Pop-quiz

How many restaurants/joints are there in Lifestyle building?

AFAIK 6:

1. Haveli
2. Malgudi
3. Deli 9
4. Urban Tadka
5. 10 Downing street
6. Club 8

I will keep updating this until I get the correct number :)

Finjan Tea

On a lazy Sunday evening, I decided to try some thing different...visit a tea store that sells different varieties of tea. Even though the store was pretty far off (21 kms to be precise), I really wanted to check it out. As soon I was ushering in, the guy was warning me that its black-tea only place, twice!

I settled down and the owner explained me the different types they have and I chose medium-strong one (Black enigma). Tea is served in pots and small pot easily serves 2. Even though I was initially skeptical (tea without milk), I liked the taste and in fact, gulped up 2 cups of it :)

Interestingly the store is one off kind and is not a franchisee or a chain (yet!). The ambiance is pretty neat, I even bought a loose leaf tea (Rs30 for 25gms of Green tea) and their site, www.finjaan.com is worth checking out.

Its located on main Toli chowki road (enroute Toli chowki --> Mehdipatnam road) and here is the contact number.

Ph: 040.23447133

Darjeeling Tea: India's wonder drink

According to IndiaTeaPortal.com,

Darjeeling tea is unique in every aspect. The unique combination of climate, elevation, and the quality of the soil and air make Darjeeling teas unlike any other tea. A major part of the annual production of Darjeeling tea is exported.

The site also goes on to say that, 80% of the entire production is exported and that West Bengal is the major market for domestic sales.

Now the question is, how do I get my hands on Darjeeling tea :)

I have also noticed an ad by Girnar Tea in the latest edition of Reader's Digest. Worth checking their web site though (annual revenues of Rs 150 crores..assuming I counted the zeros correctly :) )

Punjabi Cuisine - angeethi

Today is the turn of angeethi, the revered place for authentic Punjabi food.

I made the mistake of dropping in without a reservation for lunch with a guy for whom my employer made an offer and it was my turn to not-let-go of the guy with the job market being hot and all :)

The place was insanely crowded (too many girls!) and we wanted to go back but the office cab was already gone and having seen the junta at the buffet, we decided on ala carte order even before the receptionist could find us a place. (Pssst...make sure you are good with her other wise, you would not find place to seat soon) That trick worked and we were seated in 10 mts. The ambience is exactly like a highway-side dhaba complete with old Amitab bachchan movie posters, the rustic roof, semi-copper punjabi style glasses and all. The food was served quickly too...resham kabab, malai kofta, baigan barta, subz biryani, gajar ka halwa and naan. The food tasted great and I can't complain about any thing.

Also, a punjabi co worker of mine certified this place as the best place for Punjabi cuisine.

The next time you try this place, try to reserve prior and here is the contact information.

angeethi
7th Floor, Reliance Classic
Road No 1, Banjara Hills

Ph: 6625.5550 (4 lines)

Hyderabadi Chai

Its hard to find a true Hyderabadi who does n't love to savor a hot-simmering cup of chai (some how, I feel more at home referring to chai rather than tea :)). I am not sure of many places in twin cities which boast of a good cup of tea but the first one that comes to my mind is "Blue Sky" cafe located near Rathifile bus station in Secunderabad. It used be pretty popular in the gold old college days (before the Coffee days, Baristas and malls were prevalent) and rumor was it that the guy used to mix some sorta powder in it. But who cares, as long as you love it...is n't it?

Do let me know if you know of any place worth visiting and also any particular tea brand that you don't want me to miss (any thing other than Red Label, Taj Mahal, Lipton and Lamsa!).

Reliance Fresh

I have been waiting to see how Reliance forays in to retail and my curiosity has only aroused due to the recent media coverage. Eager to check out the store, I headed to the nearest Fresh store in Vivekananda nagar (on the main strip about a kilometer from Bombay highway) today along with my mom for weekly veggie shopping.

Of course, there were lots of people in there and I went in with a positive outlook. The vegetables were neatly stacked along with with US style plastic bag dispensers and digital weighing scales. Some highlights:

• I noticed about 7 types of Brinjal: green, round, long and thin etc etc
• There were 3-4 types of Capsicum (red, green and yellow)
• All varieties of fruits (including 3 types of Banana, pears, US type melons, Avacados!, Sapota, Guava)
• Accepts Ticket coupons :)
• Limited number of packaged foods including pickles, cheese and wafers

Lowlights:

• There were not many varieties of vegetables (the security guard was mentioning that they ran out of stock)
• There were very loooooong queues..I waited for almost an hr in the queue just be greeted by a very unpolished/never-used-computer clerk who took more than 15mts to finish my billing. I understand that this being Sunday and all but 1 hr?
• Most of them were prohibitively prices (1 roll of Spinach Rs4, coriander Rs3, Sugar Rs24)

Overall, it surely left a bad taste in my mouth (my mom already hates it :( ) and I guess I would probably take a few weeks before returning to the store :)

Chats

This post's ambition is to list all the best places for chat in around twin cities including mirchi!

Obvious one:

• Gokul chat, Koti ( don't tell me you don't know this...even I knew it :))
  

Other places:

• Chat bhandar opp Food World on Dharam karan road
• Road side on R.P Road (esp, samosa ragda)
  

Sweets contd...

Sudheer's tip:

• For good Roshogullas - Panchrathan Dairy - Sindi colony / Koti
  
• Kolkota Mithaiwala - Dharam Karan Road (they also have Mishti Doi - sweet curd - a bengali delicacy).

Once I have a considerably large list of places, I will consolidate all of them and publish as a single post for easy look up.

Best Sweets

The usual:

1. G Pulla reddy sweets, Kukatpally, Somajiguda
2. Almond House, Road No 3, Road No 36, Banjara hills and Himayatnagar

Shops & Specialities:

1. Bichareddy, Miyapur - Kalakand
2. Dadu's Mithai Vatika - Himayatnagr/Paradise (Ph: 23223855)
3. Delhi mithai bhandar - Gurudwara lane, Ameerpet
4. Sri Krishna Sweets - Ameerpet/Patny (Spl: Ghee mysore pa, Pineapple halwa)
5. Bombay halwa - Begumpet/Monda market
   

Hyderabad Food

Since I am not very sure as to what to write in this blog, I will start off with good places to eat in and around Hyderabad and specifically what to eat where!

• Ohri's (Banjara Hills) has one of the best tom yum soups in the city
• If you want to quickly grab some hot, tasty and reasonably priced rotis then Hot rotis in madhapur is the place to go...