Munni of all Trades

Award winning Lifestyle and Travel Blog by Khushboo Motihar

Travel

Watch out for this E Beer pub with delicious food in Andheri!

With mouth watering food, an e-beer hose, chic English décor and live DJ; Café Mojo, is the awesomest place to hang out after work in Andheri! My friend and I decided to spend our Sunday and we had an absolutely fabulous time! Believe me when I say it; it is one of its kind place in Mumbai.  
 
We decided to explore the place before hogging the scrumptious food on the menu. The Café was set into 3 areas: bar, lounge and rooftop sheesha lounge.  Now here is something unique about Café Mojo. They have a beer hose at every table. I discovered that the bar has a very unique system of e-beer. 
 
Although, a teetotaller, I was fascinated by the e-beer system. Café Mojo provides you with a rechargeable card which can be used to get food as well as drinks. The e-beer hose set up on your table pours out beer against the balance in the card and the best part is you pay for the quantity you pour out! This seems to be a great idea for all the “spirited” people out there.

 

The sheesha lounge boasted of a large variety of flavours. One can even customize the flavours by mixing the flavours in various proportions. 
 
We were certainly hungry after the tour of the place and decided to order food from their awesome spread of continental and American choices. Though the vegetarian choices are somewhat limited, the menu is a meat lover’s delight.  We decided to order Melting Pots and Beer battered prawns as starters. Right from the innovative presentation and plating techniques to a really awesome taste, the food was great. 
 
We decided to try Pasta in Arabiata sauce and Mixed grill for the main course. The pasta was well made, though a little more spice would certainly help. The Mixed Grill was a potpourri of flavours. Chicken steak, lamb patty, sausage, chicken ham, mashed potatoes, buttered veggies and the flavoured herb rice served in espagnole-rosemary Jus was a perfect combination of flavours with each standing out with its wonderful taste. We washed down our food by Fruit punch.
 
The bar menu is note worthy and a delight for all. The cocktails that were put up on display looked really great and the bar tenders were very skilful in mixing up the drinks. We decided to end our gourmet journey with waffles. The waffles were freshly baked and were amazing.
 
Overall I really enjoyed the place. It is a must visit for all the beer lover’s to try out the e-beer system. With the party season coming up, the place is certainly a great hangout. The live DJ, great ambience, good food and alcohol make it a must visit this party season.
 
Rating:
Ambience: 4/5
Food: 3.5/5
Service: 3.5/5
 
About Cafe Mojo:
 
Café Mojo is India’s first E Beer pub. Our distinctive e-Brew self-serve system has caught attention nationally and is much admired by our patrons for its unique style. With e-Brew, you can pour your own chilled beer straight from taps fitted at your table. And you pay by the ml instead of traditional ‘by the glass’ method! All your spend on Food & Drinks is on a smart card, which helps you keep tab at all times. Laughter, music and beery conversations is what you’ll experience when you walk in at Café Mojo Pub & Bistro. With a Wide range of cocktails specially curated by our Bartender and lip smacking delicacies served proudly by our chefs, you are bound on a journey of happiness at Café Mojo from the moment you walk in.
Social profiles:
 
www.facebook.com/cafemojo.mumbai
www.twitter.com/CafeMojoMumbai
www.instagram.com/cafemojomumbai
www.zoma.to/r/18175461

-Contributed by Gargi

The 5 things we loved about the Absolut Enchanted Valley Carnival!

How do you describe music and camping under the stars in one word? Bliss! I am not exaggerating; Mumbai’s music scene is fast evolving and after attending the Global Citizen Festival in November I was looking forward to the Absolut Enchanted Valley Carnival. Sadly due to unforeseen circumstances (read: being bankrupt) I could not attend it but that does not mean we can’t enjoy these spectacular photographs telling us what the carnival was all about 🙂
1. Music, Music and more music!

From the musical extravaganza of Alpha X Omega and MOJOJOJO’s EDM Dance beats setting the mood at the Cosmos stage to the opening of the spectacular Terra and Akva stages with Monophonik, Blank and DJ Ankur Sood; the festival lived up to its name of enchanting music lovers. Performances by ‘Farhan Live’ and the American rapper Flo Rida set the stage on fire with his top songs ‘Low’, ‘Right Round’, ‘My House.’and many more.
2. The Grub
Heartwarming numbers and foot tapping beats were accompanied by the exquisite delicacies from Culinarium, the food festival.
3. The adventure

Wanting to add a bit of adventure to the mix, the festival goers could try the Quad Bike and Bungee jumping, too.
4. Camping in style
Just have a look these photos; they will leave you speechless…

5. The people
Colourful, bizarre, beautiful and absolutely crazy; the carnival had them all J


 I look forward to attending their second edition soon! J

Weekend Getaway at Premier Inn Kharadi

Once upon a time two best friends, Nithya and Khushboo decide to catch the first train that will take them somewhere fun for a weekend. They end up reaching Pune not before they enjoy the beauty of Lonavala of course and then? They have the best time of their lives!
Well, it did not quite happen the way I described, we definitely put in a lot of thought into planning our weekend getaway but we most definitely had a wonderful time in Pune and at Premier Inn Kharadi.

There are different kinds of travellers in this world. Some of them are enthu cutlets. No matter how long they travel to reach their destination, their energy levels are at an all time peak.
There are others like me who just want to sleep after a long arduous travel. So when we both reached our destination, all we wanted to do was plonk ourselves on the bed and never get up.  Which is why, we appreciated the quick and smooth check in at the front desk.

Have a look at our room and my most favourite feature. The luxurious hypnos bed.




After a decent rest, we made way to meet Mr Arbind the GM of Premier Inn Kharadi and also to take a tour of the rest of the hotel.

This is the dining area of the hotel which has been beautifully designed to make it look like four different spaces. Mr Arbind explained that since 40% of their customers stay at the hotel for a longer period of time, they get bored looking at the same ambience. In order to ensure that a customer gets to enjoy something different every time they dine, they have created the green, brown and the rust room.


The entire space is elegant with lots of light to brighten up the place and it can double up as a space for a business meal or a leisurely one.

This is the bar which has some great offers for the guests. They also host a ladies night on Wednesdays.

Since the guests tend to stay for a longer period at the Premier Inn, the hotel has an excellent gym that is open throughout the day.


After this leisurely tour, we had an excellent lunch with Mr Arbind and Chef Rizwan who had kindly prepared an excellent array of dishes. Now, I was too hungry and did not stop to click photos but have a look at the dinner he prepared for us the other day.

It was delicious and the kind of food that I would love to eat every day. The unique aspect of the menu that Chef Rizwan creates is that he uses a lot of local, seasonal produce which means that their food is absolutely fresh and he incorporates certain aspects of the local cuisine that introduces the guests to something new every day. When we dined, he had prepared 4 different types of thecha and I enjoyed all of them.
We also had a discussion with Mr Arbind about an important topic for women who travel alone; women’s safety.
Mr Arbind told us that women guests are given rooms near the lifts for easy accessibility and that the entire staff ensures that she feels comfortable throughout the stay. He also gives a his own number to the guests so that he can be contacted in case of any emergency. Be it inside the hotel or even in the city.

The entire hotel has been designed keeping in mind a guests comfort and ‘thoughtful’ I think is the best word that captures Premier Inn Kharadi’s true essence. I had a wonderful weekend here at Kharadi and I look forward to being pampered again. 

Stay tuned for my next post on my Pune Travel Diaries 🙂

Monsoon Tourism in Kerala

Kerala is magical during the monsoons. The strong winds, the fickle rains, the lush greenery and the beautiful fragrance of the earth when the first rains drench her is to die for. The atmosphere is so alive; you can hear birds chirping merrily, a fisherwoman singing away somewhere on the lake and the happy splashes of water that you make as you jump in the puddles!  Monsoons= pure joy in Kerala.
I had such a wonderful time in my short vacation that I can ramble on and on about the beauty of this place. But that is hardly useful to you, isn’t it? Instead let me tell you about the things you can enjoy and things you should do when you decide to come down to Kerala during the monsoons.


Day 1
When I landed at the Kochi international airport, the first thing I wanted to do was to take a cab to reach the Lemon Tree Lake Vembanad Resort. I was told that it is a two hours drive from the airport and I wanted to be there as quickly as possible. But a friend I made at the airport convinced me to take the local bus instead. Best decision ever. Not only you end up saving a lot of money but you also get to interact with some interesting people. I met a navy officer hailing from Muhuma who helped me with the directions to the hotel once I get down at the bus stop. He in fact shared the contact number of an auto walla who knew Alleppey very well and would take me around at a reasonable price.  KSRTC has an excellent fleet of air conditioned buses that are very economical. I had a friendly couple help me settle in the bus and for the next two hours all I did was enjoy the scenic view and chat with my companions.
Language would be a major issue for you, my friends had forewarned but I did not find this to be a problem. The locals were helpful and once, when I was panicking in the bus over the fact that I had forgotten my wallet at the hotel, a kind gentleman offered to pay for my ticket! But that’s a story for my next post J
On reaching the resort on my first night all I wanted to do was enjoy some delicious food and sleep. Mr Anand in the front office ensured that our check in took less than a minute and we were whisked to our rooms quickly to be welcomed by the gorgeous swan you must have seen in my previous post.
Lemon Tree Lake Vembanad Resort’s Citrus Café has some amazing food. Kari meen is their local delicacy and it is something that you must try. I also loved their fried ice cream and insisted on having one everyday.


I do not have any food photos because I would always be too hungry to eat but let me tell you everything was delicious. Their breakfast buffet had a wide array of options and I would easily end up spending an hour savouring the food.
During breakfast, I noticed some smoke near the resort and I pressed my nose at the window to see what was going on. The local fishermen had caught ‘kakha’ (a kind of shellfish) and were boiling it in hot water to separate the shell from the meat.

The staff at Lemon Tree was amazing. From taking time to explaining us a little about the local culture as well as arranging for boat rides, helping us plan our travel and giving us some amazing tips; they did it all. Each and every staff member was all smiles every single time and were very very helpful.
They ran me through the entire process of separating the meat from the shell and I even got to know that the shell would be sold to Ayurveda centres as it had medicinal properties.

While strolling near the pool, I attempted to converse with the a lady who had just caught some ‘kakha’. Sadly, we could not understand each other at all but she smiled as she threw a kakha at me as a souvenir.

Day 2
After a restful night, we were raring to do all touristy things. The rains however decided to intervene and we ended up exploring the resort and the Muhuma village.
Lemon Tree Lake Vembanad Resort has an amazing collection of movies, indoor games and books. They also have bicycles that you can borrow for a day or two to cycle around the nearby villages. Their Infinity Pool with its gorgeous view feels so relaxing that all you want to do is curl up on their comfy armchair with a cup of coffee.

In the evening, we explored the town of Muhuma by walking a short 3.5 kms and stopped by KK bakes to gorge on their delicious plum and marble cake.
When did I finally visit Alleppey to do all the touristy things? What did I buy and did I learn to cycle? Stay tuned for the next post J

My adventures with Lifestraw

There are people in the world who can drink a liter of water in one go and not feel thirsty for hours and there are people like me who require a sip of water every 15 minutes. If you come in the latter category, then high five!
I am that strange breed of human being that was born with a water bottle attached to the hip. I just cannot leave my home without it! My constant sipping also means that I finish my water pretty quickly and then I initiate my hunt; my hunt to find the cleanest and freshest bottle of water. I check expiry dates, check the sealed cap of the bottled water and reject all local brands. Sadly, this exercise does not go down too well with my friends. Sometimes, it is impossible to find packaged drinking water especially when I am travelling which means that I whine all the way, ignore the beautiful place around me and cry (not literally) till I get some water.
In the last month, however, something changed and I discovered an incredible new product, which I will gush about shortly. I was about to leave for my Kerala trip when a shiny blue bottle (favourite colour, so brownie points for that!) arrived in my mail. It claimed to have the miraculous property to remove 99.9999% of waterborne bacteria (>LOG 6 reduction), including E-Coli and 99.9% of waterborne protozoan parasites (>LOG 3 reduction), including Giardia & Cryptosporidium.

Too be good be to true eh? This product is called Lifestraw.


What is Lifestraw and what makes it so unique?
LifeStraw filters (LifeStraw, LifeStraw Go) use hollow fiber membrane micro filtration with a 0.2 micron pore size. This means that dirty water goes into the LifeStraw, microorganisms are physically removed and safe drinking water comes out. LifeStraw products do not use chemicals, do not require pumping and do not require any energy input (like batteries).  

Did you know that…

Let’s have a closer look at Lifestraw’s structure

Amazing, isn’t it?

Imagine catching fresh rain water and being able to drink it. Imagine walking past a lake and dipping your Lifestraw into it and enjoy a refreshing drink. Imagine being in the city and drinking water from the public taps without the fear of falling sick. Lifestraw makes all this possible and more!

Let me show you where my Lifestraw travelled with me.


A word of caution; Lifestraw cannot purify water which has dissolved chemicals nor should it be used for sea water. Use your Lifestraw wisely!

Lifestraw also has this great initiative where they donate safe drinking water to a child in a school from a rural area when you purchase Lifestraw products. I am always happy to know when a company takes the extra effort to work for the developing countries and ensure that people have access to basic amenities.

To end this post, I think it is an excellent product especially those who love to travel and would like to ensure that they have safe water to drink all the time. Lifestraw and I have bonded for life. We might even get married some day. J