Tuesday 15 September 2015

The Casablanca Brunch At O:h Cha

There are a few things that would make me wake up early on a Sunday morning and head ALL THE WAY to Lower Parel for. One of them is the launch of a new menu at O:h Cha, a trendy Thai restaurant. And the other is the fact that a dear friend’s wine brand ‘Casablanca’ was partnering with them for the event!

O:h Cha is a quaint, tasteful restaurant that serves Thai cuisine by blending the old with the new. They are renowned for using fresh ingredients to create an explosion of flavor that delights the palate. One of the things that sets O:h Cha apart is the music... upbeat, happy, and an instant mood lifter. There was also a one man band playing foot tapping jive music on the sax! Ah.. every Goan's delight!

So, have you tried Casablanca yet? It's India's first Prosecco styled sparkling wine, great for light, easy drinking. Complex in taste, it is primarily sweet and acidic, a perfect contrast with spicy Asian food. It's actually a little hard to describe. One would probably have to be a wine connoisseur to find the exact words - I'd call it mystery and romance bottled up!

So this special brunch was whipped up by none other than Chef Rakesh Talwar. Few would have heard of him, but everyone would have heard of, if not eaten at one of his many restaurants in Mumbai and abroad. Here are some names that I'm sure you will recognize: Spare Kitchen (Juhu), Wok this way (Bandra), Cafe Cubano (Vile Parle), Boomerang Bistro and The Rolling Pin (Malaysia) .

                     
Who pays attention to complimentary appetizers? No one. However, I have to mention the Krob Keam (Sweat and Salty Wantons) were A-D-D-I-C-T-I-V-E! I could have snacked on these alone. C'mon.. who doesn't love deep fried salty-sweet goodness?


So, honestly, I don’t know where to begin telling you guys about the food. The menu was exhaustive and had something for everyone...literally! After tasting the 12 starters, picking even my top 3 faves was no piece of cake.

Vegetarian starters included Asian Mushroom Vol – au-vent, Veg Chive Dumplings and Veg Gyoza. I wasn't too pleased with the Sweet Corn Patty. Although it looked great, it had too much batter and barely any corn in it. The Stir Fried Tofu in Sriracha (below) was light, creamy and it looked visually attractive as well.


The non vegetarian starter menu had Chicken Satay, Stir Fried Chicken Black Pepper and Fried Lemon Grass Chicken. The Holy Basil Chicken Bruschetta (below) was decent.


If I had to pick my favorite starter, I would choose the Prawn Chive Dumplings. They were soft, succulent and beautifully steamed. Fried Turnip Cakes was another fabulous dish comprising of thinly sliced squares of Turnip that were fried and garnished with dry spiced garlic mixture. Perfect for a rainy day!


Soups and salads came next! Being so stuffed with all the starters, I actually skipped soups. Needed some room for dessert, you see!

Plan ahead... always plan ahead!

The menu had Burnt Garlic and Basil Soup and Tom Yum Kai, while salads included Som Tom and Kimchi. Som Tom is made of raw papaya, carrots and peanuts and was pretty spicy! But it paired well with Jasmine Rice. A dish I really disliked was the Thai Green Vegetable curry. It was watery, bland and kind of weird. Would have been much better if the coconut gravy was thicker! I really enjoyed the Steamed Dory Lemon Chilli Garlic (below). The melt-in-your-mouth fish vanishes in seconds, leaving a tart lemon aftertaste.


Call me strange, but I love beans. These French Chilli beans were really juicy but a little too oily for my liking.

I've read about Pad Kra Prow Kai. It's apparently sold everywhere in Thailand and is a popular street food dish made with minced chicken and basil. This stir fried dish was my favorite main on the menu. It was delicious!


Coming to the best part! There were two desserts that were out of this world! These cute little Tub Tim Krobe shots. It was made with coconut milk with a piece of Jackfruit inside. Notice those little red rubies? That's water chestnut covered with Tapioca flour and cooked until sticky. The texture, flavour and aroma is indescribably yummy!


Take a look at the Orange, Lemon Grass and Honey Sorbet. It was refreshing, light, and overall the perfect dessert for a hot, summer day. I'm not a fan of fruity desserts... I like rich indulgent chocolate more. Sadly, the Gooey Chocolate Mousse Cake was a let-down. It was much too dense.


Home-made sticky rice and mango ice cream seemed interesting on the menu. Although it had a strong taste of mango, the rice was really, really sticky.

Last but not least, the Lemon Grass Creme Brulee! Oh my goodness... that was divine! But as you can imagine, after eating all this food I had no space left and only ate a spoonful. How I regret not eating the whole thing now!!

The service at O;h Cha needs a lot of work. Although the staff was polite and eager to please, they were terribly slow. Starters were served for almost two hours, and by then one can't really relish the main course as much as one would have liked to.

That wraps up the Casablanca Sunday Brunch. It's on for the next 3 months @ Rs. 2,000/- per person. There's unlimited food, glasses of beautiful bubbly and it's a great way to spend a Sunday afternoon! Cheers!
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Saturday 5 September 2015

Inside (And Outside) Canadian Parliament

It was a rainy weekend when we headed out to Ottawa, the very next day upon landing in Toronto. It was the 1st of July – Canada Day, and the streets were full of people dressed in red and white. Basically, everything you would NOT expect outside a parliament was there - food trucks, folks dressed as super heroes, soap bubbles in the air, street artists...

THE GROUNDS

We couldn’t really tell how huge the Parliament grounds were, because of the hordes of people and a stage being set up right in the middle for A ROCK BAND! But the architecture of the massive building was just gorgeous. I would have expected a Parliament to be solid and white – like uhmm.. The White House, instead, it looked like something out of Harry Potter. Rows upon rows of dome shaped windows, innumerable little towers sticking up, a brick facade and a gigantic clock tower.


In the middle of the ground is the Centenial Flame, a flame that celebrates 100 years of Canada’s Confederation and burns all day, every day. The emblems of each of the Provinces feature as part of the fountain. In fact, one comes upon these emblems everywhere – on the door of the Senate, the ceilings and plaques.



Walking along the street and around Parliament Hill, we came across plenty of statues ranging from former Prime Ministers to important stories in Canadian History. There are apparently 17 statues on the grounds and 90 along Wellington Street. My favorite were these 2 old ladies enjoying their tea. Would be apt around Indian Parliament too, don’t you think?

INSIDE PARLIAMENT HILL

The tour of Parliament Hill is a delight for history buffs. The guided tour takes one into the Senate and the House of Commons. The guide provides little known facts as you walk along the long corridors and stare in awe at the plush, stately interiors where the Queen sometimes sits when a session is in progress. What’s striking is the way they pay attention to detail while carving out the logo of each of the Provinces on the ceiling.

I loved the Library here. It's hard not to.. and you can see why.

Another interesting room was the Memorial Chamber - a tiny room with books containing names of soldiers who died while serving during war.The marble walls are inscribed with beautiful poems in honor of the soldiers. There's a book for WW1, WW2, The Korean War and many others. A page is turned in each of the books at 11 am every morning to ensure that each of the soldier's names feature on top.


PEACE TOWER

The highest point in the Parliament, the Peace tower is a symbol of Canada’s commitment to peace and gives one a fabulous view of the grounds and buildings. A clock on the top is surrounded by 53 bells of different sizes and sounds, and they chime different tunes from Super Mario to the Star Wars theme song. How cool is that!!!!

CHANGING OF THE GUARD

The next morning, we rushed to see the changing of the guard, a tradition since 1959. Every morning at 10 am, the Governor’s General Foot soldiers (in red coats playing brass instruments) and Canadian Grenadier Guards (In green kilts playing the pipes) march to their own tunes, literally!  With the Parliament Hill building as the backdrop, this 45 minute show is executed to precision and is really entertaining

TGG TIPS
  • Arrive 15 minutes early and grab a good spot to watch changing of the guards 
  • The Parliament Hill Tour is Free and available in English and French – but you need to collect tickets in advance. 
  • Get pictures with the soldiers before or after the show as they will not move once they stand at their positions
*A few of these images have not been clicked by ThatGoanGirl. Sources: blogs.cfr.org.  travellertrips.blogspot.com, and rccgcanada.org
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