Eating with the Expert; Four Things You Must Remember During a Meal at Arthur’s Theme

What would you cook, if a celebrity chef arrived at your doorstep? Confused? I was confused too. If I knew, I would be writing a book of my own titled; Recipes Mr. Big Shot Chef has never tasted. Not only is it tough to find unique recipes but also making them really delicious is colossal task. So, I decided to take Chef Rakesh Sethi of Mirch Masala fame, that telecasted on STAR Plus to a restaurant that I could trust. Lately, Chef Rakesh has been working on a show called Tea Time for Foodfood, where I met him while working for the channel. His knowledge and experience about food encouraged me to ask a lot of questions and once I was back in Pune, I invited him over to visit us with his family.

Chef Rakesh Sethi and Me

The reason I chose Arthur’s Theme in Lane 6, Koregaon Park to take him for lunch on a Sunday afternoon was that everyone I know loves that place. Although, for a high profile Chef the menu of Arthur’s Theme wasn’t really unique, they do have some unique names and the food is fresh and tastes good. I am so glad that I wasn’t in the kitchen making that Brown Sauce or the Hot Chocolate Fudge. It is tough to impress a man who knows that the Fudge has been cooked for 10 minutes instead of 7 minutes which is the precise duration for which it should be cooked.  

When we arrived with Chef Rakesh’s teenage, twin boys and his friendly wife we were warmly welcomed by a gentleman who was dressed in casual clothes. We gathered that he might be the owner or a friend or relative of the owner since he was not formally dressed like the rest of the staff he also seemed the more concerned about guest satisfaction than the rest of the staff. We were seated by the glass, the preference for water was inquired and the embarrassing faded menus were handed over to us.  When I take a formal guest to a good restaurant, I do not expect the menu card to look used and faded, might as well not give me the menu and just read out the options like on a roadside dhaba. The menu had a wide selection of what is often referred to as continental dishes primarily French and Italian, a few oriental and some options that could pass as an Indian dish given their similarity to Indian descriptions. The wine list was concise but an interesting combination of whites and reds, rose and sparkling, Indian and Imported.

 First : If you are accompanied by a guest on one of your trips to Arthur’s Theme, please be sure to either, all order the same soup or tell the waiter to bring them to your table at the same time. On this instance, the Minestrone was served ten minutes before the other soups being the Guy of Warwick, the seafood soup and the Ationette, the mushroom soup. Our guests had to wait for ten minutes before they could start eating their soup and by the time our soups were served, theirs were cold and the taste did not matter anymore. All Chef Rakesh said was, ‘It is Garlicky’. The seafood soup was mellow and subtly flavoured with herbs, while the Mushroom soup had was delicious also dominated by the flavour of garlic. But the taste of the soup did not matter to me after being embarrassed in front of my guests.

Minestrone

Second : Make sure you have the waiter repeat the order. We had ordered two fresh lime sodas for Chef’s twin sons. Only one was served at the table and the waiter forgot about the other one. I offered to remind and bring another soda but by then the twins were already sharing the one that was served.

Chef Sethi trying Napolean

Third : Do not order Napolean and Henry VIII, both chicken dishes at the same table if you are intend to share both dishes or try something new, like we did. Both these dishes have the same sauce, the only difference being Henry VIII had a slight wine flavour. Other dishes included Humbert which was Paneer Shaslik with tomato sauce on a bed of rice, the twins said it tasted good, Chef liked it as well. Ferdinand, this was mushrooms and paneer in a creamy tomato sauce, full of flavour, rich and wonderful. Amanda was chicken with a barbeque sauce, I did not get to try this, by the time I got to it, it was over, so I am guessing that it must have been good. Napolean and Henry VIII are both chicken dishes with brown sauce and pepper flavour. Henry VIII with the ‘chef’s special wine flavoured sauce’ was nice but the chicken was slightly overcooked making it dry and stringy on the inside.

Napolean

Henry VIII

Fourth : This is a strict MUST NOT DO if you don’t want to spoil the flavour of your wonderful meal, DO NOT eat that mint they serve at the end of the meal. It tastes stale and has a chalk-like quality. It totally tortures your tongue and makes you want to buy another mint from the close-by vendor.

Hot Chocolate Fudge

To mention the dessert, I thought it was delicious but ‘the expert’ said it was three minutes over the time of cooking! That means even though the Hot Chocolate Fudge was yummy, it could still be yummier, there was room for improvement. Well, that is the benefit of dining with the expert. The experience was Arthur’s Theme was good. Fine company and good food made for a lovely, satisfying Sunday afternoon. I would like to thank Chef Rakesh Sethi for his pearls of wisdom while dining with me. 

Rating 7.5 on 10

The Great Punjab Expectations: The Confessions of a Butteroholic

You know one of those evenings when you are thinking about that Oh! So buttery, out of this world flavour of dal makhani, when you are just craving to get some of that rich, creamy taste in your mouth and which makes you want to lick your fingers to get that last delicious drop of dal. On one such evening about a week ago, I had called for some dal makhani, vegetable kadhai, reshmi kebabs and roomali rotis from the Great Punjab branch of Baner Road. This branch of ‘Great Punjab’ opened over a year ago in this vicinity and a couple of my friends and family members have been frequent visitors ever since. I have eaten at Great Punjab a couple of times and I was craving for their dal makhani. My anticipation was driving me up the wall when that dal was finally delivered at my doorstep but as soon as I hurriedly opened the box and tasted the dal, my beautiful dream, my imagination shrunk to bits. That flavour which makes us want to wipe the vessel with our fingers and enjoy every bit of that dal, was missing. The dal makhani I ate on last Wednesday, tasted like any other dal and dal makhani is not just any other dal, it is ‘The Dal’. The dal makhani did not have that smell of freshly ground spices and that buttery flavour that we love. The vegetable kadhai and roomali rotis tasted decent. The reshmi kebabs weren’t juicy, they seemed dry and bland. 

After the comsi comsa food last week, my family wasn’t interested in going to dinner at The great Punjab this week, ‘Why spoil an evening?’ said Dad yet I could not let that hope of a Butterilicious Dal makhani shrink to bits and just to save my hope, I insisted on paying a visit to the same branch of Great Punjab again. In all fairness to Great Punjab, a lot of things can go wrong in the taste of the food if the delivery man gets delayed after he has picked up the food from the restaurant. I wanted to sample the same items once again to let you know if the quality of food at this place has gone down, or is it just the food delivered at your doorstep that suffers low quality.

I threw a tantrum, not leaving them a choice, my mom, dad and sister complied. We were seated at a table up the stairs. The dining area was spacious with deep brown, wooden furniture, along with big jars of pickle to enhance the aesthetics of the room. The restaurant staff was courteous and polite, I looked at the list of North-Indian delicacies, just to review my options. I knew what I wanted. After placing the order, I observed the people seated around us, a family with two little children, the children seemed distracted and not really into their meal, their mother kept forcing them to eat while their father was really engaged in eating, he seemed to be enjoying his meal.   As for my table, I was having a pleasant evening, conversing with my family and in a couple of minutes the food was served. 

This time the dal makhani at Great Punjab was good, it was really really good, it was Butterilicious! The smell of ground spices and the richness of cream and butter, it was the kind that would make you want to lick off your fingers. I am glad I did not give up hope, and I am sure that my family was glad as well. That taste would linger in my memory for days, calling me back to Great Punjab. Turns out, that the quality of food at Great Punjab has not gone down and the dal makhani will make your mouth water. Roomali rotis, again, well, why not roomali rotis at this place are soft and large, besides I enjoy ordering something I haven’t learnt how to make. The combination of rotis, dal and kebab is made in heaven. The reshmi kebab, a boneless chunk of chicken was juicy and flavourful but it was mildly spiced and somewhat mildly seasoned as well, with the dal accompanying it, a little less salt in the kebab was a favour to my taste buds. It was an evening well spent. That day, when I had the food delivered might have been a one off day for Great Punjab or the delay would have taken a toll on the taste of the food. I think I can rely on Great Punjab for a good meal and I can’t wait to sample some more of its dishes.

Great Punjab = Good Food + Good Service + Good Ambience + Valet Parking

Rating = 8 on 10

What's Next???

I will be sampling a few dishes from the menu of ‘The Great Punjab’ which is a famous, old brand in Restaurants. Its Baner branch opened over a year ago and some of my friends have been faithful customers ever since. I have frequented the place in the past, but last week I ordered some food home and I did not enjoy my meal this time. I will be visiting the restaurant, to find out whether the quality of its food has gone down or is it the food delivered to your doorstep that suffers the compromise on food quality.

What's the Blog all about???

Pune’s big heart, or rather big stomach has fit in it dishes from different parts of India and cuisines from around the world.  
In this set of articles, my aim will be to visit the old and new ‘eating addas’ in and around Pune, that boast about attracting my greedy friends, trying them out and telling you, whether they are really worth the money, or the fuel you spent, in trying to get there. Food matters, Experience matters and so I will review Pune’s long -time favourites and let you know whether there is a change in the experience and sample the new additions on their menu along with the old hot-favorites.
When the mood was perfect, the company was perfect and the place wasn’t, haven’t you wished that somebody had warned you earlier? I am only writing to save you from the disasters that some of those otherwise perfect evenings can be. The food, the service and of course the company you are in decides whether or not you will be coming back to that place. Sometimes, the ambience, the cutlery and valet parking is on our priority list, yet before we sign that big fat cheque what matters is the experience, an evening well spent on. Whether it is fine dining, a pizza joint or a small, corner hawker that sells missal pao, I will be looking for Freshness, Flavour, Germ-free food with good Service. 
If you share my values of Food matters, Experience matters, are enthusiastic about trying out something new and looking for fresh, clean and yummy food, I hope you will enjoy reading on.

A Little About Me...

Twenty years ago, I moved from the land of aloo chaat, chhole bhature and tandoori chicken to the land of wada pao, pao bhaaji and kombdi cha rassa. I grew up eating kande pohe and sabudana khichdi, I think it is safe to call me a Puneri Mulgi. I have spent innumerable afternoons outside Vaishali, just to have their lip smacking SPDP (Sev Puri Dahi Puri), sabudana wadas and special dosas(with loni on top). My idea of a perfect evening is cutting chai, kande bhajee and Pune rains. I was always crazy about food or rather good food, so I spent the better half of my teen years studying in a Hotel Management school in Mumbai where I trained in the kitchen, bakery and learnt  about world cuisines. I travelled to UK to study journalism, during the course I had the opportunity to visit Germany, France, Italy and Switzerland where I learnt about European culture and cuisine. After all that I had eaten, the versatility and scientific application that goes into Indian cuisine moved me the most. It is difficult to describe the cuisine of our roots, my study about ayurvedic cooking has made me proud of the vastness and the science behind the sea of recipes that is called ‘The Indian Cuisine’. We Puneris have an appetite for Indian, Italian, Oriental or anything new that we can lay our hands, so long as the food is fresh, hygienic and yummy!