Recipe - Bleeding Hearts (Poached apple in red wine reduction)

Ingredients
1. Apple - 1
2. Sugar - 5 Tbsp
3. Red wine - 5 Tbsp
4. Star anise - 1/ Cloves - 4
5. Cinnamon powder - 1 tsp
6. Water - 500 ml

Method -
1. Cut apple slices in about 5mm thickness. Carve into heart shapes.
2. Take a pan and mix water, red wine and sugar. Start heating on medium flame.
3. Put star anise or cloves (both give different taste) and cinnamon powder.
4. Once the water starts to boil, put the apple slices and reduce the flame to low.
5. Poach the apple for 15 min and take them out.
6. Continue boiling the sauce until it reduces to about half of the original quantity. If you want lesser and thicker sauce, reduce it further.
7. Serve the apple hearts with the sauce poured over it 

Restaurant Review - Incognito - Phoenix Mall, Pune

Ambiance - 3.5
Menu - 4
Taste - 4.5
Service/Price - 3.5
Overall - 4

This place is located in Phoenix mall, so parking is of course not at issue. It's a small place but there are enough tables squeezed in without compromising much on privacy. The decor is decent, a bit classy too.

I like the menu. Different cuisines are available though a bit heavier on Italian side. For other cuisines there are limited options available but that's the good part. Concentrating few good dishes is better than offering everything but not doing justice to any of it. We had Chilli Potato shots (that looked suspiciously like the frozen ones we get from McCain, though the taste was slightly different) served with Mayonnaise, Phuket style fried chicken served with peanut sauce (this dis was amazing, chicken was juicy, seasoning just right, but tasted better with the mayonnaise rather than the peanut sauce), Malaysian Laksa curry (again very well made), Sicilian veg pizza (thin crust, just the right amount of cheese), Chicken Lasagna (Very well made, but heavy to eat) and Chicken Cacciatore (another stunning dish, the baked potato on the side was even better). The fact that they did not forget the "no mushroom" instruction from me is commendable (i have had bad experiences in other places in the past).

Service was good, price is a bit high. They need to serve more quantity in the starters for the price they charge. Also, as mentioned earlier, change the sauce on side for the Phuket style chicken. Oh and the charge for sprite at 100 rs + taxes??? just too much.

Overall costly but delicious.

Restaurant review - Gokhale Mala, Alandi road, Bhosari

Ambiance - 3
Menu - 3.5
Taste - 4
Service/Price - 3.5
Overall - 3.5

This place being very close to my office (and pretty much the only decent place closer to office) we go there often for lunch. Dinner is also available here and weekends are very crowded. There is usually enough parking available, at least during lunch.

There is a big, hall like dining place (open from all sides) in the middle of a guava plantation. There are many charpais kept below the trees for you to relax after the meal or to wait if you don't get a table immediately. A few swings as well.

Seating is like a usual dining hall. You don't get a separate table. The menu is also fixed. There's a smaller hall towards the entrance of the place itself where you can have snacks, but no one usually comes to this place for snacks. It's meant for meals and that's what you should go for. The menu usually has pithla, one dry vegetable, matki usal, kadhi, chapati, bhakri, rice, dal with ghee, butter, different papads, some pakoda and pickle. The green chili kharda is very hot, so be careful. Also, buttermilk and sweets are available (usually shrikhand and gulab jamun) and you can pay for it after the meal if you haven't already paid for it while entering the place (pre-pay model).

Taste of all the dishes is consistent no matter when you go. It's good. During peak times, serving is a little slow. But other than that, they are fine. Price of course is something that is slightly on the higher side considering that they are so out of the way and taste wise it's not exceptional, nor from variety of menu wise.

If you are bored of the run of the mill restaurants in the city, this is worth an outing.