Sizzle Desi in Thane is one of the newest restaurants on the block. I was invited by my friend on behalf of the restaurant to review it. And though the food was paid for by the restaurant, the opinions aren’t! 🙂
Sizzle Desi is the brainchild of Chef Parag Joglekar, an industry veteran. We met him at the restaurant while having dinner and it was fantastic chatting with him. Chef Joglekar has 25 years of experience and is currently the Executive Chef at the Barking Deer. The first thought that comes to my mind when I think back on our food experience and interaction with him is innovation. He’s bringing new concepts to the food scene in Thane by bringing continental food with a desi twist for our spice-loving tongues. He also brings a continental twist to some of our traditional dishes which I will talk about too!
At Sizzle Desi, the presentation of the menu sets the note for the meal. It’s been designed like a sizzler plate on a wooden base. I found it pretty interesting!
Sizzle Desi offers a variety of dishes on the menu- pastas, burgers, Indian, wraps, sandwiches and of course their house specialty sizzlers. The restaurant has kept limited options under each to manage quality given the limited kitchen space available to them.
The ambience at Sizler Desi Thane is quite relaxed and casual. Quirky colours contrast with off-white on the walls. The tables are mostly for family-style seating with cushioned comfortable chairs. Interesting metal artefacts adorn some of the walls too.
Now let’s talk about what we ate!
1. Fries Animal Style
It was the name and description on the menu that made hubby order this dish. While we’ve had fries with other meats, we’ve never had fries with chicken. This dish has french fries topped with chicken in a spiced barbecue sauce and cheese sauce. The french fries were nice and crisp even after all the sauces had been poured on it. I found the spiced version of the usually sweet barbecue sauce very nicely done. All in all, it’s a dish we’d definitely recommend.
2. Cajun Spiced Baby Potatoes
I love Cajun spice, so I had to order this! In this dish boiled potatoes are smashed slightly and fried. Then they’re tossed in a cajun seasoning. To add a little bit of Indian twist, they’re topped with lime, chopped onions and corriander kind of like in our chaats. The potato skins were nice and crispy and the cajun spice was quite flavourful. The only glitch in this dish was that the potatoes were served slightly cold on our table.
The potatoes were served with a cumin mayo dip on the side. This one is Chef Parag’s invention. The flavour of roasted cumin worked perfectly with the creamy mayo. I can have this mayo dip with anything!
3. Grilled Harrissa Chicken Sizzlers
We ordered this dish on the recommendation of Chef Parag. Harrissa is an African sauce made of roasted peppers and spices. The sizzler had spicy grilled chicken marinated in harrissa with rice. Sauteed vegetables and potato skins made for the sides on this sizzler. This sizzler made for a great dish for us. Hubby, who doesn’t like bell peppers much actually liked the harrissa sauce! I also found the potato skins a great idea for a side as it added so much more crunchiness and spice to the sizzler than your regular fries.
4. Mutton Biryani
Mutton biryani at a sizzler restaurant? Well we went with the chef’s recommendation and were absolutely delighted. He told us order it and I will personally go make it for you! And what a lovely biryani it was. The fragrance of the spices and the meat reached our noses even before the dough on top was completely opened.
Fluffy and fragrant basmati, the aroma of caramelised onions, cloves, cinnamon, nutmeg and rose water, perfectly cooked tender meat made this dish a fantastic order. I took seconds of the biryani with the meat though I don’t like mutton much!
5. Sizzling Chocolate Brownie
My friend Yashad, who had joined us for the dinner, warned us, “Save space for dinner, we HAVE to have the brownie!” After so much food, we ordered one sizzling brownie for the three of us just for Yashad’s recommendation. The minute we took our spoons to cut into the brownie, we knew why we’d ordered it. It was moist and not crumbly at all! And it was such a decadence- dark chocolate and a moist, rich melt-in-your-mouth brownie. The brownie is Chef Parag’s own recipe and is made in the kitchen itself.
My recommendation- go for this dessert first so that you don’t have to worry about not having enough dessert space! Oh, and good news for the vegetarians… it’s an eggless brownie!
We ended our experience of good food, conversations and catching up with some paan shots for a mouth freshener.
Some notes:-
Chef Parag creates very interesting season special sizzlers. Right now for Shraavani Somvar they have Upvaasache Sizzlers on Mondays .
These sizzlers serve traditional faraal items like sabudaana khichdi, saabudana wade, faraalachi kachori etc with a sizzler twist.
Another dessert sizzler Chef told us about was puranpoli rolled with Milkmaid spread and then served with chocolate sauce on top.
How much will it cost me: Rs 1000 for 2
Verdict: Chef Parag’s innovative take on food both Indian and continental is interesting. I’ll go there again to some more sizzlers and seasonal specials. And yes, the sizzling brownie!!
Rating: ****
Address: 1 Trishul Apt, West Panch Pakhadi, West 400602, Eastern Express Hwy, Panch Pakhadi, Thane.
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