Home Delivered - SarvSri

A few days ago I was scouting for home cooks / home delivery for my friend's parents. It was then that I stumbled upon SarvSri. I was impressed by what they were doing as also by the fact that they were close by. And this morning, I was too exhausted to cook. I'd just gotten back from Tirupathi at midnight and had no energy whatsoever. And, I made a call to SarvSri at 10 am.

Savita Gupta picked my call and I explained what I needed and if it would be possible for them to delivery a single meal for lunch. She said she'd have to check and shortly, a gentleman named Yogesh Gupta called me. I told him I needed just 1 lunch and inquired the delivery charges. He said I do not come under the delivery area and I had to explain I live right about 3 km from where they are and only my area name is different. (This conversation, incidentally, reminded me of what I was told yesterday - there's this 100 m stretch near Kanakkama Chathram, enroute Tirupathi. The left hand side of this stretch is Andhra and the right hand side is TN. You can see all wine shops on the left hand side of the road and are open past 11 pm. Weird but true). Yogesh promised he'd do his best. 

At 1230 I received a text saying the food has been dispatched. At 1245, I received the neatly packed food with a bill for 112.50. (The cost of the meal is INR 100, plus 12.5% VAT and there were no delivery charges)

The menu today was sambar, rasam, potato fry, kurma, rice, pickle, fryums, payasam, and curd rice. There was even a pack of pass pass mouth freshener. 

The sambar was good, and the extra pack of sambar is unused, sitting in the fridge. The rasam was super spicy (with lots of pepper and a bit of garlic) - totally loved it. The potato was well cooked, seasoned and spiced well. I just wondered what a kurma was doing in place of kootu (perhaps a mix up or perhaps that's how it was meant to be?) - was tasty nonetheless. I was totally bowled over by the well-seasoned smooth thachi mummu (curd rice). The payasam was a little too sweet for my liking but was good. Overall a very good Saturday meal and I am happy.

I'd just finished the hearty meal & burped when Yogesh called to check if the food was delivered on time and inquired on the taste.

Price point: Reasonable

Service: Prompt

Taste: Very good

Packing: Neat (the carton can be re-used for something else later on)

Will I order again: Most Definitely.

Sarvsri is on OMR, opp Lifeline hospital. You can call them on +919840014449 or also order via gograb.in. Their menu card is available on their facebook page https://www.facebook.com/sarvsri/

Read More

Pizza Republic - Thumbs up

Even after all the PR for PR on CFG (er.. I meant, after all the PR for Pizza Republic on Chennai Food Guide), it remained elusive to me. I'd called to place an order on 31st, but they were short staffed. And Tasneem Aunty's post this morning made me crave again. And what do I see? A voucher for INR 50 from Go Grab in my mailbox. That's it. The fate is sealed. It's a sign from the universe. \m/

So here I am, drooling and ordering a veg supreme 9" (yes yes - all this goes in my daily tracker). Minimum order value for home delivery, if you order via gograb is INR 200.

This is my order summary. Since I had to use the voucher, I had to order for at least INR 250 to qualify for the home delivery, hence the olive toppings and extra cheese ;-) ;-) (No no.. really...)

This one pizza will have ~1000 calories. (minus the thin crust)

As it takes 1 hour for home delivery, I placed the order at 6 15 pm, hoping the delivery will be by 715 pm.

Finally, I thought I was going to get my pizza tonight. But that would not seem to be the case. Go Grab gave me a call and said I cannot have extra olives. Also thin crust and extra cheese is not a combination - *tears hair apart and almost gives up*. So I am now getting my pizza with no thin crust and no extra olives and 45 rupees refunded to my account. 

After a few minutes, go grab calls again - OK now what? - I need my pizzaaaa. I am getting my extra olives but no thin crust. Fine - Get the pizza! That's now 20 rupees back to the account. 

So the final order is - Veg 9" supreme, extra olives, extra cheese, extra spicy. Why is there no thin crust and extra cheese combination? Beats me! 

After 1 hour and 25 minutes, the pizza finally arrives. The bearer of the pizza announces that he'd forgotten his cell phone at the restaurant, and he sort of remembered the address! Should I be happy or what? :-)

The pizza arrived packed neatly in the typical green box that I had hitherto seen only on CFG Wall. 

I was hungry to say the least, and the tantalizing aroma did nothing to ease the pangs. As I opened the box, I saw a rich pizza decked in peppers, onions, paneer, olives and jalapenos. The pizza was veiled in ivory colored cheese that trailed like a bride's train as you separate the pizza slices. 

The crust was (was there a crust?) was super soft as I sank my teeth into this cheese filled delight, closed my eyes and let out an audible sigh. And I was jolted to reality. Where is the spice? I was sure I'd asked for extra spice (and it was marked on the order sheet too). The first two slices were gobbled as if I'd never seen pizza in my life time. Then the spice hit my taste buds. The third and fourth slices were spicy, especially if, like me, you eat the peppers, paneer, peel the cheese off the pizza and eat that and then finally eat what's left :-D. Towards the end, I also detected a strong flavor of garlic. (Couldn't finish the entire lot, 2 slices are saved for tomorrow - breakfast perhaps! )

Note: There were a few charred edges, and I mean, really charred but that's just a minor defect amidst all the brilliance - Almost like a dhrishti pottu! 

Pizza Republic Taramani is on CSIR Road, Next to Ascendas, Taramani. Ph - 044-22541720

Pizza Republic has recently opened a branch in Mogappair.

A big big thumbs up! The jinx is broken! Life looks up! Praise the Lord! 

Read More

Delivered Diet - Pind, Velachery

*Title courtesy - Bharani Shivakumar**

Update at 8:08 pm

This is more or less a live blog post. I was completely exhausted after judging the food fest event yesterday and decided to give a day off to my kitchen tonight.

I was juggling between Pind, Petawrap and Mast Kalandar. I have tried Mast K a million times earlier on and wanted something different; food that wouldn't cost as much in delivery charges.

All I wanted to do was put my feet up and flick between channels on television. Funny People starring Adam Sandler is on now. I'd switch to MasterChef Australia in an hour.

So as usual, I looked up to my fellow foodies on CFG, to suggest what I can do for dinner and as usual comments poured. I looked through the menu of Pind, and decided to order tawa ghee phulkas and diwani handi (with less tomato).

I placed a call to Pind at 7:45 pm and the lady who picked the phone took my order. She said it'd take 45 mins to deliver. And I say - so that would be 8:30 pm? She says - no ma'am , 8:45 and I say, then it would be 1 hour! She started laughing and said ma'am we'll deliver between 830 - 845. Talk of Indian Standard Time! She almost hung up when she realized she hadn't taken my address or phone number! All that done, I now wait for the food to be delivered.

Update at 8:15 pm - Another 30 mins to go!

Update at 8:30 pm - No sign of the food, Just as I typed this, ding dong. Food arrives! Yay!

Update at 8:35 pm - The food has arrived well packed and hot. The gentleman who brought it to the door was quite pleasant that I couldn't resist tipping him. And it's now time to taste!

Update at 8:50 pm - Dinner done; Hands washed; (Sorry Bharani, had to do that before I updated the post :P) Phulkas were perfect, with that perfect amount of ghee. The portion of the sabzi would perhaps serve 2 - 3 people. So I have enough stock left over for next 2 days. (I could have asked if they served half portions) Not too spicy, not too tomato-ey, not too mushy - just the way I like it. The sabzi had mushrooms, corn, carrot, beans, peas, paneer, bell pepper, onions and tomatoes. Pickled onions and mint yoghurt completed the side. At INR 220, and free home delivery, PIND delivers!

And now, it's time for MasterChef Australia. Enjoy the evening!

Read More