Burritos by Mafia Chef at Ashvita Bistro, Bawa road, Alwarpet

This time yesterday (28/07/16) I was just leaving Ashvita Bistro after having an amazing Burrito made by Mafia Chef. He is here as part of the pop up restaurant theme that is organized by Ashvita Events occasionally.

I had seen the poster for this event on Facebook and wanted to definitely try it since the Chef's expertise was from his Mexican friends' families kitchens during his time abroad so was expecting it to be authentic. 

Ambiance

The Bistro has a lovely ambiance. One can go there with a group of friends just to chill out and have a few eats and I was seeing just that happening. Ideal place for a date as well should say. There's a loaded bookshelf and lots of curios on the walls to catch your attention. Tastefully decorated. Plenty of different seating arrangements both outdoors and indoors amidst greenery. 
















There's even a store that has knick knacks. The usual menu featuring dishes from continental, Thai and Chinese food is available too. Since it was quite warm as usual, I chose to sit indoors.

Finally, the lowdown on the burrito

One word, EPIC, YUMMY! Sorry, was that two? :PP The burrito Chef Devansh recommended was the "Loaded Chipotle Burrito" whose description is a tortilla stuffed with Spicy Spanish rice, refried beans, Smoky and spicy roasted tomatillo salsa, pico de gallo, Chipotle sour cream, Smoked guacamole, mixed green and cheddar cheese! I've not had Mexican food before and had only had a burrito once elsewhere (bad experience) so I was not sure what to expect. And I was unsure if *rice* would go well in a burrito *roll*. Whether it would suit my palate I mean. But one bite into the burrito and I knew there was nothing to worry. ;)NjfjfjfjfjfjCompletely new to Mexican cuisin

New

I have no idea about Mexican cuisine. I was clueless about all the Mexican sauces but the Chef got me up to speed quite fast. For example, "refried" beans - turns out this is not fried even once in reality. It is the literal translation of the Mexican word frijoles refritos resulting in it being called "Refried!", Pico de gallo - which is freshly made salsa was smartly chopped up sprinkled with lemon, smoked guacamole (guacamole is an avocado based dip which I was eager to try. Avodacos have been imported to get that authentic taste Chef said.), greens - he uses Romaine Lettuce which has a more leafy flavor instead of the usual iceberg. All these freshly chosen ingredients meld together to make each bite an extremely yummy and satisfying one. Interestingly the ingredients are carefully arranged in inside the burrito so they aren't mixed up inside. The cut half looks lovely. Even the Tortilla was crunchy and just prepared, so there was an amazing unmistakably home made feel to it. I hope this quality is maintained. The crackle of the tortilla leads to the cheesy fresh moderately spiced rice complimenting the Chipotle sour cream with good amount of braised chicken in a chipotle adobo sauce. Mmmm, yess! The Pico de gallo can be heaped on if you love avocado flavor. This is one humongous burrito!

Since I had a good appetite I was able to finish it off. They present it cut half and wrapped in foil. It is a 12 inch tortilla they use so one of these can easily fill up two eaters if you're not that hungry. It's thicker than a coke can! :D I was feeling full for the next 6 hours and only had a very light dinner.

Pricing on first glance is on the higher side I would say. It was 325 per non-veg burrito and incl ST and SC (5%) pushed the price to Rs 368. But given the superb ingredients used, the quaint ambiance of the Bistro and mainly the yummy taste, this is well justified. Will be cool if they can offer a smaller version too in the future. Finally it seems the event has been extended to another 3 months from just a week due to the enthusiastic response! :)Eager to try the other varieties too!

National Durbar, Periamet opp Rippon building

Someone was recently asking where to get good faloodas with nuts. First place that came to mind was National Durbar. Their National falooda is amazing for the money (just 60 bucks). It starts with a pretty good mango ice cream scoop at the top (this is where most lower priced outlets mess up with cheap stuff) which is creamy then come lots of nuts including cashews, pista, raisins and fig! Followed by fruits (mostly papaya though). The jelly has almost no taste I can remember but at least doesn't taste artificial. Finally a layer of cold fresh cream if I'm not mistaken. Probably vanilla ice cream. 

National durbar is an old timers place near Central. Ask your parents about it they'll probably have fond memories of coming here for tea n' biscuits or Paaya- idiyaapam. The tea here is good but not the best in the area. Biriyani has disappointed tried it once. It was dried up and that's no good.

Recently been here a few times and once I'd got two special parottas and a Mutton pepper chops which the waiter assured would have enough gravy. Was a takeaway so back home I reheated it on a tawa nicely to get back the crispiness. Very soft yet crispy! These special ones are thrice the size of a normal one so was filled up with two!  Mutton pepper chops curry was amazing! It seemed mild at first and didn't overpower with pepper flavor yet I was sweating at the end of it!

 The mutton melted off the bone it was that tender. Quantity was perfect for the price (just rs 120) with two medium sized mutton pieces. Even the free accompanying gravy they provide is quite tasty made with mutton bones and small pieces which you'll find if it's your day. It was mildly peppery almost milky.




Recent visit 2 days back:

Ordered a Mutton roast masala along with the special parotta at about 9:30 pm. But they said the special parotta would take 20 minutes to make, so chose 4 normal parottas instead. The roast masala was great. Tender mutton as usual with a tomato based spicy gravy. I felt it tasted a lot like the biriyani masala gravy before one adds the rice for dum. Quite a unique tasting curry since it was slightly sweet from the tomatoes in it yet spicy. Four to five pieces of mutton in it for rs 130. Plain parottas weren't great though I think they gave me wheat parottas instead so it was a little flat and not flaky as expected. 

Badam milk with vanilla ice cream: It was green colored so I thought it was Pista milk at first. I didn't find much (any?) badam pieces in here but the thick milk was quite yummy. Also found I think some kind of gram in it to get that crunchy effect. Wish they didn't use that!

Menu

Service is efficient, it's a small dining area with lots of tables crammed in so thbeing very experienced they know when to appear and when to disappear. No cards accepted i think. Ambiance is bustling, plain yet that's part of the charm and keeps costs down. They have a first floor dining area with private rooms and a great view. Watch your head while climbing the narrow stairs though! Don't say I didn't warn ya! ;-)

Kailash Kitchen - ordered through Genie app

It was on a lazy afternoon few weeks back that I got a reminder about Kailash kitchen. I've heard about the place and their superb momos plenty of times on the food groups before so was planning to try the food there sometime. But the place isn't close by and a bit difficult to find so I was putting it off. Also, the demand for their momos is so enthusiastic that there was also a chance I would return empty handed if I don't go early enough. I've heard they run out of momos around 1 pm itself and close early many times at night.

So, when I heard of the Genie app offering delivery from there, I had to try it. They charged 100 bucks for delivery so for smaller order it may not be that viable but after trying Kailash kitchen I feel it's definitely worth it for its great value for money. Ordering itself was smooth there is a chat window available in the Genie app and you can chat with them while ordering which is pretty cool. So any issues can be addressed right there.

The order came after more than an hour. And the delivery guy thought the payment was made online and didn't ask for payment. Had to remind him about that!

Everything was packed normally. Food was still quite hot and I opened it up ASAP.

My order was:

1 Fried chicken momo        -  rs 90
1 Beef chowmein               -  rs 90

                                                                                                                                        Since it was my first order from this place, just wanted to stick to the safe choice of chicken momo and not beef. But I chose the beef chowmein. Wanted to know if the beef would be good enough.

Opening the package up revealed the usual packaging.

                                                                          The dip which I thought initially was insufficient was more than enough to last the 8 momos (great quantity). It almost had the thickness and consistency of a pickle, very thick and hot! Although it was super spicy and tasty by itself, I'm not sure if this is the best dip for this subtly flavored momo. However, I was tasting bits of this dip hours after the momo's got over. 

                                                                                                                                                                                                                    The Momos themselves were plump and there was a generous amount of filling inside. Very moist, finely minced and lightly flavored chicken filling. I think there was egg in there too. Two plates of these momos can fill up a good eater for sure. 

Chicken momo

Beef chowmein was good not as impressive as the momos though. The beef was thankfully cooked through, and had enough pieces. Noodles were tossed in sesame seed oil and tasted different from the usual run-of-the-mill kind we get bcoz of this. I feel this dish should be eaten hot at the restaurant since it got a bit tedious to eat it after a while even though I reheated it. 

Beef chowmein 

Total cost = 180 for the food + 100 for delivery = rs 280