Catch This Frisbee!

Working in a large hospital with a large team only means one thing- innumerable department lunches. Most of these are meals where we’ve ordered in, bonding and discussing work over good food. We randomly decided to try Frisbees- this take away and delivery joint in Andheri west. (No, it’s not a sporting goods retail outlet like the name may suggest). The Frisbees menu has a listing of pastas, burgers, sides, desserts and of course, pizzas which are their USP.

There are a couple of aspects that need to be covered when running a delivery outlet. Firstly, getting the food on time! If you’re going to make me wait donkeys hours to get the food to me, you can be rest assured I’m never ordering from you again. The food came at the time I was promised on the phone. No complaints there. 

Secondly, the way the food is packaged and delivered. I’ve lost track of the number of times I’ve had leaky containers and spillage of food when they’ve been delivered home. Some containers may look good, but they just don’t travel well. The pasta, burger and desserts came in sturdy boxes that survived the bumpy drive on Andheri roads. My pizza unfortunately came stuck to the butter paper in the bottom of the box. Sigh! Such a disappointment considering how good the pizza was.

The aforementioned pizza was a Popeye’s Olive Vegetarian Pizza (Rs. 290/- for a 10″) and is one of their specials. The pizza came with spinach, olives, roasted bell peppers, roasted garlic, walnuts, savoury onion jam, Parmesan and mozzarella. I analyzed their menu and I appreciate the fact that they’ve tried to innovate and use different ingredients as toppings, which is commendable for a simple take away joint. On this menu, paneer tikka is replaced by a paneer pesto. The pizza was decent, and had a good quantity of toppings on top. The base was not too thin, nor too thick, and had the right amount of crunch to it. Would’ve been a star, had their been no paper stuck to the bottom.

Popeye’s Olive Vegetarian Pizza

The Spaghetti Bolognaise Chicken (Rs. 250/-) was a decent quantity for the price. The spaghetti was well cooked, and I liked the meaty bolognaise sauce. It could have been a crackling dish had it not come drowned in a layer of oil. The excess oil had to be spooned out before we could eat our way through. I’m sincerely hoping this was a one time thing, and that is not how they cook their spaghetti.

Spaghetti Bolognaise Chicken

Next up was the generously portioned Mexican Beef Burger (Rs. 200/-). This had a beef steak, chipotle mayo, greens, onions and tomatoes housed in a burger bun. My major gripe with eating beef at most new places is that they don’t cook it right. The beef was done well in this case. I would’ve loved to have some salsa or guacamole inside the burger, to make it more Mexican. The burger came with these spiced fries that were just divine. Overall, the burger was absolutely worth it. I want to order the crunchy chicken one next!

Mexican Beef Burger

The desserts surpassed my expectations, and were the best part of our meal. The Lemon Tart (Rs. 40/-) was decently sized. It had this sweet-sour lemon curd seated on a tart base that was not too hard and not too crumbly. This reminded me so much of the lemon tart I grew up eating at Candies in Bandra.

Lemon Tart

The Chocolate Mousse Tart (Rs. 60/-) had an absolutely rich and dense chocolate mousse and was not too cloyingly sweet. The Chocolate Gateau (Rs. 70/-) looked like a mousse to me, but had a soft and moist cake base in the bottom of all that chocolate. Overall, we enjoyed both the chocolate desserts.

Chocolate Mousse Tart
Chocolate Gateau

Overall, Frisbees delivers on both- good food and decent pricing. Would I order from them again? Yes, for their pizzas and the desserts that won me over. Folks in Andheri, you may want to catch this Frisbee!

Contact: 
Frisbees Pizza,
37, Andheri Shiv Shakti CHS,
Municipal School Road,
Near DN Nagar Metro Station,
Indira Nagar, Andheri West, Mumbai.
Phone: 022 65324111, 022 65325111.
(Delivery or take-away only)

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Punjabi Khana-Shana and More

My search for the city’s best buffets are still on. It’s such a hard job eating through all the food, sifting through the dishes, and putting up what’s best, right here for you. Just kidding! It really is so much fun. My search led me to a far, far destination in another galaxy. The place called Goregaon. (South Mumbai snobs, thank you for your attention. You may stop reading here).

I’d eaten a lunch buffet at The Grand Sarovar Premiere, Goregaon a while ago, and I had a memorable team lunch with the colleagues. 180 degrees is their multi-cuisine specialty restaurant that caters lunch and dinner buffets. We were there to try their dinner buffet, and the night we visited they had a ‘Discover India Food Festival’ running. Different cuisines from different states of the country, each on a different night. The nine day long fest was on till the 20th of this month.

On the night we visited, they were highlighting Punjabi food. I was a tad bit disappointed. I was hoping for Gujarati or Rajasthani fare since I don’t get to eat that too often. (This is a subtle hint for my Gujarati and Marwari friends to invite me home for dinner. Thank you). The buffet had a soup and salad counter which was routine stuff, for their foreign patrons. In addition they had a live tandoor section for rotis and kababs, mains from Punjab and other states, and a huge dessert section. As always, here are my top five favourite things that I enjoyed at the Discover India buffet at 180 degrees, Grand Sarovar Premiere.

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New Zealand lamb arrives in Mumbai

Some ingredients take a long journey from farms to our plates. This journey may be as long as across the seven seas. And those ingredients make dining even more special. It’s like taking a trip abroad just with your taste buds. We were the lucky few who got to sample New Zealand lamb from Silver Fern Farms when they introduced quality lamb range to the food service industry in collaboration with Empire Foods, who are the sole distributors of Silver Fern Farms lamb products in the country. 

About Silver Fern Farms

Silver Fern Farms is a leading New Zealand processor and marketer of lamb, mutton, beef, venison and associated products to more than 60 countries. They promise freshness, tenderness and great taste, all naturally. The lamb is premium, and naturally raised by expert farmers on open green pastures of one of the safest meat producing countries in the world. The perfect climate coupled with free-grazing cattle and high levels of food safety, make these products sought after worldwide. They have a ‘plate to pasture process’ that means the needs of consumers and customers drives them to produce products in the best possible manner.

Taj Mahal Palace Hotel, Colaba introduced the lamb to diners over cocktails and an interactive session with the team at Silver Fern Farms and Empire Foods. We had a lovely chat with Stu Donald, Regional Head of Silver Fern Farms, who educated us on their products. He spoke about how the lamb they produce are all free-grazing which means they are fed on natural grass as opposed to synthetic grains. Because after all, ‘you are what you eat’. He also said that the Indian meat eating market has great potential and will grow in the coming years.

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Mid-Week Lunching at Saptami, Holiday Inn

I’m a sucker for all-you-can-eat buffets. It’s the best dining-out option for a family like mine, where our appetites are as big as our mouths. Very few buffets manage to give both; a large variety of dishes without compromising on the quality of food. As a part of Branded Bawi’s hunt for the city’s best buffets, I had previously reviewed the brunches at D’BellLotus Cafe at J.W.Mariott, and Out of The Blue, Bandra. 

It was a weekday. I was in Andheri east. Hence, we decided to eat out in the area. My pick was the lunch buffet at Saptami, Holiday Inn. The hotel is literally ten steps away from the Sakinaka metro station. (On a different tangent, God bless the metro. It’s made travelling in the suburbs so much easier, noh?). The restaurant was swamped with office goers from the neighborhood and kitty partying aunties. In fact, too packed for a weekday afternoon.

The buffet had a salad and cold cut counter, soups, live egg and pasta counters, mains comprising of Indian and continental fare, chaats, and desserts. I spotted an equal number of vegetarian and non-vegetarian options, too. Here are the top five things that I liked about Saptami’s lunch buffet!

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Tastes of Europe at Prego, The Westin

It’s restaurant week time! Only this time you’re getting to visit Europe, taste European cuisine, savor fresh European produce, while sitting right here in Mumbai. The European Union (EU) collaborates with partner restaurants across the city to bring a three week long European food extravaganza, so that we can experience European culture through their food. And in my opinion, experiencing the local food is the only way to truly experience a new destination. Food makes us travel without budging an inch! And I experienced a culinary vacation of sorts. Read on for more. Buon Appetito!

About Tastes of Europe food festival:

The Tastes of Europe food festival kick starts with a ‘Restaurant Week’ from the 6th to 12th of September, where you get to enjoy set meals at ten different partner restaurants across the city. The meals are designed with the focus on highlighting different European ingredients. The second week is a ‘Retail Week’, where you get to taste European produce across various specialty stores, and decide what you’d like to take home. Finally, it culminates with the Annapoorna World of Food India Exhibition 2014 from 24th to 26th September in Mumbai where you can attend food seminars, celeb chef classes and a lot more.

Restaurant Week celebrations are on at a host of partnering restaurants, right from Smoke House Deli, Bandra Kurla Complex, to Olive Bar and Kitchen, Khar, to Vetro at The Oberoi, Nariman Point. The restaurants offer set meals priced at Rs. 1500/- onwards with the focus on European fare. We decided to visit Prego at The Westin Garden City, Mumbai to try out the Italian menu that everyone’s been buzzing about.

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