Told a friend about this when we met. Initially, she wasn’t too keen as she’s a vegetarian and the Malaka Spice menu is more to a non-veg person’s liking, even more so if you enjoy Southeast Asian cuisine. Misgivings aside, we decided to give it a shot and try out the winter menu on a Sunday night.

We’d made a booking in advance, knowing the place is crowded on Sundays and sure enough, once we reached, it was already getting packed. We wanted to sit outside but there was no decent seating available, so inside it was, where a table was kept reserved.

We started off with drinks, and cocktails seemed to be the order of the day – Virgin Mojito for her and a Long Island Iced Tea for me. For starters, we ordered Marital Prawns – crisped prawns paired with chicken, and “A Jolly Good Fellow” – freshly farmed portabella mushrooms with vegetables, balsamic vinegar and basil. Both the dishes were pretty good, though we felt the mushrooms could have been just a little bit ‘softer’. The prawns were a delight, crunchy and crisp.

For the main course, it was Phad Thai – noodles with crunchy peanuts, and Khow Suey (Burmese curry noodles with chicken). Both tasted good, though the noodles in the Khow Suey were slightly cloggy (I prefer home-made Khow Suey). Both these dishes were from the main menu, as we found the winter menu slightly limiting in terms of choices and probably what we wanted to eat just then.

As always, the service was good and attentive, without being obtrusive, though it seemed just a bit slow at times – maybe for the ambience to sink in, as well as letting the drinks and conversation flow, both of which did

For dessert, we decided to order the Chocolate Sin Mousse Cake and Apple Pie with ice-cream, and both of us looked like content Cheshire cats after polishing it all off. They were sheer sinful delights and undeniably the best part of the evening

* The only regret – I didn’t take a single picture. Maybe next time!

Malaka Spice
Lane 5, North Main Road,
Koregaon Park,
Pune 411001
Tel: +91 98230 64050

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They have both indoor and outdoor seating – and as the sun was benevolent that afternoon, we chose the latter. The tables are well laid and decently spaced out. The wooden chairs do tend to be somewhat unstable though, so check before descending on one. I’d been there once before for breakfast (which is served all day), and not much had changed in the layout.

Initially there were just 2-3 people sitting in the outside area. However, this being the kind of place you come to just hang out at on a lazy day, the place was packed within half an hour. Like other joints in Koregaon Park, it’s quite popular with foreigners, who trooped in every few minutes.

The ‘proceedings’ began with a pint of Kingfisher each and before we knew it, we had nine of ‘em down the hatch by the time we had to order lunch. They have a board by the side of the counter which lists the day’s specials. The food on offer at Terttulia is quite varied and we took some time poring over all the dishes before zeroing in on our respective choices. Besides the breakfast menu, they have the usual complement of soups and salads, sandwiches, burgers et al.

The service did seem a tad slow at times, and though the stewards are always smiling and helpful, it only takes the entry of a few foreigners to the cafe in order to divert their entire attention from your table. I really dislike this kind of attitude and I’ve seen shades of it at German Bakery here and even Cafe Leopold in Bombay – one of the reasons I’ve never frequented either of these places much.

We decided to order a burger – the Quarter Pounder – flame grilled beef tenderloin on a sesame seed bun, Herb roast chicken with mashed potatoes and gravy, Filet Mignon – quarter kilo of char grilled tenderloin with red wine jus and mashed potatoes.

Owing to all that beer, there was no scope to try out any of the other dishes (maybe next time). The food was pretty tasty and succulent – overall good value for money, though it was hardly surprising that the amount spent on the beer exceeded that spent on the food

Terttulia
393, Sanas Corner, South Main Road,
Koregaon Park,
Pune 411001
Tel: 020-26052180

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It took us just a minute to decide. Also, as she’s a vegetarian, Cream Centre (all-veg) seemed like an obvious, if intriguing choice. Had heard about it from friends in Bombay but surprisingly, not much buzz in Pune. Maybe the veg bit had to do with it?

As we drove towards Kalyani Nagar, we overshot by a bit before Google Maps came to the rescue. Cream Centre is located in the lane which has Marrakesh and Bounty Sizzlers. As you enter the lane and go in further, it feels like such a totally residential area that it’s hardly surprising I had no clue it existed there. It is a part of Hotel Cypress, and the entrance is from the left side as you face it. They have outdoor as well as indoor AC seating.

We thought sitting outside was a better idea but the hostess said it wasn’t open yet, and proceeded to guide us inside, where we were led to a table for two by the side. The interiors are pleasant and the red leather bit on the sofas for family seating reminded me a bit of the decor at TGIF outlets.

Image Credit: Cream Centre

As we sat down to have a look at the menu, the first thing I saw was a sheet with various puzzles and a couple of pencils beside it. Elementary stuff like spotting differences between two pictures, but a fun activity nevertheless. It reminded me of the games at Touché, Bangalore.

The menu is a thick and chunky book with some mouth watering pictures of all the food on offer. They have a pretty diverse menu and it is not possible to do justice to all the food at one sitting. They claim to make the ‘World’s Best Nachos’ so ordering that was a no-brainer. We also ordered Babycorn Crisps, which sounded pretty appetising. The pizzas and desserts looked yummy too.

I don’t know about ‘World’s Best’ but they were definitely the best nachos I’d eaten in a long long time. We just couldn’t keep our hands off them and all that lovely melted cheese (we both looooove cheese), as well as the salsa dip. Absolutely lip smacking to the extent of licking off that cheese from our fingers

The Babycorn Crisps were nice, though a tad too ‘peppery’ in some places. The dip served with it was good too, but both of us kept eating the crisps with the melted cheese from the nachos.They were an ideal snack though, and I liked that they stayed crisp for quite a while and didn’t become soggy.

By now, the place was slowly getting packed, probably the Sunday crowd – which means we arrived at just the right time. Must say between the conversation and these starters, we were feeling quite full already. Question was: skip mains and order dessert directly or check out the offerings in the main course.

We certainly didn’t want to have ragda pattice, chana bhatura, chaats, lebanese stuff, soup/salad/sandwich combo, sizzlers and the like and even pasta had a ‘heavy’ feel about it. However, one look at the pizza options and we decided to go for it. The steward helped matters by saying it was extremely lightweight and thin crust, so Classic Veg Pizza was ordered.

It looked delicious, but we both agreed that the pizza was the let down of the evening. Too salty at some places, totally bland at others, it lacked taste and flavour, and we ended up actually craving a Dominos Cheese Burst The other weird thing was having our fingers covered with flour from the pizza base, which I found quite surprising. Never seen this happening elsewhere at any pizza outlet. We decided to parcel the remaining slices.

Wish we’d ordered dessert directly after the starters – the sizzling brownie and triple chocolate sundae we saw others having were droolicious. Maybe on the next visit!

It’s a nice place with good and decently priced food (Our bill came to just over Rs.650). The service was attentive too. Yes, in spite of the pizza, there will definitely be a next time, to sample all the other delights on offer

Cream Centre
Hotel Cypress, Lane No 10,
Opp. Kalpataru Regency, Kalyani Nagar,
Pune 411014
Tel: 020-40180000

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Located a bit ahead of Kiva Ivy and opposite the LG showroom and Food Bazaar, this is a small cafe, started around 8-9 months ago. It is open all days of the week, from 8am to 11pm. I’d passed this way several times before but somehow, had never seen it till now.

It’s well suited for a quick meet up and they have 2-3 tables outside too. However, with the mercury soaring, the obvious choice was to sit inside. The seating is well spaced out and comfortable. They also have a TV in case you wish to catch up with the news or live telecast of a game.

Met a friend there, and though initially breakfast (sausages, eggs, toast, pancakes etc) was being considered, the need to have something a bit more substantial ensured that the Chicken Pesto Pasta was ordered, which actually tasted much better than it looked.

Besides breakfast, they have a pretty varied menu, with rolls/wraps, appetizers, sandwiches, pastas, pizzas and desserts, which is quite sufficient for a full fledged meal. For kids, they also separately have hakka noodles, pasta and smiley fries.

As I looked around, the first thing that caught my eye was a bookshelf, packed with business and management books, magazines, board games, newspapers and… COMICS!

Initially thought of some board games, but as the friend had to leave early and I anyway had to wait, I happily grabbed a couple of comics to check out. A couple of hours passed by quite easily, poring over the adventures of Tintin and Asterix along with a cup of hot green tea to keep me company.

It was a decent first time experience here and the prices were pretty reasonable too. There wasn’t enough time to sample the other dishes on offer like the Honey Chilli Chicken, Lemon Garlic Prawns, Chicken Calabrese or ‘The Linger On Jumbo”, an open chicken steak sandwich layered with lettuce, tomato, cheese, grilled salami, served with spiced potato wedges and boiled egg. Wonder of wonders, among their “Specialities” they also had Moussaka (a Greek dish), incidentally the only aubergine based dish I like. Phew, a more comprehensive visit is certainly called for.

Oh yes, all that reading stuff also ensures that if you’re looking for a place to kill time, there is ample scope to “linger on” here for quite a while.

Cafe Linger On
Mont Vert Zenith,
Baner Road,
Pune 411045
Tel: 020-46778757

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The RTO, Pune is all set to make this a reality from today, September 1. Other neighbouring RTOs like those at Pimpri Chinchwad, Baramati, Solapur and Akluj will start doing so from September 11.

In the present system, one usually appears for a test and collects the licence from the relevant RTO after 4-5 days. This new method is sure to ease worries for a lot of people who have to travel long distances more than once just for this purpose.

One good thing to come out of all this is that hopefully, the number of fake licences just might lessen. This is also likely to reduce the usual chaos in the premises, courtesy the hundreds of people who visit the RTO daily.

So, going forward, you need not visit the RTO office to collect these documents personally. However, to ensure that they are delivered to your house, you should provide a correct and accurate address while filling in the application form, as delivery will be via the post office, not a courier company who would call to verify the address. A charge of Rs.50 will be levied towards postal charges.

However, as of now this is valid only for permanent driving licences and not learner licenses. Hopefully this meets with more success than it did at Bombay recently, with a huge pile of returned licences for want of correct addresses.

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Are you among those harassed employees with no time to prepare and carry your own lunch box? Do you have to endure horrible food at your workplace? Are you staying in a shared accomodation / hostel with no option but to accept what you get or else eat outside?

Here’s Mealnut, a site I happened to come across a while ago. Turns out it is a tiffin service started in Pune, another addition to the several hundred such services and mess options available. So what’s different with them?

Well, they’ve started out with the intention to improve on the low quality, lack of hygiene, lack of variety and poor customer service offered by existing services. Personally, I’ve been to some of these places with friends who’ve stayed in hostels. The experience was mostly a mixed one, but this was almost a decade ago and lots has changed since then.

Started by Mona Soundankar & Jitendra Salunke, its been a few months since inception and they offer their services in select areas as of now; Kothrud, Erandwane and Karve Nagar. If you stay elsewhere in Pune, you can still sign up and mention which area you live in, so they can expand their services there based on demand. Ordering can be done online or offline, and here’s a pic describing the difference between the two;

You can look up the FAQ section on their website for details on how their service works.

Mealnut
Gr. Floor, Pl. no. 1/5, S.N. 2B,
Mauli Building, Behind SBI Bank,
Off Karve Road, Erandwane
Pune-411004
+91 800-782-9717
+91 770-919-7995

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Close on the heels of radio cabs, it is the turn of the humble auto rickshaw to turn hi-tech now. Here is AyAuto, a Dial-an-Auto service in Pune that hopes to capitalise on people’s desire to have a mode of conveyance on demand, and one which is not so heavy on the pocket too.

The catch: For the time being, the service is restricted to Kothrud, ShivajiNagar and Deccan areas. Charges will be strictly by meter only.

I’d said before that in Pune, the distances aren’t all that much, and if comfort (like air conditioning) or ‘status’ isn’t a factor, then the auto rickshaw is a much more affordable means of transport as compared to a radio cab, which charges Rs.16 per km.

Hopefully, autos will be more easily available too, as we’re largely dependent on Wings Radio Cabs at the moment.

AyAuto are presently conducting field trials and plan to go live by next week. Let’s see how the Pune junta takes to this new service

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The place was semi-full and filling up fast by the time we got there and I was patting my back for having made prior reservations. It is quite spacious and I liked the layout, with ample space for everyone to move around and partake of the yummy food on offer.

And what food!

Right from the salads to the other starters, the spread on offer was one big gastronomic feast – what with smoked salmon, lamb chops, turkey ham and the usual chicken dishes, cooked in continental as well as Indian style.

We had opted for the buffet and were wondering if we’d ever get to the main course, as the starters were only so filling! Of course, we went back for more and were thoroughly stuffed by the end of it. We decided to have a dekko at the desserts and were left flabbergasted by the sinful delights, as you can see. If anything, our only regret was that we’d had a heavy lunch as well. Note for next time: Come here hungry

Last but not the least, at Rs.847/- per head, this is one of the most VFM buffets I’ve come across, especially in a hotel like this. The only crib we had was that this price does not include *any* beverages, so we had to pay extra for the alcohol and mocktails. This is quite unlike the buffet (with unlimited alcohol) at Paprika Hot Rock, but heck, the food and desserts here were lip smacking and totally worth it!

Spice Kitchen
Marriott Hotel & Convention Centre,
Senapati Bapat Road,
Pune-411053
020-66833333

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Paprika is located at City Point, off Boat Club Road; yes, the same complex which houses Mainland China, Sigree, La Dolce Vita etc. Getting there is a breeze and parking is mostly available. The name of course has to do with their concept cooking method – where food is cooked on a hot volcanic piece of rock at your table. This can be sampled only in the evening, though. This ‘only in the evening’ logic kinda reminded me of the molecular gastronomy at Caperberry in Bangalore..

The place itself is done up well and has quite a cool, mediterranean look and feel about it. There is lots of white colour everywhere, and those curtains do a good job of being part of the decor besides offering a degree of privacy.

Seating is both outdoor and indoor; the former is a sit-out with hard back wooden chairs and the latter has a lounge seating. We chose to sit out as the buffet spread was placed outside, and it seemed reasonably pleasant at the time.

The Sunday brunch costs Rs.450+taxes (Unlimited, without alcohol) and Rs.650+taxes (Unlimited, with alcohol). Dad, Mom and Sis went for the former and bro-in-law and me chose the latter. For my 3yr old nephew, we decided on some pasta, which was being custom-made at the counter towards the far end. Sis ordered a mocktail and bro-in-law and self decided to start with a glass of red wine each (Nine Hills Shiraz). The other alternative being beer – and only Kingfisher.

The spread was quite varied and a feast for the eyes. The chicken kababs were succulent and mouth watering. There were corn croquettes, meatballs in tomato sauce, pita bread, hummus, chicken terrine, lasagna, morrocoan fish stew, malvani chicken and some veg stuff that I didn’t really notice much. The roast chicken salad was good too. The food on offer was excellent and I really liked the variety – a mix of Indian, Continental, Mediterranean (mainly Lebanese, Italian, Spanish) and we all went back for seconds.

Now for some of the things we wouldn’t like ‘seconds’ of :-p

The choices for dessert weren’t really all that great, and as they were placed outside, a lot of the cream and icing from the pastries was becoming watery and close to melting. No doubt the portions were being replenished – but not at the rate at which we’d have liked them to be. There were flies hovering around the buffet table and parking themselves on the desserts – which were kept uncovered.

The fans were placed too high, and one wasn’t revolving – causing us a fair bit of discomfort. I recall them being placed slightly lower the last time I was here. One of the fans was placed in such a manner that when it revolved, most of the air was being directed outside the seating area, and the staff didn’t seem to know how to fix that or point the fan our way.

The pasta counter was kind of DIY types and at the time of placing the order, sis asked for penne pasta (easier for my nephew to eat), as well as broccoli and other ingredients. Instead, we were served farfalle, or “butterfly” pasta, and capsicum, which my nephew dislikes. Reason – both weren’t available, which should have been told to us upfront. Then, when sis ordered a mocktail for herself, she said she didn’t want any ice – but ended up getting one with three ice cubes in it.

It was getting pretty warm by this time so after I finished my glass of wine, I decided to cool off with a beer (no gyan please about not mixing drinks :-p ). The steward completely forgot about the order and it took 15 minutes and a reminder before he finally brought it.

Lastly, we were quite surprised to get a bill for SIX buffets instead of FIVE – pretty careless, and which again took around 15 minutes to rectify.

Maybe all this comedy of errors was a one-off and overall, notwithstanding the above, I’d say the place is nice, the food is really good and value for money. However, the quality of service and overall experience left much to be desired and if that is sorted out, I wouldn’t mind going there again for sure!

Paprika Hot Rock
City Point, Boat Club Road,
Pune 411 001
Tel: 9604225121

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We went on Friday night and had a good time, though the absence of draught beer in a pub was a surprise. With around 15-16 people managing to make it, the scene was set for some heavy drinkage. The IPL matches were also scheduled to start so we expected a packed house. With wall mounted TVs around the place, everyone got to have a dekko at the match. Predictably though, with a group size like this, as well as the IPL match, ordering food and drinks was mostly a joint decision and random too, as nobody seemed overtly keen to go through the menu. The Jamaican Jerk Fried Chicken, Crumby Mushrooms and Chicken Nuggets seemed to be in huge demand among us and there were several repeat orders. The service however seemed a tad slow, probably as they were newly opened and by 10pm there was hardly an empty table.

I wanted to explore its offerings more thoroughly later, and the opportunity presented itself on Sunday itself, when we five friends decided to meet up around 11-ish, ostensibly for some lazy breakfast and beer. We were among the only ones who were in that early. In fact, Kiva Ivy opens at 8am, something Pune has yet to get used to.

We started off with scrambled eggs, omlettes and fried eggs, accompanied by beer. If either of us thought that breakfast would be the end of it, we were in for a surprise. The morning soon turned to afternoon, with some free flowing conversation and interesting tales and travelogues, helped along generously by the different beers and spirits we were trying out.

The food we ordered was ‘snacky’ in nature, as we weren’t all that hungry – Potato Skins, Jalapeno Poppers, New York burgers, Country Club sandwiches, The Mexican etc.

However, we gave full attention to the alcohol at hand: Whiskey – Jack Daniels, Beers – Corona, Kingfisher Blue, Murphy (Stout), Hoegaarden White, London Pride, Schneider Weisse and copious quantities of Long Island Iced Tea. I’m amazed how different LIT tastes in different pubs. This one was made well though.

Suffice it to say that nobody was looking at their watches all this time, and it was with a degree of some surprise that we noticed it was nearing 5.30pm!

It was also time to pay the bill and it was a sobering one (11K), though worth it, considering we were keen to try out as many things as possible.

Oh yes, didn’t click many pics also. Maybe another time

The place is nice and has a relaxed air about it. It’s slightly on the expensive side though, so you need to watch what you order.

Kiva Ivy
Gr. Floor, Pride Purple Accord,
Opp. Symantec, Baner Road,
Pune-411004
020-64106622, +91 9766301112

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