Sunday, February 14, 2010

Pune Week 1

1 week in Pune and going strong. It's not as hectic as Mumbai, but it has its moments especially with its food choices.

Came in last sunday and stayed back in Kalyani Nagar to eat some pizza at the local Pizza Hut. I actually like the tandoori paneer pizza that they had to offer.

Monday Lunch - Tried out a place called Little Italy. It actually had mexican on its menu, though wasn't too impressed with it as the enchilladas had a distinct indian flavor
Monday Dinner - Had some really tasty kathi rolls at the kathi cottage in Koregaon Park followed by dinner at the Blue Nile. The veg pulav at the Blue Nile wasn't too bad

Tuesday Lunch - Tried out a panini at Witches and Dog (Koregaon Park) which wasn't too filling so topped it out with a Kathi roll (I can probably have 1 every single day)
Tuesday Dinner - Went to Arthur's theme. The menu didnt make much sense as the dishes seem styled after medieval english characters but the food wasn't as bad as we half expected it to be. Tried out the pasta and glad that it tasted italian instead of indian.

Wednesday Lunch - Went to 7 (Koregaon Park) which had both middle eastern and indian-chinese on its menu. Went with the Hakka noodles and veg manchurian and the chinese definitely hit the mark
Wednesday Dinner - Definitely a more low key dinner having a McDonald's veggie burger in my room.

Thursday Breakfast - Tried out some omlette at the German Bakery and it was pretty good.
Thursday Lunch - Had some really tasty Hyderabi food at Koyla.
Thursday Dinner - Had dinner at the hotel's cafe, pretty passable food.

Friday Breakfast - Headed back to the German Bakery for some cake, juice and other goodies.
Friday Lunch - Another trip to Kathi cottage for some sumptuous kathi rolls.
Friday Dinner - Went to St. Lauren at Hinjewadi. The buffet was pretty good.

Saturday Morning- Drove to Sinhagad and trekked up the mountain. The trek took a good hour and a half to two hours, but it wasn't as easy as I expected and did have its tough moments. The view from the fort was well worth it along with some kanda bhajji and masala tak (buttermilk)
Saturday Afternoon - Headed to the Poona Club to practice cricket with the Maharashtra A boys. Was nice to get to bowl and bat in the nets after years of not playing cricket.
Saturday Dinner - Headed over for some excellent food at the Deccan Harvest at Magarpatta, pune. Interesting concept of having paneer barbecued on your table followed by a good buffet.

During dinner, German Bakery went boom and got called from all concerned about our safety. After eating there for the last couple of days, I guess it was good that we skipped the location today. I do hate it that the terrorists have seriously impeded my eating plans in Pune as that was definitely on my menu for the next couple of weeks.

Drove to Mumbai today (Sunday) to get away from Pune for a while and show everyone what a real city should look like. Stopped by Dharavi for some leather products and then took the Bandra-Worli sea link. Havent been on that bridge after it opened and the views were definitely worth the toll. Drove down Marine Drive and had lunch at 'Not just jazz by the bay'. Went down to the Gateway of India and my first visit to the Taj after the Mumbai attacks. Things at the Oberoi-Trident and Taj are still under construction but it was really nice to see major crowds around the Gateway and Cafe Leopold.

Thats been week 1, hopefully the security doesnt get worse in Pune so hope to enjoy the rest of my stay.

1 comment:

Anonymous said...

Glad you are doing well. U seem to be having a lot of fun experimenting gastronomically :-))

Cheers
Anjali