77 Veggie Boutique - Jumeirah Lake Towers, Dubai

[caption id="attachment_2200" align="aligncenter" width="705"] 77 Veggie Boutique interiors[/caption]

[caption id="attachment_2206" align="aligncenter" width="705"] Me with my vegetarian guest Mr. Tejas Shah at 77 Veggie Boutique[/caption]

Enough is Enough. I've been eating a lot of mutton, chicken, beef and all the other innocent animals :p . It's high time I add some vegetables to my diet. Hence I visit this veggie only restaurant located next to my office in Jumeirah Lake Towers, Tiffany tower. It's a little difficult to notice this restaurant if you've never been here before but the Tiffany tower is very much visible.

[caption id="attachment_2201" align="aligncenter" width="678"] Drinks - Avocado Flair - Dhs 32, Alfresco - Dhs 34[/caption]

[caption id="attachment_2210" align="aligncenter" width="678"] Roma Tonic - Dhs 27[/caption]

For the drinks we had:

Alfresco: Mixture of Parsley, green apple, celery, cucumber and ginger with a touch of pure honey. Calories:204

Avocado Flair: Avocado with use of low fat milk to balance your fatty acids. Calories:175

Roma's Tonic: A refreshing blend of Aqua water, fresh orange juice and mint. Calories: 182

Through out their menu you would find the amount of calories you were about to consume. So if you were a health freak then you obviously count and eat. Since my mathematics is pretty bad I just didn't bother to count calories and eat :D . After all more than wealth that's one thing I collect more than most of you :p

My original drink was Alfresco. I thought I shouldn't try their heavy smoothies cause it would get me too full and yes the Alfresco was just right drink for me. Light and refreshing. The Avocado wasn't actually giving much flair until she added more honey to it and then it was all glowing to me :D We ordered the Roma's Tonic just because we saw the owners name on it. But honestly when i read the ingredients it didn't look very convincing but my guest thought we should give it a try and believe me Roma's Tonic is the one drink to order. It was a pretty drink with a beautiful taste. I give 5 stars to Roma's Tonic.

[caption id="attachment_2202" align="aligncenter" width="705"] Molly made much bunch bakes - Dhs 35[/caption]

[caption id="attachment_2203" align="aligncenter" width="705"] Molly made much bunch bakes - Dhs 35[/caption]

[caption id="attachment_2204" align="aligncenter" width="705"] Lentil Soup - Dhs 22[/caption]

[caption id="attachment_2205" align="aligncenter" width="705"] Light Tofu Salad with veggies - Dhs 32[/caption]

From their healthy appetizers section we had the

Molly Made much Bunch Bakes: Delicately sauteed cabbage, carrots balls designed in manchurian style in tangy sauce trickling your taste buds with the touch of spring onions. Calories:126

Lentil Soup: Boil and cooked red lentils and yellow peas combining in spices, tomatoes garnished with curry leaves and coriander. Calories:191

Light Tofu Salad with veggies: Roasted vegetables with baked tofu on green beans readily served with herb and mint. Calories:175

The lentil soup was standard as expected. The breads that come along with their soup is a little different and interesting. Molly made munch had that tangy sauce which gave me a problem to give it a high mark but otherwise you know your eating a nice ball of baked vegetables ;) This light Tofu salad was my favourite out of my whole dinner. Vegetables were juicy like never before.

[caption id="attachment_2207" align="aligncenter" width="705"] Red Bistro Sizzler - Dhs 52[/caption]

[caption id="attachment_2208" align="aligncenter" width="678"] Tejas Shah going for the Red Bistro Sizzler - Dhs 52[/caption]

[caption id="attachment_2209" align="aligncenter" width="705"] Red Nice noodles - Dhs 34[/caption]

Red Bistro Sizzler: Fresh veggies flaunted with mushrooms, broccoli, french beans, cabbage garnished with spring onions and cutlets. Calories:580

Healthy Red Nice noodles with veggie chilli sauce: Low fat rice noodles sauteed in veggie chili based sauce. Calories:425

Wow I was never expecting a sizzler in a vegetarian restaurant. It was sizzling but after eating tofu salad I felt it was a repeat show of more vegetables. The addition to the red bistro was the veggie cutlet sitting on top of the sizzling vegetables. The low fat rice noodles was well made and thoroughly enjoyed it.

[caption id="attachment_2212" align="aligncenter" width="705"] Brownie - Dhs 20[/caption]

[caption id="attachment_2211" align="aligncenter" width="705"] Low fat cheese cake - Dhs 29[/caption]

Normally desserts that are made calorie conscious are less in taste than the originals. But believe me this Low fat chocolate cheese cake tasted better than the original chocolate cheese cake. They are also free from butter, eggs etc. It was really good and on my next visit I surely will have this piece of cheese cake once again. It did have a different texture but it was jolly good. I took one home too and everyone was of the same opinion. Brownie was impressive as well. Though it wouldn't beat the taste of their chocolate cheese cake but I enjoyed the brownie too. It was not a boring brownie for sure.

[caption id="attachment_2213" align="aligncenter" width="705"] Spiced Chai with Herbs - Dhs 18 along with wholewheat cookie[/caption]

You know after heavy days work. I am now here having this wonderful dinner and now I need to drive back home all the way to Deira from JLT. My eyes are closing and I thought it was not a bad idea to have a milk tea. By the way I am a die hard fan of strong milk tea if you haven't realized as yet. Thankfully their masala chai was good enough to keep me awake for the drive back home. The cookie that came along with it was wholewheat but this one didn't have the flare of the dessert. Not necessary everyone should enjoy it.

[caption id="attachment_2214" align="aligncenter" width="705"] Me with 77 Veggie Boutique staff[/caption]

Overall our time at this veggie boutique was worth a visit. You can read more about them on their website: http://www.77veggie.com/

[gallery type="rectangular" ids="2214,2213,2212,2211,2210,2209,2208,2207,2206,2205,2204,2203,2202,2201,2200"]

De Thali - Indian Restaurant - LuLu Hypermarket - Al Ghusais

Samundari Thali - Sea Food Thali - Dhs 42

De Thali was a restaurant that was launched last year. Funny I noticed them so late. This restaurant is a part of LuLu Group and to be more precise it was initiated by the daughter of the most successful keralite business man Mr. M. A.  Yusuff Ali(Managing Director of EMKE group). Hence I am no more surprised to see this lovely restaurant located inside lulu hypermarket.

Me and my family enjoy Thalis so we thought why not give it a try here. It was our first time. The walls of the restaurant had this typical drawing that you would find in indian streets and singer Rafi's voice was heard on the background while I enjoyed my meal. I only wished this restaurant was detached from the hypermarket and was a standalone which would have made the experience even more immersive.

website: www.dethali.com
Facebook page: https://www.facebook.com/DeThali 

Continue scrolling to read my lunch....

Watermelon(left) - Dhs 15, Sambharam(center) - Dhs 7, Mango Lassi(right) - Dhs 12

The overall lunch was wonderful. It started of with thirst quenchers.

Sambharam - Spiced buttermilk with green chillies and coriander leaves.
Mango Lassi and watermelon juice.

Sambharam gave me the right start and it just got me ready for that thali. The mango lassi turned out to be very useful when I met with a spicy kabab appetizer called Murgh Angarey. Infact so spicy that I thought my tongue went on fire but nevertheless they had some item or the other to compensate with it. 

Mint raitha(complimentary)

Murgh Angarey Kebab (front) - Dhs 22

For the appetizers we had 

• Masala vadai - lentil fritter served with coconut chutney
• Paneer Tilwala - sesame seeds flavored cottage cheese, splash cooked in tandoor
• Jhinga Nisha - prawns marinated in a cardamom flavored cream marinade cooked in the tandoor
• Murgh Angarey  - tender chicken marinated overnight with chilly, garlic and yoghurt with tandoor
• Seekh Gilafi - minced lamb encrusted with peppers and cooked on a skewer in a tandoor

Out of all this I enjoyed Murgh Angarey and Paneer Tilwala the most, even though my tongue was on fire while I kept eating it. My wife loved the Seekh Gilafi and yeah I agree with her too it was very well made and we could see some effort put in that making. The paneer and the prawn had it's own glam. We enjoyed every bit of the appetizer except I ignored masala vadai as we come across that quite often. 

From the tandoor - Jhinga Nisha(left) - Dhs 28, Seekh Gilafi(right) - Dhs 29

Mocktails Dhs 15 - Mojito - Mango & mint(left) - Watermelon(middle) - mojito - strawberry(right)

I can't forget this scene. There was a stiff competition between Mango&Mint and Strawberry mojito where me and my wife continuously argued whose mojito was better. Both of them were killer drinks. We really enjoyed them. I never expected an indian restaurant to excel here.

Samundari Thali - sea food - Dhs 42

We ordered 3 types of thali just to ensure we covered all their specialities:

Shakahari thali (veg) - Paneer lababdar, vellai kuruma, hing dhaniya ke chatpate aloo, karamani kootu, maa ki dal, rasam, kachumber, papad, curd served with choice of zeera pulao/nei choru and a choice of naan/tandoori roti/idiappam/mlabar parotta.

Samundari thali (sea food) - Prawn masala, meen mulakittathu, urlai sodhi, keerai masial, sambar, rasam, kachumber, papad, curd served with nei choru, idiyappam and malabar parotta.

Masahari thali (non-veg) - Bhabhi murgh, mutton ishtew, urlai roast, lehsooni moti palak, tomato pappu, rasam, kachumber, papad, curd served with choice of zeera pulao, nei choru and a choice of naan/tandoori roti/idiappam and malabar parotta.

All their thalis came with quality curries in it. Each curry had it's own quality taste. Curries such as mutton ishtew, meen mulaittatihu tasted homemade. I loved their parottas, it came thick and crispy. It was actually in demand on our table. Koth parotta was interesting too. Idiyappam biryani was unique.  It also felt less heavier than the rice. Also note their menu keeps changing every 6 months.

Koth parotta -  pieces of parotta mixed with chicken and vegetable masala.

Mashari Thali - non veg - Dhs 40

Idiyappam Chicken biryani -  Dhs 25

Shakahari Thali - vegetarian - Dhs 35

Kesar Kulfi Falooda - Dhs 15

You shouldn't forget to try their desserts when you end your thali. Their kesar kulfi is made by them and it rocks for sure. Both Basundi and Gajjar was a pleasure to have. Surely whatever they made they made sure it tasted well. Oh and how can I forget their filter kaapi. I normally ignore coffee and have tea but here it was the other way around. Even though their masala tea was prettier, it was no match with their filter kaapi(authentic south indian coffee).

Gajjar Halwa(left) - Dhs 12, Basundi (right) - Dhs 12

Masala Chai - Dhs 6

Filter Kaapi - Dhs 6

From left - Myself, Balpreet Singh(Chief Chef), Sajan Alex(General Manager)

Signature by Sanjeev Kapoor, Melia hotel BurDubai

Unveiling of their new Signature menu

Thanks to my blog I finally got to meet Mr. Sanjeev Kapoor at Signature Restaurant located in Melia hotel, BurDubai. It was an event held on the launch of their new menu. We were welcomed by the Indian traditions at the door. Items that night can be categorized into 2 types. VIP and Ordinary. 

VIP - Those items that were like celebrities. They make a grand entry and as soon as they are out you see a whole bunch of crowd surrounding it. If you came in late they were already gone. Items would be those coming from the charcoal grills. Tandoori Balchao Prawn was my favourite in here which came thick, King size and juicy. 

 

Ordinary -  Those items that were like a common man where you find in abundance around you and nobody was concerned about them getting over. Items would be like Dahi Wada, Dhokla, Punjabi Samosa ..etc. 

All their desserts were interesting and you could enjoy each one of them. Signature Triology shots was new to me and was a little different and the phirnee was lovely.  Below are those few items for your eyes. Sorry I didn't get any pricing this time from their menu. I hope I got the names correct.  

Myself and Sanjeev Kapoor

Curry leaf Kokum Ras

Kurkuri Moong nimboo wali

Khandvi and Khaman Tomato Dhokla

Paneer Panch Pooran

Imli Glaze Punjabi Samosa

Hare Mutter Pyaz Ki Kachori

Theekhey Phalon Ki Chaat and Dahi Wada

Teekhey Aloo, Baby corn fritters, Elaichi Dana Dal Galouti

Tandoori Balchao Prawns

Chicken Tiley Wala

Gulab Jamun

Signature Triology Shots and Phirnee

Toilets were even more better looking!

Veggie Quesadilla - Dhs 36, Chillis Al Ghurair Dubai

Veggie Quesadilla - Dhs 36

Veggie Quesadilla - Sauteed seasonal vegetables with bell peppers, sliced mushrooms, pico de gallo and jack cheese in buttery toasted tortillas. Served with rice, black beans, sour cream and pico de gallo.

Most affordable main course and sheer value for money. It's very much filling and a variety to eat. I enjoy every bite of this one. Even the rice and black beans are very nice. It's a lot to eat for one person. Tortillas come very well toasted and they taste fresh in the mouth. Vegetarians should definitely try this one.  

www.chilisuae.com

 In the Center - sour cream and pico de gallo

Buttery toasted totillas filled with jack cheese and others

Side - Rice and black beans

Inside Secret - bell peppers, sliced mushrooms, jack cheese, seasonal vegetables. 

Food Hunters