Kicking off the I-Must-Go-To series!

Are you hungry? Are you new to Pune? Have you stayed in Pune for long but were too lazy to go out?
Or...did you get here from Stumble Upon?
If you answered Yes to any of those questions, you, my friend, have come to the right place. Because, starting today, I will post a series of blog-posts in which I review restaurants, malls, stores, places, streets and I find worth reviewing.

Don't expect mind-blowing photos from a DSLR. Currently, all the photos will be from either an HTC Wildfire S or a Nokia Asha 200 ( I won't tell you which one belongs to me. Oh shoot, you guessed it.)

Dont expect any expert insights into the way they work, the way they make their money or anything close to intelligence.

But, what you should expect is:

1. a suggestion as to where you should go if you've not had anything significant since morning and don't have a siginificant amount of money either.

2. a description of what I did, why I did that, what I liked and what I noticed. For eg, when I went to office, I noticed that everyone didn't have a dustbin and that the two wings had different carpets. So you get it right? It'll have stuff everyone pays attention to.

Without much further ado than the amount of useless ado already, I present to you the 1st set of reviews.

I must go to Coffee House, MG Road, Pune

After a long talk over whiskey in the guest house(they had it, I just saw them I swear) the previous night, I woke up at 11 and decided that MG Road would be the first place we would visit in this new city.

Coffee House is an amazing little restaurant on MG Road, right opposite SGS Magnum Mall.

Poona Coffee House was a meeting point for established as well as aspiring politicians. One famous politician who used to work here as a cashier was Suresh Kalmadi, and it worked in his favor because this was where he met Mumbai's mayor and eventually Sharad Pawar. This is not the coffee house I had visited. 'My' Coffee House has no history. But its still recommended.

However! Coffee House is small but cozy, bustling with noise but exciting, has enough waiters around and has enough variety. But, I had read about how brilliant Coffee House's south indian food was. So, I tried the Masala Dosa and Aditi ordered an onion uttapam. And, it really was brilliant.

The uttapam was as big as the plate and well cooked. I had never seen an uttapam that big. But what really worked for me were the prices. 55 for the uttapam and the masala dosa each. So, a nice meal for two can cost as little as Rs. 110. No additional service charge, service tax, VAT, sales tax or even capital gains tax.

Dorabjee's abuts Coffee House and is also worth a visit. The Hindu tells me Dorabjee's was formerly known as Treacher & Co, a British wine and grocers set up to support the British Garrison (now Pune Cantonment). Dorabjee took it over in 1911 and has been called namesake eversince. Its collection of imported chocoaltes, sauces, liquors and cheeses still continue to serve so many of the foreigners that I saw today. Today, its a 3-floor supermarket that has everything from Ambi Pur to Sil Soya Sauce. Earlier, it even had a Westside, Landmark and a Planet M all inside it!
Here is what it looks like from across the road:

I noticed jams from Germany, Poland, France, Italy, Belgium and UK and chocolates from Switzerland, Malaysia, Thailand, Germany, UK, US and Dubai. I noticed bone shaped dog food, a cat shaped squeezeee for the dog again and wonderful pastries for humans, like these:

Should you pay a visit? Yes. Should you pay? No. There are no discounts apart from a Rs. 100 off on a Rs. 400 Lindt. Useless. (-_-') But, you can probably try the bakery or the coffee shop on the top floor. Here is another pic, coz they're free:

So, that's all for today. I sincerely hope I remain regular with this. And, my previous blog-posts have all come at a regular interval of 3-6 months. So, there is some assurance.

I must find a place to stay in Pune, so off I go to Magicbricks. Oh no wait! You forgot your C&H treat!