Saffron - Re-defining taste !!

There are very rare occasions in my life when I have complained less about the food in a group dinner outing ..
Today was one of those days!
Since, I will be leaving Manipal in a few days, Pavan and me, with our better halves decided to go out for a good dinner.

Last time around we had seen this new place called "SAFFRON" on the way to malpe.
Its on the left hand side midway between Udupi bus-stand and Karavali cross.

Well, so we reach there all dressed up and smelling nice.
Its on the third floor and the building is nice and posh. even the elevator plays Kenny G's music !!
When we were ushered in, the restaurant looked all chic and the ambiance was very good.
Nice seating arrangement, nice curtains, good music, TV and stuff ..
Even the menu book said Multi-cuisine, although Indian and Chinese were the only stuff .. Well technically more than one cuisine is called multi-cuisine, ain't it ??
The tag line said : Saffron- redefining taste !! Ironic, very very ironic ..

But thats where all the good things ended, because when after a good hard look at the menu we decided to order, we found that most, if not all things in the menu were really not meant to be served .. :-) They were there for literary purposes only ..
I hate it when the waiter suggests alternatives based on what he thinks we should have and not what I would want to ..
But he suggested and we chose - Baby Corn chilli and Hara Bhara kabab for starters .
The Chilli stuff was not bad, but the kababs were horrible. Big mounds of flour - green coloured and uncooked and sticky .. Yuck !!

For main course, the veggies ordered tawa paneer and dal fry and me a mutton roast masala, with some rotis and kulchas ..
Guess what ..
When the food arrived, panner tawa turned out to be 5 pieces of panner lightly fried on a tawa with some salt and pepper .. and the best part, its cost - 109 rupees.
What on earth was that doing in the main course section of the menu ?

So, to do damage control, we ordered a veg kadai ( again a waiter suggestion !! ) .. Did not turn out to be good either ..
The rotis/kulchas were very tough ..

The only saving grace was the mutton roast masala ..
I was lucky I guess, coz the kulcha and the mutton made for a good and wholesome combination !!

So, all in all, we were just too happy to get out of there .. but not before coughing up 700 odd rupees for some bad bad food !!!

CottonCandy

To improve our mood and our taste buds, we hit the baskin robbins ice cream parlor in Manipal..
Man, are the ice-creams here good ?? I took the cotton candy flavour .. It was amazing !! see pic ..
My wife chose the sitaphal(custard apple) one ..
Pavan chose the bubblegum flavor, and his wife a safe vanilla and chocolate ..

That completed the evening's adventures, but not before we packed ourselves some more ice-cream from the Natural's ice-cream parlor in front of CCD ..

Moral of the story :: If you are feeling adventurous, may I say reckless, you may want to try the place .. SAFFRON ..
Else, if you want some real privacy and a nice ambiance with food being the last thing on your mind (during the whole evening, we were the only ones in the place!!) ,
This is the place for you ..

Else, in plain English - "Just stay away!"