This post being the final post as part of the Blues appreciation month is dedicated to two such heroes, absolute rock stars in their own right, who have had such an immense fan following that they can walk away from all their fame on their terms; and walk away they did, yet they are back once again, back to the tremendous delight of many a soul like myself. Ladies and Gentlemen I'm talking about the one, the only.....Warren Mendonsa and JEETU BHAI.
Whaaaattt ???? All this buildup for some dude named Jeetu? That's not right, maybe I have him confused with someone else. Well actually I don't. I am indeed talking about THE Jeetu Bhai, owner of one of Powai's greatest and most sasta restaurants ever. If you people still haven't heard, Daffodil or DAFF as we fondly call it is back, same location, almost same prices and most importantly SAME TASTY FOOD. Jeetu Bhai has returned after an absence of almost 3-4 years much to the delight of every powai dweller. I remember when Daff shut down first, it was almost as if the crown of Hiranandani had lost its diamond stud, I mean this place was THE hangout for kids and grownups alike. Lip smacking food, dirt cheap prices and the perfect combination of Quality and Quantity, daffodil was one of the better restaurants in Powai. In its first stint, I was sadly a vegetarian but daff was soo good that even my parents would approve of their Paneer Makhni and Chinese food, specially the chinese food. 4 years later a very wise man named Raahil Chopra tweets about the return of Jeetu Bhai and how awesome his butter chicken is, so I simply had to try it out. As fate would have it, I just had an empty apartment for the weekend and good food had to be ordered, and order it I did. Chicken Tandoori, Butter Chicken, Garlic Naan, Butter Naan, etc etc. Now let me describe to you simply how good this butter chicken was by means of a very simple poem,
If the world is indeed gonna end in 2012, we'd all be panic stricken,
And if I had to chose my last ever meal on planet earth, it would be Jeetu Bhai's Butter Chicken.
For no butter chicken is as good, tasty, cheap and awesome as the one at Daffodil,
The gravy is so tasty that you'll lick every last remaining bit from the dabba, the cover or even the bill.
Yeah that should pretty much some it up. Remember I told you about our good friend Pawan at Juicy Stuff who entertains us while we eat his awesome Butter Chicken, well as sorry as I am to tell you, I don't think I'd ever be going to Juicy Stuff anytime soon, Daffodil is the only place to eat if you're in Hira. Sorry Pawan, sincerely. For just 160 bucks, you get the sexiest butter chicken ever from Daff, the chicken pieces are perfect, the gravy is just too damm good, and like I might have mentioned before, there is no shame in admitting that you lick the dabba of butter chicken clean with that piece of naan, you make sure you don't miss even a teeny tiny spot. If you're eating alone, then order only the butter chicken with naan or roti, if you're in a group and you want to try something new go for it, but still order the butter chicken because its that bloody good. Their Chicken Tandoori is delicious with 6 proper pieces for about 195 bucks. The menu isn't over priced at all, its the ideal place to eat from when you are not willing to spend more than 150-200 bucks per meal. Their chinese is also very very decent, not as good as 5 Spice, but come on very few places serve chinese as good as that. Daffodil's chinese is the more indianized version dare I say, the chindi chinese, but it does the job both quantity wise and quality wise. I cannot begin to thank Raahil and Jeetu Bhai for the many happy meals I've had from Daff over the last couple of weeks itself, and I'm sure I will continue to do so in the coming months (hopefully years). Jeetu Bhai and Daff 2.0 are back, and lets hope this time they are back for good. The only complaint one can have about Daff is the fact that you don't have a place to sit and eat the food, since the old market road is very small as it is, so you can only take away or have them deliver at home. But that's hardly a setback, I'm sure if its just the 2-3 of you'll, you can manage, if you're group is more than that, just take a parcel and call my man Pranav Kalluri or BBM him, he stays bang opposite daff and he will always let you come over to his house to eat, provided you give the guy his fair share. One of the greatest comebacks this in Powai, and fitting tribute to my beloved butter chicken.
Okay now coming back to the actual Blues part, the last blues artist and all, I thought about Bob Dylan but come to think of it, he's got way to many albums and soo many songs, I'm pretty sure at some point he has covered every possible genre that there is in music. So I went with the rather unknown quantity of Warren Mendonsa and his rather successful solo project, BLACKSTRATBLUES. One man show this, and some show it is. Warren Mendonsa is one of the better guitarists of India and with blackstratblues he gives us 16 of the most delightful songs, the perfect fusion of the bass guitar and other unconventional mixers like pedals, amphs, cabinets etc. This is one such ensemble that has no vocals, just blissful blues symphony. Only 2 albums to speak of, both very low key, made for the sole purpose of making music and not the commercial aspect of it. Artists like Warren Mendonsa are very rare to find nowadays, this man lives and breathes the guitar, he often performs at festivals and concerts/events, most notably the Mahindra Blues Fest. After a successful career as both a solo artist and a band member with Zero, Warren now lives in Auckland, New Zealand. He still makes regular trips to India, and although no official word is out on a possible third album, you wouldn't put it past him. Like I said, he's one such rocker who will only quit on his terms and I can assure you he is far from done. I'd pay good money to hear Blackstratblues live, and I strongly urge you'll to download both his albums, Nights In Shining Karma and The New Album (yes those are the actual names). They are only 8 songs each, and each song is different in its own way, the harmony, the melody, the sheer class of Warren Mendonsa is for everyone to see, and there's no way any music fan can NOT like the Blackstratblues. The Nights in Shining Karma especially is a real work of art with some memorable tunes like "Soar The Sky", "Incense", "A Weekend With You" and my personal favorite "Bombay Rain". A definite download this, and I can't think of any better artist to wind up Blues Appreciation Month.
Long live Warren Mendonsa and Long live Jeetu Bhai. The world owes you'll too much, and I hope this is a fitting tribute on behalf of every Powai resident. And now that the Blues is wrapped up, lets get back to the good ol' days of Classic Rock. If it ain't CLASSIC, it ain't ROCK. Cheers!!!
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Whaaaattt ???? All this buildup for some dude named Jeetu? That's not right, maybe I have him confused with someone else. Well actually I don't. I am indeed talking about THE Jeetu Bhai, owner of one of Powai's greatest and most sasta restaurants ever. If you people still haven't heard, Daffodil or DAFF as we fondly call it is back, same location, almost same prices and most importantly SAME TASTY FOOD. Jeetu Bhai has returned after an absence of almost 3-4 years much to the delight of every powai dweller. I remember when Daff shut down first, it was almost as if the crown of Hiranandani had lost its diamond stud, I mean this place was THE hangout for kids and grownups alike. Lip smacking food, dirt cheap prices and the perfect combination of Quality and Quantity, daffodil was one of the better restaurants in Powai. In its first stint, I was sadly a vegetarian but daff was soo good that even my parents would approve of their Paneer Makhni and Chinese food, specially the chinese food. 4 years later a very wise man named Raahil Chopra tweets about the return of Jeetu Bhai and how awesome his butter chicken is, so I simply had to try it out. As fate would have it, I just had an empty apartment for the weekend and good food had to be ordered, and order it I did. Chicken Tandoori, Butter Chicken, Garlic Naan, Butter Naan, etc etc. Now let me describe to you simply how good this butter chicken was by means of a very simple poem,
If the world is indeed gonna end in 2012, we'd all be panic stricken,
And if I had to chose my last ever meal on planet earth, it would be Jeetu Bhai's Butter Chicken.
For no butter chicken is as good, tasty, cheap and awesome as the one at Daffodil,
The gravy is so tasty that you'll lick every last remaining bit from the dabba, the cover or even the bill.
Yeah that should pretty much some it up. Remember I told you about our good friend Pawan at Juicy Stuff who entertains us while we eat his awesome Butter Chicken, well as sorry as I am to tell you, I don't think I'd ever be going to Juicy Stuff anytime soon, Daffodil is the only place to eat if you're in Hira. Sorry Pawan, sincerely. For just 160 bucks, you get the sexiest butter chicken ever from Daff, the chicken pieces are perfect, the gravy is just too damm good, and like I might have mentioned before, there is no shame in admitting that you lick the dabba of butter chicken clean with that piece of naan, you make sure you don't miss even a teeny tiny spot. If you're eating alone, then order only the butter chicken with naan or roti, if you're in a group and you want to try something new go for it, but still order the butter chicken because its that bloody good. Their Chicken Tandoori is delicious with 6 proper pieces for about 195 bucks. The menu isn't over priced at all, its the ideal place to eat from when you are not willing to spend more than 150-200 bucks per meal. Their chinese is also very very decent, not as good as 5 Spice, but come on very few places serve chinese as good as that. Daffodil's chinese is the more indianized version dare I say, the chindi chinese, but it does the job both quantity wise and quality wise. I cannot begin to thank Raahil and Jeetu Bhai for the many happy meals I've had from Daff over the last couple of weeks itself, and I'm sure I will continue to do so in the coming months (hopefully years). Jeetu Bhai and Daff 2.0 are back, and lets hope this time they are back for good. The only complaint one can have about Daff is the fact that you don't have a place to sit and eat the food, since the old market road is very small as it is, so you can only take away or have them deliver at home. But that's hardly a setback, I'm sure if its just the 2-3 of you'll, you can manage, if you're group is more than that, just take a parcel and call my man Pranav Kalluri or BBM him, he stays bang opposite daff and he will always let you come over to his house to eat, provided you give the guy his fair share. One of the greatest comebacks this in Powai, and fitting tribute to my beloved butter chicken.
Okay now coming back to the actual Blues part, the last blues artist and all, I thought about Bob Dylan but come to think of it, he's got way to many albums and soo many songs, I'm pretty sure at some point he has covered every possible genre that there is in music. So I went with the rather unknown quantity of Warren Mendonsa and his rather successful solo project, BLACKSTRATBLUES. One man show this, and some show it is. Warren Mendonsa is one of the better guitarists of India and with blackstratblues he gives us 16 of the most delightful songs, the perfect fusion of the bass guitar and other unconventional mixers like pedals, amphs, cabinets etc. This is one such ensemble that has no vocals, just blissful blues symphony. Only 2 albums to speak of, both very low key, made for the sole purpose of making music and not the commercial aspect of it. Artists like Warren Mendonsa are very rare to find nowadays, this man lives and breathes the guitar, he often performs at festivals and concerts/events, most notably the Mahindra Blues Fest. After a successful career as both a solo artist and a band member with Zero, Warren now lives in Auckland, New Zealand. He still makes regular trips to India, and although no official word is out on a possible third album, you wouldn't put it past him. Like I said, he's one such rocker who will only quit on his terms and I can assure you he is far from done. I'd pay good money to hear Blackstratblues live, and I strongly urge you'll to download both his albums, Nights In Shining Karma and The New Album (yes those are the actual names). They are only 8 songs each, and each song is different in its own way, the harmony, the melody, the sheer class of Warren Mendonsa is for everyone to see, and there's no way any music fan can NOT like the Blackstratblues. The Nights in Shining Karma especially is a real work of art with some memorable tunes like "Soar The Sky", "Incense", "A Weekend With You" and my personal favorite "Bombay Rain". A definite download this, and I can't think of any better artist to wind up Blues Appreciation Month.
Long live Warren Mendonsa and Long live Jeetu Bhai. The world owes you'll too much, and I hope this is a fitting tribute on behalf of every Powai resident. And now that the Blues is wrapped up, lets get back to the good ol' days of Classic Rock. If it ain't CLASSIC, it ain't ROCK. Cheers!!!
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