Le Meridian

Cheese n Bread

Veg Salad

Non-veg Salad

Starters

Grilled Sea-food

Grilled Veggies

Main Course

Desserts

Pesto Pesto

Pasta with Vegetables

Lasagna

Cafe Mocha

Potato Pizza

Bounty Sizzler

Chicken Special Sizzler

Steak Burger

Oye Pape, Amanora Mall, Magarpatta, Pune

I recently visited "Oye Pape" restaurant to have a corporate lunch. The restaurant is located at Amanora Mall near Magarpatta, Pune. It serves lunch buffet on weekdays. The settings of the restaurant is like a North Indian village. The ambiance was a bit smoky due to adjoining kitchen.

Chilly Chicken

 There were two vegetarian and two non-vegetarian starters. For non-vegetarian food lovers, they severed roasted chicken and chilly chicken. Chilly chicken would have fared better if served boneless. The taste was okay. I was surprised to see a Chinese delicacy in a restaurant that advertises of being authentic restaurant for North Indian food. The roasted chicken did not taste good because the chicken seemed inadequately cooked.

Roasted Chicken

Veg Kebabs and Crispy Potato

The vegetarian starters included Kebabs and Crispy Potatoes. Both of them tasted great, way better than non-vegetarian food. The butter-milk served was also great, giving a nice touch to buffet. The soup and salads for the buffet were okay. 

Soup n Salad

Vegetarian Curries

 The main course had some vegetarian and non vegetarian curries with Ice Cream and Gulab-jamun as dessert. There was nothing out of ordinary. The vegetarian food tasted better than the non-vegetarian food. The North Indian feel and taste was amiss. The cook should concentrate more bringing out the authentic flavors that are wide spread in Northern India.

Meal

Spaghetti Kitchen, Amanora Mall, Pune

Last weekend I visited Spaghetti Kitchen at Amanora Mall. I received some positive reviews from my friends so I was expecting a lot from the restaurant in terms of taste and flavor.

Assorted Bread

The ambiance is soothing with nice music. The complimentary assorted breads were a nice touch but they did not fare well on the taste buds. The restaurant could provide some freshly baked Italian bread instead of assortment and it would do wonders.

Bruchettas

 For starters, we ordered Bruchettas and Parmesan Cream Cheese baby Potato. It is nice as they provide English name and description for the dishes. Both of them tasted well. But I was still waiting for something extraordinary.

Parmesan Cream Cheese Baby Potato

Sicilian Garlic Chicken

 Later we ordered Sicilian Garlic Chicken with Fries. The quantity for both these dishes was way better when compared to other vegetarian starters. The taste of Garlic was missing with Chicken but it was flavored with lots of tomato as popular in North Indian cuisine.

Fries

Fettuccine with basil Pesto

 For main course we ordered Lasagna and Fettuccine with basil pesto. Both the dishes were great but lacked in quantity. I preferred Lasagna over pasta because I have had better pasta in many a places. I found the dishes lacking in cheese contrary to my beliefs of Italian cuisine.

Homemade Lasagna

All Vegetables Pizza

Finally we summed it up with an All Vegetable Pizza. They only serve pizza with thin crust. The pizza looked very nice but tasted very bland. There was not even anything ordinary, leave alone extraordinary with this one. Overall the ambiance is nice but food lacks the luster. There are far better places if you want to have a slice of Italy.

Pollo Campero, Phoenix Mall, Pune

Last weekend I visited Pollo Campero at Phoenix mall, Nagar Road, Pune. This Latin American chain provides cuisine similar to that of KFC. The ambiance is nice and we did not find it crowded.

Buffet Meal

We opted for the ongoing buffet which was available with Fried Chicken. For vegetarian's, the staff traded unlimited Fried Chicken with single vegetarian burger. But the important thing to note is that soft-drink is also included in buffet.

The buffet included Fries, Salad, Rice, Fried Chicken, Soft-drink and bun. The taste was not at par with KFC but considering the price (199 + taxes) it fared well.

Vegetarian Options

So if you are in mood of enjoying Fried Chicken with friends in some nice environment with lower prices, this one is a good option.

Exotica - Zafran, Yerwada, Pune

I visited Exotica - Zafran restaurant yesterday. It is situated within the Panchshil Tech Park at Yerwada, Pune. The first thing anyone would notice about the restaurant is its location. It is on 7th floor with a feel of roof-top restaurant. The weather was nice and there was nice breeze flowing. There are three restaurants within Zafran. We opted for Exotica which serves north Indian delicacies. It is also equipped with a bar.

Vegetarian Kebabs

We ordered vegetarian platter for starter. It included two types of Paneer Tikka, Tikki and two types of Seekh kebab. Three out of five items were excellent. One of the Seekh Kebab (probably Hara Bhara Kebab) was not up to the mark. The restaurant also served complimentary Papads.

Papad

Fusilli Pasta

Next we ordered Fusilli Pasta. This was not in the menu of "Exotica" but you can order from the menu of other restaurant "Mozzarella" as well. This was excellent with right combinations of vegetables, cheese and sauce.

Daal Makhni with Paneer Lababdar

For main course we ordered Daal Makhni, Paneer Lababdar and various types of Naans & Roti. Main course was excellent with the authentic flavor and taste. Daal Makhni was the best. From bread section, Missi Roti was tasty and well cooked. We were disappointed with the Lime Soda as it was unable to produce the desired effect.

Missi Roti and Naans

Lime Soda

We finished our journey of taste with "Litchi Malai". The taste was good but the Litchi was filled with sugar syrup. The reason for the same may be the unavailability of Litchi in this season. Overall the taste is good, ambiance is great and the price greater...

Malai Litchi

Up South, Phoenix Mall, Nagar Road, Pune

I visited south Indian joint "Up-South" at Phoenix Mall, Pune. The place provides tasty south Indian food on reasonable price.

Mini Uttapam

It is a self service joint. We ordered Mini Uttapam and Up-south special combo. These two combined provides you almost all the dishes to taste which are available there - Idli, Wada, Dosa, Poori, Uttapam, Sambhar, Chutney, Korma. In single sentence the taste is good and pricing better.

Up South Special Combo

Paper Masala

Later we ordered Paper - masala dosa, Parontha with Korma and Kesari Bath. I was surprised as Paper dosa was not paper thin and they served the masala inside the dosa only. Korma was okay. I was not able to appreciate the Parontha much as I recently visited Kerala -  the home for exquisite South Indian food.

Parontha with Korma

Overall the place is good for snacking. It is not a up-market restaurant but it serves the right combination - Tasty food within decent price.

Pizza Hut, Kalyani Nagar, Pune

I had a small celebration with my friends at Pizza Hut, Kalyani Nagar. It was a weekday and the place was deserted. We inquired about the various deals/ offers that were available. There were two deals - one was four course meal and another was combo offers.

Tomato Soup

We ordered both the deals. We opted for Tomato Soup for combo offer. It did not look great but taste was quite nice. I never expected such taste from Pizza Hut. For appetizers we ordered Cheese Nachos. They would have been great if were crispy. They became soggy and were unable to produce the desired effect on our taste-buds.

Cheese Nachos

Chicken Skewers

For starters we ordered vegetarian platter and Chicken Skewers. Non-vegetarian food was great tasting and nice with respect to quantity vs price. On the other hand, vegetarian platter was not adequate for the price and the taste was also not good. I would recommend not to try the vegetarian platter.

Veg Platter

Pasta

For main course, we had pan pizza and pasta. Pizza was decently baked but it was low in toppings as always. I have a complain about eateries in India which are serving pizza. None of them serves pizza with good amount of toppings or cheese. It was served hot so we liked it.

Pizza

Desserts

Finally the deserts - Ice cream and cheese-cake. Both the things were nice to have. We good a good surprise as we received corporate-discount. But the joy was short lived as we found a huge amount in service taxes and VAT. These joints should follow McDonald's pricing model where you know beforehand, how much you need to shell out.

Cream Center, Kalyani Nagar, Pune

I visited Cream Center, Kalyani Nagar on last weekend. It is a pure vegetarian restaurant serving variety of food and beverages. We were told that nothing in available in Pizza section.

Corn n Cheese Balls

We ordered Corn n Cheese Balls, Nachos for starters. Presentation of nachos was a bit different due to their large size but the taste was nothing near exquisite. Cheese balls were nice.

Nachos

Pasta

Later we ordered Falafal and Pasta. Falafal did not produce the desired taste or flavor. They were more like "Alu tikki" from north India. Pasta was decent. I was surprised as they did not serve Falafal with Hamas.

Falafal

Quesadillas 

Finally we had Quesadilla and Dinner combo. Quesadilla were decently prepared but I would always prefer with more cheese. The Dinner combo was a good deal. There was variety and you can make your own combo by selecting various courses. 

Dinner

I opted for Chole - Bhature which tasted great. One more thing is worth mentioning that we got a Margarita free with our Nachos. It looked nice but the taste was nothing special. They need to put more concentration on taste rather on presentation.

Peach Margarita