Yum Yum Cha, Select City Walk

Joining the Pan-Asian brigade of Diva Kitsch, Yum Yum Tree and others is a colourful cafe called Yum Yum Cha in a busy mall in Saket. To begin with, Yum Yum Cha takes Sushi and Sashimi from fine dining restaurants to a more casual, relaxed setting. The food is stunning and how they dole out such gratifying fare from a tiny space at Select City Walk mall, Saket is a wonder. Well, not really. What else would you expect when you get to know Yum Yum Cha is a product of the famous sibling The Yum Yum Tree? 

The 40 cover dining space is an open cafe done tastefully with colourful Japanese Origami dumplings, tea pots, geisha, slippers denoting casual dining, tea-pots and more. These symbols are also embroidered on napkins and on aprons of the ushers and would keep you visually engaged while you wait for your order (which won't take very long).

While the Spicy Asparagus dumplings (4 pieces for Rs 245) with a filling of asparagus in satay sauce and Bok Choy dumplings (4 pieces for Rs 245) with vegetables and garlic, chilli are good, the star of the show is the Crispy Vegetable Cheung fun (Rs 385 for 6 pieces).

Asparagus tempura and Spicy avocado Sushi come at Rs 485 for 8 pieces. Club that with a nice drink and you have an afternoon meal. We tried the Black Magic and the Thai orange and Kaffir Lime fun bottles from the listed beverages. The drinks, however, were a little underwhelming. Some tweaking and intensifying of flavours would reap yummy benefits. The Crispy Corn cake (Rs 285) was topped with chillies and burnt garlic. Bang on flavour, pretty presentation, tweaked for the Indian palate (read spicy and full of garlicky goodness) this was a show stopper and comes highly recommended.

The sizzling basil & chilly sticky rice were served up beautifully in a hot stone pot in which it was assembled and cooked. The server stirs it up right on the table for an interactive touch and some fun on the table while you drool into a coma by aroma. The Paper Hot Pot based on Japanese Nabe will have the people on your neighbouring table stealing glances. We ordered the Ramen soup with noodles and it was pretty acceptable.

Your buck would really stop at the dessert. Do not order anything other than the world famous 

Icecream. For the uninitiated, Mochi is made from a  glutinous Japanese rice which is pounded into a desired shape and coloured suitably. The ice-cream comes filled in the Mochi. We tried the classic Matcha Green Tea which is a Skeeter favourite. The coconut and Jaggery Mochi is a sensational delight for those who like things a little sweet.

The service was good and a tad fast. It was heartening to see owner Prathna Tuli enthusiastically manage tables rather than leaving the task on the shoulders of their able staff.

Olive, Mehrauli: Winter Menu 2014, a sneak peak

Skeeter woke up and felt she needed to pinch herself to believe that she actually had the kind of food she did one night ago. It was Olive time again. Olive is one of the most pleasing places to eat at. Whether you pick a daytime visit, a cool evening or an unrelenting winter night; you are bound to want to stay there a little more. Couple the ambience with great food and here's what follows: Skeeter arrived to this beautiful box of savoury cornetto planted on arborio rice like a bejwelled mini garden. Chef Sujan Sarkar never fails to amuse (bouche)!

What stuns Skeeter most is how the chef plays around with beetroot to yield (oops plate) spectacle after spectacle. He presents the same ingredients in a different avtaar whenever he wants! Last time Skeets had a Salt baked beetroot with goat's cheese, wild rocket leaves, orange and apricot puree. This time she had a Beetroot Carpaccio sandwich (piped cream cheese sandwiched in two slim roundels of beetroot) seated around artichokes, scattered pine nuts, orange segments and drizzled with a mint dressing. Who'd  think beetroot can be had in so many deelish variations?

The Melting Camembert was another stunner. The presentation was as classic and appealing as the dish itself. Gooey, melting Camembert cheese surrounded by a mix of mushrooms fried in garlic and perfumed with thyme with a side of a perfectly done puffed wheat toast served on a cast iron pan standing on a wooden platter. How very 60's?! You'd want to dig right in like Skeeter did and stop only when you wipe the pan clean :)

Plating food in an arty way is sure a treat to the eyes and the senses. But when you see a remarkably well-plated dish it is equally heartbreaking to demolish it. So it happened with Skeeter when she saw the Pan seared Gnocchi, with minty Zucchini and green beans, with pea puree, crunchy toasted almonds in a blue cheese emulsion. The Gnocchi came swimming in the blue cheese and pea puree and was topped with watercress that made the whole thing look like a heavenly herb garden where fairies come to play. Have a look! 

There was a sublime wild mushroom risotto too!

All through her meal, Skeeter was sipping on this wonderful drink called Hot Velvet, perfect to nurse a cold or just get mildly high on a nippy evening. It was stirred up with Grey Goose, spice syrup and earl grey tea; served warm, and came glistening in a transparent, long glass mug, with a stick of cinnamon, a star anise, an orange rind for company. 

The dessert made a befitting end to a great meal. Mini creme caramels, drizzled with caramel popcorn consomme, a chia seed and hazel nut crunch topping. A must try on your list, when you go visiting Olive.

P.S: Skeeter was invited for the winter menu sampling