I ate my drink!!!

Hot chocolate at Costa is NOT passé. But, Skeeter has found a new flame, the Sao Tome Hot Chocolate at Choko la (Khan Market branch ONLY please).
Choko la (meaning let's drink chocolate together) is Delhi's very own chocolate boutique at Khan Market.
As she sits down one pleasant evening by the window seat, Skeety is attended by a lady with the most pleasant smile across her face.
Skeety takes eons to decide on her food and drink (as always). The lady patiently keeps an eye on Skeety to see when she is ready to place the order. A while later, she gives up on Skeety, comes to her rescue, asks her preferences, and recommends a Sao Tome (single origin hot chocolate made from cocoa beans of that region). Skeety surrenders, and to accompany the drink, she orders a Chocolate Mousse.
Eight minutes pass by. Enter, Sao Thome alongwith a piece of the chocolate in the unmolten state. Sao Tome is made with dark chocolate and contains 70 percent cocoa content. It is characterised by its firm body and distinct taste. Skeety enjoyed each sip so much, that she ended up eating her drink!
Having finished the drink and the mousse, Skeety speaks to the Manager who believes in making customers relish the 'real' chocolates rather than the regular Cad bar or the Fererro Rocher for that matter. Thus, he encourages all to try their Liqueur Truffles and Tanzania hot chocolate (with 73 percent cocoa content).
Skeety then moves on to meet the man behind the scenes, the chef Nikhil Baveja. After a small chat session, she asks him what would he call the specialty of the house. Ice-creams comes the reply.
According to Nikhil, they are as good as home-made ones and are freshly churned. Skeety shall wait till summers to see (read taste) it for herself.
Till then, let's Choko la!
P.S.:The staff at the Khan Market branch do a better job than the ones at Basant Lok. The Basant Lok branch is their first one and is more sought after. Choko la at Khan Market is a new-kid-on-the-block and is doing quite well. Atleast for now.
Update: Nikhil no longer works at Choko la.

Aloo Karare!

Happy New Year All!

The humble potato is Delhi's delight during the winter months. And aloo chaat, is the best form in which the potato can be consumed in this part of the world, at this time of the year.
As the temperature drops to the season's lowest, I sit down and close my eyes. I see a photo slide of the various foods that I'd love to gorge on this winter (as any other). Aloo chaat, shakarkandi, jalebis from Chandni Chowk, mom-made halwa, kaanji (the blood red spicy drink made from bleeding carrots), and what not flash before my eyes.
I happened to visit the Ham House (known to people as Hamilton House), aloo chaat wala twice in the past two weeks and thought of talking (read writing) about him here. As the name suggests, the chaat wala sits (in a corner) outside the Hamilton House, Inner Circle, Connaught Place.

I've been having the alu chaat made by him ever since I've been visiting Connaught Place.

A visit to Connaught Place is rather incomplete without a nibble at this spicy snack, priced slightly high at Rs.20 for a plate.
Vijay is the man who carries forward the legacy of his father and elder brother of selling the famed chaat. And it has been 35 years since Delhiites have had the pleasure of gorging on it.

Vijay also does a fruit chaat for you, if you want. During winters he also does the sweet potato or shakarkandi to please your tatse buds. But nothing beats the humble potato: diced, fried, spiced up (mild spicy to fiery hot) and served hot. Ahaaa! Yummm!

And yeah he faced the axe from the Supreme Court when the street food vendors and stalls were asked to be removed. Later, everything fell in place (only for old players like these) and now he sells chaat to you legally. :)

Love, Care, SHARE

Have you tasted some foods which, if you do not share with a particular person, don't taste the same good 'self'?
I have tried it many a times. Hot and Sour soup hasn't tasted the same in last 18 months since Nearly Headless Nick left. There is no fun having Hot and Sour soup without fighting with Nearly Headless Nick over who would get more Shiitake mushrooms.
Ditto about the Greek Pizza. It has never tasted better with Pea-NUT not around. NEVER EVER!
Call it love if you may.
I love my Pea-NUT and Nearly Headless Nick.
Cheers to them!

Mister Master Chef

Attitude, suits some perfectly. One of those people of course is Skeeter (maybe kidding, maybe not). And the other is Gordon Ramsay. I have read, heard and seen so much about this attitude thingy of his, that I thought it would be but unfair not to share it with people who read this blog.

So, the story goes like this:
Gordon, was once asked by a Japanese journalist (a she) how can he "still" call himself a working chef when he ran 11 restros in 4 different countries, and was simultaneously making two TV shows on both sides of the Atlantic?

So, Mister Master pointing to the Armani jacket this journalist was wearing, said: Did you ask the store where you bought your jacket from, if f*****g Giorgio stitched every f*****g button on your f*****g jacket with his own f*****g hand?! Heeee

Point being, Mister Master has invented his dishes and trained all people working under him to follow his exact style and what you get to eat at Ramsay restros is the exact f*****g replica of the dish as it would be if made by Mister Master. :)
You can watch the last 3 minutes of this video to see the same incident being narrated by Mister Master himself.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RZF5EI_JWj0

I love Attitude, if it has substance. Do you?!

Skeeter and the Fairy Dust

Skeets loves to pamper herself royally, when she has the time.
The last time she did eet, she made herself breakfast comprising a potato-ey, cheesy, grilled toastie. It was accompanied by barbecue flavoured crisps, a sexy Dilito's Jalapeno sauce and the healthiest drink the world can offer: Coke. ;)
Sat on a couch, with some LOUD music on, and enjoyed this:

Proceeded to make Rajasthani gatte ki kadhi and aloo (no pic). Being in the kitchen (during winters and only by the mood) is therapeutic for Skeeter. And spices, will remain the first love. No giggling there!
And then, after mooning about all day, Skeets took out that precious can of Spaghetti to gobble it down by the sparkling moonlight.

It's Greek for me!

To make a morsel enter my mouth, the texture, the flavour, the aroma, the colour, are all put through an acid test. Call me what you like, but believe me you, I have been like this all my life. As a kid, I would go to the kitchen and inspect mom-made food to see if the four of these are okay. If not, I would declare 'I am not hungry'. Of course at that point in time I never knew I would grow up to be in love with food.
Later, a lot of additions were made to this list (which are often written about at DFZ).
I once opined that food courts at shopping malls can never serve good food, and hence should not be even thought about unless you are dying of hunger and cannot drag yourself to a good restaurant nearby, or far away for that matter. Little did I know that I would soon trounce my own opinion (proudly so), and throw it down the tallest tower. Ha!
Wow! I am finally talking (read writing) about Wow Italia, the one place whose mention can make my stomach growl and howl. This place has left me awed for quite some time now; this is the place I would love to visit again and again and yet again. They do, inarguably, the best Greek Pizza in or around town.
Stationed in the food court of The Metropolitan Mall in Gurgaon, for money the size of the smallest black mustard seed ('maybe' I am exaggerating), Wow Italia serves me their chef-d'oeuvre Greek Pizza topped with Fresh Garlic, Feta cheese (my favourite), Black Olives, Parsley and Green Beans. If I die and go to heaven when I have Costa Hot Choc, after having this Greek Pizza, I enter a state of blissful trance.

Wow Italia also hold the distinction of being the first eatery to own a heartfelt personal note hand-written for them by Reeta Skeeter on a circular sheet of paper which comes beneath the Pizza on the Pizza tray. :D

Also, I would recommend their Pasta (Spaghetti is the best bet) with Dansih Gorgonzola. This pasta is falvoured with Rosemary and topped with Capers, Black olives and Parsley. Yum!
Do visit. You will NOT regret.

Little wonders

At times little things that you want, HAPPEN. My case was something like this: I used to interview celebs and commoners. When all this was at its peak, I had people coming to me and asking me to 'please' write about them. I remember this particular incident. About 4/5 years ago AK came to me and asked me to do a story on her. Half-heartedly I started doing it (I was sure the Editor would say NO to it later on). The fact that she wanted me to write about her put me off, for I should have been the one asking her to talk to me. Anyway, the story got published in TOI and that was that. Years later, I read about her on the front page of TOI. And I was like :O That was her fate. O' course she is a famous artist now and all that.And with incidents of the like happening on a day-to-day basis, I wondered [I was a kid then ;)] if a day would come when I will be written about. Lo and Behold!
Click on the image to enlarge and read :)