A VISIT TO URBAN CAFE MM ALAM ROAD LAHORE

Tucked away on a small road off of mm Alam is a comfortable and cozy cafe.  The interior of the cafe is unique and centers around iconic hollywood movies and a whole corner is dedicated to comics and disney movies.
 This place offers a variety of crepes,shakes and paninis as well as other options such as rice and thai chicken. The specialty is undoubtedly deserts. They have amazing cakes mouthwatering cupcakes  and chocolates. One portion of the cafe is dedicated to frozen yogurt by yogilicious.
It is a relatively new addition to the culinary horizon in lahore but it has made its way to the top very quickly. The reason being not only they offer a variety of dishes, the taste is amazing and the prices are not heavy on the pocket.
We have been to urban cafe quite a few times and loved their crepes, steaks and breakfast. This time we opted to have nachos with salsa dip and urban cafe chicken. The nachos are a new addition o their menu and frankly they are nothing special. It is a plate full of doritos chips drizzled with cheese sauce and jalapeños with a side of rather bland salsa sauce.we give it 5/10.

Coming to the main entree ,the urban cafe chicken took the spotlight. Slices of tender,juicy chicken filled with black olives and a variety of herbs with the most tangy and creamy sauce.it is served with steamed vegetables. As always the the portion size was huge.

 Along with that we order their nutcracker shake which was so yummy that we were forced to order another one. The chocolate milkshake is topped with whipped cream and is sinfully delicious.
 Final thoughts:
This place is definitely worth a visit and their cakes are not to be missed. The only thing one could point out,if any is that the service is rather slow considering the cafe is usually half empty.
Ambiance 10/10
Food           8/10
Value for money 9/10
 Thanku for reading and do let us know if you guys liked this post and want more food related posts in future.

CAFE BARBARA MM ALAM ROAD

Greeting my sugar peaches,

BREAKFAST PLATTER

Here I am,back to blogging.I did miss you all a lot <3 <3.Today's post is all about fine dining.

CHEESE AND MUSHROOM OMELETTE

Winters and eggs in breakfast are a match made in heaven.A fluffy omelette with mushroom and cheese, brown bread toasted to a yummy crisp and a glass of orange juice.Finish this breakfast with a cup of tea and you will feel like royalty.

Here is the recipe for the omelette with its photo shoot :P I 

CHICKEN MUSHROOM WITH ALMONDS

I love this recipe and so does every one else who has tried it.I found so many recipes online for this, but eventually I developed this one.Its easy,appetizing and can be served with rice,garlic bread or alone.Do try.

PREPERATION TIME:
45 minutes (minus marination time)

SERVES:
2-3 persons

INGREDIENTS:
Boneless chicken 1/2 kg
Mushrooms 1 cup sliced
Onion medium sliced
Garlic 1clove crushed
Corn flour 4 table spoon
Vinegar 1 table spoon
Chicken broth 2 glass
Fresh cream 1/2 cup
Almonds 1cup(peeled and diced)
Black pepper 2teaspoon
Chinese salt 1teaspoon
Plain salt to taste
Cooking oil half cup

METHOD:

1)-Take chicken in a bowl,add 2 tablespoon corn flour,vinegar and a pinch of salt and pepper.Let it stand for two hours so that marination is proper and complete.

2)-Now,take the cooking oil in a wok.Let it heat up.When the oil is hot,toss in the chicken and fry it.You have to fry until chicken turns a little brown.This will ensure that no unpleasant smell is left in the chicken.

TIP:Tossing in chicken in very hot oil ensures the chicken is fried properly and doesn't stick to the pan or wok.

3)-When done, take the chicken out of the oil and place it in a plate.

4)-After taking out the chicken,use the same oil to  saute' a pinch of garlic paste. Now,add the onions and fry until they turn golden brown.Using oil left from frying chicken will give a wholesome flavor to the recipe.When done,add the chicken broth.Let the broth mixture come to boil.

5)-When it has boiled,reduce the heat and add chicken.Let the mixture simmer on low heat for 2-3 minutes then add the spices and salt.Stir and add mushrooms.Let the mixture simmer for 3-4 minutes.Add almonds.

6)-Add the cream slowly and stir properly so that all of it dissolves.Large clumps will look bad, but very small ones can not be dissolved completely so just focus on the bigger ones.The smaller ones will melt away.If you want to avoid cream you can use half cup of commercially available yogurt too.(I never tried this one)

7)-Take 2 tablespoon cornflour and mix in 4 tablespoon cold water.Add this to the cooking mixture very slowly in a drizzle.Make sure you keep stirring gently.

8)-Let it cook for 5 minutes.The gravy will thicken and when it takes a thick soupy consistency take it off the heat.The final consistency is up to your taste.If you like it thin,add a little more water and let it come to boil.In my opinion soup like consistency tastes best.

If you like it salty you can always add more salt and pepper too.

Hope you all like this recipe.Its a personal favorite. Do try and tell how it was.Cheers.

MAKING PINA COLADA AT HOME

These days the evenings are getting cooler and balmier.I love to feel the breeze tickling on my face(regardless of the fact that sometimes its the pedestal fan :P ).Sipping Pina colada and enjoying evening is my favorite pass time, since its easier to keep an eye on kids while they play.

So,here is my very own recipe for the yummiest pina colada ever.You don't have to use vodka or alcohal for it .

THINGS YOU NEED:

COCONUT  MILK      Two glass

HEALTHY STEAMED MASALA CHICKEN AT HOME

Today I have a very healthy and very easy recipe to share with you girls.It is very easy 

to make, ingredients are easily available in every kitchen and it is finger licking good. 

Try it at home and you will agree with me.Kids will love it.

                                             STEAMED MASALA CHICKEN

BAKED CHICKEN STEAK WITH TANGY BROWN SAUCE

Chicken Steaks are my absolute favorite.Whenever we go out to eat,my husband and I 

always order steak.This is exactly the reason I am looking for new steak recipes.I took 

this recipe from a food blog and tweaked it a little to suit my taste.

Do try and tell how you liked it.          

GELATO AFFAIR,Islamabad

Well, it has been an awefully long time since I did a food related post.Yesterday we 

went to an awesome Cafe' which made me break this silence.

The location is great,food is awesome and most of all the prices are very reasonable.

The Cafe is ...

                                                  GELATO AFFAIR

This cosy little cafe is situated in F7/3 Islamabad near Jinnah Super Market.

The location is perfect for a cafe'...nicely tucked away in a flower filled yard.There is 

plenty of space outside too, if you want to enjoy your coffee in open air.

APPLE PIE

This is a tried, tested, tasted and loved recipe of apple pie by a very dear friend of 

mine.She is  an amazing chef.

My taste buds can never ever forget the flavour of Chocolate cake she made, so many 

years ago.

Here is the picture of     

                                               THE APPLE PIE

 

You can make this one yourself too .Here is the recipe:

Solid Food For your Baby

Thinking up healthy,nutritious recipes for less then 8 months old is really tough.I mean they are going through transition from liquid to solid.Most of food products containing allergens are restricted.You are left with vegetables ,fruits and pulses.It does take a lot of imagination to think up of tasty recipes that you can use to make delicious paste your baby would love.

Today I will share some recipes that I have tried and baby loves them.  

Here is a list of permitted/ recommended food products according to baby’s age.

Mince Potatoe Masala/Alloo Qeema With a Twist

Aloo qeema is a very common dish that we make at home,Sometimes it can get a little 

boring.  This aloo qeema recipe has a nice twist to it.Read on…

                                   Aloo qeema with a twist

ALLU K PAKOREY

Its monsoon and ramazan.And we all certainly love pakora so here is my mom's recipe

 of crunchy pakoras.yum...

                                                           

                                                   CRUNCHY ALLU PAKOREY

chatkhara points lahore

You know how we love to eat chat patey pakistani foods like dahi bhalley,fruit chat and 

gol gappey.

Today I will suggest some good spots in lahore where you can find very hygienic and 

tasty chat patey items.

BAKED CHICKEN STEAK WITH MUSHROOM SAUCE

Ok after boasting on facebook about it I thought why not share it on my blog.

It is a very easy recipe.I had to make steak for my husband, making sure it was healthy 

so, I got a few recipes and mixed them and viola.

Do try and enjoy.

cafe monal, islamabad ,pakistan

I love dining out. My husband has a real busy routine, and we don’t get much time to go 

out, but whenever there is an occasion we try to make the best of it. 

When I cleared my commission exam we decided to celebrate. The choice of place was 

left to me, and I had the place in my mind, long before we had a reason to celebrate J

CAFÉ MONAL  in pir sohawa:

I, first, saw the place when my hubby took us all there, uninformed. He just wanted me 

to keep quite and wait, which was kinda difficult, given that it was near midnight and we 

were headed towards damn-e-koh Islamabad(altitude=3900ft amsl.)

After almost 20min of squealing at every risky turn,(I have really become a chicken 

heart after my two babies coz it wasn’t that risky after all) we reached pir sohawa.

I was like,OH MY GOD. The beauty is breath taking. Whole city of Islamabad spread 

along the horizon, glowing and winking , is just mind blowing. The cool breeze playing 

on taha’s face made him tickle and giggle.

We rounded a turn and there it was…CAFÉ MONAL

sooji halwa

I love creating new recipes for my baby.
here is my boy's all time favourite

INGREDIANTS:

3/4CUP SOOJI

4CUP WATER

1CUP SUGAR

1/2 CUP DESI GHEE

METHOD:

1)-Take  sauce pan.Put in desi ghee.When its hot enough add sooji and stir it until its     

      golden. You will see that it has separated from ghee.You will also smell the aroma 

      of sooji.

2)-Now add water.Stir and add sugar.

3)- Adjust the flame to medium.cook some more until it thickens.Then let it reach a 

       soupy consistency and take off the flame.cool and serve

4)-Garnish with raisins ,almonds and pistachio.

Do try and tell me if you liked it.