Cafe Bel Cibo, Sohna Road, Gurgaon

You know how you’re at a fine dining, fancy pants restaurant sometimes and there’s a couple with two kids at the next table trying to enjoy their so called fine dining experience? And you’re wondering why that poor, frazzled couple even bothered to try coming to dinner with the kids? How could they possibly be enjoying the cuisine or the ambience when they’re spending so much time keeping the kids from breaking the crockery, poking each other in the eyes with the cutlery, and climbing on the nicely upholstered chairs? Why waste all this time and money? Why not just go to MacDonald’s instead?

 While you’re on the right track thinking this way and those questions are certainly worth asking, do consider the frazzled parents’ situation. They’re tired from all the parenting and really deserve a good meal. But to get to a point where their fine dining experience is actually fine, they need to train their kids to behave somewhat well in a restaurant situation. This training takes time, money, and patience – all the things your parents probably bestowed on you to get you to a point where you can sit instead of stand on an upholstered chair and use cutlery to eat instead of stab a sibling. It’s a tough job but someone’s got to do it.

Every once in a while though, someone has a brainwave and creates a restaurant situation that caters to parents’ need for a relaxing and hearty meal and their kids’ need to run around and do fun stuff. Café Bel Cibo on Sohna Road is an example of this thoughtfulness...no doubt the founders have suffered some upholstery climbing toddlers of their own! Located on the ground floor of the Ninex City Mart (opposite Vipul Greens), this place is great if you want to go out for a meal where you can have some good food over good conversation while your kids are happily occupied and out of trouble.

Done up in bright and cheerful colors, the highlight of the restaurant is that they have a little kids corner set up with toys, books, a blackboard and sometimes even art and craft activities. It’s simply done – but it’s enough to keep them fascinated and busy for a while. On Sundays they also arrange special activities for kids such as cookie and cupcake decoration, sand art, and so on.

They serve mainly Italian and Mediterranean cuisine and I’ve always enjoyed the food there. They have a very wide menu for adults (the Mezze platter is my favorite) and a well thought out and correctly portioned kids’ menu with stuff like chicken popcorn, tiny pizzas, and yummy pancakes. The desert menu is especially inviting because it has a lot of stuff you don’t find everywhere such as poached pears in a red wine reduction, profiteroles, and a yummy coffee dessert that I just can’t remember the name of!

All in all – this place is definitely worth a visit when you’re in a mood for a casual, relaxing dinner out with friends, kids, or just each other. You’re sure to get some good food, good music, and good conversation, topped up with good dessert!

Originally posted on merinews.com.

Going Organic in Gurgaon

Image from Lumiere

Organic Food is food grown without chemicals, and processed without chemical additives, which renders the food pure, healthy and safe. It’s actually the way food used to be in our forefathers time… when the soil was enriched with cow dung or panchgavya instead of DDT, urea or other harmful chemicals; when we used to eat the local seasonal produce instead of eating exotic produce from across the globe (which is preserved, ripened and kept fresh with several chemicals).

A few years ago, hardly anyone in Gurgaon knew about Organic Food. As recently as last year, when eSvasa was started, to promote awareness about organic food and gardening, the response we got was ‘what organic! It’s just a fad for people with too much money!’, or ‘children won’t develop an immunity if they eat only organic… they have to go out and eat normal food.’ Today, the situation is really different. The media attention on the milk adulteration scam and chemically injected fresh produce has made people sit up. Several organic shops have opened and even the skeptics are surprised to see the phenomenal response from Gurgaon-ites.

Initially price was an issue, because people felt that organic was much more expensive than conventional produce. However, if you see a comparison of prices between a few organic brands vis-a-vis conventional, the percentage difference would be about 15 – 30 % depending on the brand. Even then, the health benefits of organic food simply outweigh the cost effects. People usually convert to organic food with milk and fresh produce, and then shift to the regular grocery products. It may also surprise you to note that for some products, organic is even cheaper than conventional! For eg, the Sanjeev Kapoor range of pickles is more expensive than the organic pickles from Navdanya!

The movement started slowly, with the enterprising Manpreet Bajaj of Live Organic literally going door to door promoting organic milk and pulses. Now she has 2 stores, and does the occasional farmers’ market too. There are also people like Anuradha of Farmers First Foundation, who are pushing organic vegetables and milk through their farms, and the French Farmer, Manesar who provides organic produce and poultry to the five star hotels of Delhi/ NCR. 

Several stand alone stores like Swadeshi at IFFCO Chowk, Nature’s Hub in Nirvana Courtyard and retail biggies like Easy Day, Big Bazaar etc have started also retailing organic produce, making organic food accessible like never before. Even Navdanya, the oldest organic retailer in India thought it prudent to open its second store here with delivery of grocery and fresh produce. There are also online stores based out of Delhi/ NCR that provide home delivery or organic products to Gurgaon. 

As long as people understand that organic food is not just a fad, it is what our food used to be years ago, before the onslaught of chemicals, toxins and growth hormones, it will make sense to buy organic. In today’s environment, this is the least we can do for our children and ourselves.

eSvasa started as an effort by two mothers, Suruchi Ailawadi & Vandana Sudhakar Dutt, to provide safe and healthy foods to their children, and to spread that knowledge to fellow moms. eSvasa is proud to be part of the growing organic community in Gurgaon, and India, providing Product, store & brand information, reviews, recipes, health tips, buying guides and more in the field of organic food & good health.

List of useful references:

Organic Stores in Gurgaon/ Delhi: http://esvasa.com/?q=organic_store_guide
Online Organic Stores: http://esvasa.com/?q=online_organic_stores
Price comparision between organic & conventional: http://esvasa.com/?q=organic_food_prices

For any additional information or queries on organic food, please visit www.esvasa.com/ email us on info@esvasa.com. We also spread happiness and health on www.facebook.com/esvasaindia.

Thanks, Vandana, for this super useful post. Here's to good health for us and our families:-)

Aarti's Super Home Baking

It was my son's 5th birthday last week...this was the first time he really understood the idea behind birthdays (ermm...presents!) and parties (ermm....cakes!) and was looking forward to his special day. This is also the year of fanatic following of Chota Bheem and hence his special wish was to have a Chota Bheem cake. My job was to find someone who could make this happen - give me a yummy, not very big, realistic Chota Bheem looking cake without burning a hole in my pocket. I didn't really want to order at one of the big bakeries in town like Sugar and Spice or Le Marche or Beanstalk. For one, these guys never do custom stuff for small orders...they insist on 2 kgs for a cake at least. Plus, they're really expensive. Plus, I didn't have time to go and select a cake and then place the order.

I was lucky to have come across a home baker in Vatika City, who I believe is really great (Hi, Bee the Baker!) So, I called her and requested her to try her hand at a Chota Bheem cake for me. She has done some very cool cakes in the past, but she was gracious enough to tell me that since she hadn't done this particular character before, she didn't want to take the risk of spoiling my son's birthday cake.

Luckily though, she referred me to the lady who ended up making a super duper Chota Bheem cake for me. And another super duper Dora cake for my daughter, who refused to accept that her birthday is in May and wanted it in Jan instead. (I know I know - she should learn all about reality and that birthdays come when they come etc! But I decided not to fight this battle right now. Those of you know my daughter - I can see you nodding understandingly.)

So, back to the point - Aarti's Cakes-n-More is a home bakery in Sector 56 (Jal Vayu Towers). Both the cakes she made for me were wonderfully moist, fresh, and super tasty. She was also very flexible and understanding of  my requirements...for instance I wanted the cake to be just 1kg, which she managed to do. She had all sorts of creative ideas for the cakes, and as a result they looked really great too. They did have a touch of the "homemade" cake look...they weren't as finessed as a high end bakery/boutique cake would be. This didn't bother me though...that little touch of home made is great for kids' birthdays!

I believe Aarti also does simple tea cakes and other yummy baked stuff. I'm really glad to have discovered her and hope to have many more occasions to order from her:-)

Suparna Ka Aangan in Gurgaon

I don't know about you, but I have a tendency to get caught up in my own life with all its big and small activities and transactions and to-dos and joys and sorrows and problems and relationships and all that good stuff. If I ever sit down to count the number of things I do in a week, I'm sure I'd hit 4 digits at least! And though I'm constantly aware that I'm a very fortunate person to have a house and warm clothes and food and health and that I owe it to myself to give back to the world, this is something that often goes down on the to-do list and I tend to become complacent.

It was during one of these pockets of complacency that I came across a place called Suparna Ka Aangan. It's an orphanage started by a lady called Suparna Sethi and is located on the Ardee City road...the road on which Scottish High and Gold Souk and Epicenter are located. I was amazed at how much good is being done in this one tiny little place. They're managing to house, feed, and educate 80+ kids of all ages who either don't have parents or have been abandoned by them. They've also created a small clinic that provides free medicines and very basic healthcare to kids and other people in that area. They also have a creche initiative running at various construction sites in Gurgaon to care for the children of construction workers.

They have some dedicated staff and some volunteers who work very hard to make this initiative successful. Kudos to them for the work they're doing - it's really inspiring to see people who aren't as complacent and I tend to get and who have made it their life's work to do good for those who've been knocked around and really need support.

Talking to Mrs. Sethi, I realized there's a lot we can do. Of course, they always need financial donations. But in addition, if you have clothes, shoes, toys, books, stationery items, unused medicines, or old furniture (such as tables, book racks, etc.) that you could donate, that would be welcome too. Or you could contact them to go and spend time with the kids - reading and talking to them or taking some classes.

You can contact them through their website, their facebook page, or their facebook group.

Zambar at Ambi Mall, Gurgaon

A couple of months ago on Onam, a good friend of mine, who is originally from Kerala invited me to a traditional Onam feast at her place. Having never been to one of these before, I didn’t quite know what to expect, though knowing her, I knew the food would be great. What amazed me was the huge spread she had put up. The sheer number of dishes on the table was mind-boggling. It made me realize how little I know about south Indian cooking. Most of the South Indian restaurants I had ever been to were basically Sagar Ratna duplicates with the same menu of dosas, uttapams, idlis, vadas, and a couple of other similar stuff we’ve all had a thousand times. Of course, it’s not that I don’t find that yummy. I do, but the lack of variety in a typical Sagar Ratna menu has meant that I have been quite ignorant of the range of amazing dishes that South Indian cuisine has to offer.
After the Onam feast that afternoon, I got lucky once again because I discovered a place called Zambar in Ambience Mall in Gurgaon. Thanks to them, I don’t have to wait till my friend invites me again if I want to satisfy my craving for great coastal food. I’ve been there several times now and just love everything about it. The first thing I like is the way it’s done up. It looks and behaves like a good, fine-dining restaurant. The ambience is lovely, they use very nice crockery, they put in visible effort to plate and present their food beautifully, and they even have a fairly long alcohol menu. I’ve never seen an alcohol menu at a South Indian restaurant before!

The most important thing, of course, is the food. There are a lot of options to choose from and all the ones I’ve tasted have turned out to be very nice. My favourite there is the appam and stew. My husband’s is the King fish fry. My kids haven’t broken out of the Sagar Ratna mould yet and insist on their plain dosas, which is a challenge because Zambar only has dosas and idlis on their snacks menu, which they serve from 5:00 to 7:00 pm. So, we’ve literally had to beg the waiters there to break that rule and give us just one dosa between the two kids so we can enjoy our wine and our meal in peace. Luckily, the restaurant staff has been very cooperative…maybe they all have kids too and know how valuable that quiet time at the dinner table can be!
The downside, if any, of Zambar is that it is expensive. A meal for two with a glass of wine each will cost you around Rs. 2500, on average. Of course, this will go up by a fair bit if you order some of the expensive fish or prawn dishes. So, I guess you can’t really go there terribly often – not as often as Coco Palm or Sagar Ratna (or my friend’s place!), but it’s definitely a great option for those evenings when you want to eat something different, comforting, and yummy in a pampered environment.

Note: This article originally appeared on merinews.

English language classes in Gurgaon

So, I recently started working again. Working for money, I mean. In addition to the slaving for no money but lots of joy from my grubby brats and other delayed benefits that I’ve yet to discover that I’ve been doing for a while. These delayed benefits better be something really great to make the parenting job hours and stress worth it! But I digress, as always.

Back to the point, the company I work for is in the area of English language learning and as part of my interaction with them, I’ve come across a really great place called the WordsWorth School of English Language. It’s located near Sector 14 on the Old Delhi Road. That’s the road on which Payal cinema and the Apollo clinic are also located. The school offers English programs for different groups of people – from domestic help, to children, to pretty much anyone wanting to improve their spoken English and confidence in communicating. In addition to general English, they also have other programs on grooming, soft skills, story-telling for children, preparation for IELTS, and so on.

 The lady who owns and runs the place is an experienced English teacher herself and has taught at Shri Ram for several years. She’s done a really good job setting up the place and you can tell when you walk in that she’s a perfectionist. The school is extremely well set up in terms of infrastructure with a very clean, very organized, and well-equipped lab, an activity room for kids, and a couple of conference rooms or large classrooms. The lab is used because the English learning program is largely computer-based, using specialized software to teach English.

They have a Facebook presence and a website that you can look through if you’re interested. You can also call the owner, Natasha Kalaan at 9810158274. As always, do leave a comment if you have any experience with this place or any other feedback you’d like to share.

Fancy Dress Costumes

So those of you who have school going children and are seasoned moms and dads have probably already figured this out, but this one is for new moms of big school kids who are a little foxed with all the requests the school diary brings on a pretty regular basis. Seriously - these schools are wonderful and experiential learning is great but its the job of frazzled and performance anxiety ridden parents to make sure they send the best of whatever the current class project demands so their little ones don't feel left out in class. Sigh. What are we doing to our kids? Let me not get started on that though - last I checked, this wasn't a parenting blog. Although it so easily could be, what with the author's million and one opinions.

Anyway.

The most recent request was for my son to be dressed up as a bear. And bring feathers. Yeah. Lots of feathers. Where would I get feathers? We do have some fairly annoying pigeons who live on our air conditioner....hmmm, I thought. In the interest of keeping experiential learning within limits though, I guess I needed a place to buy feathers. And a bear outfit. Turns out, Vyapar Kendra on the DLF Phase IV road (leading from Golf course road to Park Plaza) has all the answers. There's a store there called Fancy Look (Shop number 28 or something on the upper ground floor) that rents out fancy dress costumes. They have everything! And not really as dirty as I thought rented outfits might be. I was so relieved that they had a bear outfit and in his size too! By the looks of the shop, they'll be able to give you whatever outfit you might need and cater to your kids' classteachers' every whim and fancy. In fact, they even solved my feather problem - I just bought a few feathered masks and plucked out the feathers (as my pigeons breathed sighs of relief).

It was also cheaper than I thought to rent - I paid Rs. 140 for the outfit - ended up keeping it for 3 days but didn't even get charged extra for that.

Also, I'm ashamed to admit it but this was really the first time I went to Vyapar Kendra - felt like magic land! That market has every small thing in the world that you might need...I plan to explore it a lot now that the weather's better and will report as it happens:-)