I Spikka di Italiano ?

There is this rather nice restaurant called Italiano in Gurgaon. Oddly enough it's located a bit off the beaten track and is nowhere close to any of the normal hangouts. Enough about the geography and on to the food. The short eats viz. Bruschettas, garlic bread are decent. The Pizzas were good but not quite in the same class as Vera Pizza. The revelation was the sole which was done just right. While the food was not standout by any chance it was competently done Italian. A word about the wine list and alcohol though - Just because the wine is Australian does not mean its good and of course the maitre'd was completely clueless and kept repeating. And 800 bucks for 2 pegs of 100 pipers ? Now thats being cruel.

I spy Ivy

Ivy is a nice pleasant place much like Banyan Tree. The only difference is that Ivy is by the Indage guys and supposedly to propogate wine drinking. Well we did end up having 4 different wines (by the glass mind you) but the experience was so so. While the wines were reasonably priced with the most expensive topping out at 175 bucks a glass the storage seemed to be indifferent. While the more expensive wines which perhaps were not selling well were a wee bit corked the cheaper wines were decent. The food was competent although the olives in the spaghetti seemed to have a herd instinct and the feta cheese in the salad was a wee bit inadequate. The bruschettas and garlic breads were done well. The desserts are from Prive and hopefully good. One sour note though was that they have a impressive listing of wines for sale but the non Indian wines were largely unavailable and what was available were all stuff produced in house. Anyone tried Tiger Hill and found it to be tart or is it just me ?

Pot full of Pourri

Pot Pourri at Bandra is sort of like the place we never go to because everyone raves about it. Anyway finally did go there and the food frankly was decent. The Chicken wings were done very well (Actual chicken wings mind you not the bloody excuses u get elsewhere). The Salads were nice (Zucchini actually did taste good) and the mashed potato was just done so right. The beef was so so and I believe the beef burger was also good since all I got was the bread. The patty was consumed by a unnamed friend of mine. The Goulash was not as gruesome as it could have been and the lamb was ok. Uncannily enough the sauces were good enough to mask any deficiencies so wonder if Underneath the Banyan Tree learnt from Pot Pourri or the otherway around ? The desserts at Underneath The Banyan Tree were way better. I wonder why all the desserts at Pot Pourri were so chocolate based ????

Underneath The Banyan Tree

The Banyan Tree is a very nice place to be. While their meats are a bit so so their sauces are insanely good. And with a great sauce everything tastes wonderful. Their desserts are bliss. Nice small place with a eager to please staff. One of the few places in mid town where you get half decent pancakes and waffles at breakfast with a good choice of breads.......