalyani Nagar.

Each roll is in the Rs. 65-75 vicinity so not really cheaper than the competition.

Diamond Kathi roll delivers in and around the Kalyani nagar area only.

Do leave your feedback if you try it out.


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Sunday 4 December 2011

Terttullia [Breakfast] @ South Main road, Koregaon Park.

After a good round of badminton in the morning, the stomach craves very much for wholesome filling and very heavy (read eggs and cheese) breakfast.

After failing for the third time to have a breakfast at Zamu's (I reached at 10:45 am and they open at 11:00 a.m. and had no patience to wait, not a good thing for business and the starving early birds, in my opinion.) I went to Terttulia for breakfast.

[Ambience]

The restaurant has two sections; an inner section which is enclosed with air-conditioning and outside section which is next to the road but separated by a high fence.
Tables and chairs are all wooden and the place is not cramped. Not write to write home about here.
Service is a little slow as well.


[Breakfast]

*[Note: Most of the eggs have a serving of ham/bacon in them. You have the option to have them removed, so be careful when ordering and check all ingredients.]


All eggs are served with a small mix of cheese and caramelised onions on the side.

Breakfast Bagel : This was the best dish in my opinions. Looked very nice. The bagel had lettuce tomatoes chicken (we had asked to minus the ham from this order). A nice sauce. The bagel had the highest value for money in all the orders.
The Bagel

Cafe Latte : Good latte coffee but! ... it was served luke-warm and not piping hot. That was disappointing.

Eggs Benedict : Terttullia has no idea what hash browns are. Hash browns are made from Potatoes and are nicely fried and very yummy. These guys referred to two small pieces of bread, on which the eggs were put, as hash browns!!
Overall this is a good dish. my third favourite. It's got alot of butter. Slightly blandish taste. Poached eggs with some strips of bacon and placed on top of pieces of bread... oh and did I mention a nice helping of butter.
Edd Benedict


Ham and Cheese Omelette :  My second favourite dish. The ham and bacon flavour was awesome. a must have.
Ham and cheese Omelette

Mushroom and Peppers Omelette : Very nice omelette. I quite liked it in taste although the stuffing/filling of mushrooms was rather less, almost kanjoos like, and needed to be more.


Masala Tea : These guys do not know what Masala chai is. It is definitely not made form tea bags! I did not like this at all and also it was served luke warm and not hot at all. Give this a miss.

Mushroom and Peppers Omelette :

Pancake : The pancakes were a bit disappointing. They were a little too thick to be called pancakes and thus were not very soft. The McDonald's breakfast pan cakes are better and the Zamu's ones are even better, so I've heard. The maple syrup was nice thought but that is usually a bottled maple syrup brand.

[Pricing]

Breakfast Bagel : Rs. 175
Cafe Latte : Rs. 125
Eggs Benedict : Rs. 195
Fresh Juices : Rs. 95
Ham and Cheese Omelette : Rs. 155
Masala Tea : Rs. 60


Mushroom and Peppers Omelette: Rs. 145
Pancake : Rs. 125
Regular Coffee : Rs. 55.
Side order of toast : Rs. 15

Total Rs. 1385 between 5 people so approx Rs. 27, so lets say Rs. 300 per head.
NOT CHEAP AT ALL!!!
To me this is not cheap at all and usually breakfast out can be done in around Rs. 100-150 per head. At any Udipi it can be done for about Rs. 50-80 per head and Zamu's charges Rs. 120.

 I would think twice before going back here. It is expensive with low value for money and the tea really sucked. I will go some time in the future but only to try out and properly review more of their menu items... an occupational hazard I guess. :)

Let me know our thought!

[Contact]

Address: 393, Sanas Corner, South Main Road, Koregaon Park, Pune
Phone : (020) 30570533.

Reviews at Zomato



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