C-Delights - Steak and Seafood at Quatre Bornes, Mauritius

One thing that sucks about working in Mauritius is that my office is in Ebene, a high-tech 'office park' of sorts that has office buildings and nothing else. There's a distinct lack of reasonably-nearby shopping centres, entertainment, or food joints - sort of like a Cyberjaya-equivalent for you Kay-El readers. So work days are pretty much routine wake up, breakfast at home, work, lunch at cafeteria or lunch from home, work some more, dinner cooked by the darling (highlight of the day!), sleep. Rinse and repeat 4x.

But I digress. C-Delights is a somewhat tricky to find restaurant in the township of Quatre Bornes. It's by the main St. Jean's road, but only has a small signboard advertising its' presence.


On to the food! Garlic Mussels (170 Rs) to start. The garlic butter sauce is delicious, but the mussels themselves are rather dry. Kind of felt like they were pre-cooked and then thrown under a grill or microwave just before serving.


My Large sirloin steak (395 Rs) - ordered Medium. I'm not sure what the origin of this beef is, but it's decently good, and nicely grilled. In Kay-El equivalency it's definitely way below dedicated steakhouses like Prime, but probably on par with The Ship or Victoria's Station.


The darling has a Surf & Turf (395 Rs), which is half a sirloin steak and some fried calamari. The steak is also pretty good, and the calamari is fresh and tasty with a delighfully light and crispy batter.


After drinks and tax, the total bill for two came up to Rs 1,173 (RM 122). While the nearby Black Steer restaurant (that'll come in a future blogpost) is better for a similar price, C-Delights does have the advantage of being halal. Oh, and I do need to mention that I ordered rib-eye instead of the Sirloin that i was served :)

Photo Spam: Mauritius Diary (Post #3, Day 20)

Third Photo Spam post in my Mauritius series! We start off with the West Coast of the island, at a beach named Flic en Flac. It's a Rs24, 45 minute bus journey from the township of Quatre Bornes.


What I like best about this beach is that it isn't commercialized yet. It's not like Phuket's beaches where every 5 minutes you're accosted by someone trying to get you to ride their jet skis.


The wind is also cool and refreshing. None of that 'sticky' and 'salty' feeling you get at tropical beaches. Click here for the bigger version of this pic.


I'm here on a Sunday and it's really quiet.


Managed to catch a glimpse of an Indian wedding.


Restaurants are nicely decorated - I decide to eat my lunch here.


This dish is called magic bowl (I kid you not). Nothing magic about it, it's just rice, egg, and some chicken.


Coming back to food from the city, I don't know what this is called, but it's dumplings in soup. Vegetable dumplings. If you can imagine taking siew mai wrappers, stuffing them with chinese cabbage, and then boiling them in soup ... that's what it tastes like.


Snack shop opposite the apartment I stay in.


Here's the chicken tandoori. It's wet and rather tasteless, nothing like the tandoori I'm used to and was expecting.


That's the last photo in this series - will post my Nairobi Safari pics next!

Photo Spam: Mauritius Diary (Post #2, Day 4)

Continuing my previous series for my Mauritius trip! Starting off with the Sunday market in Quatre Bornes. Not unlike Petaling Street, but 90% of the things sold here are clothes and food.


Speaking of food, I go for 'special briyani' from one of the dozens of stalls selling ... briyani.


It's a huge mound of savory rice (not as 'strong-tasting' as indian briyani), with a big potato and chicken drumstick buried somewhere inside. Delicious, and at 80Rs or so, not too pricey either.


Can't say the same about the Curry Chicken with Rice I had at the Food Court at Ebene Way. Lots and lots of rice, but the curry wasn't spicy at all and tasted closer to tomato sauce chicken than curry.


Not sure how accurate it is, but this pizza chain advertises itself as Mauritius' best pizza.


I try the Cheesy Double Salami. The pizza itself is pretty good, but pricey as heck. 179Rs for a personal pizza (19cm diameter).


Finishing off the post with something cultural. Colleague in the office's son just took his first Holy Communion - and these 'gifts packs' were passed out to everyone in the office (and I assume everyone at the church, too). Commemorative gifts! I don't even remember when I took my first communion.


Won't have any more updates til next week; weekdays are pretty much work only, with the weekends for exploring. Also I'll be in Kenya the whole of next week. Still undecided if I should lug along my camera ... hmmm.

Photo Spam: Mauritius Diary (Post #1, Day 2)

Photo Spam time! Just some random shots about my working trip to Mauritius! It's only my second day here so I haven't actually gone to any touristy-type places, but anyway we start off with a fountain. In the Dubai airport. And you thought KLIA was cool :)


There's another big manmade pond/garden there too:


So anyway I'm staying at a small residential township area named Quatre Bornes, in a rented apartment. Office is in Ebene City, about 10 minutes' drive away. The 'commercial' area of Quatre Bornes is quite quiet, if I'm honest.


Lots of cars, though.


And since this is supposed to be a food blog, here's some Kebab shop named Shabaan Snacks.


Chicken, Shredded cabbage, some kind of vegetable, and 3 sauces in a Baguette. Doesn't look like much but tasted great - 75Rs I think.


Random musing: I've seen Proton Waja's, Wira's and Perodua Kelisa's, all the way here in the African continent! Don't know whether to have the 'Malaysia Boleh' spirit, or to feel bad for the sorry sods who bought Protons over Hondas or Toyotas. Oh, random wall.


Saw lots of sugar cane fields on the road from the airport.


Distant mountains ...


Don't know what building this was, but it looked nice. Couldn't get a good angle cos the security guard chased me away after this shot :(


Same buildings.


Some important building. Houses one of the government ministries if I'm not mistaken.


Things here are expensive! Food is okay, but groceries and household goods are pricey. I bought a smallish tube of Johnson's & Johnson's facial wash/scrub for 270Rs T_T (usd1 = 29.9Rs, myr1 = 9.69Rs)


Day 2 thoughts: I thought the entire continent of Africa was supposed to be dry, hot, and humid, but it's been pretty damn cold these 2 days. Like Genting Highlands cold, brrr. Read Wikipedia if you want actual facts about Mauritius.