Review: Underdoggs Sports Bar and Grill

{Image Via}

If you want your money stolen, please DO go to Underdoggs. At the bar during the IPL match (Delhi vs Kolkata) on May 22, 2012 (tuesday), because of the limited number of tables we ordered our drinks at the bar. The bartender brought us our drinks and charged Rs. 1800 for two glasses of Stella and a gin and tonic. We know there's inflation and what not, but that was ridiculous.

So I asked the man who served us that I wanted the receipt, a reasonable request I presume. Shocked and in awe the server repeats, "Bill???". He wanders off for a while and returns to tell us that our bill is actually Rs. 1600 and returns the stolen 200 to us. I insist on the bill yet again. FYI it is my right at any institution to request and receive a bill or receipt for any transaction. Again, flustered he runs off to appear another 10 minutes later. The innings are almost over.

He waltzes up to my friend, testing our integrity and says, (translated) "Sir, your bill is actually 1655, are you willing to pay the other 55?" We say yes. He's MIA another 10 minutes. I catch hold of him and inform him that if he doesn't bring us our bill in the next 5 minutes, I will file an FIR (First Information Report) against the entire establishment for 'cheating' under S. 420 of the Code of Criminal Procedure.

Two minutes in, and the bill is finally brought to us. The calculations seem correct and includes a service charge for giving us our drinks at the bar. Lovely.

Ignoring that, we finish the rest of the match and leave, never to return to this racketeering hole they call a sports bar. I wonder, how many other poor souls they may have successfully duped, or cheated.

Moral of the story: Never forget to ask the establishment for your bill. It's your right.

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The Housewarming

What's the best thing about decorating or moving into a new place? Housewarming! 

I love throwing parties and being hostess. If it were a well paying job, I'd be doing that. 

So we invited some friends over for a chat, some good booze and amazing cheese, if I do say so myself. No, seriously. Good. Cheese.

Besides, I was really excited about using our new slate cheeseboard. So, up for dinner we had toasted baguette and focaccia with an Italian olive oil dip, four basic types of cheese, that go well with wine, with accompaniments, a green salad, mini bruschetta and guacamole toast, caprese on skewers, ravioli tossed in pesto and a vegetarian version of that. Our lovely friends brought over Beef and Vegetarian Biryani and some gorgeous Tiramisu. We finished the night with great conversation and a game of Jenga. Thanks for coming guys!

{Cheese Platter}

The star for the night, at least for me, was the blue cheese paired with the grapes. The spiced holland cheese was quite popular too. Pairings for the Brie and Gruyere were Salami, sundried tomatoes and toasted baguette and focaccia as well. With cheese, it's important to take the cheese and lay it out at least 15 minutes before your guests arrive. Cheese should be served at room temperature as it takes a little while before it becomes soft. This allows all the lovely flavors through and lovely cheese tasting experience. 

{The Prepped Up Bar}

For the teetotalers we had lemon iced tea, a different offering than the regular sodas and juices. To pair with the cheese, we kept a bottle of Merlot since it's a wine that goes well with almost all kinds of cheese and a Pinot Grigio for the white lovers. Although, The Passi enjoys fixing drinks, we took a shortcut and picked up a few bottles of the readymade Margarita, Long Island Ice Tea and White Russian. You serve up good tasting drinks, don't waste time running about but actually conversing with your guests and getting people tipsy much quicker.

{The Living Room}

{The Party People}

{Some Food, Cocktails and Good Conversation}

{Having a Go at Jenga}

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Photo Credits and Copyright: All photos have been taken by Gayatri Kumar and belong to Look who's Wearing (LwW)

Final Reveal *Project: Bachelor Pad*

{Medieval Headboard + Yellow/White Striped Painting}

It's finally out. The final reveal for The Passi's Bachelor Pad, hopefully not for too long. No, no, don't worry. I'm not insinuating anything, least of all to The Passi. It was interesting doing up his place, mostly because it led to three major realizations:

1. $1000 is not a lot of money.
2. Indian home stores are actually pretty good and quite inexpensive.
3. America is really expensive when it comes to furniture (and rugs), and sometimes it's not even that good.

Oh and one more. Target isn't too bad if you're starting out. Look and you shall find. I had to make a lot of sacrifices. He literally would have to hold and pull me away from stores and things I wanted to pick out for the place. I was obsessed. 

But, since the budget wasn't too high for a quick revamp, I kept to places like craigslist, Target and TJ Maxx and we found quite a few inexpensive and lovely things. Bear in mind, the flat was done from scratch, not a lot of money and although I prefer filled up walls and a little bit of chaotic symmetry, classic and modern styles mixed in, The Passi prefers clean empty walls and spartan modern design. So there had to be a bit of compromise. I also refurbished a few old things of his to use and decorate the place with. Oh and re photos, the sun wasn't very kind to us that weekend, which is why all the lamps are on during the day. Hope you enjoy the little tour!

Image above: I prefer plastic flowers to real ones, and prefer twiggy flowers like lavenders or long stemmed sunflowers. The curtain rod atop the window is actually a longbow. The Passi is an avid archer and we thought bringing some of his interests into the decoration would make this flat feel more homely. The paintings on either side of the window were done by me. We both love yellow and a solid yellow canvas was just what the room needed to bring more life into it.

You may notice that the room contains a platform bed. We weren't impressed very much with the regular beds and the box spring concept. In his previous apartment The Passi had a floor arrangement in his bedroom and had two XL twin spring mattresses. While he was keen on a memory foam king mattress, the budget was being overshot by over $600. 

Luckily, we found a local craftsmen, who made bed frames from refurbished wood, packing up his business for something new and decided to sell the beds for a pretty heavy discount. We asked him to tweak the measurements a little bit so it could fit the twins and voila, a beautiful pine wood bed for less than $200. To make the spring mattresses more comfortable we added a memory foam mattress topper from Target and it's one of the most comfortable beds I've slept on.

Image above: The wall behind the bed was missing a little something-something. We found this light medieval looking door at Hobby Lobby. We put it up on the wall so it may work as a pseudo-headboard-wall-art for the empty room. We had extra chairs lying about that his previous roommate left behind and instead of throwing them away converted one into a bed side table and one as a step that sits comfortably hidden away in his walk-in.

Image above: We changed the loo cover to make it slightly more interesting and give the room a bit more color. We had picked up the beach sign a few years ago and he's held on that so keeping with the beachy/nautical look of the shower curtain we went with nautical for the entire loo. There's even a sailor-like wine jug.

{A reminder to look forward to sunny, breezy days on the beach}

{Sailor's Wine}

Image above: My favorite part of the living room is this 1950's couch that we got off craigslist that cost us about $75. Its in great condition for its age and even has a sturdy pull-out bed for when guests are over. Ignore the food on the table, we were preparing for the housewarming while these pictures were being taken. The table on either side of the couch are chests that we picked up from TJ Maxx and act as a good storage space as well good looking side tables. Being as it is, quite a small apartment, the long horizontally placed mirror give the room a bit of depth and makes it seem slightly bigger than usual. We've tried to incorporate vintage and modern furniture along with a bit of the 60's with the lava lamp next to the couch.

{The bar ready to serve up cocktails along with The Passi's Curve Bow}

Lesson learnt at the end of this blog post: Only take vertical photographs. Geez.

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Photo Credits and Copyright: All photos have been taken by Gayatri Kumar and belong to Look who's Wearing (LwW)

A Taste of Delhi

{Creamy Afghani Chicken at Location #2}

So I'm back in 'saadi dilli' (my Delhi) for a bit and while I wait around before I graduate in June I'm hitting the town for some good food, wine and lots of catching up. 

First on my list was a popular Food Tour on Trip Advisor, the Delhi Food Tours. It's run by a lovely couple Prashant and Ayesha, who personally conduct the tour and explain everything you need to know about different types of Indian cuisine concentrated in this amazing little melting pot of a city. 

The tour usually lasts about two hours and they personally take you to different joints and present to you the best they have to offer. With Indian food being so extensive and all that variety, it's important to let someone guide you to what you should really try and what you should give a miss. 

Wait a minute. Trust someone else's taste? No way! Well then, tell 'em what you'd like and they'll try to give you the best version of it, or at least the most authentic version of it.

Although I grew up in Delhi and as a rite of passage, visited all the places they took us to, we tried things I never would have ordered myself. I'd like to think I'm adventurous. Well, slightly. But when we go out, I tend to order my regular adventure. So it was good, going to the same haunts but trying something completely different. And loving it. 

I'd love to tell you where we ate, but that's the USP of DFT. Mystery. For us dilli-waalahs, it was a surprise at every step. For me, it was tasting new memories in the same old spots that already hold so many amazing childhood memories. 

I can tell you this though, we started off in South India with a nice vegetarian pre-set meal supplemented with chicken curry and a well-charred mutton fry. We then moved up slightly North/Northwest for Afghani-style creamy tandoori chicken, biryani, sheermaal (sweet milk bread with holes in it) and melt-in-your-mouth mutton kakori kababs. Though I frequent Location #2 a lot, I have to say that my favorite when it comes to Kakori's is the newly christened Sab Ki Khatir. However, the Afghani chicken at Location #2 was Ah-may-zing. *Drool*

We moved slightly further north for butter chicken (or chicken tikka masala to the rest of the world. Short rant - its not an English delicacy and it was in fact invented in India. Harumph). Finally, we proceeded all over India for dessert. I'm really sorry but Location #4 is not pictured in this post. Why, you ask. I was so full my brain stopped working. Literally. Give the over-stuffed lady a break, will ya?

All in all, a fun night with great company and ree-uh-ly good food. If you'd like to go on a Delhi Food Tour then please, by all means, contact Prashant or Ayesha here.

On a side note, you're probably shuddering in your chair right now thinking about the Delhi Belly. For those of you not in the know, it's the terminology applied to traveller's diarrhea contracted in India especially by tourists. If that's you, DFT has something special for you too. 

{South Indian Thali at Location #1}

{Punjabi Butter Chicken at Location #3}

{Punjabi 'Dal Makhani', ie, Rich Black Gram or Lentil Curry at Location #3}

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Photo Credits and Copyright: All photos have been taken by Gayatri Kumar and belong to Look who's Wearing (LwW)