Archive for January 2012
Snacks Industry Growing More Than Ever
It is a universal truth widely acknowledged that no Indian has even refrained from eating chaat, dahi puri, dahi bhalla, dahi vada, aloo tikki, bhel puri, samosa chaat and other street snack foods. The finger licking taste is now offered by reputed restaurant franchise so that you do not have to worry about hygiene and health. The taste of the Indian streets now has been more refined through the various restaurant franchises that have taken the Indian snack industry by storm. The vegetarian snacks business is one that will never cease to exist, come what may and so is the business of restaurant franchises. It is a guarantee of benefits for both, the franchisor who offers the license against one time royalty and some percent of the income generated on annual or monthly basis, whatever is decided by the two. A number of people have made their fortunes by stepping in this industry as success is a guarantee. The unlimited variety of food snacks has made numerous restaurant franchises bask in the glory of success.
Indian food and snacks industry has always been popular amongst not only the natives but people visiting from various other countries too. Food snacks packed attractively serve to be major gifts for friends and relatives in the festive seasons and also on various other celebrative occasions. A party is incomplete without sweets and namkeen like aloo bhujia, cornflakes mixture, chana masala, dal moth, ganthiya, kaju mixture, kashmiri mixture. Food snacks like pav bhaji, vada pav, pakoda, paneer pakoda, bread pakoda, burger, soya masala wada, samosa, cheese corn balls, kachodi, samosa roll, soya tikki, gobhi pakoda, paneer tikki, etc. are popular amongst Indian food freaks and overseas tourists alike. Leave aside occasions of celebrations, vegetarian snacks are also considered the best snacks with tea. Best munching namkeens, bhujias, matar masala are preferred in all Indian homes with or without tea as well. Brand does matter when it comes to hygienic production, carefully done packing, and the healthy ingredients. Most of the sweets and vegetarian snacks are meant to be consumed in a day or maximum a week.
The snacks industry has over the years developed as one of the most preferred industries in terms of gifting in the festive seasons. Sweets and food snacks make the best of gifts when it comes to greeting family, friends and relatives. Sweets and food snacks manufactured by reputed restaurant franchise brands are distinct not only in quality, but taste and nutritious value as well. These reputed restaurant franchise brands also offer online ordering facilities for their customers. Through this online facility, you can also send your relatives, and friends’ sweets and food snacks like cornflakes mixture, kaju mixture, kashmiri mixture, khatta meetha, khoka bhujia, matar masala, moong daal, navratan mixture, peanut masala, etc. This online ordering and gifting facility offered by restaurant franchise ensures that you do not miss on any opportunity to wish your loved ones happiness even in the hectic of days.
Beijing
The variety of foods that can be enjoyed in San Francisco is remarkably broad: Italian, Middle Eastern, Chinese, Japanese, Malaysian, Indonesian, and Vietnamese. However, I cannot list them all. Even compared to New York City, San Francisco’s variety of food does not lose its excellence.
In addition, the cost for enjoying these fabulous foods is amazingly reasonable. I consider buffet-style restaurants to be the most cost-effective. About two years ago, we found an extremely good Asian cuisine buffet restaurant, the Beijing Buffet, close to the San Francisco Airport. I referred to several rating sites before writing this article, and the ratings varied from person to person. However, the general rating was average. My own experience at this restaurant has been good, and my wife and mother-in-law love it as well. Because my wife is a Chinese American who was born in China, her sense of taste for authentic Chinese foods is trustworthy.
My wife and I like this place because of the size of the buffet and the variety of foods offered. There are five large buffet tables that keep the food warm. Along the right wall of the square restaurant is the counter for sushi, sashimi, shrimp, crab, and fresh seafood. The other counter carries both warm and cold Asian and European deserts. At the end of the desert counter, there are ice cream self-dispensers that offer the following flavors: vanilla, chocolate, or a mixture of both.
Each buffet table has its own food categories:
1) warm vegetables and cold salads,
2) fish and seafood,
3) Chinese and American-style poultry,
4) fried rice, noodles, and rice soup, and
5) steamed, fried, or boiled pot stickers and Chinese-style meat buns.
Some restaurants offer a regular menu in addition to a buffet. Beijing Buffet does not have regular menu. However, a BBQ counter is a part of the buffet service offered by this restaurant. They have a buffet menu for both lunch and dinner. My wife is not very excited about BBQ, but I love it. It is like ordering an omelet to your taste during breakfast at a hotel. The buffet includes choices of beef, pork, chicken, shrimp, fish, vegetables, tomatoes, bean sprouts, and more. Although some buffet-style restaurants do not have lobsters or crabs at lunch, this place offers all types of foods for both lunch and dinner.
You also can ask the chef to make your dish spicier, sweeter, or saltier. Mr. Choi, who works in the BBQ section, became my friend because he thinks that I request more choices in my food than other people. If you like grilled fish or jumbo shrimp, you can ask to have it skewered. If you want to eat Chinese buns, which are called pao, Mr. Choi can grill them for you. He makes pao with only pork, pork and vegetable pao, and pao with only vegetables, or sweet pao.
Finally, you can order Chinese egg noodles grilled with your choice of meat, seafood, vegetables, or a combination of these options. You can also choose thick egg noodles, thin egg noodles, or rice noodles.
Tips for Premium Grilled Food
Regardless of the rapid upsurge of restaurants that serve grilled food within the metropolis and different provinces, Congo Grille remains to become one of the favorites of households and office yuppies since it supports the secret to premium grilled food. From the typical Filipino restaurant seven years back, Congo Grille has gone global in terms of the food it serves which its loyal patrons would describe as first-rate, generous and affordable. “Compared with other grilling resto, we make it a point to include a premium on every serving. We serve the largest portion of crispy pata and inihaw na pusit. You pay around the same price but obtain a bigger portion or serving from the food that you simply order for,” explains Dex Frayco, kitchen operations manager of Congo Grille.
Each of the 240 items for auction on Congo’s menu, many of which originated from the shoppers, is guaranteed to satisfy 3 to 4 persons who require not be worried about forking out a lot of money.
“We have a ‘customer comment card’ which customers fill up whenever they dine at Congo. We consolidate their suggestions in our monthly meeting only then do we study whatever is predominant and improve that,” adds Frayco. Due to constant and tireless monitorship of the items Congo’s customers want, Frayco and everyone else running Congo Grille discovered that people can’t get an adequate amount of their sizzling delights such as Pork Sisig that is costing P160, Baked Nz Mussels cooked in cheese, garlic butter and Rockefeller Sauce (P260), and Congo Rice topped with calamares, spring onions, dried ginger and rye (P160). Other Congo favorites are Tex Mex Nachos, Crispy Pata and Grilled Pusit.
“Our Crispy Pata will work for five persons because it’s really big. We’ve got a lot of suppliers for pata since it is tough to source out pata that weighs 60 kilos. This is exactly why we obtain our way to obtain pata from as far as Laguna,” reveals Frayco, adding that they walk out their method to please their customers because Congo Grille really wants to meet the special trait of the silverback gorilla.
“You’ve realized that our restaurant is represented by a silverback gorilla and that is so because if you research onto it, you’ll understand that this type of creature is the most caring and playful to its young. This is actually the image our restaurant exudes because our standard of taste is definitely according to our customers’ preference,” he was quoted saying.
Aside from putting utmost importance on what its customers want, Congo Grille’s other secret to its continuing success is the set of expert hands employed in the kitchen. Congo’s Executive Chef Reynaldo Natividad’s adoration for Spanish and Western cuisine contributed a lot to Congo’s speedy progress in the grilling industry. “Since our vision would be to go global and we’ve made the initial step within our kitchen, preparations are increasingly being designed for our first branch abroad. We’re likely to put up a branch in america,” concludes Frayco. Congo Grille currently has 10 branches situated in Ortigas, Quezon City, Makati City, Alabang, SM Fairview, SM San Lazaro, SM Valenzuela, SM Sta. Rosa, SM Clark and SM Mall of Asia.
Mary Antonette Valdez-Pua is really a certified food critic who reviews the new offerings of food establishments within the metropolis.
Haze Bar – Another Shade of Blues
If you’ve ever visited Haze most likely you might wind up hoping that everyone’s rendition of pain sounds half as soulful as a blues number! Symbolic of blues music in Delhi, Haze is a club exceptionally not the same as the rest because of its unflagging support to advertise blues. The main city just about become the focal point of blues in India also it would not be completely incorrect to credit Haze and Kiranjit Sant for the achievement.
In the six years Haze has bought blues to some level where people aren’t unaware anymore. Few know that the bar was largely a result of sheer necessity above all else. Like everyone else from his generation, Sant was raised listening to the typical suspects-Chuck Berry, Elvis, Bob Dylan and the Rolling Stones. However it wasn’t until he discovered the blues that he realised the strength of music for this moved him like nothing ever had.
Even though Sant setup businesses and went through the motions of life, the blues continued to be a passion. It was the lack of places which played his kind of music in Delhi that prompted him to start a club of their own.
Haze continues to provide a platform for blues musicians from across the nation. It is the club which introduced the legendary Lou Majaw from Shillong to a wider audience. Acts like Soulmate, HFT, Saturday Night Blues Band are regulars at Haze whose music rivets the audiences every week. It’s hardly a surprise then the Blues Club of India, an initiative of Sant along with Subir Malik of Parikrama and Priya Paul of The Park Hotels has countless members in just five months.
Offering a significantly laid-back atmosphere, the ambience gets control once you set foot into Haze. A flurry of patrons, Indians and expatriates, have enjoyed it so much that they often mistake it for any blues bar down in New Orleans. There’s more on the anvil because the blueprint for Haze is far from complete. The original idea was to create a space that does not only showcases musical talent but also allows for aficionados to see blues in each and every possible manner. A library tracking the past and present of blues with the written word along with a CD collection promise to create you back for more.
While frequenting any popular watering hole or carrying out a band, one reaches begin to see the same faces and ostensibly eventually ends up hearing exactly the same thing once again. This is definitely not the case with Haze as despite the same musicians, the blues never sound exactly the same. This quality of the blues has transcended towards the patrons too. Even the familiar faces, much like the tunes that fill-up Haze, tell another story each time.