Look who's here? --Eagle Boys Pizza!

When you think of quick pizza in terms of international food chains, some of the popular ones in India pop up in your head. Not for long though now. Eagle Boys Pizza, an Australian pizza chain, has entered the Indian market and is surely going to woo you. You just need to give its classics a try.

So a friend and I had the opportunity to visit one of the newer franchises of Eagle Boys Pizza that has opened up in Mumbai’s Fort area at Sterling Cineplex. Who doesn’t love pizza, right? Well, with that in mind both of us were quite excited to try this new place and I am extremely glad that we did! It has opened doors to a newer, quick, non-fine dine, yet great pizza place for me at least.

The store is inside the Sterling Cineplex area so it has a food court kind of set up. For those of you who are wondering “where?”, it has opened up at the place where Nawab’s, a place serving Lucknowi food, used to be.

I had the pleasure of talking to the owner and he told us how when he had tried the Eagle Boys Pizza for the first time he was so fascinated by the concept that he just felt it as his responsibility to introduce this awesomeness to the palates of us Mumbaikars.  The concept of freshness, that is the USP of Eagle Boys, is actually a very basic necessity for all of us looking to eat well. Whereas a lot of places would, because of logistic reasons try to make their work easier and avoid the harder way, this place has not shied away from doing one major thing to bring to its customers the delight of freshness and it can be tasted in the crust of their pizzas. Instead of just sourcing their pizza base from some central place, each and every pizza base is prepared at the kitchen of the store. This has definitely amped up the taste and texture of the pizza that your teeth dig into at this place.

I shall give you my description of their food in the order that it was served to us.

We first started with the Spicy Garlic Scrolls (Rs. 89) featured under the “Sides” in the menu. The owner told us that unlike a lot of places that use cheese sauce in such rolls, Eagle Boys strictly uses freshly grated mozzarella and indeed this could be felt in that first bite that I took where the cheese stretch was never ending- just like it should be. However, on the taste front while the garlic and spice was full power doing justice to the name of the dish, the salt was a little lacking or at least was getting subdued by the crust- which I felt could have been done a little crispy so as to get that crackly feeling when biting into it.

For our round of mocktails we were served a glass of the Exotic Flavoured Mocktail and the Green Apple Mojito both of which are priced at Rs. 69 each. While the Green Apple Mojito was extremely refreshing, the Exotic Flavoured Mocktail is not something that I enjoyed so much so that it tasted a little cough syrupish to me. Maybe its just me but I know that's not something I'll be ordering at this place again.

We went ahead with the Tomato Penne Pasta (Rs. 99) and the first bite had that charred caramelized onion which just took our hearts away. The pasta was just the right amount of saucy and the flavour was great for a quick bite kind of pasta with crisp veggies.

Finally the pizzas arrived- BBQ Chicken and Spicy Chicken (Rs. 219 each for a 7" pizza). First things first- the crust of the pizza is what definitely makes this a good eat. Not flaky, not dry, not too doughy, just the right amount of thickness which complimented the toppings and the cheese very well. In no bite would you feel that "oh- that's just bread! Where are my toppings?" because that's how well spaced the toppings were. 

I am more of a spice lover so for me the Spicy Chicken definitely did it. My friend on the other hand is a BBQ person so well that's what he favourited. This just goes on to say that the flavours were bang on and yummy and depending on what kind of a foodie you are, you're surely going to find your pick here.

But this was not all. What we had for dessert, even though by now as you can imagine we were full up to our necks, blew our mind. So Eagle Boys does a Sweetzza (Rs. 99) which is basically chocolate pizza and is a great dessert in terms of taste. This was sort of a chunky version of the chocolate pizzas that many of you must have tried and this was really good. The texture of the spread on top with the soft pizza crust is what will keep you coming back for more!

As far as the service goes, the staff was extremely courteous and helpful. Ask them anything and they’ll be glad to help you out or tell you more about the place or the food.

Will I go there again? Most definitely, whenever I am next in the area. (Sweetzza yummy!)

Where is it? Sterling Cinema, Marzaban Road Cinema Lane, Fort, Mumbai Contact: 022 33956057/ 67493939/ 67494040/ 65060001 (Note: This review is restricted to the Fort outlet of Eagle Boys Pizza only.)

A Tribute to the Best Butter Chicken Ever!

And the month long vacation is over. A whole month of pampering, lots of home food, snuggling and cozying in the bed with warm blankets while sleeping without an alarm- basically a month of bliss just got over. But was I excited to come back to Bombay? Hell yeah! I love this city and going away periodically to catch a break is great, in fact required, but you just want to return because nothing like Bombay and its food.

Talking about food, well there was a lot of cooking that I did back at home. It’s simpler there because of the bigger kitchen, mom’s helping hand, the enthusiasm which can only escalate with a mother around and family waiting eagerly to try the next dish that comes hot right out of the kitchen. Because there were so many things I wanted to try out and learn we would actually make lists of things to be cooked. Imagine that! And because there was so much cooking involved and new dishes that we were trying out that none of us really ever felt the need to go out and eat dinner. That is just reaching a whole different level I feel. However, there are two places that come what may, I just have to visit whenever I visit Dehradun. Today I am going to talk about one of these two constants.

A lot of us know the President Hotel as “Presis” and that probably comes from the incessant need to give a short form to everything, a habit which developed back in school (read “hospi” for hospital; “stretchi” for a stretch band”; “baski” for basketball; “gulabo” for gulab jamun; the list is actually endless but I’ll finish here). For those who don’t know, the President Hotel is one of the oldest and extremely well reputed hotels in Dehradun and is situated at Astley Hall on Rajpur Road which is the heart of the city. As I was in a boarding school, I know that parents of a lot of my school mates would put up here whenever visiting the city. But what this place is extremely famous for is its restaurant- The Pavilion. However, the restaurant is also more commonly referred to as “Presis”.

“Presis” is a multi cuisine restaurant serving decent Italian, Mughlai, Continental and Thai food. I remember back in the school days we would have standard orders which would include the Fettuccine, Chicken sizzler, Crispy Veg, Honey Chili Potatoes, and the most loved Butter Chicken.

About the Butter Chicken- I can go on to make a remark as high as that it’s the best Butter Chicken I have ever tasted and that is after having had Butter Chicken in various parts of Delhi and having tried it in Punjab (Amritsar and Chandigarh). This Butter Chicken is orange, has a creamy and smooth gravy, is spiced to perfection and the chicken used by the restaurant is succulent and full of flesh. It is "not mara hua” as my dad would say. I mean of course its “mara hua” but you get the drift I am sure. You do get an option of the boneless version but I avoid that as I follow the rule that meat on the bone is the juiciest- which is also another great thing about the Butter Chicken here- extremely flavourful and juicy. You can just order this with your choice of bread (recommended: Garlic Naan), accompany it with pickled onions and that would be a meal that you would categorize as your best meal for a very very long time.

One thing that this Butter Chicken is not--- sweet. I am aware of the school of thought that Butter Chicken is “supposed” to be sweet and in fact that’s the kind of butter chicken that is served almost throughout Mumbai. But if visiting Dehradun or even passing by it, do let your taste buds have an experience of this Butter Chicken and you will know what I am talking about.

It has all of us so addicted to it that friends of mine have been known to get it packed, freeze it over night and then carry it with them to Delhi and Mumbai. I myself got some of this deliciousness back to Mumbai and had a friend taste it for the first time. She simply loved it and now understands what the fuss is all about.

I had this paired with some Garlic Naan and Tandoori Roti, pickled onions and ended the meal with a helping of the Caramel Custard. 

Wouldn’t say that this is the best Caramel Custard that I have had in my life, because that award goes to the Caramel Custard served at Britannia in Mumbai (read about it here), but I can guarantee you that you’ll like it a lot and on the whole this will be one meal that will leave you with a lot of happy food memories and cravings that can only end with a visit to the valley.

So being a fulltoosh Punjabi, this was my tribute to the best Butter Chicken that I have ever tasted and grown up eating. Still in search for something which comes even close to this here in Mumbai. Recommendations are welcome!

Will I go there again? Absolutely! Each and every time I visit Dehradun and more than once.

Where is it? 6, Astley Hall, Rajpur Road Dehradun. Contact: 0135 2657386

(The author dined there anonymously and her dad paid for this meal.)

Pineapple Crumble: Crumbly Delight

Crumbly warm sweet and gooey- this texture and taste with a dollop of vanilla ice cream (or not), is what’s going to keep you smiling from ear to ear. And that too when you prepare it in your own kitchen for your loved ones using the goodness of fruits! A dessert that simple which doesn’t require much; just some basic ingredients, teeny weeny bit of effort, a warm oven to bake in and of course, your love- Yes, that’s all we need for preparing a wickedly good Pineapple Crumble.

I learnt this  when I went for  few cooking classes to The Culinaria, started by Radhicka Agarwal of MasterChef India 2010 fame. You can check out the facebook page of The Culinaria for more information on classes and other cooking tips.

Here you go with the ingredients!

For the Crumble

Butter- 150 gm, chilled and cut into small cubes

Castor Sugar- 100 gm

Flour- 200 gm

For the Fruit Filling

Pineapple- 1, chopped (Alternatively you can use a tin of pineapples)

Castor Sugar- ½ to ¾ cup (depending on how much of a sweet tooth you have) (If using canned Pineapple skip the castor sugar since the pieces are already in syrup).

Butter- 1 tbsp

Cinnamon Powder- ½ tsp

For baking, right temperature and exact measurement of ingredients is extremely essential, so a word of advice would be to have a set of measuring cups and spoons in your kitchen.

Method:

•  Pre-heat oven to 180°C.
• To prepare the crumble, take flour, castor sugar and the small cubes of butter in a bowl and rub it with your fingers to form bread crumbs like texture. Please ensure that you use chilled small cubes of butter and do not use your palms to get the bread crumb type texture- strictly and only finger tips.
• For the fruit filling, mix the castor sugar, chopped pineapple, cinnamon and butter till all gets dissolved.
• Grease an oven proof dish with butter and pour the pineapple mixture in the dish. The pineapple will be watery but don’t worry about that.
• Evenly and generously coat the pineapple filling with the crumble mixture.
  
• Bake in the pre-heated oven for 35-40 minutes or till the crust turns slightly goldenish brown.
• Serve hot with whipped cream or ice cream. GORGE!