Mogul India–not quite what we hoped for

We have been to Mogul India before and Nikki went there recently and found it to be quite good. So we decided to do a re-visit before going to the movies one day. The restaurant is located at Verksgaten 9 and it has the same entrance as Piren Pub – not the most upscale pub in town. We did not have a reservation when we went there but they did have a table for us. The rooms are painted in a salmon reddish color that works OK in the restaurant – but in the toilet it is over the top as it is painted in the reddish color and has a pinkish toilet and sink. But enough about interior – we decided to have some vegetable pakora for starter, Nikki went for the lamb rogan josh, I went for a lamb dish (lamb mullaman?)that was recommended by the chef and we wanted it served with raita, pickled vegetables and garlic naan bread. We got a question about how spicy we wanted the found and we went for medium +. It is always difficult to answer this as most Indian restaurants has a tendency to make the dishes a lot milder to fit the Norwegian palate. But we do like it a bit spicy and that is why we went for medium to spicy. We first got a mint sauce and some chopped up chili/garlic(?) and a poppadum, and we soon also got the vegetable pakora which was pretty tasty. We soon got our main dishes served as well in little bowls with a small candle underneath to keep it warm.

My first impression of my dish was that it was tasty but a bit on the salty side, not spicy at all and not sizzling warm. Nikki had the same comment about her dish when it comes to the dish not being spicy and not being warm enough. My dish had lots of chunks of lamb in it so the portions were generous for us – but Nikki’s portion had not that many pieces of lamb but quite a lot of sauce and the sauce was a lot less rich compared to what I have experienced before in rogan josh dishes. The garlic naan bread was good and Nikki seemed to enjoy her pickled vegetables. We had almost forgotten about the raita when a waiter came to the table to serve it and by that time we were almost done with our meal.

So all in all I would say that this was an average meal. The portions were good but the taste of the dishes that we had did not blow us away in an way. It was also a bit of a letdown to have the food served a bit on the lukewarm side and having raita served way too late. We will go there again in the future but there are room for improvement. And one last word of advice – I know this is an Indian restaurant run by Indians but you have to get someone to spell check the Norwegian menu. It is full of mistakes and it doesn’t make a good first impression. Our food came to about 600 Norwegian kroner (about 110 USD). You can read more about the restaurant on http://www.indiamogul.com/

Regards
Gard
http://gardkarlsen.com – trip reports and pictures

Big Horn Steakhouse in Stavanger–a bit too rare and cold

We went to Big Horn Steakhouse at 8 PM on a Friday night before going to the movies and we were a party of three. The restaurant is located in the middle of town at the Hotel Victoria and it is a part of a restaurant chain so you can also find a branch in e.g. Sandnes and 27 other places around Norway.

When we sat down at the table a waitress came over to ask us if we wanted to have something to drink and she was speaking in English. This always throws me off a bit as I’m not sure if the waitress don’t know Norwegian or that she assumes that we are non-Norwegians but it is not a big deal for me as I am able to make myself understood (more or less ) in both languages. I went for onion rings to start with and a t-bone steak as the main. My friend was joking that we would be out of there in an hour and he was wondering how we would kill time before going to the movies. I didn’t take him seriously but it only took like a few minutes before the onion rings were served and I started thinking that he might be right. My wife went for the salad bar instead of a starter but as they waitress pointed out “it only includes one serving”. The salad bar was not very impressive in my opinion. The 4 onion rings I got was a nice portion – not some gigantic thing that we have seen on some restaurants the world – and the taste was not bad.

My wife was still eating her salad when the two waitresses came over with our main meal – and I was just done with the onion rings. We were amazed on how fast the meal was served and we were starting to wonder if they had started preparing our meal the minute we walking through the door! My t-bone steak meal included the meat, half a large tomato, some fried corn, potatoes of your choice, sauce of choice and butter of your choice. I had ordered my t-bone steak medium done and on the menu it said that when you receive the meat you should cut it in half to make sure that the meat is like you wanted it. But this sounds a bit strange to me – don’t you lose a bit of the juice in the meat if you cut it in half and it turns out that it has to be fried more? Anyway, my meat was more medium-raw but the main “problem” was that it was a bit on the cold side so there was no point in putting the butter on top as it didn’t melt. But the meat itself was not bad and was quite tender. The tomato was supposed to be a fried tomato but again it seemed like it had barely touched the frying pan and it was just a raw tomato basically. My garlic and creamed potatoes were excellent – nice portion and piping hot. I also ordered the coleslaw and it was also quite good as it came in a good size portion and chunky vegetables. I went for béarnaise sauce and I found it to be OK – my wife is lactose intolerant and she asked if the sauce contained cream and the waitress answered that it only contained egg and butter but we doubt it.

My wife was not that lucky with her tenderloin – the meat came out too rare. And she followed the advice in the menu by cutting the meat in two but by that time the waitresses were long gone and after trying to get their attention without any success , she just gave up and ate some of the meat that were fried. Her meat was also quite cold by the way. The waitress finally came over to ask us what the meat was like and we informed her of the steak that my wife found cold. The waitress immediately asked if my wife wanted a new piece of meat and when my wife said that it was a bit late, the waitress said that she could get a dessert for free – I think this was very well handled by the waitress.

The meal was about 400 NOK per person (about 70 USD) for the starters, a glass of red wine and the main meal. We were not impressed by Big Horn Steakhouse this time but I have been there in the past and I have been more satisfied at least. I’m not sure why they wanted to serve us the food so super fast this time – I mean, I don’t like waiting around for hours for the food but it is nice if you at least get to finish the starter before the main meal is served.

Regards
Gard
gardkarlsen.com – trip reports and pictures

Coffee Mug Cake

Ingredients

Dark Chocolate - 50 gms
Butter - 2 tbsp
All Purpose Flour - 3 tbsp
Sugar - 4 tbsp
Egg - 1
Vanilla Essense - 1/2 tsp
Milk - 2 tbsp
Baking Powder - 1 tsp

Method

Melt butter and chocolate together in microwave.
In a separate bowl mix together flour,sugar, baking powder, then add the egg and mix well.
Then pour the chocolate mixture to it and mix gently.
Pour this mixture to the

Back to Blogging......

Sorry, I have been absent for so long time from the blogging world..... the reason is that we just bought a new house and as such we have......had the carpenters working inside and the house were full of boxes, no internet connection ....unpacking and arranging things and so on,...... I feel like finally a little settled now and will be back to blogging and will upload new

Kalakai pickle ( Karonda )

Kalakai is a small kind of berry grows on shrubs. In Hindi it is called as Karonda, in Tamil we call it as Kalakai, in Telugu, wakay okachettu and the botanical name is Carissa Carandas. They are very sour in taste and hence they are commonly used in pickle. Simple and easy to make, here is the recipe...








Ingredients


Kalakai - 3 cups
Gingelly Oil - 50 ml
Fenugreek Seeds - 1/4 tsp

Omelette Soup

Ingredients


Egg 1
Oil-1 tbsp
Vegeatable Stock-2 1/2 cups
Carrots - 1 large
Bok choy leaves - 2 shredded
Soy sauce - 1 tbsp
Sugar - 1/2 tsp
Pepper powder - 1 tsp
Coriander leaves to garnish





Method


Beat the egg lightly in a bowl.




Heat oil in frying pan, pour in the egg and swirl the pan and cook over medium heat until it has set and underside is golden.




Slide the

Prawn and chickpeas Curry

Ingredients


Jumbo Prawns - 1/4 kg
Boiled Chickpeas - 150 gms
Onion - 1, chopped
Tomato puree - 3 tbsp
Chinese red wine vinegar - 2 tbsp
Dry red chilly - 6 nos
Cumin seeds - 1 tbsp
Coriander seeds - 1 tbsp
Garlic - 6 cloves
Coriander leaves - few
Oil - 2 tbsp
Salt to taste

Method


De shell, De vein the prawns and wash thoroughly.




Rub the prawns with salt and keep for 10 Min's