Of cheese and chilies.... *slurp*

Salut!

I don't usually go all gaga about food or any particular restaurants. I'm not the "foodie" and always-experimenting-with-new-food type of person.  But every once a while I find a dish or a place worth raving and gushing about. And one such place I'm now officially crazy about is Quattro. Located opposite Phoenix Mills, Lower Parel, Quattro is one place I recommend. My girlfriends and I randomly decided to try some place new; one suggested Quattro and we decided to give it a shot.

Like I said, I'm not really a foodie. Though I'm a sucker for cheese and cheese and cheese. So most of the things we did end up ordering from the Italian, Mexican menu card of Quattro was full of cheese.
So to begin with, we ordered Mocktails, Margaritas and Iced tea (FYI: they don't have a liquor license yet). They weren't mind-blowing, but the taste was regular. The drinks were served in massive glasses and the quantity sure was enormously gigantic!

For starters we ordered Cheese Fondue. *slurp* The fondue dip as such was brilliant with a nice garlic flavour. However, what I personally didn't really like here was the quality of the bread served along. It wasn't the right kind of crisp and was almost too hard to bite at the sides.
Next, we ordered a dish I don't remember the name of, but basically it was buttered rice with a nice vegetable dish. The gravy was delicious and the dish had an assortment of baby corn, capsicum, bell peppers and lots of other veggies.

Lastly, (I was saving the best for the last,) we had Chile Rellano. *water in my mouth*  Every, I repeat, Every time I think of Chile Rellano I have tears in my eyes. Not because it was spicy or anything, but it was just too god damn delicious. It is basically a gigantic chilly stuffed with cheese (and I think a wee bit of mashed potatoes. Not too sure.) But whatever it was, it sure blew my mind away. It was the perfect blend of the nearly bland taste of cheese and very mild hot flavour of the chilly teasing you.
Along with this meal, they served rice with beans and salad with a bit of sour cream.
They serve varied sauces on every table, and there were two worth trying. One was an olive sauce and another was a ginger and chilly sauce. Both are worth trying!

Surprisingly, for their quality of food and service, I think Quattro was cheap. For a group of  3, we ordered two starters, one main course meal and three drinks; and all of this cost us about 1500-1600. Cool, eh?

I think if you are a vegetarian, this is one place you'll love (due to lack of mention of any dead things, you can clearly tell I'm a vegetarian and a proud one at that.) Even if you aren't a vegetarian, I think Quattro won't disappoint and you'll definitely get some other cool vegetarian meal apart from cottage cheese.

Tell me if you like it. Or don't.

Au revoir,
Miss Bee.

I tweet on: http://twitter.com/#!/DevikaBharadwaj

P.S.- We missed out on the delicious looking desserts because we too full to consume even a single drop of water. Next time. :)

The extra-irritating league of Rickshaw men....

Namaskar!

A lot of people, and I mean, a LOT of people are under the impression that I totally hate Mumbai. To an extent, you guys are right (though hate is too strong an emotion to feel here). But hang on, don't get so smug yet. True that my love for Mumbai is at a constant decrease, but I see that happening to a lot who have lived in 'Bombay', if you know what I mean. So here, I'll rephrase Lord Byron's quote as: "I love not Mumbai the less, but Bombay more." You need no explanation about what I'm trying to say if you have lived in maximum city for 20 years or more.

So loathe me if you must, but I HAVE to crib about what's happening in Mumbai now. How am I supposed to resist it?  But luckily, this is one issue I bet most Mumbaikars are going nuts about, in a bad way. I'm talking about the darned Rickshaw wallahs of course.

This is one class of people who receive the choosiest of abuses from me, each and every day of my life (I'm not sharing which ones). Seriously. What the bloody hell do they want?
First the refuse to take you anywhere you want to go. Then they crib about not getting enough passengers. Then they want to increase the Rickshaw fares. They do increase the Rickshaw fares. They still say no to you to go anywhere. They still crib about not getting enough passengers. So they rig the meters of the ones they do get. But they are still complaining about not earning enough money. So they want to increase Rickshaw fares again. They do it again. But wait a minute, THEY BLOODY WANT TO DO IT AGAIN!

They want to earn 25,000 per month on a job where no prior experience, education qualification, interviews are required. Oh boy, I didn't earn even half of that as a writer, considering I had to apply to a million places despite of having all of the above and more.

If you still haven't heard about it, then you must read about the demands the Rickshaw wallahs and their instigating leader Mr. Sharad Rao (Union leader) is demanding. It is preposterous. There is no other word for it. When I read about what all they were asking for, my first reaction was to abuse, but then when the list went on, I couldn't help but laugh. And laugh I did for 20 minutes flat. Moreover, the Rickshaw wallahs are angry BECAUSE the R.T.O. caught them with rigged meters and are asking them to replace it? Something like this could only have happened in a country like ours, with the Government not being able to do much due to fear of putting a whole sector of votes in jeopardy before the election; and the R.T.O. too tensed and confused about what to do with people they can book guilty and send to jail.

Anyway, here are a few of their demands you might have missed, from my angle:

1) Government Employee status (which obviously includes pension, gratuity, health insurance, et al): Like we need more people like our Politicians in the government: uneducated, rich vagabonds plying on our extremely hard earned salary and taxes.
2) Ply Rickshaw on a shared basis: So that instead of taking the BEST, you travel from stop to stop in a Rickshaw.
3)Minimum mandatory income of 25,000/pm: For their par excellence educational and professional experience. *smirk*
4)Annual Fare revisions: Like they need that after earning 25,000/pm. Basically, this rule would ensure that in 5 years' time, Rickshaw service would be like that of a BEST bus and the fare would like that of a cab in New York. Mm Hmm...
5)Permission to go anywhere in the city: Dear Townies, are you ready? *evil laugh*

So if these very understandable demands of noble, hard-working Rickshaw wallahs aren't met by November 9, be ready with deodorants and pepper sprays to travel by train and buses; because my dear friend, you aren't getting the 3-seater vehicle ride after that. Or if you or mummy-puppa can afford it, time to buy that mouse-like Tata Nano.

Meanwhile, I am sticking to my No-Rickshaw-Come-What-May resolution. Fare badana hai, badhao. Nahi jaana hai, mat jao. It's them who won't be earning a thing if people don't use the rickshaw. And I have done my time spending hours, standing on the street getting no Rickshaw ride and paying much more than deserved due to tampered meters.

I hope Mr. Sharad Rao and his extra-irritating league of Rickshaw men find some sense. Or no passengers, poverty, realization, guilt and regret.

Au Revoir,
Miss Bee.

I tweet on: http://twitter.com/#!/DevikaBharadwaj
My website: http://www.shoestopper.com/