Seas the Day at Boardwalk by Flamboyante

It's been forever since I wrote my last blog post and this post is by far my fastest post published. The n number of questions received by everyone after one check-in on facebook at this place, set aside my lazy behavior and motivated me put some time to write this!

I had been planning to visit this place since almost a year now, but never got a chance to go. Finally, this was my time to visit Boardwalk! We booked our tickets to travel by PNP and left from Gateway at 2pm. (priced at INR.165/- recommended pre booking)

Nestled in the beauty of Mandwa Beach, just besides the Jetty, you land at a complete aww of place surrounded with peace and mesmerizing beauty in just 50 minutes. It took me a while to take a breathe of the fresh air around me. It was a Saturday and since we hadn't pre-booked it got a little difficult to get a table on the spot. However, the manager was nice enough to accommodate a table for the two of us at the end moment. The place was actually house full, with a birthday party going on at one side, a bachelorett on another and a few other guests enjoying their meals here and there.

Boardwalk is a Greek themed restaurant with all white and blues doing perfect justice to the place. The interiors are on point, keeping in mind the location bang next to the beach. We got fresh and settled ourselves on a couch facing the sea, and I just couldn't get enough of that unreal view!

We had to place our order real quick, and finish our meal by 5pm since the place was booked for a private party later. We first called for a double apple - mint based sheesha which was presented to us in a tall hukka pot and gave a truly arabic feeling. For drinks, we had a sangria and a beer. The sangria was made well, but the bar menu isn't too pocket friendly.

Since you all know, I'm a hardcore sea food lover.. To begin with we called for fried fish and chips which was served with tarter sauce. The food isn't extraordinary but totally satisfying. The dish came in with only two big pieces of fish with chips and sauce. At first the quantity looked less to me but it had already ruined my appetite. The fish was bland yet fresh, tender and finely cooked. And, the tarter sauce served along with it compensated the taste.

We then ordered fish tikka. This was basa cooked very well, and the masala on it tasted typically like a Mughlai dish. This was so good, it almost melted in the mouth and i just couldn't wait to pick my next piece. It was served with green chutney which has always blended well with most foods.

For mains, we ate grilled fish sizzler which was basa once again. Unfortunately, we didn't know that this dish wasn't served with rice or noodles but only steamed and caramelized vegetables along with signature mash and potato wedges. (Forgot to click a picture of this)

We were so full after this, but no meal is complete without a dessert! We called for the famous mud pie with vanilla ice cream. Just one word, foodgasmic! Try it yourself to know more ;)

The sun was setting and the view kept getting better. I really wished we could wait for some more time and enjoy the sunset. However, since it was already 4:45 we had to vacate the place. Our bill came upto Rs.4000 and we were more than happy to dish that out of our pockets! 

The experience was totally worth the wait and I would definitely suggest each one to visit this place for a sun downer at least once. I do recommend booking a week in advance cause no matter how courteous the staff is, the place is so busy that even if they wish to help you they can't do anything about it.

We booked a ferry to come back to Bombay which was going to depart at 5:45pm. Meanwhile, we walked around the beach and enjoyed the magnificent view. We had tickets to a normal ferry that took us an hour to come back and the sunset was one of the best, I have seen so far! The Mumbai skyline looked extra pretty and here was the end to a day spent beautifully with the person who matters the most.

Hope this post has helped you fix a venue for you're next date or maybe even a day out with your family. Don't forget to like and share this post if it has helped you, it may help someone else too!

For quick updates and more pictures, follow me on Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/twentysomethingtripped/

Love,
Samidha.

Pop into Pop Tates!

So, the initial plan for last night was, The Bar Stock Exchange, only to find out the place is still under renovation and we ended up at to Pop tates in Kamla Mills. We reached there at around 11pm and although, it was a Saturday night we instantly got a table.

Ambiance wise the place is quite desperate and tries to scene American dining culture which pics all over the place, seating arrangements and what not. Over all it won't hurt your eyes but won't sooth either!

The discipline seemed strict as the waiter was very adamant on serving alcohol only if we had a 24+ id proof. Nevertheless, we settled for the night with Sangria, beer and a few pegs whiskey since one of my friend was 24. The service was very slow and no sooner that the alcohol arrived at the table the waiter stood there and kept watching everything we were doing.

For starters, we called for Salsa Prawns. They were tossed in Mexican spices and salsa. These were served in a small magnetic pan with a base of cabbage leaves. They were mind-blowing and worth the price. We also called for Mac and cheese which was served in a pan again along with three garlic breads. This was absolutely bland and not very well cooked, in spite of adding a good amount of chilly flakes and oregano it was still the worst I ever had. 

Next we called for Chicken satay, which was okay and not very great. We also ordered Chicken squares, which came in as big pieces of chicken that were deeply fried and spiced. Again, it wasn't well cooked and the chicken was very rubbery. 

For mains, we called for Fish-n-Chips. There were three pieces of Barca fish coated with bread crumbs, served with french fries and tartar sauce. It was finely cooked and the lemon juice sprinkled on top gave it a much better taste.

 

Sadly, my first time would be my last. The service is slow and the food as I said isn't that great. Pop in to Pop Tate's only if you wanna get sloshed without paying a bomb.

Until next time,
Samidha :')

An Old Wild West Saturday!

Hi Guys,

To begin with.. this was one of the most wanted place in town and we've finally got one! Everyone has been talking about it and I had to go there. Finally, I got the time off my busy schedule to visit this place last Saturday. Located on the first floor of Trade View in Kamla Mills, this place has it's own valet parking but you still have to pay the Kamla Mill guys.

I went there with a couple of friends and since it was a weekend we had to pay a cover charge of INR.1,500 per couple,believe me it was worth it! We entered the place around 9 PM and still had to get seated at the bar until we got a table for our-self. We decided to wait until we got a table and were just enjoying the ambiance of the place. 

This Texas/cowboy themed place has an indoor Bull ride, the major attraction of the place. It also has a selfie wall that has cowboy hats and guns as props to take pictures with. There is a dance floor in the center where you can dance to the beats of the loud music! The staff had allotted us a waiting of half an hour to get a table, but they failed to provide us with one. More crowd kept walking in, so we decided to settle at the bar and place our orders anyway! 

The bar is huge and they serve amazing and a large variety of drinks! The bartenders were friendly and performed jaw-dropping fire stunts! We started with a pitcher of bira (GREAT QUANTITY) and Island Spiced tea, an advanced version of the LIT- a mixture of vodka, spiced rum, white rum and coconut rum topped with coke! It was so well made, I couldn't resist calling for one more! A friend also called for The Smokin Word, this cocktail was a mixture of tequila gold with jagermiester & caramelized herbs. It had a nice sweet flavor with fresh herbs to maintain the balance. We loved this combination, definitely a must try.

The bar is huge with a variety of glasses.

For starters we ordered Texas Chicken Nachos, which were served well. They were crisp with good amount of salsa. We also called for Kung pao potatoes, they were good and had a tangy flavor! The Texas Cowboy Beef Burger is a huge burger with beef patty, cheese and fries on the side. Wished it was more juicy and soft to eat. It had an overpowering flavor and we managed to finish this by having 2 bites per person! We also called for Spicy Garlic Prawns which were tossed up with their traditional sauce and garnished with shredded spring onion!

We din't call for any mains as we had already hit the dance floor. The DJ was good and played the songs we requested. Soon, the dim lights were put off and almost every person was dancing their heart's out. I really wanted to enjoy the bull ride, but since I was wearing a long skirt it got difficult to even sit on the bull! 

Overall, it's a good place to party and enjoy a Saturday night with friends. The food is a mixture of average and good. The cocktails are awesome, service is quick and staff is courteous.  And.. if you're asking, will I visit again, then it's definitely a YES!

I hope you enjoyed reading this review :D

Love,
Samidha.

For more pictures: instagram/twentysomethingtripped

Review - Mighty Small Cafe, Smaaash

I wanted to upload this post since long but I've kept delaying and I don't even know why! It had been long since I wanted to go to this carnival themed cafe and I was really happy when we got a table there after waiting for about 20 minutes.

I went there with 3 other friends to watch the quarter final between Indian and Pakistan during the T20 World Cup. I loved the ambiance of the place, bright and colorful. The seating was in big round tables for 8-10 people, so even if you went as a couple you had the whole table to yourself which was a sheer waste of space.

The menu looked interesting and reasonable. It had a wide variety right from Tandoori to flat Chinese noodles which left me perplexed to figure what I wanted to eat or begin with!

The first thing we ordered was Kung Pao Potato which was good quantity for 4 people. It had dry chilli, scallion and cashew.

We then called for veg and non veg nachos. They were cheesy AF and served with salsa sauce on the side. The amount of grilled chicken pieces got the biggest smiles on everyone's faces. The way it was served was fancy too, the veg and non veg nachos had a green and red flag respectively!

Any match is boring without some beer, we decide to call for a pitcher of bira, but unfortunately it wasn't available at that time, hence the waiter suggested that we go for Draft beer. The service was very quick, and the way everything was served for impressive. The beer was served in Mason jars and available at some offer which is why one beer was priced at only 49 Rupees.

Since I'm not a beer person and experiment a lot with my drinks I chose Jager Iced Tea - a mixture of vodka, white rum, triple sec and Jager meister topped with coke. The taste wasn't that great and I felt like I had a medicine for cough and I wouldn't recommend it to anybody.

Then we called for peri peri popcorn, which again had a good amount but tasted very spicy.

Later, we ordered for the meat lovers - loaded pan pizza. Unlike other pizzas this one was shaped in a rectangle and had an amazingly thin crust with mad amount of meat!

The quantity for each and everything was so good and stomach filling that we couldn't finish the pizza and the nachos either! Overall it was a good experience, and I'm definitely going to visit this place again to try the dessert section which has highly been suggested by many people.

Lots of love :')