Shakahari JW Marriott Senapati Bapat Road

I took lunch at Shakahari last week as part of celebrating my wife's birthday. The restaurant is at first floor inside the JW Marriott hotel, Senapati Bapat Road.

Food: The menu of the restaurant is available here. There was a Gujarati food festival going on in the restaurant between April 14-30.

We got iced tea as welcome drink. Then we started with Gujarati as well as Asian Salad. There were in total more than 50 items, including Khandvi, Papdi Chat, Samosa Chat, Dahi Wada, Chana Chat, Patra, Patra Chat, Khaman, Fafda-Chutney, Kachori Chat and many more Gujarati items as well as Japanese items, Mushroom, Masala baby corn, etc.. Asian items. There were drinks like Mango Lassi and Chhaas which were both delicious.

Then we ordered starters and main course. We chose to order more Gujarati food like Surti Dal, Kadhi, Rice, Fansi Dhokli, Roti. Both Dal and Kadhi were of typical Gujarati taste and I personally enjoyed them a lot.

When it came to desserts, we had lots of varieties there too. There were in total 20 different desserts including three flavours of ice-creams like strawberry, chocolate and vanilla, Mung dal shira, Gulab Jamun, five types of sweets, pastries, and some other desserts.

We reached the restaurant at around 1:30 PM and it took us around 3:30 PM to finish the whole lunch tasting each item just once. Our stomachs were so full that my wife complained of pain and we didn't eat anything for the rest of the day to give our stomachs some rest.

Fees: The total bill including taxes came to around INR 1880. I considered it a bit on the higher side for two people considering that my daughter is four and her meal is complimentary.

All in all, it is worth visiting both for the ambiance and grandeur of the hotel as well as food.

Casa Cabella Baner

I visited Casa Cabella restaurant, Baner on Friday 29th March.

Timings and Route: I reached the restaurant at around 9:00 PM. The restaurant is behind BPCL petrol pump, next to Mahabaleshwar Hotel at Pallod Farms.

Food: The menu of the restaurant is available here. We started with Cream of tomato and Basil soup. The soup was good but the bread-crumbs were burnt a bit. We then ordered Mac-N-Cheese pasta, Cannelloni pasta (not available in above menu currently priced at INR 170) and Grilled vegetable skewers. All three were quite delicious. The rice in vegetable skewers had a typical taste but it required to have that taste developed. We finally ordered one Chocolate brownie with ice cream.

Fees: The total bill came at around INR 635 (including service charges of INR 30). This was very less compared to the items we had ordered. We left the restaurant at around 10:15 PM but to our surprise, except for us, not a single other customer came to visit the restaurant. Both Zomato and Burrp gives good review for this restaurant and I too agreed with both the rating and the value for money recommendation for this restaurant. Please do visit this even before Polka Dots in Aundh.

Garudmaachi

I visited Garudmaachi on Friday, 8 March, 2013 as part of engineering offsite from the company I am working in.

Timings and Route: We left in volvo buses from office at 7:45 AM. I took the route shown here. We reached the place at around 10:15 AM. The website of the place is here.

Food: We had breakfast as soon as we reached the place at around 10:30 AM. We had poha and bread-butter-jam. We had our lunch at around 2:30 PM which included two sabjis, chapati, rice, soup and raita. In the evening, we had vada with hari mirch but I missed pav. Overall, the food quality was fine.

Tariffs: The place charged INR 1450 per person from us. There were some toll checks along the way that was paid by the company HR personnel.

Activities: There were a lot of activities that we carried out including:

• Walking on A-shape-bamboos: There was an A-shape bamboo structure per team which had four ropes tied. One guy had to board the bamboo and will have to remain on it for the duration of the activity. Others would have to steer him with four ropes to travel from one point to the other. Every team was given 30 minutes and had to try to make as many people reach from one end to the other. We could finish 3 but some teams finish as many as 8.
• Crossing the river: This was a no-brainer activity. A free plane had crocodiles and piranhas and we had to travel on a raft without talking.
• Rappelling: There was a 35-feet high rock which we had to rappel down with a rope tied to our waist.

Bhimashankar Temple

I visited Bhimashankar Temple yesterday. It is one of the twelve Jyotirlinga in India.

Timings and route: I left my home in my car at 8:30 AM and took the route shown here. Earlier I had thought of taking a left turn at Rajguru Nagar but the people guided me to take a longer route from Manchar. We reached the place at around 11:30 AM. There was one Dimbhe Dam along the way. The mountains were not lush green otherwise the view would have been mesmerizing.

Fees: There are two tolls along the way that charged INR 38 each. The entry to Bhimashankar requires you to shell out INR 20. 

Food: There were a lot of eateries along the way but we first had a dose of 'chikoos' and 'roasted corns' near the temple. While coming back, we took our lunch at 'Atithi' family garden restaurant which is around 15-20 KMs from Manchar towards Bhimashankar. They didn't have chinese and south indian but they had very delicious punjabi dishes which were served hot and we all were pretty hungry so we enjoyed the food very well. The total bill for four adults came to around INR 450 only which was a bargain compared to the place we were at.

Activities: Except for the temple, there isn't anything else to visit. During monsoon, you may enjoy the lush green mountains along the way.

All in all, it was worth one day visit.

Polka Dots Aundh

I visited Polka Dots restaurant in Aundh yesterday.

Timings and Route: I reached the restaurant at around 8:15 PM. The restaurant is next to ICICI Bank ATM on road towards Kaka Halwai from Parihar Chowk.

Food: The menu for Aundh restaurant is not available but for Kalyani Nagar branch, it is available here. The prices in the menu at this point of time is not in sync with reality. The actual rates are 1.5 times that mentioned in the menu (e.g. Tomato and Basil broth is for 85 bucks in menu but actually it is 125 in the restaurant).

We started with Tomato and Basil broth which my wife and I liked but my daughter was in no mood to touch. We then ordered vegetable Au Gratin and Risotto for the main course. I liked both of them but my wife felt there was some non vegetarian smell in the dishes. My daughter mostly took au gratin but not to the extent she normally does. We then took parcel of the rest of the items and came home. When I am writing this the next day, both the dishes are over and half the portion was eaten by my wife!!!

Fees: The total bill came to around INR 670 which I consider a bit on the higher side. The quantity of the items were also a bit less compared to that of other restaurants. The ambience also was not that good and the manager was eagerly waiting for us to vacate the table since there was a queue of people waiting. But I will still recommend the restaurant for a try.

Beaver Golden Fields

I visited Beaver Golden Fields yesterday. It is a nice place to spend a day of picnic.

Timings and Route: I left my home in my car at 10:45 AM. I took the route shown here. The place is a bit inside 3-4 km after RiverDale school. It took me around 50 minutes to reach from my home.

Food: The food was average. We were given sweet-corn soup, two vegetables, roti / bhakhri, jira rice, dal, papad and coconut pudding.

Fees: As per the information I got, the charges were INR 500 per person for a day picnic. If you want to stay at night, it would cost INR 1700 per person. This includes food and stay.

Activities: There were open fields where we carried a lot of activities including:

• Cricket
• Volleyball
• Badminton

There were some indoor activities too that people can carry out including:

• Foosball
• Table Tennis

It was a nice place to spend a day.