The Lunch Date

It was a bright sunny day.

He was driving fast to be on time for the lunch-meeting scheduled in the neighbouring city.

After he had reached the outskirts of his city, he got a call that the client had rescheduled the meet to the following weekend.

He stopped his car and decided to check out the new restaurant that had opened in that area.

The place looked great.

Image: David Steward

He made a mental note to get his wife there the following day for a lunch-date.

The Restaurant

The "Out of the World" restaurant was a favourite place.

Customers loved the food and also the decor.  

The brilliant ceiling art glowed and illuminated even at night! 

Photo Prompt- Rochelle Wisoff-Fields

Many interviewed the talented artists, who happened to be the restaurant owners.

Those Were The Days

Richi was showing her photographs to her grandchildren.

They saw many people were sitting and eating. The younger version of their grandmother was also there.

"Now where is this place? Looks like you are celebrating your birthday!" 

"These places are called 'restaurants'. When I was young, we used to have many such places to hang-out and enjoy food and drinks."

PHOTO PROMPT - Dale Rogerson

The kids looked at one another. 

Dalma Hotel, Bhubaneswar

The food belonging to the state of Odisha i.e. Odia cuisine is very nutritious and delicious.
Though we have it everyday at home, this weekend we tried out a popular restaurant named Dalma.
This hotel is named after a famous dish of Odisha- Dalma dish is prepared using Dal (Pulses- Arhar or Moong) along with vegetables and coconut.

Dalma restaurant has three branches in Bhubaneswar and also has branches in other cities like Delhi, Kolkata & Bengaluru. We visited the Unit-4, Madhusudan Nagar branch in Bhubaneswar.

Here is my post about Dalma Restaurant for www.askme.com

Dalma Hotel, Unit-4, Bhubaneswar

I was excited to find Saura Art on the walls leading to the restaurant. Saura Art is a beautiful tribal art of Odisha that depicts humans, animals and nature.

MINUS 6 DEGREESS

Brrrrr! That's what anyone must feel by seeing the title of this Post! MINUS 6 DEGREES! But, notice the extra 'S' in the title! Not Degrees, but Degreess! Our quest was to locate ‘Skimo Kitchen’! (No, this is not going to be about the real Eskimos or their Kitchen at the North Pole!)

I used my inference skills to deduce that Skimo Kitchen must be the name of the Kitchen of the Restaurant ‘Minus 6 Degreess’. Yes, my deduction was right!   

I found myself there thanks to Sammya Brata, who had invited me by coordinating with the organiser, Vivek. It was fixed that 4 Food-Bloggers of Kolkata-  Sammya Brata, Shankar Bhattacharya, Sam, the Photographer, & I would try food-tasting at Skimo Kitchen. 

Minus 6 Degreess is a restaurant, located at the ground floor of Inox Swabhumi, Kolkata. Its Kitchen is aptly named 'Skimo Kitchen'! But, Minus 6 Degreess is more than just a ubiquitous restaurant. It’s an Ice-Lounge cum Bar! It was our chance to feel cool! The dim-blue-light-lit-corridors truly gives one an impression that we are indeed inside an Igloo!

We ordered Soup first. We decided that each one of us would try a different Soup listed in the Menu. That way, all the four available Soups would get reviewed.

Fervent Crème Al Fungi (Mushroom Soup)

I ordered- Fervent Crème Al Fungi. This exotic sounding soup was actually – Cream of Mushroom Soup! I liked the rich taste of the pureed Mushrooms blended generously with cream and nutmeg. But, I felt at Rs 200, the price is on the higher side. Sam, a fellow Blogger, was not very happy with the Asparagus soup that he ordered. Felt it tasted like pureed leaf! The Chef came and gave his explanation that it was meant to taste like that.

As accompaniment to the Soup, we also got crispy and very delicious Buttered Cheese Toast… 

Toast

…and a neatly decorated Platter! 

It was time for the Main-Course.

We asked the Waiter for recommendation. We were informed that we must try the Asian & Continental dishes as that are Minus 6 Degreess specialty. We ordered Luscious Lasagne Rolls- Cheesy Veg Lasagne. We got 2 mouth-watering Lasagne Rolls.

Luscious Lasagne Rolls

Roller Rice also figured amongst our selection. We enjoyed the ‘chopped vegetables rolled in crispy rice topped with cheesy herb sauce’.

We also ordered Polar Veg Au Gratin, a baked dish stuffed with vegetables and potatoes,.

Somehow, I felt three of the dishes were pretty similar. Lasagne Rolls & Roller Rice had kind of same taste with the latter having crispy rice-flakes inside. Au Gratin also had the same fillings in addition to chunks of Pineapple. The prices of each of the three were the same- Rs 300! However, the names and presentations of the three dishes were different.

Sesame Flavoured Singapore Noodles, at Rs 350 per plate, offered rice noodles tossed in Chilli, Oil, Lime & Bean Sprouts. I felt it was like the Vermicelli Upma I generally prepare, but this had a Singaporean twist!

Then, of course there were the yummy Desserts!

Chinese Chocolate Moon-Rolls, at Rs 250, offered Chinese-cookie style chocolate-filled rolls along with a scoop of Ice-cream. One bite and the chocolate oozed into the mouth and out of it too! I felt the coating of the rolls could have been a bit crisper and crunchier.

Chinese Chocolate Moon-Rolls

Parky Ice-Cream-Sandwich with Honey-Nuts, as the name suggests, was a treat at Rs 300. One bite is enough to fill anyone with happiness!

Parky Ice-Cream-Sandwich with Honey-Nuts

The Dessert that took us by surprise was- Nipping Fried Ice-cream with Nuts! Yes, you read that right! None of us had ever heard about ‘Fried Ice-cream’. We were glad to have taken the Waiter’s recommendation and ordered it. We were asked to have it first to experience the hot exterior but cool interior! We couldn’t extract the Chef’s preparation-trick though! At Rs 200, it is a must-have!

Nipping Fried Ice-cream with Nuts

We loved all the Desserts that we tried. Wish we had sampled all those available in the Menu! Everything looked so delectable!

After the awesome meal, we were interested for a visit to the Ice-Lounge! The Manager explained that before entering the Ice-Lounge, guests have to wear special coats that Minus 6 Degreess provides as the temperature is maintained at low levels! It's chilling there!

Ice-Lounge

Also, hot dishes are not served inside- only cool desserts! I thought- All the desserts are just right to give company inside the Igloo! Sorry, the Ice-Lounge! A maximum 20 people are allowed to be inside the Ice-Lounge at a time.

I loved all the ice-sculptures and the Kolkata theme inside.

Ice-Peacock

Ice-Guitar!

There was an Ice-Taxi waiting to take us for a ride!!! But, it was freezing and we could hardly stay for 5 minutes!

Ice-Taxi

I loved the place a lot. But, felt guilty that my family was missing out on the fun! I terribly missed my kid and hubby. Plan to visit Minus 6 Degreess soon with them!

Skimo Kitchen scores high on Standard, Quality & Hygiene. I liked the Service too.

My Recommendation- It needs to advertise as many people are not aware that such a fun place exists. The food is a great-treat for Vegetarians as it is a purely Veg-Restaurant, something that's rare here! And, yes, all the guests must try out the Desserts, especially the Nipping Fried Ice-cream with Fruits!

I LOVED the overall experience at Minus 6 Degreess!

If you wanna visit Skimo Kitchen, Minus 6 Degreess Ice-Lounge Cum Bar, here's the address where you need to head to:

89C, Maulana Abdul Kalam Azad Sarani, Ground Floor, Inox Swabhumi, Near Swabhumi, EM Bypass, Kolkata.

Note- This is my first review of a Restaurant! 
Thank you, Sammya Brata. Love the Badge!