Restaurant Review: Casa Bhosale 

Location: Above Cafe Bhosale, Near National Theatre, Panaji Goa

Visited this restaurant for lunch on a Sunday and by the time we left, people were waiting in queue to get a table. The only thought I had while leaving the place was, thank God I came early. :-)

Casa Bhosale is a sister concern of one of old and famous cafes in Panaji, Cafe Bhosale. It is located directly above Cafe Bhosale near Church Square. The ambiance of the place is good. The seating area is big and there is a separate closed section. 

For drinks, we ordered for Budweiser, Blender's Pride and Fresh Lime Soda. For starters, we had our usual squids butter garlic served along with veggies and french fries. And, it was amazingly delicious.

Squids Butter Garlic

We planned to order thali but fish in thali was lady fish which I'm not so fond of. So, instead, we ordered prawns curry rice and separate fried fish. It was one of the best prawns curry I ever tried. The prawns were big and succulent. The waiter brought three kinds of fish on a platter to choose for frying. We chose a red snapper which was served Rawa fried. The fried fish was again tasty and nicely cooked. 

Red Snapper Rawa Fried

Prawns curry rice

The overall quality of food was great. Especially, the fish was fresh although it was off-season. 

The service was prompt and fast.

The price was slightly above average. The fish was costly owing to off-season.

A great experience for a fish lover me..

Food: 4/5

Ambiance: 3.5/5

Service: 3.5/5

Book Review: The Pharaoh's Secret

Title: The Pharaoh's Secret (Numa Files #13)

Author: Clive Cussler, Graham Brown

Another adventure book from Clive Cussler. As the name suggests, this book revolves around Egypt and pyramids. The hero of this book is Kurt Austin and Joe Zavala. The story is about a big corporation in Egypt conducting illegal activities under cover of a water plant. Somehow or the other Kurt and Joe are present around a site where some catastrophe takes place and then they get involved in unearthing the mystery.
There are some secrets of ancient Egypt civilization which were discovered by French during their invasion but kept hidden from the world because of its dangerous nature. The same secrets were found by a group of people with evil intention and used to threaten some of the world leaders to establish their power over entire North Africa. They resorted to some of the inhuman ways to get people to follow them.
Several times during their search for the truth, Kurt and Joe were in danger for their lives but it was sheer luck that they came out of it unhurt. At the climax, the bad guys were killed and peace was again reinstated in North Africa.

About the author: Clive Cussler is an American author who has written books about everything that is mysterious. I wonder to what extent the author has extended his knowledge base to know about most of the mysteries around the world. Each book that I come across is based on different area, different civilization, different era. Cussler is founder and chairman of real life NUMA.

Restaurant Review: Peep Kitchen

Location: Old Miramar Dona Paul Road, Caranzalem, Panaji Goa

Visited this place several times and finally got down to review it. This place is a perfect hidden gem as not many people know about it. Its located at Caranzalem near Miramar on the inside road that goes towards Dona Paul. 

The restaurant has AC and non-AC section. The outdoor seating is very comfortable. One of the wall features Mario Miranda cartoons. The only disadvantage is continuous traffic noise. 

This place has earned fame because of the quality and taste of food they offer. We started off with my most favorite things Squids Butter Garlic, Mussels Rava Fry and Prawns Cafreal. Everything that we ordered was so yummmm... Squids were very very tasty and nicely cooked. Drinks were low profile as we ordered Fresh Lime Soda.

Prawns Cafreal

Squids Butter Garlic

For main course, we had a mightily filled Thali which was more than sufficient for my tiny tummy. Thali consisted of rice, Prawns curry, Tisrya Sukhe, Dried Prawns Kismoor, Chonak Rawa Fry, Solkadi, Mackerel Pickle and Tambdi Bhaaji. Mackerel Pickle was something new for my taste buds. It tasted fine but was very spicy. Tisrya were amazing and so was kismoor. Overall, the food was very tasty.

Fish Thali

After such mammoth spread of lunch, I did not even look at Desserts. 

The service was very quick and helpful. The price was slightly on higher side. Thali was quite reasonable but rest of the items were over priced. 

Overall a tasty experience.

Food: 4/5

Ambiance: 3.5/5

Service: 3.5/5

Book Review: The Cuckoo's Calling

Title: The Cuckoo's Calling, Cormoran Strike #1

Author: J K Rowling under pseudonym Robert Galbraith 

SIMPLY AMAZING..!!!!

This book is a complete package. It's rare that you get hold on to a book like this. You just don't want to keep it down. The book is quite big but you don't feel you have read so much. Its been 2 days since I finished the book but it's still there at the back of mind. Hats off to Robert Galbraith aka JK Rowling. You are superb. I had no option but to rate the book at 5. It's absolutely perfect.

Now about the book, it's a beautifully narrated crime fiction. The plot is very complex yet very simple. The major character is detective Cormoran Strike who gets to the bottom of the situation which was accepted by public and police to be a suicide but turned out to be a well planned murder. The author gave us no clue whatsoever till the end of book who the killer is or whether there is really a killer.

The story is intertwined and there are many things occurring at the same time which makes it difficult for police to reach the killer and decipher the murder to be suicide. But, the detective looks at all the loopholes and finally gets to the real culprit. In his search, he is helped by his new secretary Robin who happens to be a temporary but at the end of book and to delight of readers, takes it up on permanent basis. The book has several characters but the detective & his secretary dominate the overall story. Although a crime fiction, the book is extremely light-hearted and devoid of any gory scenes.

A must read for the pure joy of reading...

About the Author: 

What's there to say about the author. Her name says it all. It's JK Rowling, the author of our most loved book series of childhood as well as adulthood, Harry Potter. She writes crime fiction under the pseudonym Robert Galbraith. She has released two book under the series of Cormoran Strike, The Cuckoo's Calling and The Silkworm.

Restaurant Review: Global Culture

Location: Palm Beach Road, Sanpada, Navi Mumbai

The first impression upon entering this place is.... WOWWWW.....

This multi cuisine restaurant is located at Sanpada on the Palm Beach Road. It is easily accessible. The ground floor has B Desi and the first floor houses Global Culture. We visited this restaurant for a dinner. It was dimly lit and beautifully decorated. I loved the overall decor of the place. 

We were seated in the corner table which was made up like a canopy.

The food was delicious. The menu is diverse. It consists of Chinese, Continental, Italian, Indian, Japanese, Mongolian. We ordered all my favourite items. 

For starters, we had Prawns Hagrow i.e. Prawns Dimsums. It was great with tasty prawns filling.

Then, we ordered Chicken Lasagna with garlic bread. This again was delicious. and lastly, we had Shish Touk Sizzler. It came with steaming veggies, rice, french fries and Chicken skewers. The chicken was succulent and well cooked with masala. We also had peach iced tea.

Overall, the food was very good but I found it slightly on lesser in terms of quantity.

The service was very prompt and helpful.

The price was slightly on higher side but it was worth it.

A lovely place to spend time with your loved ones.

Ambiance: 4/5

Food: 3.5/5

Service: 4/5