It was heartening to see the market regulator SEBI getting an upper hand, for once, in the Sahara case. If you want to know about the person at SEBI who made this possible, check out this article. It's in Marathi but take my word for it - even if you don't understand the language, it's worth enlisting the help of someone who does to translate it for you.

Candies, Pali Naka, Bandra (W)

There are places where the ambiance is good but the food is nothing to write home about and those where food is great but there is no such thing as ambiance. And then there is Candies - not the one near Reclamation, but the one at Pali Naka - where food and ambiance come together in a spectacular fashion to make weekend lunch something to look forward to since Friday evening :-)

I am not sure if it was my 2nd or 3rd visit there this weekend. But that hardly matters because I know I will keep coming back to this place as long as I am in Mumbai. A tip - unless your group includes someone who, either because of age or medical conditions, cannot climb stairs, make it a point not to sit in the downstairs sitting area. The upstairs sitting arrangement is roomier and certainly more enjoyable.

Okay, now about the proof of the pudding. I always go with the intention of trying out their salad bar and end up ordering something else altogether. This time we chose Dragon Chicken and Fish & Chips.

The Dragon chicken consisted of spicy crispy boneless chicken pieces. I have had the misfortune of eating undercooked or chewy 'crispy' chicken pieces before elsewhere so I was a bit apprehensive before I put the first morsel in my mouth. My worries were totally misplaced though - they promised 'crispy' chicken and they served 'crispy' chicken. Every piece spiced the same way. The dish came with an accompaniment of macaroni salad. It was delicious as well but for some strange reason contained peanuts.

Dragon Chicken

 Earlier, I used to go to the Ruby's Tuesday outlet in CR2 mall at Nariman Point for their Fish & Chips. But since the outlet has closed down, I had resorted to buying ready-to-serve Fish cutlets and a bottle of Tartar dip. Hence, I was very keen on sampling the dish at Candies. When it was served, I was a bit disappointed with the dry look of the cutlets. But once again the first bite dispelled all my apprehension. I stopped only after the last piece was polished off the plate :-) The potato salad that came as an accompaniment was a potato lover's dream come true but I am not sure why the bread roll was part of the meal.

Fish & Chips

 P.S. Just remember that it is a self-serve eatery.

Magnum - the new Belgian Ice-cream in town

The hoardings are all over the city - featuring fat candies in 3 different flavors. One of the hoardings is right on the road that I take for my daily evening walks. And to be frank, every time I look at it, I feel as if the calories that I have tried to burn are back just by looking at the candies.

Alas! That didn't prevent me from going for them as we hunted for a dessert post Sunday lunch. Presently, Bru Cafes are one of the places where they are being sold. There are 3 flavors as I said - Classic (outer shell of chocolate, vanilla ice-cream inside), Almond (no description needed here!) and Chocolate Truffle (for those of us who can't get enough of chocolate I guess).

I tasted a bit of every flavor - but I must say that I liked the Classic one the best. I paid a total of Rs 255 for 3 candies - which I must say is a bit steep. After all, I can get the same taste of Classic in Amul's Probiotic ice-cream candy. The only thing is that Magnum scores in the quantity department :-)