Monthly activity sheet - Food *shakes head in disappointment*

There is a tonne of places/ things I have wanted to write about since the last time I open the editor for this blog. But everything that I held important over the last one year of jobless salary earning, suddenly seems to have taken a back seat. For the record, I am not one to give in so easily. So here we go, even if my opinion on all things important in life, comes in the form of a monthly report this time!

Daddy's Deli, the parsi restaurant, Off 100 feet road, Indiranagar - If the ordering in was good, eating at Daddy'd Deli is even better. Unbelievably quick service and steaming hot parsi fare make for a very interesting, gluttonous outing. And the prawns here were the freshest I have had in Bangalore. Absolutely brilliant!

Daddy's Deli, the cafe - quaint, and very aptly in one of the quietest lanes of Indiranagar, the Daddy's Deli cafe is absolutely mindblowing. Brilliant sandwiches, refreshingly "different" peas patties, fresh, awesome salads, and a Corner House to balance all the healthy eating. You can give the coffee a miss, or strictly order black. Like most other places, getting the right coffee is pretty difficult here. But having said that, I totally recommend this place and I am now waiting for the English breakfast trip to Daddy's Deli. It will happen the first Sunday I manage to wake up in time for breakfast.

New Punjabi Hotel, HAL 2nd Stage - It is really difficult to decide what the USP of this place is - price, taste, or the refreshingly "dilli waali feeling", complete with a Sardar ji asking you if the food is good and Biharis making you feel at home, serving you like you really are a guest and not a customer, and lassi! The food is absolutely brilliant, kaali daal is to die for, tandoori chicken is surprisingly succulent, and the naans and rotis are the best I have had in Bangalore. All this for less than Rs 200 for two people who generally overeat. The biryanis can be given a miss here, the lassi and naan, absolutely not! If you thought Kund (Indiranagar) was good, try New Punjabi Hotel. This is the closest you can get to the real dhaba experience, so far away from where the real dhabas are. +10.

Daily Bread, Wind Tunnel Road - Stupid coffee, dry-ish sandwiches, brilliant salads. For those who actually go to Daily Bread for anything else except cakes and pastries. I would say stick with what they are good at. The rest of the menu is plain incidental.

Starke's Chicken and Burgers, Indiranagar - It is a pity I will never go here again because the ambience is actually interesting, complete with verandah seating and fence and all. But you pay a huge price with the painfully slow service and the terrible bouts of indigestion that follow. I never really bothered about the "I puked after I ate there" reviews because, for the record, I have a stomach of steel. But hello, I am not invincible. Stupid service, stupider staff. But what takes the cake is the stupid feeling you get when you puke in the middle of the night. Best avoided.

Purple Haze - What can I say that has not been said before. It plays music I know, it has people who don't stare at women who smoke and scream songs tunelessly, and the staff is an amazingly happy bunch. One word - cult. In the last year and a half, my Purple Haze plans always went awry. Either replaced or completely dumped. But I was there for hours at a stretch last night, came home feeling very very happy, and I am glad today after I realized that youth is not completely lost on me. It's the kind of place where you have everything you need to destress. LOUD, good music. The real classic rock. And chilled beer (which is surprisingly rare these days!). And the prices and the music make sure all your other senses are numbed. Abso-freaking-brilliant. It is a pity I went to Purple Haze only now. It is the original cult pub. It is the Toons in Bangalore, which explains why I have been feeling so young! The HRC and Jimi's and Cirrus' of the world can go take a walk because I can say with absolute certainty that last night was the first of many, many visits to Purple Haze.

I have also been thinking that all the pretentious places around should take some customer service gyaan from smaller, even inexpensive places like Purple Haze and New Punjabi Hotel. The service is not fake respectful or annoyingly intruding. People look happy to serve you and that's all that matters!

More on the other side of the break, more to come on books and movies. Happy eating. In, out, wherever!

Majja ni life..

And no, this is not Munnabhai hangover.

If you once lived in Pune and made a beeline at Zamu's on Navroze and no trip to MG Road was complete without stuffing yourself at Dorabjee's and/or during Bombay days, Mocambo made you jump with joy and you are now suffering Parsi food withdrawal symptoms here in Bangalore and Andhra style is not really your style, try Daddy's Deli in Indiranagar. It won't promise you the stuff that legends like Zamu's are made of, but it promises nice, filling, homely Parsi food. I can't really comment on their service etc because I ordered in. But after a long day on the road, this food was all I was looking for. Succulent pieces of chicken and mutton in their Vindaloo and Dhansak respectively, crisp pieces of potato, to-die-for-gravy, smooth rotlis, and browned rice. The food was absolutely satisfying. Just like I like it after a Sunday spent on the road indulging in retail therapy.

Speaking of home delivery, I had been using Hungryzone on and off for online ordering. But I am switching my loyalty to Webdhaba. They are efficient, accurate, make a follow up call instead of instructing customers to call on their own in case of delay. And when you order from Webdhaba, you will probably only wonder what delay they are talking about. I had placed my order at 7 (yes, I am ALWAYS in a hurry if we are talking food) for a 9:30 pm delivery and I stay quite far from Daddy's Deli. And in Bangalore one must get used to last minute cancellations and delays, but the food was at my door at 9:30. Dot. I know you won't understand why this is a miracle in this city if you are not from here. Try it sometime.

Polished off all the food in the company for R and a certain Mr Clooney. The long overdue Up In The Air. How did I forget that George Clooney looks like that! Man! That smile, those looks, those intense eyes... I can go on! The movie.. Quite nice. Depessing in parts, but really gets you a perspective in terms of work and life, and how they aren't the same thing (and I lose mine ever so often when it comes to this!) And everything it means to have "company" instead of just working for one. A 4/5 for me... I still believe Alex should have ditched everything, thrown the damned backpack, and gone to George Clooney. Just like that. That's why the -1. I prefer happier endings.

And I am back in office now. Hating it. How can I not? SOMEONE TAKE ME HOME!