Review - Cafe Basilico, Bandra West Mumbai

It was one of those days where you just randomly decide to get out of home for a nice meal. A friend and I happened to be in Bandra for some work and it was dinner time and were searching for a good place to eat some Italian or European cuisine. Searched for some places on Zomato, found Basilico to be just around the corner from where we were at and decided to tick it off from our list. It was a quaint little place. It was a weekday and a dry day therefore the place was quite empty. We took a table outside at first, but it was a little humid that day. We did read in the reviews that the service was little slow. We took a chance still, as we were in no hurry. But then there is bad service and then when someone like me loses patience, something must have been really wrong than just bad service. I was made to wait for some 15 mins for the waiter to get water after reminding him twice, after already waiting for sometime since we got in. Got really annoyed with the heat and the fact that there was no water on my table still, we walked inside, asked the manager to get some effing water and took a table indoors. 

Things got little better after that. The menu was interesting and wholesome. There were lots of stuff in the menu to be tried out. My friend ordered a Pesto Scarmoza Chicken Roulade and I ordered Basilico's Char Grilled Rawas after reading Zomato reviews. We asked how much time they would take to serve us, skeptical about the service by now, and they said 20 mins. The food did come in 20 mins but I dont know why the waiters there wont serve me water. My glass would be empty for I dont know how long and I would have to beg them to get me some. 

The food came in. The Chicken Roulade didn't look very appetizing. It was arranged in a grotesque sort of way which would make your imagination run wild for a bit and you may think to yourself, should I eat this? Are people watching me eat this. It was overcooked. The bbqish sauce was not enough for the dry meat. The mashed potatoes seasoned with mustard oil served as an accompaniment, didn't go too well with the main dish. They should have kept the mashed potatoes simple and added more of pesto sauce. It wasn't a bad dish but it wasn't great either. We have had better.

Pesto Scarmoza Chicken Roulade 

However, the Grilled Fish was a Star. The grilled fish looked spectacular placed beautifully on delicately crumbled butter paper, which was charred to a golden brown colour around the edges. It was seasoned well with red chilly flakes and chopped coriander leaves glazed in a yummy lime cream sauce. It felt like a lot of care went into making and serving the dish. My non-fish eating friend nodded positively after a bite. I thought the seasoning was outstanding and the fish was cooked to perfection, actually just a slightly over but it could be forgiven. The fish was very fresh.  You could tell.

Charred Grilled Rawas

Plateful of Char Grilled Rawas

Yep, amidst this, yet again I had to call for the freaking water 2 more times. The meal portions were quite good hence we skipped desserts. They looked pretty alright though. 

Would try this place again next time, if I am in a mood for Char Grilled Rawas. A must have, here.

My WedDefday

I think I found what I would be listening to work all day :) The things I do, to get through excel sheets and power point. What a corporate slave.....

Egg Plant Bruschetta

I obviously was not planning to make Egg Plant Bruschetta right now. Who makes things out of brinjal willingly (secretly I do because i love them) :) I planned to originally make baegun bhaaja with nice steaming hot parantha but  moving my lazy ass after a nice spa filled day may be a mammothian task even for Ganapati Bappa today. I decided to snack for dinner.

This is what I made, despite the laziness

Ingredients

Eggplant, sliced (6 slices)
1/2 tbsp Ginger Garlic Paste
1/2 tbsp Soya Sauce
1/2 a Tomato (without seeds), diced to squares
1/2 a capsicum, diced to squares
1 Chilli, finely chopped
1 tbsp Oil (olive oil preferably)
1 tbsp Tomato Sauce (ketchup)
1 cube cheese, grated
A few coriander leaves

Salt, to taste

Marinate the eggplants in salt, soya sauce and ginger garlic paste for half an hour. 15 mins is fine too. Heat a pan in low flame and add the oil. Remove excess liquid from the eggplant and place it on the pan once the oil is hot.

In the meanwhile mix the tomatoes, capsicum, chillies, tomato sauce and some salt to taste.

Turn the sides of the eggplants after 5 minutes. You should see that it is caramelized on one side. Now place the tomato mix on the eggplant. Add the grated cheese on top.

Keep it on the pan for another 5 mins. Take it off the pan and garnish it with some coriander leaves and olive oil drizzle.

Have it with Red Wine :)

The night when Mumbai turned into an open Discotheque

While the music blaring outside my window comprises of awesome desi songs one can go full porky on..(SIGH i wish my friends were here, would have been on the streets) , I have been youtubing distracted from the world outside my window for this new post rock band I came across. It has influences of Radiohead, Sigur Ros, and the kinds, good day to share.

Band Name: Her Name is Calla - :)

The first half of this song is super awesome...can visualize it in so many interesting movie situations.

And this one has a good build up... Many different kinds of sequences, many kinds of stories, many kinds of....

And then guess what appeared on the suggestion list. A heartbreaker ofcourse

Friday Knight

This has got to be coolest and the most thoughtful present ever :) This is what I am doing on a Friday Knight. If I am not overtly overwhlemed post the read, will definitely try writing about it.However, I am most likely  to remain in a state of awe and shock with the awesome contents of this brilliant book :)

Plenty Moons Ago

There was a time of man and  his honour

Promises engraved not on a stone, but into his soul

Where truth swelled like sunshine,

Lies and traitors rebuked for shame

There was a time of shame

There was punishment and justice 

Where the guilty stood in admission

But with grace and courage to own up

There was a time where a man owned up

To his responsibilities, to his King,

To his Kingdom, and his beloved Lover,

Pride of Goodness bloomed in his heart

There was a time where a man had a heart

Sensitive to tears and pain, in empathy

Building great Kingdoms and Homes

Where he stood as bastion, through sacrifices and pain

There was a time when man understood pain

Not his own, but her tears.

He fought wars for her and slayed evil Kings,

He bought the moon back to her feet

There was a time when a man worshiped her feet

As a symbol of love and admission to femininity

Protecting her from the misery of the world

And fighting for her honour

There was a time of man and his honour

Honour of being the man. Honour for Love, 

For Bravery, For Destiny, For Pride

For Life, For Her and Her Honour

There was such a time, plenty moons ago.

The Knowing

Ignorance is hardly a choice and it being called "Bliss"is just an inevitable social cover up like the Virgin Mary. While ignorance is a function of faith, the dilution of its method may be far from initial comprehension. The method of dilution itself works in two steps -  At first, Gradual and then, the One fine day. Gradual dilution is like a benign tumor. It just grows on you, in you. You knowingly or unknowingly become comfortable with it and the curve of the function will hardly be steep, until one fine day. The "One Fine Day" is the cruder and most effective step. It mostly follows naivety of trust and blind faith. It cuts like a knife. It like this. For Eg: As a victim of consumerism, you Believe in any news you hear and see with or without skepticism. You go on for sometime.You believe. You preach. You Blog. You advertise. For some people it takes a lifetime. But that is because you have grown as the part of the system like the tumor. No harm yet, but just growing, ignorantly while your intelligent human mind is absorbing the perils, the destruction, the heartbreak to follow, feeding the chasm of your light-hearted personalities And then one fine day, it happens.It breaks. For some very evolved species, the naivete may just cease to exist. The cynics. Good for them but the process is important to appreciate whats comes next. And its not until you get up and see through it, when you know it is that One Fine Day. That explains that you are not just the victim of consumerism anymore, you are crossing over to the dark side. "One Fine Day" is not an expression. It is The moment of reckoning. It is when your personality starts becoming complex with the pollution of the real truth, albeit for the better.  While the illustration is used to substantiate the method, the point of ignorance transcending towards the Knowing is  the matter of importance here in its most profound cognizance. The use of the word Knowledge becomes a cliche and an unnecessary conclusion to the point, as Ignorance is only paucity of Knowledge in the realms of the literary and more sophisticated world. The profoundness lies not in knowledge, but the progress towards the Knowing. Its when you look beyond the knowledge of injustice, heartbreak, destruction, manipulation, tactical maneuvering, white lies, deep lies, compulsive lies, all of that, and beyond the justice story of the victim and the acquitted, beyond the painful process of the method. Its not a reaction. Its not a hate mail. Its not a consumer complaint. Its not a spiteful revenge. It is not Marxist.

When you can watch the world  pass by with that sweet smile of victory, a victory of attaining complete awareness and knowledge, when extreme reactions cease to exist, you know you have the Power of the Knowing.