Prankster

A friend of mine invited me to lunch with her at Prankster one weekend (the day before I moved states, right before the holidays, and followed by my return to the US, which hopefully explains my very belated post). Once we met, she explained that we were going to be hosted by the ever-gracious Pawan Soni and try a little bit of everything on the menu. I had a such a great time eating and chatting with so many great, new people - I can summarize the experience with these few word: soooo.much.good.food!

The California Boulevard

As Gurgaon's InterNation's ambassador I get to plan fun events and culinary adventures for our members each month. I like to keep it fresh and try to find a new spot to host my monthly events so I usually identify a new place or take suggestions from members then approach the manager/owner about our organization and mission. Now that I've been doing it for almost a year I sometimes get invitations from some restaurants that want to work with us. Yesterday was one such day. A friend who is a new activity group consul for InterNations and has a background working with restaurants in the area wanted to meet with The California Boulevard and combine forces to host a duel activity group dinner. I am fully aware that because of the special treatment I received when dining with the PR head and having the chef prepare us some of his favorites I had a very different dining experience than most. Full disclosure, I did not pay for my meal, and I am hosting a future event at their location, but they also did not ask me to write this. I miss writing and this just happens to be the most recent place I've visited and had a sit-down meal rather than just an array of appetizers. Also, I have attended a previous event at this location and paid at that time.

I visited The California Boulevard's Gurgaon location in Sector 29. It is known for its fine dining and Hollywood-inspired theme ambiance. It prides itself on the California "experience" and making fine dining available for all. And it appears that is something they are achieving, for a Sunday afternoon, there were a surprising number of guests in the restaurant.

The servers were well-trained in being available, but not hovering. The meal commenced with a waiter putting a silver bowl with a small white square in front of me. He then poured water over it and voila! I had a small wet wipe for my hands. It was a much nicer presentation than a finger bowl with nothing to dry your hands on. Not a novel concept, but something different from most restaurants I have eaten at in India. While our hostess ordered a variety of bitings for us, I did get a chance to look at the menu and was quite impressed by the selection which is apparently going to grow in the next few weeks with a new menu being launched. One thing I didn't get to try, but will definitely order next time is their cheese fondue. I love fondue (who doesn't love a pot of molten cheese?!) and didn't even know that there was a restaurant offering that option in Gurgaon.

We started with their version of a Dilli ki Chaat nibbler. I'm used to it looking like this:

Photo credit

But theirs was a light and airy appetizer that you could eat several and still feel like you have room for your main course. It was a great start to the meal and fun twist on a traditional Indian snack.

Crunchy spinach leaves with yogurt, tamarind, and mint chutney