Food

Meal Diaries @Domlur, Bangalore

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We are living the fast paced world where people want things made available quickly.  If there is something requires too much effort then people end up trying to avoid it and may be look for alternative. People work from home to avoid commute, people get DVDs at home to avoid travelling to theatres, people do video chat to avoid traveling far and ofcourse people order food to avoid travelling to get good food from restaurant.  Well, I know that some points what I mentioned may not be very true for many of us, but I guess many of have already started thinking on the lines.  And to cash on the last aspect, which specially deals with food, there is a ‘Food Delivery’ company that has come up.  I got an opportunity to meet the founders of the company as part of a special foodies meet up event.  It was basically the 20th FBAB meetup event in which we were having food from ‘Meal Diaries’ at a common place ‘Chaipatty’.

 

Background

 

There is a lot of info I have already given but then there are few more points that I wanted to share which I think is very important.
  • There are new chains that have come up but then everyone is trying to do better than the other person.
  • New chains are giving more features that the existing, lack in providing.
  • Startups want to cash in on the trend that has set in the market.
  • Change is the biggest norm that seems to be constant even in food industry.  Basically, everyone gets bored of trying the same food from same place after awhile.  There is a change needed.
  • General public wants to avoid travelling and wants to get good food delivered at home.
  • Corporate are looking to get food from places which deliver quality food but focus on making food keeping delivery in mind.  Coz many good restaurants may make good food and we can enjoy them when we visit but unless we visit the restaurant, the experience would not come up.

 

Some of the points I have written seem to be a reason why Food Delivery is becoming quite popular.

 

What’s New?
I think it is very important to capture the aspect of ‘Food Diaries’ that makes them stand out compared to others in the market. 
  • They have different menu everyday, which means that none of their customers would be subject to boredom.  Customers can try food of different cuisines everyday.
  • Repetition happened after really long period of time.
  • Popularly ordered food remains in the menu unless they go below a threshold %.
  • Customer can order food and mention the time in which they want it to be delivered.  This is something totally unique with the ‘Food Diaries’.  For example, you can order food in the morning and ask for delivery at 2.30pm.
  • Trials of food happen on a regular basis, which is critical to maintain quality.
  • There some nice messages outside box which makes person consuming happy.  Messages related to ‘MSG usage’, ‘Asking for immediate consumption’ and others.
  • Chefs working in the org have nearly 40+ years of industry experience in total, which mean they have a good team.
  • They have already tied up with some orphanage, to which they say that food is not delivered.
  • There is no limit on the # of packages that can be ordered.

 

Other ‘Food Delivery’ firms may have told some of the points mentioned above.  But then I think ‘Meal Diaries’ team told it exquisitely.
Food
There are some great things I have written above but then the critical aspect is the food, which I got to taste on a Sunday afternoon.

 

Salads
Asian Green Salad with Lemon Coriander Dressing
Yasai Salad with Spicy Mayo Dressing
Vietnamese Salad with Sweet & Sour Dressing

 

I got to taste some of the salads mentioned above.  But the first, which is the ‘Asia Green’ and the second ‘Yasai’, are really good.  Usually in a salad, the dressing makes all the difference. I think they seem to have found some ingredient that seems to make it special.  Salads were pretty good.

 

 

 

Small Meals
This is a meal, which they can keep you decently filled.  Ideally taking 2 of it would be good.  Instead, they can be consumed as evening small meal as well.

 

 

Pita Pockets (Corn Fritter)
The Pita breads were pretty good.  Along with it the salad was pretty good.  Spicy mayo sauce was given which was pretty good.  The only thing that was not upto the mark was the ‘Corn Fritters’.  The corn was not quite raw and not soft.  Fritters became chewy.  Infact, you feel the softness of the pita outside but fritter become hard as you bit down.

 

Whole Wheat Wrap (Veg Asian)
Pretty good wheat wrap was served which had quite a few of the veggies.  I ended up trying quarter portion wrap.  They serve nearly 4 pieces of the wrap and there is usual salad along with it.  And then the tomato chilly sauce. 
The only problem I felt was that the edges become a bit hard.
It depends a lot on the delivery to be made right on time to avoid it becoming hard.

 

 

 

 

Burger (Veggie American)
The burger was pretty good; especially the patty was good as it had nice combination of veggies which ofcourse has potatoes in it.  They had lettuce and some onion piece and mayo.
The only thing I thought could be better is the bread, which from outside looked too dry.  I could be much softer to hold from outside and then inside as you bite down.
The fried potatoes were okay coz they became a bit too hard.

 

Each of the items mentioned above also had a non-veg variant and all my foodie friends did like them.  

 

 

 

 
Main Meals
Homely Indian
This is one of the sections where they want to serve food that make you feel like you are ordering something from home.  Its called the ‘Homely Indian’ food.

 

Gobi Paratha with Chola Meal
This was the ‘Gobi Paratha’, which I thought pretty well.  It was quite soft and the Gobi filling was pretty good.  The choley subji, I thought had some weird taste initially with the oil.  But then later it tasted pretty good.  Pretty good meal in itself.

 

Onion Cheese Chilly Paratha with Black Dal Meal
The black dal was pretty good.  But I thought that the onion cheese chilly parantha was not upto the mark.  The edges seemed to be a bit on the hard side.  The cheese effect was very much coming when you bite into the parantha.  But seriously this item needs to be delivered really quickly and special instructions for microwave needed.
But I surely thought that the flavors were very much there in the preparation.

 

Bhindi Masala with Pakodi Kadhi Meal
Another dish which a very different combination. The contents included – wheat parantha, bhindi masala, steamed rice and bhindi masala.
Wheat parantha was pretty fine as it was taken off the aluminum foil.
Bhindi masala I thought had too much of masala which was shielding the taste of the bhindi/ladies-finger.
Kadhi pakodi was pretty okay; it was not something that I got a wow feeling. But yes it was pretty decent.  May be the portion size was bit less.
Other items my other friends tried from Homely Indian food is mentioned below.  Heard good comments about the same.
Manik’s style Chicken Curry with Dal Tadka Meal
Imli Macchhi with Dal Fry Meal

 

 

 

Exotic Global
This is a section, which seems to have been well thought of coz it contains all different.  If the customer gets bored of eating homely food and wants to try something exotic, international, this would be the section to order food from.

 

Veggie Laksa Meal
This was sure was one of the really good items, which tasted quite yummy.  I enjoyed eating every bit of it.  For simply reasons that it had a combination of spices, spaghetti and veggies.  The spices and the liquid were so good that it felt so yummy in my tongue with the soft noodles.  I loved it and surely would have wanted more of it.  But since we were sharing and eating more, we did not want to take more.

 

Mushroom Ravioli in Tomato Concasse Meal
Another wonderfully made dish.  It’s a dish, which you can only order when you go to good Italian restaurant.  But then bringing it to food delivery model makes it cool.  The taste was quite good.  I personally feel that an item with cheese might taste good if its kept aside for awhile.  The cheese may be condense and become more tastier.

 

Tian Vegetables with Saffron Rice Meal
Dish in itself wonderful coz of the vegetable along with the spices.  There was collection of vegetables and paneer as well.  The taste was quite good and sometimes you may think that the steamed rice was actually not required.
The only problem I thought was that the rice was a bit dry.  May be it could have been more softer.  But yes, I liked the quantity of rice.  On the other side may be vegetables given were quite less.
There was also a selection of non-veg dishes, which I heard was pretty good.  Some of the items are mentioned below.

 

Sri Lankan Fish Curry with Steamed Rice Meal
Chicken in Pickled Chilly Sauce with Philipino Rice Meal
Pasta in Creamy Pesto Sauce with Chicken Meal

 

Deserts
No meal is complete unless we try some of the deserts.

 

Gulab Jamun
A pretty decent desert to be consumed after the meal.  Few problems I felt were the jamoon middle part for some was not completely soft.  The sweet liquid was well done.  In total, it was pretty good with slight improvements needed.

 

Ras Malai
Traditionally it’s the favorite dish for many folks.  I liked what I got to taste here coz it wasn’t sweet.  The ‘malai’ was not too hard, it was quite soft and there was good amount of saffron added on the desert, not just 1-2 pieces.
Overall Experience
It was a wonderful experience trying out the varieties that the ‘Meal Diaries’ had to offer to the people trying to get good food delivered at home.  The taste is very much up there and also the combinations are really very good.  There are a few improvements they might need to do for some of the combinations. 
I rate my experience of Food Diaries @4.0/5 coz of the flavors and verities.  Another very important aspect is that the food has good value for money. I am sure over a period of time it will become the best delivery company in town.  And for sure this sure is a tough competition for other competing in the same market segment.
My ratings in other departments are as follows-
Food – 4.0/5
Service – 4.0/5
Packaging – 4.0/5
VFM – 4.0/5
Food for 2 would cost anywhere between INR500-1000 depending on the hunger. 

Sharing pic of the foodie friends with whom I tried the dishes.