Pepperoni Pizza

My all time favourite pizza is the pepperoni pizza. Until recently I used to like the cheese lovers pizza with pepperonis in Pizza Hut and they served me the best pizza I ever had anywhere in December 2012. The pizza was topped generously with cheese and the pepperoni slices were under the cheese. So they added a good amount of flavour to the sauce on the crust and every bite was delightful.
However, my last visit to Pizza Hut, as already mentioned, was a horrible experience. I ordered the same pizza and this time they miserly placed the slices on the cheese, making it just any regular pepperoni pizza, requiring less cheese and the pizza was so overdone, the cheese and the slices became crisps on the crust. The crust initially had a taste of old burnt oil, which suggests they are not cleaning the pans properly. Just imagine biting on a pizza with a crust that tastes like old oil, and has crispy overheated cheese and pepperonis making them taste like extra crusts!

Pizza Inn apparently serves the best pepperoni pizzas in the city. Though I sometimes find their pizzas to be a little dry, but they are at least serving better pizzas than others claiming to serve American pizzas. I usually prefer the pepperoni slices to go under the cheese on my pizzas, because there is a good infusion of flavour in the sauce, though the traditional way is to put them on the top. What makes their pizzas special when made perfect is the sauce on a crispy crust. They also serve a thick cream soup, which tastes really good and Pizza Inn keeps reminding me of some flavours from my childhood.

One mistake most Pizzerias do is when they spread the sauce. They have the same method for both Italian and American pizzas. Italian pizzas have a thin crust, a lot of toppings and very less cheese compared to the American type. The cheese holds the toppings in place on the crust. So a little sauce will do in Italian pizzas. You spoon down sauce in the middle of the base and spread it around.
The same method doesn't work well for American pizzas. American pizzas have thicker crust and the toppings are placed over the cheese. So its important to have some sauce everywhere on the base and not only on the sides. Spreading the sauce to the sides leaves the sauce mainly around there, and very little in the middle. You have to wait till you reach the sides for the best bite. I prefer to have some sauce around the base so that the pizza doesn't taste dry and only cheesy. Otherwise, I am eating cheese toasts.

Pizza Inn buffet

Cream of chicken and mushroom soup- I liked the fresh taste of the cream, but didn't quite like the consistency. I think it needs to be a little thicker and some more flavours could have been added. The soup was good, but nothing extraordinary. I like cream soup and always liked the soup since childhood. So I was happy to find the soup there.

Garlic bread with cheese- Now they must try finding ways to prevent them from drying up. They can be great to go with the soup.

Coleslaw/salad- Cabbage needs to be chopped even finer and used in appropriate portion. It has a flat taste. Nothing very significant here.

Crispy chicken- It should have been named spicy crispy chicken, cause its spicy, tastes great, and moist too. Perfectly prepared strips I would say. However, I don't find them consistent with the crisps. Sometimes, they are excellent, and at times they are loose and leaving a floury feeling in the mouth.

Sub Sandwich- I enjoyed the sandwich, but I was looking for a little more chaat flavour inside. Mozzarella is my favourite, but I enjoy it when hot and can be stretched. When the cheese is cold, it retains its cheesy flavour, but is dry. I probably would have used a bit of cheddar, cause it tastes fine even when cold, and thin mayo paste to prevent them from drying up in the buffet,where they will stay for hours before consumption.
I liked the taste otherwise. The taste of cheese is well complemented by garlic.

Pizzas-Now they were very disappointing . The reason I dined there is for the pizzas. The slices were dry, and tandoori pizza had a stronger taste of coriander and meat didn't have the good chaat flavour like it did when I had this pizza couple of weeks ago. When you are leaving pizzas in buffet, its best to add extra sauce. The pizza didn't have extra sauce, rather sauce was too less this time.
In my last review on them, I highlighted the sauce, because of the smoothness and richness in flavour. I would say its their sauce that makes their pizzas so special. But being stingy on its use this time killed their pizzas.

Arabian pizza (dessert)- Using date paste for the base was really smart. I would have liked walnuts with it as a topping too. Bananas and apples for toppings were good, though I would have preferred poached pears to apples. The crust was also smartly prepared. Its like biting on a cracker.
The only problem is the after taste, which is like that of plum chutney. May be use of cinnamon can solve that, but there are several ways to modify and get rid of that taste. Yet i liked the use of dates, making the dessert a healthy and energy packed treat

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My favourite Chef

The top name in the list of my favourite chefs is not Gordon Ramsay, the most talked about Chef, or Anthony Bourdain, the traveling American chef with a great palate (should have visited Bangladesh cutting short his stay in India for some great biryanis cause I find Bangladeshi biryanis better than Indian ones), or Curtis Stone, the Australian Chef who is the eye candy for women around the world and is also really good in his trade (exceptionally good!!!), but its Chef Marco Pierre White. Chefs like Ramsay, Curtis Stone, Jun Tanaka worked for and trained under him. Not often do you find a chef returning his Michelin Stars, but Marco boldly did that. He thinks he had more knowledge than the Michelin Inspectors, and it might sound arrogant at first, but when you watch his videos or read about his work, you will find the justification in the act and in his words.
Certainly no other chef can make you feel the authentic taste of ingredients from the screen merely with words like Marco, and I haven't seen another genius like him. Gordon comes close to him but Marco Pierre White is Marco Pierre White. His knowledge is top class and I bet its hard for even critics to judge his work. Over the years, he polished his skills, and is the best in the world in my opinion. I haven't tasted his food in his restaurants, but he brought the flavours to me wonderfully from his shows. He is a real artist with long hair left to dance clumsily in the air, in a white chef's coat with a broad kitchen knife in his hand to slice through or pick food to taste.
If you want to improve your skills as a chef, follow the man, watch his videos and trust me, you will learn a lot. Like I said, that man is a genius!

Lamb Cutlets at Gloria Jean's Coffees Bangladesh

If you like lamb, you will definitely like biting on these lamb cutlets. They are nicely flavoured and the distinct flavour of rosemary makes them very delightful.  The pieces have a good thin layer of fat above, making them juicier and also adding flavour. However, I never enjoyed eating such fat and had it not been for the rosemary, I would not have been able to put it in my mouth.
Meat was nicely cooked and that part of the sheep is always great to eat. I would prefer French lamb chops to these cutlets to avoid the fat. But if you like the fat, go for it.
Mashed potato was nicely seasoned. Bok choy was perfectly cooked, and first served over-seasoned and then under-seasoned , but got it right in the third serving and I liked how it was flavoured with a bit of garlic.
What I didn't like was how they were served. Eating them on a tray with cutleries is really tough, though the best way to eat them is by holding the rib to bite the meat.
So I would give this dish 8 out of 10.
Price could seem a bit on the higher side, but the portion, quality and service are worth it. So I find it reasonably priced.
Gloria Jean's Coffees Bangladesh always provide a great ambiance.
I am a happy customer and would have been happier had they been French lamb chops than cutlets with the fat. May be next time I will ask them to trim the fat for me.

Honesty is the best policy

One thing I look for from everyone related to the food industry is honesty. When you are in this trade, you must be honest!
Your customers can taste food, and they may not always be able to taste every ingredient and distinguish all the flavours, which sometimes becomes impossible even for the best of us when served with a dish that has all the ingredients in that very rare perfect ratio and complementing each other, but they surely can tell if the food tastes good or bad. So honesty will keep bringing you customers, because they find you serving good, who will help you flourish in the industry.
And one thing I always say is that GOOD RESTAURANTS NEVER DIE!

The Chocolate Excess at Barista Lavazza Bangladesh:

One of the most popular cafe in Bangladesh certainly has a few things up its sleeves to wow their guests and this would make the top of that list for me.The cake is soft and moist, covered in good chocolate, enough to make every chocoholic happy. This is one of the my all time favourites