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Wednesday, August 8, 2012

100 Degrees

Since I had the sizzler at Kobe, Chennai, I was looking for a similar outlet serving the sizzler at Hyderabad. Kobe has its presence in many cities but not Hyderabad :(
Having tasted it, I was insatiable till I had more of it :)
While searching for the sizzler at Hyderabad, I came across Yoko Sizzlers and 100 degrees. It seems Yoko, which has superlative reviews, also has its presence in many cities, but couldn't survive in Hyderabad for long. For Ohri's 100 degrees, the reviews varied from awesome at 4 star experience to awful at 1 star and a horrible service experience as well! These reviews kept me away for a while but the sizzler experience beckoned me strongly. I decided to go there the last month. It was easy to locate on the Necklace Road, right next to Moksh which has been there for a long time.
First, the ambiance--quite decent, with three dine-in options: the regular tables laid out inside the main dining area, a glassed-in private dining area and the open space with an awesome view of the lake. The ambiance does add to the experience. I went there around 1 pm and found the place entirely to myself. I focused only on the sizzler part of the menu.
The restaurant has a buffet too and the waiter was nudging me towards it but I had made up my mind to have the sizzler. Nevertheless, I did go out to check the buffet priced at Rs.399/-. There was half and half of vegetarian and non-vegetarian sections with a live chat counter and a pizza counter. For me, there wasn't anything that set the buffet apart from lots of other buffets. To boot, this one had only one veg starter and  one plain salad...two parts of a buffet which are very important to me.
I stuck to my original choice of a sizzler.
I found the waiter quite helpful as, when I was trying to choose a sizzler, he placed before me an additional print of menu which listed various offers on sizzlers. As I was not too familiar with a sizzler, I played it safe by opting to replicate my Kobe experience by choosing a similar order. He helped me further customize my sizzler by offering a choice of sauces and noodle/rice combination according to my taste.
My order was a new (unheard to me) starter called 'vegetable flutes' and a veg sizzler.
The vegetables flutes were a variant of spring rolls but without all the oil. They looked baked and were about 5 inches long, 1.5 cms thick, and stuffed with a mix of spinach and cheese. I had expected them to be succulent but there was just a hint of the stuffing which went in the right combination with the flour in which it was encompassed. It was served with a dip.There was also a choice of other sauces available at the table-side.
Before the sizzler was served, I was served a portion of bread, again accompanied with a dip.
My sizzler was served with a vegetable cutlet, accompanied with beans, peas, potato fries, carrots, and rice...all encompassed in sauces.
I liked the sizzler but having tasted the one at Kobe, this sizzler which I tried to match with the one eaten at Kobe, doesn't stand a comparison. The beans were all stringy, the fries weren't as crisp. I also came to know that the chef had earlier worked with Kobe and this was obvious as he had tried to replicate the taste. If I hadn't eaten at Kobe, I would have said that the taste was quite decent but now I can say that they could have taken better care of cooking the vegetables and rendering a sharper taste to the dish with the right mix of sauces.
The sizzler @ Rs. 225/- is ok but the starter @ Rs. 135 seemed a bit expensive. Yet I can safely call this a value for money experience due to the quantities served.
Yes, I think I'd visit again, maybe this time to have a taste of their Pizzas.

ps:  They have a service charge of 10% AND VAT of 14.5 % on service charge + total...so watch out for this amount in the bill.

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