Swagath..defence colony

If you live in Delhi and are fond of sea-food or coastal cuisine..you must already be knowing about Swagath..
For those who think South indian food begins and ends with the dosa and the idli..Swagath is a must-visit..
what you get is spicy prawn biriyani, appams with stew..or if, like me, you prefer something spicy..chettinad chicken!!yumm!! crabs, lobsters, fish malabari..you name it and they not just have it...but have it fresh and sometimes even live for you to choose the one you want to savour..on a weekend be ready to wait in queue ..but the service is prompt and efficient..
Now comes the sad discovery I made last week..With the new financial year..Swagath too has decided to hike its prices..now a glass of jal jeera is Rs 50..and that irresistible Prawn Biriyani about Rs 300..but thats not the end...on Friday the jal jeera was bland..to say the least..and in my 5years of visiting Swagath almost once a month..this is surely a first..
They seemed to be in a hurry too...and my comment on the jal jeera didnt evoke much reaction..
Worst..my favourite pickled onions..which are always 'pickled' in Swagath..were strong and pungent...
lets hope its a one-off experience!

wok vs stir-fry

In my last post I wrote about the horrible experience at Yana. After the experience I realised i did not know what exactly a wok was. A quick look on wikipedia revealed that it's just the name for a chinese Kadai!

The wok is a versatile round-bottomed cooking vessel originating in China.

the wok is known as a wadjang, as kuali and kawali (small wok) in Malaysia, kawa (big wok) in the Philippines and kadai in India.

Obviously, not very exciting!

Next, I looked up Stirfry and that gave the kind of results I was looking for. Apparently, the technique followed at "All stir fry" is the Chao technique. And the one used at Yana is neither!

So the next time I see a place with a Wok, I know I need to ask whether they stir-fry or not and in what way!

First Impressions: Yana

A friend suggested Gold Adlabs at Kalyani Nagar as the place to meet up last week for lunch. She could make but i was lured to Yana which promised Sizzlers and Wok. Wok was the easy choice as I haven't been to the "All stir fry" at Gordan House at Colaba. I love All Stir Fry but haven't been there for a long time. So a chance to have a similar experience was quite alluring.

The start itself was bad as price of the wok was almost the same as the ASF one but the choices were far limited. The sever emphasized "One trip one bowl" in a condescending tone.

It got worse once the bowl was given to me. Food was partly purned/undercooked. In retrospect, the size to which vegetables and the meat was cut was the obvious culprit. The lunch is short was horrible!

Rating: 1.5/5.0
Completely avoidable