Paan Kulfi at The Great Kebab Factory

Amazing Paan Kulfi. It has the creamy cardamon character of a kulfi with a refreshing twist of betel leaf. A wonderful delight after a meal to cool things down inside in a tasty way. And the only place in Dhaka that serves this is The Great Kebab Factory.

Manakish

There is a new dish in the city. And it is called 'Manakish'!

 Manakish is a fragrant bread based dish, that is generously topped with herbs. The moment it pops out of the oven being baked, makes its presence felt with the aroma that just makes one tempted to dig in. 
The only place in the city that serves Manakish right now is the Yellow Flames in Metro Kitchens.

Ramen at Peking Kitchen from Metro Kitchens Food Court

Chicken Ramen from Peking Kitchen at Metro Kitchen, Abdus Sobhan Dhali Bari.

This is a Ramen that gives wrong impression of the actual dish. Unmatched by what is displayed in the photo, this dish lacks all the essence of ramen, and would correctly be just a noodle soup. Quite disappointing for a Tk270 worth dish that is called Chicken Ramen, but has sparingly added pop chicken sized pieces, which were peppered, crumbed and fried before making it to the ramen.

CiGusta Bangladesh

CiGusta Bangladesh is another Pizza franchise. They originate in Italy.

Their pizzas are quite different from any other pizza in the city, and what makes them different is the sauce. The sauce has the tartness of the tomatoes and quite garlicy, while there is very little note of herbs used. You can see those herbs, but the sharpness of the tomatoes and overpowering garlic masked their flavour. This is very much an Italian style sauce except that it lacks the felt presence of oregano and basil. What I got to know is that they modified the original recipe here believing they have made it tastier, but I kind of doubt that.

The base was just perfect. It was thin and authentically Italian. It is a little crunchy without becoming a biscuity base like another Italian restaurant here that serves wood oven pizzas. It tastes much like a salted cracker and forms a good balance with the generous topping of the cheese.
However, this pizza which is called the Meat Supreme probably is full of tasty chicken chunks, but very few pepperonis, which are tucked under the cheese here. 



The strawberry gelato was strongly sour and sweet, but in a good way. However, the texture disappoints me. It could also have been because I was served in the last hour of service. So they probably started freezing the gelatos by then to store them for the next day. This gelato in my cup was stiff instead of being smooth. 

If you love chocolate, the dark and milk chocolate gelatos are truly amazing here.

It might seem like a good place to hangout, but the light intensity on the table and the wavelengths make it quite uncomfortable to sit, and the greenish stint does no good. Otherwise, the servers were very humble and gracious.

Puran Dhaka Lalbagh

This is at Royal Restaurant in Lalbagh. There is half grilled chicken kebab, chicken hariyali kebab and the drink everyone talks about here, the PISTA BADAM ER SHERBET.
The hariyali kebab was smoky, and mild in terms of being spicy. It was wonderfully tender and nicely complemented the butter naan. However, this isn't the best chicken hariyali I had in the city, because it is a little dry. Yet the hariyali was very pleasing to the palates and stomach.
The grilled kebab was definitely put on coal for a couple of minutes and you can tell that once you dig into it. The smoky flavour is mild, and to be fair, this was not that great a kebab here. Apart from the smoky taste, there was nothing to tell about it.
The PISTA BADAM ER SHERBET certainly is the hero in this place. The chilled fragrant thick milky drink is very delightful as it courses down. You can detect the aroma of rose, and as you sip through, the milk coats your palates and soothes everything in. This is a drink for the Royals, and if you want to feel royal, this is a drink to surely make you feel that way.
Royal these days has become over-hyped. They are not that great, but not bad in my books either. If I am in Lalbagh Urdu Road, probably this is the place I will keep going to for meals, but not make an effort to travel that far for grilled chicken and hariyali kebab when I know places who serve them better.