Restaurant Review: 5 Senses

When you saw the title of the post, you may have wondered why I am posting review after review and no recipes. Am I changing this blog from a recipe blog to a restaurant review blog? The answer is NO!

If you follow me on my Facebook page, you probably know I was feeling a little under the weather for a few weeks, and the truth is that I am still not feeling myself. I did visit the doctor, and there is nothing to worry about - thank God! But I haven't had the energy to do much baking or cooking and I've been doing only what is absolutely necessary.

Thank you so much for all the messages, emails and wallposts asking how I am doing! It really makes me feel so good... Truly!

On to 5 Senses!

This was my second time at 5 senses. I must admit that my first experience was a very memorable one - but not for a very good reason. I remember going there with a big bunch of friends. I had taken my little girl along too. The food was tasty. The drinks were interesting. The service and ambiance were nice too. My only complaint was the portion-sizes. My 2 year old ate all my food! Seriously. I had like 2 bites and she ate all the rest. Now this place isn't cheap - and so I didn't want to order any more. So why was this meal so memorable? Because I left the place desperately HUNGRY! Not a good thing.

This time around, I kinda expected the same minuscule portions, but I am so, so, SO happy to tell you that I was wrong! This meal was one of the nicest I have had in a while!

Do you remember the chilly-lime drink I had at Dewberry's and how much I loved it? So, when I saw a Watermelon-Habanero Iced Tea on the menu, you know I just had to have it! This was a bold, spicy-sweet drink and I just loved it! All the other drinks seemed very nice too...

We also had some lovely focaccia (too soft and fluffy for me - I like my bread with a little bite - but still quite tasty), and some wonderful hummus (though I felt it could have been more lemon-y) and adorable baby pita bread!

The starters were really delicious - because we couldn't make up our minds, we ordered a Chef's choice platter and a Tapas platter. Everything I got to sample was delicious. Each dish was unique in flavor, the textures were spot-on, and they were absolutely perfect with their accompanying sauces/garnishes! My favorites were the smoked salmon-asparagus starter and the pork spare ribs! So yummy!

Apart from that, a friend ordered Spanakopita and the chef recommended a curry stuffed mushroom & some jalapeno fritters with a raw banana mousse and goats cheese mousse. My first experience with Spanakopita was not good, and so I really didn't expect much. I am so glad I was wrong again!

I. LOVED. EVERYTHING!

The mains were just as yummy!

The green apple and prosciutto pizza was just delicious! I loved the texture and flavors.

The ravioli was really interesting! I loved how it looked all deceptively cheesy. But guess what? It had a lovely hit of fresh, green chillies. It was not a combination I had tasted before, but I actually liked!

The pork chops were tasty, well-cooked and well-seasoned, but the stand-out for me on that plate was the side! It was a fluffy white couscous with cubes of ripe mango, cubes of semi-ripe mango and bokchoi! I had three helpings of that! Really awesome stuff!

The lamb chops were nice too, but nothing to write home about. :)

Because I am a total sucker for smoked salmon, the smoked salmon and asparagus pasta was one of my favorites! Just loved it and the combination of salmon and asparagus is just brilliant!

The only main I didn't enjoy was the lamb shank tagine. I found the flavors overwhelming and too Indian. Or maybe my palate wasn't responding well to all the spices after eating so much of non-spicy food. :)

Desserts are usually what I look forward to the most - and when I heard about the mango creme brulee, I was excited!

Sadly, that was the only let down of the day for me. In my opinion, a creme brulee needs to have that cracking sugar crust and this one had a few brown spots and no crack. It was more like a mango custard - tasty but not what I expected. It was served with a white coffee sorbet. The flavor of the sorbet was brilliant but I didn't enjoy the mango-coffee combination much.

The other dessert was a Callebaut Crostata with a Bailey's ice cream. The tart was molten and looked very appetizing, but the flavor seemed a little weak to me. Still it was chocolate, and I was in the mood for chocolate, and so I was happy to dig in. :) Definitely better than the mango dessert. The Bailey's ice cream was also a winner!

The ambiance of the restaurant is definitely worth a mention. The outdoor seating is lovely and would have been my pick if it wasn't for this awful, humid weather we've been having! The restaurant is lovely and the walls are adorned with gorgeous black-and-white pictures of some legends of cinema. Very classy! Who wouldn't want to dine with Audrey Hepburn and Gregory Peck watching over you? :)

Overall, this was a superb meal, and I would be happy to go back again, and again, and again! And I am so happy to see the larger portion sizes!

For some delicious, creative food, head to 5 senses on KNK road! Definitely a must-try!

I'll be back soon with a recipe post! Thanks for being there for me while I've been away!:)

Restaurant Review: Kryptos by Willi

Let me just start off by saying that I am huge fan of Chef Willi's food. I love, love, LOVE the food at Tuscana. Burgundy has some tasty stuff as well, though hot buffets are not my favorite kind of dining experience - the food tends to get kinda overcooked and dry sometimes, don't you think? So when we were invited to review the Greek-Cypriot restaurant 'Kryptos', I was quite excited. I had been there once before, and enjoyed the cold mezze buffet!

This time, our hosts had a set menu planned for us. We had unlimited access to the cold mezze buffet (yay!) and a few warm mezze dishes, and our mains and desserts had been ordered for us. I couldn't wait to get started!

I started with the cold mezze and loaded my plate with all my favorite things. By the time I walked back to my table, I felt like I was being greedy, but there was really a LOT of yummy stuff on the buffet and I just had to try them all. I loved the salads - there were so many kinds, and my favorites were some awesome pickled vegetables, a really nice potato salad and the classic Insalata Caprese. Apart from the lovely salads they had some really lovely dips - hummus, tzatziki and a few more. And they had a few varieties of cheese. You know how I love me some cheese. Very nice spread!

The warm mezze dishes were served to us at the table and I sampled a few of them.

There were quite a few vegetarian and non-vegetarian options, and I just loved the vegetarian ones! My favorite of the lot were these rolls called Bourekakia Melitzanes (don't ask me to pronounce it!), which were deep fried rolls filled with cheese and eggplant. Oh my! They were really, really yummy! The falafel was also really good.

Among the non-vegetarian ones, I liked the Lamb and Aubergine rolls. There was a fried lady finger fish, which is supposed to be eaten whole - bones and all, but personally, I felt the fish was too big and the bones were too brittle. Swallowing was a little painful for me. But then again, maybe it was just me!

The mains arrived in quick succession. There was a chicken breast dish which was flavored with garlic and mint. I found it under-seasoned and didn't enjoy it much.

Next up came an impressive and intriguing looking claypot. In it was oven baked fish cooked with potatoes and herbs. While I loved the presentation, the flavors just didn't work for me, and I felt that the fish was a little over-cooked. The pot seemed to retain a lot of heat, and I feel that the fish kept cooking long after it was taken off the stove.

The beef dish, called Fried Hamburgers, was my favorite among the non-vegetarian dishes, but to be honest it didn't blow my mind either. It was fine. And it was well-seasoned.

My favorite main of the evening turned out to be a dish called 'Papoutsakia' which was eggplant halves (are you noticing a pattern here?) stuffed with some aromatics, a bechamel sauce and some cheesy topping that was all melted and golden. I just LOVED it and helped myself to a second eggplant half. The other vegetarian dishes were also good.

Along with the mains, we were served some sides of caramelized carrots, potato wedges and garlic rice. All the sides were really tasty and the potato wedges were so incredibly crispy! I was very impressed with the sides.

Finally, we got to dessert and we were served a moist chocolate 'pie' and baklava.

The chocolate dessert tasted pretty good, though I couldn't figure out what made it a 'pie'. It had a very unusual (but not unpleasant) texture and had a deep chocolate-y flavor. I quite enjoyed it. The baklava, I didn't like much. I felt there was a LOT of the filling and not enough pastry layers. Personally, my favorite part of baklava is the crispy filo pastry, and this one just didn't have enough for me!

An interesting new thing at Kryptos is that the menu is bilingual - with all the dishes explained both in English and in the local language, Tamil. Quite unique, I must say!


Overall, I enjoyed the meal - especially the mezze dishes (hot and cold). Would I go back to Kryptos? Yes - to enjoy some awesome mezze!

Foodie Exchange

Before I get into this post, let me thank everyone who wrote in and commented congratulating me my 100th post! It truly feels like a HUGE milestone considering how much has happened this past year. I appreciate each and every one of you!

If you didn't visit the post, I hope you do. One of the most interesting things about that celebration cake was the filling. Without that awesome filling, it would have been a plain ol' butter cake - not that there's anything wrong with that. But the filling gave it a wonderful new twist. It was a sunflower seed butter filling and it was nutty, salty-sweet and delicious!

I mentioned in the post that I received the sunflower seed butter in a package from Ruchira of The Great Cookaroo, and today I want to share more about what we were a part of.

In April, I had a wonderful time participating in a Foodie Exchange where food bloggers from around the country got the chance to exchange packages filled with things that a foodie would love. And let me tell you - I was totally in LOVE with the stuff I got. Ruchira really knows how to put together a wonderful package and there's so much for me to show and tell!

The packaging itself was classy and simple - just the way I like it. I love that she addressed it to 'The Harried Cook'. I swear most people (including myself) are forgetting my real name. I am fast becoming 'first name Harried, last name Cook'! :) And I absolutely LOVED the hand-written note! I wrote her one too, and it made me realize how long it has been since I actually wrote a letter with pen and paper!

So here's my stash.

Awesome, right?

What I loved most about this package, is that Ruchira took so much trouble and effort tying each little jar and packet with a ribbon and a handmade tag on which she wrote out her ideas on what I could make with it.

In comparison, I just chucked everything in a box and sent it off to her! Tsk tsk... You can see what I sent her by going here.

I really admire the effort she put into the package! Here's the awesome stuff I got -

Sunflower seed butter (you know what I did with that!), Harissa paste (yum on some chicken I made!), Mini Marshmallows (for me to make more Rocky Road Ice cream!), Organic Multi-grain flour (so cool! I'm going to make some bread!) and adorable heart shaped foil chocolate cups (so adorable!)... 

I feel so blessed to have been paired with Ruchira. She is an awesome baker and cook (as you will see on her blog when you visit it - yes I said 'when' and not 'if' - go visit), and she really knows her food. I loved chatting with her and getting to know her and we have a few things in common - including a crazy love for cheese. Thank you, Ruchira for this wonderful package!! Here is one of the things that I made with it - you know it already!

This post is SO late. I feel terrible about being one of the last people to post about my package. First there was the hectic-ness of my life, then camera trouble and so on. But let me tell you - I am sure I was one of the most excited. Here is a list of the other people who took part in the Foodie Exchange.

Charis of Culinary Storm  (who came up with the Foodie Exchange - *applause*)
Deeps of Naughty Curry
Madhuri of Cook Curry Nook
Sarita of The Clean Toothpick
Pratiksha of Honeyed Pandemonium
Jeetendra of Moody Foodie
Apeksha of Veggie Wiz
Poorna of Presented by P
Ameya of Kitty in the Kitchen
Sid of Chef at Large
Siri of Cooking with Siri
Geetha of Fragrant Kitchen
Renuka of Pinch of Salt
Sangeeta of Health Food Desi Videshi
Rekha of My Tasty Curry
Nikhil of Nonchalant Gourmand

P.S. - I am SO behind on posts. So, I will be back in less than 24 hours with a Restaurant Review! See ya'll soon!