In Love at Bangkok!

I had the opportunity to travel to Bangkok, Thailand in December 2011, I visited only a few places in the city, one of my favorite places was this beautiful restaurant called In Love located on the banks of Chaophraya River near Rama 4 Bridge. Its absolutely splendid :) Perfect spot if you are like moi.  I had no idea such a place existed, but my friend L took me there, we were further joined by her family and friends who were so warm and kind. The only regret i have is that i did not have my digital camera with me :( however I 'have uploaded this video from Youtube  :) also i have clicked some really-blurry cell phone pictures with no flash! <closes her eyes with her palms> 

I dint have my digital camera with me through the trip, all i have to share are these dinky, blurry, blackberry camera pictures :( I am absolutely certain it won't do justice to the food or the place, but here goes ..

Magnificent view of the Rama 4 Bridge - it was spectacular!

It was a perfect spot to spend an evening with friends and family.

Thai -style veggie soup , it was served in a vessel which was placed over flame to keep the soup warm through the meal- the soup was YUM!

Thai green curry with fish balls, egg plant and fresh salad

Deep fried fresh water fish with egg plant salad, fresh peanut sauce and fresh cut vegetables.

Delicious deep fried fresh water fish served with spicy chilli and garlic sauce and fresh vegetables - SUPER YUM!

We devoured everything :)

A super yummy dinner, fantastic location and great company :) on the whole fantastic evening. 

Crimson Chakra and Cornucopia

I am blessed with a long list of dear friends who make me feel Life is worthwhile even when I am 50 feet under rock bottom, for those true souls I try my best to be there when they need a hug, a shoulder to cry or just a head bobber who can listen.  Few weeks back one such dear friend of mine and I were a bit worried about something but instead of letting it bother us too much we figured the best way to beat the blues was to have a slumber party !!! No No No Please don't think teens in pink pyjamas having a pillow fight, our slumber party was more like 2 grown women in mid twenties meeting up after work and having a nice long conversation, sipping warm tea together, reading books and yes you guessed it treating ourselves to a fine dinner :)
We decided to go to Crimson Chakra and Cornucopia for dinner :)

Spicy Chicken Soup

We ordered a light pepper based thin soup which had a generous dose of chicken and mixed vegetables. It was Yummy Spicy!

For starters we took crab cakes, Oh goodie it was soo good I created a seperate post just for the crab cakes :D click here to view it

The crab cakes were aromatic, soft and tasty , sprinkled with chopped spring onions, served with a side salad, a mint chutney and a cheese dip !

Moving on to main course!

Frankly my friend and I wanted to order another helping of crab cakes but the main course had arrived by then , and boy we dont have any regrets!

I ordered a mildly flavoured fish fillet, which was marinated in fragrant herbs and cooked with olive oil, flavoured with Jalepenos with a side serving of blanched vegetables and choice of either baked, roasted or mashed potatoes, I picked roasted potatoes.

Absolutely delectable!

My friend ordered Chicken breasted stuffed and cooked with minced mushrooms served with brown sauce, with a side salad of blanched vegetables and roasted potatoes.

By the time we were done, we could barely exhale, leave alone move :P, but dinner without dessert would be like life without love, so we decided to pick one dish and shared it (don't you feel dessert tastes sweeter when shared with a friend).

We chose the Elaneer/Tender Coconut Souffle!

Elaneer Souffle from Heaven

I had to create a seperate post just for this Elaneer (Tender Coconut Souffle) click here to read.

Try to visit Crimson Chakra and Cornucopia you will love it just as I did :)

Epilogue
As for us we walked back home laughing all the way and sharing jokes, recollecting fond memories whilst making plans to stay up all night and having a movie marathon ... however we crashed 5 minutes after we reached home and woke up after 10 hours of sleep - not exactly what we planned for but definately  rejuvenated:)

~Fin~

Fusion Grill Food

Do you  love grilled as much as I do? Then you will love Fusion Grilled food!

 You have to try the Fusion Grilled Food at Feugo

I have been here few times before so it is a safe bet :) 

A friend of mine was visiting India for a small trip we decided to catch up for dinner at Feugo, we spent 2 hrs chatting , laughing and enjoying the food and din't even know how time flew by!

Chicken Satay

We ordered chicken satay - a popular South Asian dish which consists of strips of marinated chicken grilled and served on a skewer, with a side serving of a smooth and mildly spicy peanut sauce :) Mmmm my mouth is watering just recollecting the sauce/dipping

Sesame Chicken

I am not much of a soup person so we went to the main course without much fuss , I ordered the Sesame Chicken which was serve with mashed potatoes, garden salad and choice of pasta or herb rice, I chose pasta with red sauce to go with my sesame chicken.

My friend is super fond of fish so she chose grilled fish marinated with Indian masala and served with mashed potatoes and salad and a choice of pasta or herb rice.

Grilled red snapper, marinated with Indian masala and served with herb rice and fresh salad was a delectable meal and it smelled like heaven.

We enjoyed our meal so much and I look forward to going back to Feugo again .. But before i leave let me leave you with  a sweet note.. Dessert!

Apple Crumble with Ice cream

Clearly I was stuffed like a turkey on thanks giving day but how can I say no dessert ! So my friend and I decided to share the dessert :) A warm Apple Crumble with a scoop of Vanilla Ice Cream! A perfect way to end a perfect day!

Elaneer Souffle & Goat Tales

My friend and I treated  ourselves to a fine dinner at Cornucopia & Crimson Chakra on Onam day to kick start a loooooooong week end earlier this month. I will create a seperate post for the dinner we had but for now I am gonna sweet talk :P  

DESSERT!! 

Tender Coconut Souffle

Desserts are like mistresses......They are bad for you. So if you are having one , you might as well have two!

There is nothing that could describe "Elaneer Souffle" better than the quote above! I highly recommend you try it if you visit Crimson Chakra! I solemnly swear you will not regret it! I generally love the flavor of tender coconut so I think I am rambling on way more than usual :P

Comedy Times

It kinda reminds me of recent  funny incident which happened during the Ramzan day long drive my parents and I took few weeks back!  My parents and I went on an nice drive to Mahabalipuram on en route we pulled over to get a fresh drink ~ tender coconut water from one of the hundred vendors along the high way..

I  got myself a nice huge tender coconut chopped open and just as I was ready to SLLURRRRRRRRP away I noticed that I was being watched very closely .. by a mysterious stranger... Oh Goodie a GOAT! A nice plump, ferocious goat (I know I know)! It would not stop starring at me (and my tender coconut )! My parents asked me to just ignore the animal and convinced me it was absolutely harmless and no it is not ferocious! But the darn thing won't go away and no it won't stop looking at me either.  By then I just realized  the poor soul wanted to quench its thirst much like me, so here is what happened..

When I offered the goat the tender coconut it looked at me right in the eye as if to say 'Thanks Dudette' :P or may be it was just curious whether my camera was edible : D

Well I might not be Mother Teresa but I love animals and I loved to watch the mischievous goat slurp the coconut water and chomp away on the tender coconut flesh inside right out of my hand :) No no it was not one bit scary ~ it was much like feeding a friendly puppy dog  :D 

MASH @ Besant Nagar

So finally I went to much praised, critically acclaimed MASH at Besant Nagar...how did i like it? Errr hmm ..Let me put it this way ..My mom raised me such that if i dont have any thing nice to say i dont say anything at all ...

Fiery Fotato

Hot chocolate

Kalamari Fritters

Kalamari with Lemon garlic butter sauce

chicken sizzler

MASH

~Fin~

 Ok I admit I m kinda sorta very disappointed given that I've heard soooooooooo much about this place..

Evening @ Azzuri

A few friends and I have been planning for dinner treat and an evening out for the past 6 months !! and finally we made it :) so after discussing a lot we decided to go some place we haven't been before. We chose Azzuri bay! 

A quite evening on a roof top restuarant over looking the Adyar river~ Azzuri Bay

View of the river from Azzuri Bay

"Buddha is my homeboy"~ Shabana :)

Interesting lampshade

Phuket fish

A fish fillet marinated and baked with herbs and spices, i loved every bite of it that i forgot to click a proper pic :)

Dessert!

A shaky -blurry view of the adyar river from Azzuri

P.S. In case you guys are wondering what happened to the food pics- here is a confession the food was soo good that Quintessential foodie forgot to click pictures of the food! 

So cheesy @ Bella Ciao!

Prologue 

From the day I decided to start blogging about food, my cooking sprees have drastically gone down and I' am suffering from loss of appetite and haven't been eating out much either :P . My Dr Amma and I have been trying to figure out whether I'm suffering from the any of the following Chikungunya-Muttongunya, Malaria-Loveria or Typhoid-Scarfoid :P However I dint want to go on without posting anything so I dug up some pics and some really fond memories for this post.

Disclaimer: Guys I  don't have anything new -hot from the oven ,instead I am gonna serve you all food from my fridge- lil old memories :)  Please bear with me!

Bella Ciao 

"The trouble with eating Italian food is that five or six days later, you are hungry again"

~ George Miller

Starters

Few months back few of us from work went to Bella Ciao, for dinner, it was a lovely evening, perfect weather,  moon rise over the sea and lots of laughter. Hmmm I remember laughing a lot but I don't remember  the jokes :P  Bella ciao has two branches one at Nungambakkam and another at Thiruvanmiyur (Bang opp a quiet beach) 

"When the waitress asked if I wanted my pizza cut into four or eight slices, I said, 'Four. I don’t think I can eat eight." ~ Yogi Berra

Thin crust pizza

 I am not a pizza person at all but I ate the thin crust pizza @ Bella Ciao with no complains and yes I think it cos I enjoyed it :)

Grilled Shrimp, roasted potatoes and salad

 For my main course I had grilled shrimp with salad and side serving of roasted potatoes, I love potatoes I think its one veggie that at least 3 out of 5 individuals consider their favorite :) and I m nuts about Shrimp I know it can be quite a task to shell it but who care its sooo YUM!
 

Merlot

You can order Merlot or Chardonnay along with your meal as for me I am teetotaler so I had a glass of cool water in which someone accidentally dropped a piece of Fusilli :D

Moon light

The view from my outdoor table, the moon shinning through the Casuarina trees gently swaying in the sea breeze. It was a day before full moon nevertheless the moon was at her best. I haven't gone to Bella Ciao since then but I will soon :)


P.S "Never eat more than you can lift. "~Miss Piggy