The Ant Blog

We had the perfect Sunday lunch here. As soon as we entered, we were greeted with smiling faces, and ushered to a table. We went around to check the buffet spread and were convinced about trying it out.  To begin with we went to the Sushi counter. The sushis on display looked very interesting and we tried all of them. Perfectly balanced flavors and the quality was superlative. I believe we must have tried at least a couple of rounds of Sushi of all kinds, to our hearts content.  Next we tried the South Asian counters, which had the Indonesian, Singaporean flavors. There was a lot of prawns and fresh ingredients in these counters. Also there was the live counter, from which we hardly opted for anything. We next walked to the Indian counter to find chaats, knick knacks, and some tandoor starters, fish cutlets. Main course had a mix of North and South Indian options. The  Indian food was the right amount of spicy. We enjoyed ...

Weekends can be exciting for many reasons. For us, one happy thought (apart from sleeping till late) is to plan our lazy brunches with friends somewhere, or cooking up a delicious meal at home. The entire weekend sets rolling with all of this. So on one such rainy weekend, we thought of giving the online site  GourmetItUp   a try for the first time. They had a lovely set meal option at Oh:Cha Restaurant and bar. This place had opened a  few months ago, and we were planning to visit it ever since we had got some raving reviews. Located inside Mathurdas Mills compound, this place is almost hidden from sight. But as you walk in, the place turns around. The decor is understated, with beautiful hanging lamps all over the ceiling. Having reached there I realized that the place is run by an old friend. Tanai Shirali has been in the industry for several years now and I was happy to meet him after ages. I am a sucker for Thai food, and the GourmetItUp set menu was interest...

Ever since the day I had eaten at Punjab Grill  , I had made a mental note to myself to be back soon. However, weeks added to months and for reasons one or the other I have not been able to re-visit this lovely chain. Made in Punjab is a newer restaurant chain by the same celebrity Chef Jiggs Kalra. At the beginning of this month I came to know of a Mid-night dinner buffet event to be held specially at Made In Punjab, so it was time I thought to make it for this event. Despite it being at least an hour's drive from my place, we booked a table and went for it. It was a Friday night and the weekend was upon us. And our Punjabi culinary journey had just began for the night. We had entered a little late so we had fortunately not had to wait for a table. We sauntered in, without being attended to, found a table and sat down. We headed straight away for the salads, and a few Punjabi snacks on the counter. I particularly liked the Dahi Vada . The starters arrived on our table. ...

Our Shiro trip was far from impromptu. Ever since we had heard about their Sushi brunch menu , we were dying to go! And we finally landed up there on a Sunday few weeks ago. To anyone who has visited this place, they know about Shiro’s lovely ambiance. It almost has a surreal old-world appeal to it. Due to the very dim lights, I could only manage to snap one of the ceiling lamps, which looked great. Ceiling lamp, below stone carving depictions at Shiro We began with servings of Chicken and Vegetarian dumpling . I loved the vegetarian dumpling with the wasabi  paste. Chicken and Vegetarian wasabi dumplings For the drinks, we ordered a Red wine Sangria and a Green Apple martini . Honestly, I was disappointed with my Sangria . I never expected a place like Shiro to serve me a Sangria with just a hint of wine in it. It almost tasted like a fruit mocktail! I love my Sangrias and can swear by them, so it was a let down. On the other hand the Green Apple martini, I tried ...

As surprising as it may sound, I was not fond of sweets as a child. I feel sorry for myself now to think that I have missed out on all the home made sweets that my mother used to make and everybody used to adore. Now, i do not miss out on any such sweet or desserts. This one is a famous and a very favorite Indian dessert made with Carrots or  Gajar . This recipe is as simple as it’s flavor is gorgeous! Inspired by the famous Indian Chef late Mrs Tarla Dalal, below is the recipe. In the Making: Gajar ka Halwa Ingredients for Gajar ka Halwa: 2 cups grated Carrots 1 tbsp desi Ghee 2 tbsp Milk 4 tbsp Sugar 4 tbsp Mava (khoya) 1 tbsp Raisins 1 tbsp chopped Almonds 1/2 tsp Cardamom powder Procedure for Gajar ka Halwa: Heat the ghee in a pressure cooker; add the carrots and sauté on a medium flame for 4 to 5 minutes, while stirring continuously. Add milk, mix well and pressure cook for 1 whistle. Transfer into a broad non-stick pan, add the sugar, ...

This visit occurred about 2 weeks back, when i went out for dinner with my girlfriends. After dinner, we had strolled into this place. And seeing the display and choices, it was really a difficult task at hand. Yet in the end,   Bailey’s English cream  had won unanimously for us! So , I can tell you only about that flavor. It was  balanced and mild, I really loved it. I am quite sure that I would have loved some of the other  flavors too sadly there was no room for them, namely the  Chocolate To Die For  or the  Ginger Lemon with Apricot Topping. Not only did we not like the ice-cream, we also had a happy posing session for pics, and a very obliging staff helped us out there :) In short we had a good time! This places gets a go!                                 Bailey's English cream at Ice cream Works              ...

Prep Time: 5 minutes Cooking Time: 30 minutes I often experience pangs for a certain kind of food, ranging from sweet to savory. And then I go about taking care of that need :) So last week I was in much need of satiating my sweet-tooth. Also there were a few guests coming over for dinner that same night, so I thought of a very simple and yet delicious way of going about it. To begin, I used some flavored Custard powder that I had with me. It was Raspberry flavor, I made a paste of 2 Tablespoons of the same with 1/4 cup of milk, so that the lumps dissolved in the milk completely. Next I boiled the remaining of the milk from a 500 ml container, added 3 heaped Tablespoons of Sugar stirring continuously to dissolve the same and to reduce the  water content to make it condensed as possible. After 12- 15 mins of stirring, add the paste of the Custard powder and stir to completely dissolve the contents. Ensure that the water content reduces sufficiently. Turn of the heat ...