Lucille's, Cairo

Lucille's Burgers
Take Away & Delivery
40 Road 9
Maadi

2378 1530
2378 7975

Time Magazine, wrote an article on Lucille's entitled The World's Best Burger is in Egypt

I have eaten here many times when I was in the mood for some American food in Maadi (which isn't too often, as I prefer the spicier offerings at Bua Khao or Gaya) and their food hasalways been good.

Lucilles has a cosy atmosphere conducive to its home style cooking. Recently they have become completely non-smoking, so its a real pleasure to enjoy a meal without the aromas being suffocated with cigarette smoke.

The in-restaurant menu has a lot of Tex-Mex items including Corn bread and chilli con carne, tortillas, fajitas and other items too are available.

I do love the chilli con carne that they serve with the corn bread, butter and onions on the side. My other favourite is their egg salad sandwiches served with fries. You can ask for brown bread sandwiches and it seems to me that their bread is baked in store.

Most aerated drinks and the Iced Teas (Lemon & Raspberry) come with free refills when dining in.

The place is quite often filled with teenagers, so it feels young and peppy at times.

They offer a seperate Breakfast Menu which also includes waffles, biscuits, french toast and pancakes apart from the regular omelettes. Not too many places in Cairo can give you these options. Breakfast is served till 11:30am daily and all day on Friday and Saturday.

The Delivery Menu is a slightly abridged version of the Restaurant menu and I think they have another facility a little further down the road that actually caters the delivery menu. If you visit the main restaurant, you cna have anything from the menu packed for a take away.

Almost everything on the menu is cooked from scratch by their kitchen staff. They even grind their own burger meat, so you can be assured that the ingredients in your meal are healthy and flavorful.

A great option, if you are craving diner style food in Cairo.

Pictures of the food are visible on Lucille's MySpace Profile

Helloji Sichuan, Gurgaon

Helloji Sichuan
Food Court
MGF Metropolitan
Gurgaon
124 - 4250 0888


They have a variety of starters averaging 120 for the non vegetarian ones and 80 for vegetarian. Soups are a flat 60 for veg and 70 for non veg. Main coursese range from 110-220 for prawn dishes. Rice and Noodles are 70/80.

I just needed to grab a quick bite about 5ish, before heading out to dinner with friends. Having missed lunch, I ordered the Chilli Chicken dry (120rs) and the Drums of Heaven (120rs). The chilli chicken was average, nothing memorable about it. The batter on the drums of heaven was too heavy and hence it wasn't cooked properly all the way through.

Not a place I would return to given that there are many other options in this food court.

Ambience & Service : Food Court
Food : 2

Gulati Restaurant, Delhi

Gulati Restaurant
6 Pandara Road Market
Ph: 2338 8836, 2378 2949

One of the many restaurants which have made Pandara Road Market, the "Go-To" place for Punjabi Food.

Generic interiors which could suit any kind of Indian cuisine. The place was buzzing at lunch time and all tables were taken. Their 349Rs buffet seemed to be a great hit given the number of people inside and queuing up at the bufet.

There was the usual assortment of salads with raitas, pickles and papad as starters. A choice of Vegetarian or Non vegetarian soup. Aampanna and lassi were part of the buffet. The main course had a fairly wide spread. The food was very tasty, even though it was a buffet. Some of the best aloo jeera I have eaten in a long time. Butter chicken and Rogan Josh faced tough competition from the vegetarian dishes even for a die-hard meat eater like me.

Indian breads/rotis were being served fresh, but because of the rush, the service of rotis could not keep up. The disaster occurred when I tried to get to the desserts. There was a large bunch of people who were either from college or a call center and one girl took it upon herself to serve all the desserts to all the 20+ members of her team and completely monopolised the dessert stand leaving no room for any of the other diner. Add to this the second helpings that her team mates wanted. A lot of diners like me who were in a hurry, left without a sweet finish. Which may be a good thing for my waist line in the long run :)


They do have an a la carte option even during lunch time. And people who had taken that option seemed to be having slightly faster service.

My Fresh Lime Soda was 60Rs. VAT was added to my bill, but no Service Charge. Cost for one person 480Rs.

Ambience: 7
Service 7.5
Food 8.5

Marzano, Dubai

Marzano
Pasta Pizza Grill
Old Town Souk
Downtown
Dubai
420 1136

A lovely restaurant with a classy yet relaxed atmosphere in the airconditioned souk attached to Old Town. It has a substantially large menu with various Italian dishes, but on this stopover we needed something quick. We told the Maitre D, that we were in ah urry and when we ordered the risotto, she warned us that it would take some time to be served.

Looking for something quick, we ordered the carpaccio di manzo (52) and the tagliatelle funghetto (46).

The carpaccio was really thin and well sliced, served with rocket leaves, parmigiano cheese and truffle olive oil. My only complaint with this dish was that I wish the rocket leaves had been de-stemmed. It gets a little messy to eat when you drizzle olive oil or balsamic vinegar on it and the leaves bounce as you try to gently raise them to your mouth.

The complimentary hot bread served with a garlic based dip and a sundried tomato dip was excellent.

The pasta was a bit too al dente for me, but the sauce was lovely.

The fresh water melon juice -24- was really fresh and refreshing.

Woudl love to go back here when we have more time for a relaxed meal.

India Palace, Dubai

India Palace
The Walk
JBR
Dubai
437 0279

The India Palace in Delhi is a greta restaurant that serves authentic Mughlai food. Lured by the name, we walked into this restaurant on the walk.

The interiors were beautifully done and very enticing. Sadly the food did not match up to the standards set by the decor.

It may be easy enough for the India palace to purport to be authentic Indian cuisine to the tourists pounding the sidewalk, but no self-respecting Indian would ever go back a second time.

The Thandaii - 13- almond and cardamom flavored milk based drink - was an interesting starting point which lulled us into believing that better things were to come. Unfortunately other than the stuffed aloo kulcha (7) - Indian bread stuffed with potatoes - nothing else even came close.

We ordered the tarah tarah ke kebab (an assortment of kebabs/grilled meats) - 52- hoping to enjoy a selection of tender chunks and morsels of meat. What was served was dehydrated bits of meat that did not seem to have seen the enfolding embrace of a marinade for more than a minute.

The tadka dhal - 14- yellow lentils was absolutely band without even the flavor of tomato or tempering of cumin.

The banjara kabab - 22- extolled as a cottage cheese dumpling, coated with spinach and nuts cooken in saffron flavored rich tomato and cashew gravy tasted as vegetable dumplings tossed into a generic butter chicken/butter paneer gravy.

Normally in large restaurants, different chefs manage the tandoor (where kebabs are grilled) and the main kitchen. Hoping to strike lucky with some rice, we ordered the ghosht biryani-35- lamb biryani. the rice was dry. Large pieces of mint leaves were liberally mixed into the dish and the meat was dry.

If you want to eat good Indian food in Dubai, stick to Karama. Those eateries may be basic, but they sure know how to cook food the way an Indian mom/grandmom would cook it. Lots of effort + fresh ingredients = unbeatable flavor.

Japengo Cafe, Dubai

Japengo Cafe,
Multiple Locations
Dubai

Outlet visited:
Dubai Festival City
232 6220

The Japengo Cafe decor looked cool and welcoming, so I selected this location over all the other endless eating options at Festival City. The ratio of staff to customers looked 3:1 and I hoped that it meant quick service at 3:30pm, but unfortunately I was in for a long wait.

I was seated quickly enough by a very polite Maitre D, who gave me enough time to peruse the lengthy menu of Appetizers, salads, sandwiches, sushi, sashimi, maki, temaki, Italian, wood fired pizzas, stir fries in crispy baskets, Oriental, Lebanese, Specials, Sides, Desserts, fresh juices, fruit cocktails, coffes, teas and Persian dishes.

I ordered an iced tea - 16dhs - which arrived soon enough. While ordering the iced tea, I had also ordered my main course. Unable to decide between the grilled lamb chops(72) and the Nasi Goreng (51), I asked the Maitre D for her recommendation. Usually if a Maitre D recommends the cheaper option, it means the restaurant is sure of that dish ensuring repeat customers.

I went with her recommendation, but was in for a really long wait. After 25 minutes of trying to prolong my iced tea, I finally found a waiter who hovered close enough to get his attention and asked for my meal. He brought it instantly and what followed leaves me with no doubt that they forgot to serve me my meal even though it was ready much earlier.

The fried rice was colder than room temperature, the side stick of chicken satay was cold and starting to harden around the satay stick. the roast chicken piece was starting to dry out and was also cold. The rice had no balance in flavour, the satay sauce had potential, but served at low temperatures lost its punch. the roast chicken could have been awesome, but was a solid lump of not too tender flesh. (all 3 were a part of the nasi goreng dish)

With so many staff manning seperate counters for each specialty and with very few customers, I expected much better service. Seems they were more involved in their own conversations and preoccupied with eating their own lunch (which I saw some of them do in the restaurant) than serving paying customers.

Didn't bother ordering dessert as I was already running half an hour late with this delay and couldnt afford another half hour.

Would rather grab a sandwich at Cinnabon, the next time I am in the vicinity.

The BBC Good Food Team seem to have had a better experience at the Mall of Emirates Location:
http://www.bbcgoodfoodme.com/bbcGF/restaurants/Default.aspx?m=rs&v=1&rID=387
Dare I risk it at another location?

Baanthai, Dubai

Baanthai
Oasis Mall
Dubai
515 4000

Baanthai is part of the foodcourt at the recently re-opened Oasis Mall. At 1pm - lunch time, all the dishes were ready cafeteria style and you just had to point and choose. Each main dish comes with its own side of steamed rice.

We tried the Massaman Nua-25- Massaman curry with braised beef and potatoes. A coconut milk based curry that isnt too spicy (unlike the red and green curries) and still distinctly Thai. It was understated and simple, the meat was well cooked and the potatoes were just the right consistency.

Also had the Gai Phad Med Na Maung -25- stir fried chicken with cashew nuts. This had a sweet and sour taste to it. Although it is a stir fry, it did have a bit of gravy with it to eat with the rice. This dish is also high on capsicum peppers and onions, so its high in fiber and veggie content too.

The tod man pla -15- deep fried spicy fish cake was not as mincy as it could have been. It was a solid flattenned slightly chewy lump, even though it took 15 minutes more to prepare (presumably fresh)

Other than the fish cakes the food was fresh and good. They do have a choice of soups, starters and salad. The prawn curries had really large sized prawns in them.

The menu lists a Thai tea which wasn't available today, but they do serve the entire fountain range of Pepsico drinks.(5/7 med/large)

They do not have desserts, but that was easily remedied by a stop at Subway in the same food court for cookies :)

Staff is pleasant and quite efficient.

Good for a quick meal.