Roti Bistro - North Indian Restuarant

Roti Bistro
209 Park Road
Burlingame, CA 94010
(just off Burlingame Ave.)
Lunch Hours
Monday through Friday: 11:30 a.m. to 2:00 p.m.
Dinner Hours
Sunday through Thursday: 5:00 p.m. to 10:00 p.m.
Friday & Saturday: 5:00 p.m. to 10:30 p.m.
http://www.rotibistro.com

My Overall rating - * * * 1/2
Category - North Indian - Vegetarian
Price - $$
Ambiance - * * *
Service - * * * *

My last visit was yesterday (28th December 2006) - There was a table ready right away, since it was the middle of the week, I thought that it would be practically empty; But there were quite of number of folks there. It is a little pricy.
Food was good, we ordered veg Paneer Makhani and pakoras. The bread garlic nan and onion kulcha was delicious. Overall I liked the service and food. We had ordered spicy and they had made it appropriately spicy for us. The service was good and food arrived on time. There was adquate staff around.
Place seemed small, but looks like they have upstairs seating too. I think you would require reservations on friday and weekends.

Overall I recommend Roti for folks who want to taste some good north indian food.

Dhoom 2

Dhoom 2
My overall rating - * * * 1/2

Great - Hritik Roshan, Abishek
Good - Ash
Poor - Bipasha, Uday
Masala Factor - * * * *
Songs - Crazy kiya re
Storyline- good but Dhoom1 seemed was better

I liked the movie, I think Hritik was looking great but guess there was'nt much of acting involved. As usual the action scenes and dancing was good. Abishek too did not have a very strong role here but carried himself well. Ash was looking awesome in the skimpy clothes but clearly proved that she still needs acting lessons. Bipasha was also looking awesome but was completely wasted in this movie. Her character was clearly not needed in this movie. Uday was a nuisance. Music was good. Songs were ok, I liked the "Crazy kiya re". The story line was standard and at times was abrupt and slow. The action scenes in hindi movies have gotten better but again you have too leave your reasoning senses out of the theatre. The location in brazil looked good. Overall a decent movie that can be waited to be watched in the DVD.

Food Review - Das Prakash South Indian Restaurant

Dasa Prakash Indian Restaurant
2636 Homestead Rd
Santa Clara, CA 95051
Hours of Operation: Lunch M-F 11:30am-2:30pm; dinner M-Th 5:30-9:30pm, F 5:30-10pm; Sa-Su 11:30am-10pm
(408) 246-8292

My Overall rating - * * * 1/2
Category - South Indian - Vegetarian
Price - $$
Ambiance - * * *
Service - * * *

My last visit was yesterday (24th December 2006) - as usual there was no wait but we went just when it was opening up, usually the wait time is not too long here. Food is good much better than Udipi, my favorites are Mysore Masala Dosa, Rava, Rasa Vada. The chutney and sambar are tasty. The mango lassi is the usual that you would get at any indian restaurant. This place is pretty child friendly too.

Overall I recommend Dasa Prakash for folks who want to taste some good south indian restaurants, though I need to try some newer ones to see if there are better choices

Honolulu Marathon

This is the best way to start my blog by bragging about the 26.2 grueling miles that I ran last week at the honolulu marathon. It has been an amazing experience for me. The six month training program by SF AIDS Foundation has just been great, it is the most recommended training for beginner runners especially folks who shiver at the thought of running a few miles. The marathon itself is such an adrenaline rush. There were 28,635 runners in this year's Honolulu marathon, the journey began with taking a shuttle to the start line @ 3.45 am in the morning. The starting line was busy with runners stretching, the strong vaseline smell in the air, long lines in the portable toilets. The group that I trained with hustled to the back of the crowd (that's where us folks who planned to run for more than 6 hours need to asemble). The start at 5am was with loud fireworks which I am sure the entire honolulu city got to hear. The crowd moved pretty quickly and you could see the amazing set of people while you ran; like the japanese girl dressed as superwoman, an old man in thongs, military guys with 100 pounds backpack in their boots, small children.. The diamond head hill was just breath taking (the san francisco hills where we trained were much tougher), the toughest part was the freeway stretch. It was pretty open space with no shade and the temperature had risen to around 92 degrees. There was a rock band playing at around 18 miles and that got some of us flowing with the rhythm. The remaining 8 miles were pure mental, I cannot remember how and why i pulled myself to continue running and cross that finish line. A long time back my friend Aparna had asked a question in her blog "what motivates one to run a marathon" - I am still not sure whether I can honestly answer that question; maybe it is because of the sense of achievement one can feel or simply because some of us like the bragging rights. Whatever it is, the pure sense of joy of crossing the finish line is something to cherish.