The Ant Blog

Follow my blog with Bloglovin A mid-week lunch between work can be great fun, and more so when it is pre-planned and you know where you're heading. However, one thing lead to another, and I got late for this lunch. So I was relieved to see them letting patrons in quite past lunch hours. It was an all day dining apparently! so far so good! I ordered for the Grilled Tenderloin strips and the Mini Lamb sliders. Ok! so let me get this straight the Grilled Tenderloin strips were lip-smacking, and they tasted as good as they look in this picture. And so were the sliders, delicious and full of flavor.I can safely say that in my next trip to Eddies I will order for these two dishes without thinking twice! For me, it ticked all the boxes. Grilled Tenderloin strips at Eddies Bistro  Miniature Lamb Burger at Eddies Bistro  Moving on to the mains, I ordered a Chicken Paprika Stroganoff while my fried went with a Grilled Chicken. While my chicken was cooked perfectly, th...

I recollect this evening with a lot of fondness. The Monsoon season has kicked in , and the showers are typically incessant in Mumbai. On this particular day however the rains were intermittent. We had driven down to South Mumbai to the one end of the city at the  NCPA for an evening performance. The show got over at 9:15 pm and left us with a myriad choices to catch a grub from. After debating for a while, we drove to one of the closest eat-outs The Tea Centre. I had heard of this place a lot, so was happy to pay a visit. The place has an old world charm, and has the look and feel of an era gone by. The name of the place  reciprocates in their menu, where the first few pages are dedicated to various kinds of flavors and blends available. It was late and the diners were all having their dinner. So we thought of trying our ' chai ' at the end of the meal. We ordered for our starters, Chicken with sauteed mushroom and onion , and Chicken Catchatori.       ...

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. ...

Theobroma is arguably one of the finest Bakers in town. We have had our share of delectable pastries and cakes from here over the years. But it was only recently that we thought of of giving their Breakfast menu a try. They have an outlet quite close to where we live, so on a rainy Sunday morning we ditched our home food and went there for our breakie.. and man, were we pleased! English Breakfast at Theobroma The Interior is very tastefully done, with pale colors and lighting. We seated ourselves and ordered for an English Breakfast and an Egg Benedict . We also wanted to try the Chicken Quiche that the waiter recommended and a Chicken puff pastry. Our Quiche and Puff pastry came in quite quickly. Both of them were good. The Quiche had the perfect texture with a delicious filling. The Puff pastry was also very good.                                           ...

It took me less than 10 minutes to bring this together over a Thursday, and I was over the moon with the final product! Sangria and wine are the two things I absolutely adore, and when I came across this recipe I knew I had to try it at home.  Deby and I have been partners in crime for too long to keep a count, so who better than her to share my recipe with! Ingredients for Red wine Sangria Red wine- 1 Bottle,  preferably Merlot   Lemon- 1, cut into wedges Orange- 1, cut into wedges Sugar- 2 Tablespoon fine sugar (Castor sugar works well) Apple- 1, Peeled and cut into small pieces Brandy- 1 shot (optional) Ginger Ale or Club Soda- 2 cups Method for Red Wine Sangria: Pour wine in a pitcher and squeeze in the lime and orange wedges (ensure you remove the seeds out). Toss in the fruit wedges in the pitcher. Add in the apple pieces. Now add the sugar and brandy. Chill this mix for a good 3-4 hours (preferably overnight)...

I have grown up in a family which loves seafood, and more so I have grown up in Goa. So the smell of the sea calls out to me. However, growing up I do not remember seeing my mother cook crabs at home. So I  thought of breaking the tradition by cooking some at home and sharing it with mom. I live in Mumbai now, for over a decade, but this is also the coastal belt and the produce are a lot similar. So I borrowed this recipe from a dear friend, a few weeks back and tried my hands on it.                                                    Crab Masala cooked Maharashtrian style It looks gorgeous, but is quite a simple recipe. Ingredients for Crab Masala: Crabs- Cleaned, 4-5 medium sized Garlic- 10 cloves, crushed and chopped roughly Bay leaf- 2 Asefoetida- 1/4 teaspoon Onions- 2 large Tomato- 1 large Chili Powder- 3 teaspoons Turmeric Powde...

This is a double whammy of a dish. It is simply my take on a stuffed Bagel , one could stuff it with their desired kind of ingredients. I for one love the sesame crusted Bagels, to go with my Chicken Teriyaki . It is quite a simple dish, yet full of flavor and serves as a heavy snack.                                           Stuffed Bagel ready to be eaten! A good Teriyaki sauce gives grilled chicken a rich auburn color. Our homemade version includes just the right amount of ginger to give it an equally appealing taste. While you can also use boneless breasts for this recipe, boneless thighs stay moister during grilling. MARINADE for the Teriyaki Chicken 1/4 cup Ketchup 1/4 cup Hoisin sauce 2 tablespoons Soy sauce 2 tablespoons Rice vinegar 2 teaspoons minced fresh Garlic 2 teaspoons minced fresh Ginger 2 teaspoons Sesame oil 400 g boneless, skinless chicken...

The week before last, we had a wonderful Sunday brunch at VongWong ’s. It was a clean stretch of a drive on Sunday, straight up to Nariman point located next to the Oberoi Hotel. I was quite hungry as we had arrived late for lunch. We decided to go with their Sunday brunch menu. I ordered for the Strawberry cooler drink, while my husband went for a Pinacolada . Brunch Salads on the Right and Desserts on the Left at VongWong Strawberry coolie at VongWong I tried portions of most of their Salad options from the spread, and they were good. I quite liked the Seafood salad, and the Prawn cocktail . There was also a Crispy Duck in spring rolls option, which we tried. The duck was cooked in Hoisin sauce , I believe and was a little too sweet for my palate. Crispy duck rolls at VongWong Next we ordered from the Dumplings and Starter options. Among the dumplings , we had a portion each of : prawn and garlic chive dumpling, wasabi prawn dumpling, chicken...

It is in recent times that my husband has developed quite a palate for Japanese food. I have a great fondness for the cuisine too. So we often scout for new  Jap  hang-outs. We visited Kofuku a couple of weeks ago on a Friday night. When we entered, the place was roaring with laughter and chatter of young crowd. Since we planned it at the end moment, we did not get a regular table and instead got a place over the sushi bar. I like facing the kitchen directly since I get to see the goings-on in there, so I was happy. We quickly ordered our Sake and a plate of non-vegetarian Maki Boston Roll to go with that.      Sake at Kofuku                                             Boston Roll (non vegetarian Maki) at Kofuku The Maki was well made. Next we ordered a plate of Okonomi Yaki, which is a form of non-vegetarian pancake. We ordered our...

This dish happened to us, on a weekday night! I say so because we were very happily surprised with the outcome of my little experiment on that evening. With some left over minced Chicken and about 200 g of Prawns in my freezer, I could make nothing out of them. Then I thought of blending the two together and balancing the flavors, and it did turn out to be quite palatable.  So to begin with, I threw in the Chicken and Prawns in the blender, with 1 chili, 1/2 inch of ginger, 1 teaspoon of garlic, for the binding 1 slice of bread (cut into pieces) and some salt. For some added color and heat one can also add some Red chili powder (optional). Within seconds, this blitz was ready. I removed the contents in a mixing bowl and added 1 egg, and mixed the ingredients together. This mixture needs to be slightly firm and form lumps, in the form of balls or mini cakes. The Minced Chicken n Prawn mini cakes in all their glory! Ingredients for  Minced Chicken n Prawn mini...