Oye Shaava

Balle balle! That's the first thing that comes to mind when you hear a sound byte as Oye Shaava. Located above Saigon on Church Street, and below Oye Amritsar (both are owned by the same person and serve similar food, the other difference being in the music being belted out :) ). I visited the place on Friday for lunch along with a group of friends from work to celebrate our 3rd anniversary at our current work place (20 of us joined together, now there are 9).

The place looked pretty good and the setup was nice. The waiters were dressed in black with a make-believe turban (which wouldn't have fooled anyone), but at least they were friendly and didn't mind the excessive photogrpahs being taken and the constant loud chattering and laughing that emanated from our table. The chairs could have been a little more comfy, but otherwise there weren't too many complaints about the place.

Although I was keen to go the a la carte way, I was voted out 8-1 for the sit down buffet. I must confess I'm not a big fan of buffets all the time at every place because the food at a buffet will always score a little less when compared to the food ordered off the menu. Nevertheless, a Rs. 250/- per head buffet with 3 veg and 3 non veg starters (unlimited) followed by a main course meal consisting of rotis & naans, a veg and a non veg curry, dal, and rice followed by fruit salad and a sweet (jalebi) did sound value for money. We did, however, order a couple of starters from the menu: a pahalwani dhabe de maahi tikke (which was the restaurant's special fish preparation), and a bawazani paneer de tikke (another restaurant special with cottage cheese).

The extra starters that we ordered were excellent, while the starters that came as part of the buffet were very good too. We had a cauliflower fry, a mini veg roll and some kind of cutlet in the veg starters and had a mutton sheekh kabab, a chicken starter and a fried fish. All six were very good, and if it came down to a contest, the cauliflower would win, closely followed by the chicken. We also had a few drinks (not the alcoholic type): jal jeeras, shikanjvis, lassis and lime sodas.

By the time we were done with the starters, most of us were almost full and were moaning at the thought of having the main course now. But once the dal and the curries were served, everyone had at least one roti or naan, and a few even managed to make room for a little rice :)

After that it was time for the fruit salad (more like apple & papaya salad) along with fresh, hot jalebis. Special mention here, the jalebis were small, hot and crisp, exactly the way I like them, so all in all, a good meal, although I think I'd like to go back there sometime and try the food off the menu and not a pre-selected one. Although the buffet didn't serve anything 'special' in terms of Punjabi cuisine, the food was good, the place was clean, good ambiance, and so all in all, good value for money.

Oye Shaava, 3^rd Floor, Asha Enclave, Above Saigon, Church St, Bangalore.