Tulips And Stuff

I know I eat at Kemps Corner a lot. My only excuse is that it can quite literally be considered student budget heaven. And with that confession out of the way, I'm going to proceed to write about Tulips, which is oh, I don't know - just another pseudo - italian restaurant, looking to find its place in town.

The thing with Tulips is that they love their herbs; be it basil, cilantro or thyme - they've got it covered.

These are the dishes I attempted to digest:

Basa fillet(s) in Cilantro and Lime

This dish was actually rather decent. The overpowering flavour of cilantro wasn't a put off as much as it was slightly unfortunate. The Basa fillets however, were cooked to perfection. I'm talking melt  in the mouth perfection. The herbed (surprise, surprise!) spaghetti was a pleasant addition. It was light and well seasoned - A little too much pepper though, but who am I to talk? I ordered steak in pepper sauce. But more on that tragedy later. What I found interesting about the combination of the fish and the pasta was that individually, they were both alright (and this may or may not be the north Indian in me who likes to mix everything on the plate talking), but together, they made a pretty good team. One that I'm not going to complain about too much. Then there was the stereotypical side salad, with diced onions, cucumber and bell peppers in lime, salt and pepper. It went pretty well with everything. I won't lie. Even if it was just a clever tactic to cover up the empty edge of the plate because the pale whiteness of it was just too depressing for them to be able to present to their customers who had been waiting for a good half an hour for the plate to show up in the first place. I could swear I developed a mild case of whiplash that day, from turning over and looking at the waiter every few minutes with a  desperately hungry expression on my face. Borderline Puss in Boots. No joke. 

On a scale of 1 to 5, I would give this dish a 3, which is honestly based more on the quantity than on the quality, and I get to be biased towards that aspect simply because I was EXTREMELY hungry at the time and the dish served my purpose in that respect. However, the fact that the fish was cooked so wonderfully, that being the highlight of the plate, earns it a few extra brownie points. 

Tenderloin Steak in Pepper sauce

This is where things went beyond wrong. I've actually ordered this steak before. The sauce is delicious, which is an interesting statement for me to make, since not I'm not really one to like anything that's too peppery. This time, however, my "medium rare" steak was burnt - Not just around the edges, but more along the lines of "left it on the grill and went to talk to my girlfriend" burnt. The side salad? Great. The fries? Even better! But what the hell were they thinking with the meat?! On being questioned, the only words the stunned attendant could manage to conjure were, "Ma'am, you said medium rare." So I figured, arguing wasn't going to help me here. I must confess, if you haven't figured already, I'm a complete carnivore, so I LIKE my meat sightly undercooked. Especially when it comes to steak, that partially raw centre is where all the flavour lies. So if you're going to over cook my meat, you might as well do it right and try not to burn it or leave it crunchy enough for me to taste nothing but the char on the curled edges. On a scale of 1 to 5? I'd say it earns about a 1 - and thats for the fries and the salad. As far as the sauce goes,  well let's just say it was better the last time I tried it and leave it at that. In fact, let's just not talk about the steak at all anymore and move on to dessert instead.

Chocolate covered Strawberry

The dessert selection at Tulips was quite intriguing, really. There was an array of pies, pastries and tarts to choose from (The apple pie looked particularly scrumptious), but being a strawberry lover on a student budget, I chose this little dynamite for 25 bucks a pop. Smooth chocolate, fresh strawberries, no complaints. It was awesome. 

So overall, here's what I learnt:

• Tulips didn't really make a spectacular impression on me, personally. 
• I'd say drop by once and experience it for yourself. It isn't horrible. 
• As long as you don't order steak, you're almost good to go. Almost.
• Plating is NOT their forte. 

That's all for now. If you're a foodie or you know anyone who is, feel free to follow this page or share it with your friends. Any form of feedback will also be appreciated. Hope you enjoyed reading. 

Photo credits and dinner companionship: Shivani Gorle