Asian Cuisine - Lunch Buffet @ Mamagoto
The leadership at our office has been generous lately and to satiate the hungry souls working within the glass walls of the 7 storied office, they have introduced a special budget component for team outings. I guess ours is the team which is more active in utilizing each of such budgetary provisions and hence is the most frequent one to have such outings. It was a similar plan and discussions on choosing the right restaurant took off. Within a few seconds we had more suggestions than what we could handle and hence we started eliminating things one by one. Some lost on location, while other were thrown after dismal reviews from those on the team who had tried them earlier. Within all the names came up an awkwardly sounding restaurant - Mamagoto. What helped its case was the fact that one of the team members rose to the occasion to recommend it strongly giving rave reviews about it. Also, the fact that most of our earlier outings had been to the traditional North Indian food destinations and involved shahi paneer and butter naan, and everyone was now craving to try something different. Soon Mamagoto was the word in the team and the destination of our lunch on October 21st.
On the day we hurled into cabs and proceeded to the hub of restaurants in this Millenium City - Sector 29. Mamagoto is a small restaurant nestled in one of the blocks by the Lemon Tree Hotel on one corner of the area. One may really need to leverage the maps on the smartphone to figure out its location if visiting for the first time. The outer area is similar to any other restaurant in town and has a colorful display of its name in bold yet smaller case letters. There is an external seating option which was any way redundant at the time of the day and we moved into the restaurant and asked for our reservation. The place was largely empty at that point of time and we were ushered into one of the long tables reserved for us. We were amazed at the size of the place at it hardly had 5-6 tables and the indoor seating area was highly limited. We assumed that probably a niche cuisine was the culprit or people preferred the external seating more. There was a glass wall on the other end of restaurant separating the seating area from the kitchen. Interestingly the kitchen seemed to be of the same size as the main lounge.
As we discussed the size and chatted away on usual office banter, we were reminded of the primary purpose of us being there - food !! They had a buffet on offer at 649 plus taxes which seemed pretty good. They provided us with the menu of items in the buffet which included a complimentary mocktail. We started with an order of the drinks and requested them to begin the service. Out of the drinks, Virgin Mojito was refreshing but standard, a Kiwi based drink was apparently pretty good. As we sipped our drinks, the first item on the menu was served on the table. They started the service with freshly made dumplings. The sauce they served along with them was different from what we usually get but was yummy none the less. Next, they served a starter which involved fried corns along with some other things which gave it a rich texture and shape. The accompanying sauce was sour and flavored giving a unique tint to the tongue. There was a corresponding chicken based starter for those inclined. With starters came the chili sour and sweet vegetable soup. I am generally lesser inclined towards soups and hog onto the food but this was a different case and soup did involve me in it.
While we relished on the starting delicacies, someone amongst us reminded that it was an office lunch outing and we all had our work waiting for us back at the office desk. Everyone had deliverables pending by end of the day and it was then that we hurdled up a bit to get things through faster. We asked the attendants, to begin with, the main course. The first item they served was a roasted paneer stuck through sticks. Parallel to it, again there was a chicken dish. For the main dish, there was a choice of three types of sauce. Each was available with an option to have them with vegetables, chicken or shrimp. With the dish, one could choose from fried rice and plain rice. On Sundays, they provide an option of noodles as well. I chose the black bean sauce cooked with vegetables with instructions to keep it mildly spicy rather than sweet and fried rice. The sauce was great with thick gravy and boiled vegetables providing a good combination. Fried rice was decent and overall the meal was nicely filling.
Now the only thing left was to wrap up the meal with some desserts. The options this time were between homemade chocolate cake, sponge cake, and coconut ice cream. While most ordered the chocolate cake, which was really delicious, I ordered the sponge cake. It was one of the most mouth-watering desserts I had had for some time. I would agree if someone says that it wasn't something that was the best pleasure for eyes but still tastes sometimes beats the look. It was fluffy marble cake served with toffee sauce and a scoop of coconut ice cream. I managed to gobble up the entire serving, which was relatively large sized, though I had a filled belly. As we wrapped the plates clear and paid the bill, we were all content with our choice of venue and the worthlessness of the banter we all enjoyed. We returned to our office desks with determined thoughts of arranging something similar again, soon.
On the day we hurled into cabs and proceeded to the hub of restaurants in this Millenium City - Sector 29. Mamagoto is a small restaurant nestled in one of the blocks by the Lemon Tree Hotel on one corner of the area. One may really need to leverage the maps on the smartphone to figure out its location if visiting for the first time. The outer area is similar to any other restaurant in town and has a colorful display of its name in bold yet smaller case letters. There is an external seating option which was any way redundant at the time of the day and we moved into the restaurant and asked for our reservation. The place was largely empty at that point of time and we were ushered into one of the long tables reserved for us. We were amazed at the size of the place at it hardly had 5-6 tables and the indoor seating area was highly limited. We assumed that probably a niche cuisine was the culprit or people preferred the external seating more. There was a glass wall on the other end of restaurant separating the seating area from the kitchen. Interestingly the kitchen seemed to be of the same size as the main lounge.
As we discussed the size and chatted away on usual office banter, we were reminded of the primary purpose of us being there - food !! They had a buffet on offer at 649 plus taxes which seemed pretty good. They provided us with the menu of items in the buffet which included a complimentary mocktail. We started with an order of the drinks and requested them to begin the service. Out of the drinks, Virgin Mojito was refreshing but standard, a Kiwi based drink was apparently pretty good. As we sipped our drinks, the first item on the menu was served on the table. They started the service with freshly made dumplings. The sauce they served along with them was different from what we usually get but was yummy none the less. Next, they served a starter which involved fried corns along with some other things which gave it a rich texture and shape. The accompanying sauce was sour and flavored giving a unique tint to the tongue. There was a corresponding chicken based starter for those inclined. With starters came the chili sour and sweet vegetable soup. I am generally lesser inclined towards soups and hog onto the food but this was a different case and soup did involve me in it.
While we relished on the starting delicacies, someone amongst us reminded that it was an office lunch outing and we all had our work waiting for us back at the office desk. Everyone had deliverables pending by end of the day and it was then that we hurdled up a bit to get things through faster. We asked the attendants, to begin with, the main course. The first item they served was a roasted paneer stuck through sticks. Parallel to it, again there was a chicken dish. For the main dish, there was a choice of three types of sauce. Each was available with an option to have them with vegetables, chicken or shrimp. With the dish, one could choose from fried rice and plain rice. On Sundays, they provide an option of noodles as well. I chose the black bean sauce cooked with vegetables with instructions to keep it mildly spicy rather than sweet and fried rice. The sauce was great with thick gravy and boiled vegetables providing a good combination. Fried rice was decent and overall the meal was nicely filling.
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