Point of Conquest - Paani Kam Chai, Frazier Town

Raiders on mission - Santosh, Suhas, Kartik, Sudhakar

Overview of Ground Zero: Every year during the holy month of ramzan, M M Road in Frazier town turns into a food circus of sorts. Last year I raided the very same place. I ate like I was fasting the whole day.Paani Kam Chai is one of the most popular joints for iftaar during these days

The Conquest: I was running late. The iftaar raid was already late by a week!! the previous week it had rained so bad the city had come to a stand still and the following week I had a concert at Herbs'n'Spice, Indiranagar. So I had to squeeze the raid before soundcheck. This was going to be hard but I had made up my mind that the raid will happen and my men won't go hungry!! The rendezvous was to be at Barista, Frazier town but by the time I left home it was getting late. So I decided to head straight to Paani Kam Chai and call the raiders there directly. Rajat and Sharada were already in Frazer town, waiting for me but since, I was running late they decided to go ahead and start their raid anyway. But Santosh, Suhas and Kartik joined me as soon as I got there....and then began the raid. Below are the spoils and ruins of the raid!!

When the country is trying to keep a straight face after the verdict on the Ayodhya Babri Masjid case, I'd like to turn everyone's attention to the festivals we all celebrate. We are a country who eagerly wait for festivals like Eid, Diwali and Christmas because (lets face it) we love the food that comes with it. So think again- is the tension really worth it? 

I had to leave before the raid was completely over. Santosh, Suhas and Kartik couldn't get enough. They stayed back to relish some more. Here you can find Kartik's report on the raid.

Point of Conquest - Annabrahma

Raiders on mission - Ajay, Sunny, Mike, Santosh, Mayank, Sudhakar, Anoushka (raider-in-training)

Overview of Ground Zero: Annabrahma is wedged between a Chung Wah Opus and a Java City. The cuisine belongs to the Andhra Setty community and is completely vegetarian. There are no menu cards here. You will have a partitioned steel thali placed in front of you. This will be loaded with a steady stream of goodies. You start off with a sweet, a few nibbles, the roti for the day, 2 types of vegetables, a salad and chutney. This is followed by a rice based special dish for the day, rice and sambhar, rice and rasam and buttermilk. What makes this place special is that the menu changes each and every day. 

The Conquest: A small group that gathered. On the day of the raid we were served - sweet puri as the dessert of the day, crispies, a spicy dhokla sort of square that is made of semolina and tempered with mustard. For the vegetable side dishes, there was a spinach and bean mix, a curd based salad, a veggie I can't remember and a great green tomato chutney. This was accompanied with hot rava rotis.  There was also masala papad and a nippat with shredded carrots, onions and coriander leaves served.

The special rice dish was bisi bele baath. There came with a generous helping of mixture. The sambhar for the day was drumstick based. The dal rasam was, as peculiar to the community on the sweeter side. Mayank mentioned that almost never is a dal based rasam served in restaurant. What you normally get is the tomato extract one. This was a welcome and enlightening change. 

Sunny felt that of all the vegetarian food she has had on the raids so far, this was by far the most varied. And better still, it did not leave that heavy feeling on the stomach. 

Point of Conquest - Dalma

Raiders on mission - Suhas, Sharada, Rajith, Sunny, Mike, Santosh, Pranav, Karthik, Mayank, Ashwin, Sudhakar, Anoushka (raider-in-training)

Overview of Ground Zero: Dalma is an Odissa cuisine restaurant and part of a chain that is quite famous in Bhuvaneshwar. Its been open a relatively short time but has become a phenomenon of sorts. Come a little after 12.45 pm and you will end up waiting for place. The food is homely. The name Dalma, is in honor of a dal-based dish of the same name. This is a dish that has a melange of vegetables (made at home with leftovers). It made for a great raid spot since there was ample choice for vegetarians and non-veggies alike

The Conquest: This was the largest gathering of raiders so far. A lot of us needed help in narrowing down our individual conquests. Sharada and Rajith stepped up. They have an Odiya cook whose cooking has made them masters of sorts. And this is how it all went down.

Mike and Sunny opted for the vegetarian thalis. This came with rice and dalma (but of course!), a vegetable stir fry of sorts with carrots, cauliflower and beans. A vegetable gravy made of chickpeas and pumpkin. A yogurt based semi gravy and Kheeri, the sweet. Pranav, the other vegetarian of the group opted for vegetable pulao and an aloo gobhi (potato - cauliflower) gravy. The opinion here was the food was good and wholesome and Pranav felt that the variety in the vegetarian thali was more than what us non-vegetarians had.

Most of the non-vegetarians opted for thalis and this way the conquest was complete. We ordered one of every type of thali. There were thalis in chicken, mutton, fish (rohu) and prawn. What each of got was rice, dalma, the meat we opted for and a cucumber salad. Though the meal looked compact, it was quite a quantity and you need to be really hungry to finish the meal completely. We all got a taste of each others meals and Suhas felt that each of the gravies had their own unique taste. That was good since you know the food is not made assembly line style with boiled meats dumped in a one-gravy-fits-all. 

Mayank, Ashwin and Sudhakar decided to go in for puris along with two versions of mutton. A dry dish - mutton kasha and mutton curry. Sharada and Rajith also introduced to the group to Badi Churma, a mix of quite a few things that I couldn't put my finger on - which was crunchy, tangy, sweet, salty all in one... it was so good that almost immediately another one was called for. We also ordered Aloo poshto, a staple in Bengal and often found in Odissa cuisine. The mustard levels were brilliant, pungent, yet good on the taste. As for the two versions of muttons - the gravy was more preferred over the dry version. 

With lunch out of the way, desserts had to be called for. With a lot of sweet tooths to be satiated, a few helpings of Chenna Poda (a caramelized cake) and kheeri, a thick heavenly version of kheer. Strange (to me), that Sharada, Rajith, Sudhakar and few others actually liked the caramelized (more like burnt part) of the cake more than the actual cake itself. But then hey, its an introduction to new tastes. 

The meal was brilliant as was the group. The bill came to Rs 180 a head. For an earlier recon of the restaurant, you can read another review here.

Point of Conquest - Zaks

Raiders on mission - Suhas, Yusuf, Santosh, Sharada, Rajith, Sunny, Mike and Sudhakar

Overview of Ground Zero: Zaks has carved a name for itself around Frazer Town as a place that serves up good Arabic food for wallet-friendly prices. Of course, the raid party this time had its share of meat lovers. But to truly test the mettle of this restaurant we also had Sunny, a vegetarian and Mike who is partial to only fish and no other meat. 

The Unexpected Twist: For some of the raiders, the menu was not unknown, however, as we were seated, we were informed that we were the first customers of the day. Nothing special about that. We were the first customers on the last functioning day of Zaks. They were to close down the next day for renovation. And so, despite a very limited menu, we were glad the raiders were on this mission. 

The Conquest: With all the raiders in position, we ordered a round of hummus and fresh kuboos (also goes by the name of pita bread). It took a long while coming. Hunger pangs were quelled with some great conversation on travel destinations, food choices and of course career paths. Mike and Rajith discovered they belonged to the same company, Sunny regaled us with stories of her 15-year old pet and Santosh, Yusuf and Sudhakar got into some pretty technical conversations on phones and gadgets. 

Then came the hummus - three plates of it with thin slivers of tomato and sprinkling of chilli powder. Nice... did not see much of the olive oil though, but nice nevertheless. The kuboos was hot and fluffy. A couple more were ordered to make a clean sweep of encounter one (the starter)

Now for encounter two (the main courses). Sunny and Mike opted for a Vegetable Biryani each. This was mildly flavored rice which had been layered with a soft and tasty mix of spiced and diced brinjals. This was served with a medium spicy sherwa and a salad of tomatoes, onions and cucumbers. Sunny summarized this part of the encounter by saying,  "Although I don't think vegetarians would choose this restaurant on their own, there are plenty of nice veg choices on the menu to enjoy while accompanying ones non veg friends  (even though much of it was not available at this particular time).

 

Point of Conquest - Khazana

Raiders on mission - Yusuf, Lakshana, Nikki, Mayank, Sudhakar

Point of Conquest - Egg Factory

Raiders on mission - Ashwin, Santosh, Yusuf, Puneet C (PC), Puneet M (PM), Sudhakar, Ruth and Anoushka (raider- in-training)