Bottomless Pit #3 : Asia Alive - Double Tree by Hilton

So, we woke up this beautiful Saturday morning - the skies were grey, there were sparks of lightning and bursts of thunder. All I could think of after last nights Mojito's was a 'Heart Attack' meal - greasy, meaty comfort food.

We quickly checked our favourite All in All restaurant/hotel directory - Zomato, for options in and around our neighbourhood. Closest option, and one that had some great reviews was Double Tree's breakfast buffet.

It was 10:00 AM by the time we got our act together, Alex made a quick call to the restaurant 'Asia Alive' and found out the buffet ended at 10:30 AM. We knew 10 minutes would not be enough to do justice to a Buffet so we requested a time extension. Why 10 minutes you must be wondering, when 10 to 10:30 is clearly 30 minutes? Well, 15 minutes for the lady to get dolled up and 5 minutes driving time.

The reception informed us they would make a special request and arrange a confirmatory call back in five minutes. Alex just about hung up and started his song of 'Baby Get Ready! We have 5 Minutes to leave!' and his phone rang. It was Double Tree calling to inform us that they would extend the buffet till 11:00 - 11:30 for our benefit. A.W.E.S.O.M.E.

We got ready and just when we stepped out there was a downpour - but well nothing was going to stop us now! We ploughed through the water logged roads on our mission to Hog!

We reached Double Tree - Customer Satisfaction Overload. The person in-charge, who made the call to Alex was at our table eagerly waiting to greet us and give us a tour around the food islands, where lay a large spread of utterly delicious goodies. His service was commendable as he showed us around the various LIVE counters and simultaneously took our orders - this was quite surprising for a buffet, considering buffets are normally self service.

Then began the food orgy - We started off with Omelettes stuffed with gooey cheese , mushroom and bacon with potato wedges and grilled seasoned tomato on the side.

Next up : Cold cuts - Smoked salmon, Pork Salami and Ham served with olives doused in vinegar and some interesting sauces. We also tried out various cheeses - Brie and Emmental and Cheddar. I figured I'm not too much of a cheese connoisseur :)

By now, I started to feel a little full so I decided to space out the meal. The theory worked because as I sipped my piping hot cup of cappuccino, my tummy started making space for more. We decided to stroll around the diner and see what other options we had and that's when we decided we're not leaving without trying everything - our meal had just begun.

We had a vegetable bake - done to perfection still retaining some of the crispiness of the vegetables, lamb patty - succulent and rich in flavours of herbs and then placed our orders at my all time favourite counter - pancakes and waffles! I knew this was going to be a herculean task but I was determined to finish my mission.

Last but not the least, Alex piled up his plate with all the goodies from the pastry section - Donuts, Muffin, Eclairs and Croissants.

By now we felt like two stuffed turkeys - we'd make some nice fat birds for Easter! We were informed close to 11:30 that the counters were closing and food was to be cleared away. We were so done with the food bit but we sat around catching up on the week's happenings. Such a lovely start to our weekend - Good Food and Great Company!

We left the Hilton and set out for a lovely long drive on the highway, our tummies nice and satiated, rumbling amiably along.

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Bottomless Pit #2 : Coriander Leaf

The word of the day is 'MUGHLAI'. Today's cravings were all about meat in Indian spices. We set our GPS on to the much recommended 'Coriander Leaf' and as Alex drove, I scanned through the menu online. I couldn't help but read out the one-line descriptions of each dish and we both were in near drool situations! Rich, Spicy and Ravishing Red pictures of the food was only adding to the rumbles in our tummies. By the time we got to our destination, we knew what we were going to eat.

Considering it was Saturday Noon, we were quite surprised to the find only one other table with guests. This got us a little nervous about our choice but we still took our seats thinking - why not give it a shot!

We were seated right next to the window with a view of a fountain pool. Joining us for company were a couple of pigeons and storks who were busy quenching their thirst while we watched. The tiles of the pool were broken and there was shallow dirty water which gave us an immediate impression of poor maintenance for a Vipul Enterprise. We've been to a couple of other restaurants owned by the same group 56 Italia and Jing and both were beautiful at night with the dim lighting and water floating down glass walls - although after seeing Coriander Leaf during the day, I have my doubts about the general maintenance around these properties.

The interior decor was minimal - yet classy, staff was dressed to impress and very courteous. We were welcomed with some refreshing cold towels and a chilled glass of  'Aam Panna' (a raw mango drink). For a hot summer day with temperatures anywhere between 40 and 45 degrees Celsius, this was all we needed to start our meal. They also served us a basket of 'Papad' , a thin, crisp, disc shaped snack accompanied with pickled onions and Coriander - Mint chutney (paste).  As planned, regardless of how hungry we were, we refrained from eating too much of the snacks as we were eagerly awaiting the main course. But from what we tasted, each of the items including the drink were very well prepared and savoured by us.

The main course we ordered included the following

Murg Amber Biryani : Long grain rice cooked with succulent pieces of chicken flavoured with exotic spices and saffron

Nihari : Shanks of baby lamb infused with an exclusive mix of herbs and spices, which is originally a breakfast item and a specialty in Pakistan

Brain Curry : Mouth watering delicacy of lamb brain simmered in milk and tempered with light spices, garnished with juliennes of tomato and capsicum

*The descriptions are as given in the menu

Service was quick and the food came in piping hot. Alex and I, by now ravenous, got down to business. We started off with the Brain Curry accompanied with Rumali Roti - the Brain curry was melt in mouth and the flavours from spices were out of this world. After getting thoroughly satiated by the brain curry, we moved on.

Nihari which was recommended by the waiter, was quite disappointing  The mutton pieces were literally drowned in oil/ghee which made the dish extremely heavy. Also, we had a little surprise addition in the dish 'A strand of Hair'!! This pretty much killed our apetite. Even though we have stomach's of steel, we do get cranky about these small things when we are paying top dollar for the meal.

We did complain to the staff regarding this and promptly our dish was replaced. They also made it a point to re-heat the Biryani and bring the two in together. This time 'all was good'. The Biryani was aromatic and had a plethora of very different flavours. The meats - Chicken & Mutton were tender and succulent. By the end of the meal - half aborted (rest packed), we were like stuffed chickens!

All in all we quite enjoyed the lunch and the 'left overs' dinner that followed.

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