Ambrosia, Kerala, India

Restaurant Review by Jennifer Kumar.

(We have made three trips to Trivandum in the last three years. On each trip, we have eaten at Ambrosia fast food restaurant in the GC Technomall at the entrance of Technopark, Trivandum (Kerala State, India).

Unlike the restaurants situated inside the Technopark only accessible by employees of offices in Technopark that have been short listed for stale and unhygienic foods (source), Ambrosia has a different standard. We have never had a problem eating there, in fact it appears to be one of the cleanest establishments we have eaten at.

This is one of the very few restaurants in Trivandrum that serves non-Indian food. In fact, it may even be hard to find non-South Indian food in Trivandum, but non-Indian food found all together is a rare find. (In fact if you have a list of any other non-Indian hotels outside Technopark, besides Cafe Coffee Day in Ginger, let me know.) So in addition to the Subway, situated on the same mall area, Ambrosia serves "American" style fast food, though not quite McDonald's, you can get pizzas, chicken burgers, fish burgers, veggie burgers and Indian style veggie burgers (tikka, etc.). It seems according to their website, that the menu I am used to at Technopark may be an abbreviated menu of their main branch (where ever that is, or possibly each branch has different variations of the menu), because the website mentions hamburger (beef burger) and others we did not remember seeing at Technopark.

Though this restaurant is cheap if you're going there on holiday from U.S., U.K. or other places with a good exchange rate, for most Indians this place is considered not only exotic (because of menu options) but also expensive. To get an idea of what a local eatery may charge, I have reviewed a Kochi restaurant, Sree Krishna Cafe, which should not be too different from local eateries in Trivandrum, three hours north of Trivandrum.

In any case, this place is a must stop for westerners in Trivandum pining for some sandwiches, fries, and other western fast foods. Me being a vegetarian, I had a veggie sandwich and french fries. I wanted the fried mushrooms, but it seems if you go past a certain time of day not all options are available. As they sell out on a daily basis, they're out!!

Ambrosia also has a nice bakery section, which is stocked based on day. I can't review many choices on the bakery menu, though I have had something I think they call 'devil's food cake'. Like the namesake found in U.S., it is a chocolate cake, but unlike the U.S. namesake, it is more of a bitter chocolate taste, hence not as sweet as the American counterpart. Personally, I prefer the Ambrosia devil's food over American counterparts.

Overall, I give this eatery high marks. The only improvement I can suggest is to speed up the making of the foods. Interestingly on our most recent visit (May 2008), when I ordered veggie sandwiches (made of untoasted bread, spread with butter, and filled with raw tomato and cucumber slices) it took them longer to make these sandwiches than the hot foods- pizzas and burgers!!


Ambrosia
G C Technomall,
Technopark, Trivandrum (Thiruvananthapuram)
Kerala, India
Phone: 0471 3043311, 3043322.

Taco Bell

Restaurant Review by Jennifer Kumar.

Ok, here I am posting on my second fast food visit- the first was Tim Horton's, now Taco Bell.

Today we tried the new Fiesta Platter with beans and NO meat!

It was very good, again it had a lot of variety. One overstuffed grilled burrito, flavored rice, chips and salsa, and beans with cheese. Everything was very tasty. Us two shared this platter along with a fiesta potato and a 7-layer burrito. I couldn't touch the 7-layer. I ate most of the potatoes, some of the beans and rice and chips, and 3/4 of the grilled burrito. It was good and very filling.

We actually went to Taco Bell on Valentine's Day, it's a little joke to each other. Of course, I followed up dinner with a great aloo palak.

Visit Taco Bell's website.

Tim Horton's

Restaurant Review by Jennifer Kumar.

I actually had never thought of entering 'fast food' restaurants in this blog, but here I am entering Tim Horton's.

Tim Horton's is a coffee/drinks/donuts/sandwiches shop. I think it originated in Canada, and previously it was only in Buffalo, but it has spread throughout Rochester.

I used to really like Tim Horton's coffee, but now I really like their Hot Chocolate, hot apple cider, and iced capp in the summer. I know the Hot Chocolate mix has high fructose corn syrup, which is generally banned in our house, but we have to have the 'Timmy boy's" brand and mix it up with Bru Coffee (flavored with chicory) for our 'coffee chocolate. It's just too good to say no to.

So, the other day I went there and had a spiced hot apple cider, egg salad sandwich, soup and smile cookie (proceeds go to a charity). The cookie was amazing. Of course, so was everything else. So far I have no complaints of Tim Horton's. Service is always very prompt and friendly. Plus, if I really have to use the restroom and a Timmy boy's is near by, I know I can trust the cleanliness to use their restroom!