Woodstok

I hadn't carried lunch to work on Monday, and so I decided to try our this new place that'd opened up called Woodstok. I found the place easily enough thanks to Google maps (working in Indiranagar for the last 5 years also helped), and since I was alone (yes, I'm the strange breed that can enjoy my meals alone as well - I had a nice Roald Dahl book for company actually), I knew I wouldn't be eating too much. One look at the menu confirmed that this place was almost a copy of Zoe's, although the prices at Zoe's are a less compared to this place. I was hoping to have a below 200 meal, but I knew that wasn't going to happen.

To start off, I settled in for a French onion soup. Traditionally made from beef broth, I didn't even bother asking the staff if it was indeed beef broth or not, because just one spoon down I knew it wasn't beef broth, but vegetable stock. The soup though, was nice, and the caramelised onions in it gave a hint of sweetness to it, along with the a dollop of cheese (wasn't sure what cheese this was specifically, but who cares - I love cheese in all forms).

French Onion Soup with the 'croutons' on the side

For my main course, I saw a beef burger on the menu, and I didn't need to look any further :)

Beef Burger

The burger was actually pretty good, although, if you go purely by construction of a burger basics, this one would probably fail. The cardinal sin of putting the lettuce on the lower half of the bun and the burger patty on top of it was done here as well. And the burger wasn't the soft bun type - either this was a different bun, or they done something to it to kinds get it to be stiff. The burger patty though, was superb. Nice a juicy, it came with a large serving of fries, slaw, and a spicy salsa.

These guys have a 10% service charge, so I didn't tip. I really hate this practice of adding that in the bill - even if I felt that the service was extremely good and would want to tip more, I wouldn't if I saw a 10% service charge already levied.

I'll reserve my verdict for another visit - I don't I had enough to rate the place. The soup was 120, the burger was 180, and with taxes and their 10% service charge, it came up to 370. So much for a sub-200 meal!

BM Review: Catch Marine

Last week I'd visited a new seafood restaurant in Indiranagar for Bangalore Mirror. The review can be read here.

The pictorial review is below.

Roasted Mushrooms and Tortilla soup

Cioppino

Captain's Platter (Calamari, Sole fillets, Mussels, Prawns)

Louisiana Seafood Combo

Nasi Goreng Combo

Lamb Chops Combo with Prawns and spring vegetables

Lamb Chops Combo with Prawns and mashed potatoes

Tiramisu

Chocolate Volcano

Food: Good, but nothing amazingly different from other seafood restaurants for what they charge
Service: Good
$$$: Expensive... our bill came to Rs 4500 for 5 people (including VAT + 10% service charge)
Verdict:Food is good, but overpriced.

Catch Marine, #760, Above Van Heusen Showroom, 100 Feet Road, Indiranagar, Bangalore. Phone: 41122303/4

Shiok

Last weekend we went out to watch the second part of the Twilight saga (remember the first part, where I said it was a joke) called New Moon. But this time, before we went for the movie we decided to catch dinner at Shiok. We'd never visited the place since it moved out of CMH Road to the inner ring road the foot of the flyover. Since we were in a hurry (P & VP were late as usual), it was a quick affair, with us reaching the movie about 5 minutes late.

On a night that India were actually going to go on and beat Sri Lanka in the second T20 match, it also surprisingly drizzled outside (effects of the cyclone near Chennai), we started off with soups: Broccoli, tofu and mushroom, along with a chicken and celery soup.

Broccoli, tofu & mushroom soup

Chicken and Celery soup

VP and I had a plate of calamari with pepper and a plate of chili beef. The beef was cooked perfectly. The calamari was a little bland, but the sauce it came with made up (and coming to think of it, calamari can never really be infused with spices because of its rubbery texture - I'm not certain but that's my educated guess). P ordered a plate of tofu or corn I guess (don't quite remember coz we were in a hurry remember).

Calamari with pepper

Tofu Something

Chili Beef

Once this was done, we split a Thai red curry with a bowl of rice (we being P and I, while VP was still munching on some calamari).

I didn't feel what we had was enough to conclude about the place (but rest assured what we had was very good), so I'll defer my usual ratings after another visit.

Shiok, #96, Amar Jyothi Layout, Inner Ring Road, Domlur, At the foot of the flyover, Bangalore. Phone: 65715555, 65716666

Burger burger burning bright

I'm becoming some kind of burger fiend. Every time I'm in a position to make something at home, I inevitably end up making a burger. This time as well it was chicken (I really wish someone can tell me where I can pick up bacon from), with some caramelised onions and grilled red peppers (capsicum).





Minced chicken
Salt
Pepper
Soy Sauce
Sugar
Garlic
Onions
Capsicum (red peppers)

Season the chicken with the salt and pepper. Form the patties. Heat oil on a pan/skillet and start frying the patty. Add the soy sauce and sugar along with the garlic and allow the patty to cook in the sauce for a while. Serve with the caramelised onions the grilled peppers in between a toasted bun.

Quiz On The Beach

This might interest many of you. I received an email from the TAPMI org. comm. for this quiz, so feel free to participate, or spread the word, or both.

Is the possibility of a recession giving you sleepless nights? Do you feel like taking some time off and chilling out? How does a visit to a beach sound? Or would you like to involve yourself in some serious quizzing? What if you were offered the chance of doing both at the same time? Sounds interesting???
T. A. Pai Management Institute’s annual B-School fest, Atharva invites you to participate in the Quiz on the Beach (QOTB) to be held at Kaup Beach, Udupi, Karnataka. QOTB is held on the shores of the magical Arabian Sea with an old British built lighthouse serving as a backdrop. So pack your bags and come down to Kaup Beach for some serious fun!!!

Quiz Flavour: Business Quiz
Host: T. A. Pai Management Institute, Manipal
Quiz Master: Mr. Avinash Mudaliar
Date: Saturday, 9th January 2010
Prize Money: Rs 40,000-First Prize
Rs 20,000-Second Prize
Registration charges: Rs 1500/- per team
2 Members make a team
Open to Corporates (Team members can also belong to different companies).

Please check out the links below for further details:
http://www.tapmi.org/atharva/

For further Clarifications contact:
S. Gopinath : 09742353966
Nikitha Shetty : 09686007000
E- Mail: atharva.tapmi@gmail.com

BM Review: Albert Bakery

Last Sunday, I'd been to Albert Bakery (to review the place for Bangalore Mirror), one of Bangalore's oldest bakeries (more than a 100 years old). And here's an interesting piece of information: it's owned and run by a Muslim family, not a Christian family. In fact, it was Nawab Jaan's grand father who started the bakery (Nawab Jaan is the current owner). The politics at the time of the British Raj was what probably resulted in it being christened with a Christian name (from what I gathered after talking to the owner). The review can be read here.

A couple of the snaps that I took are here:

Chicken Roll (not your typical roll - a larger puff)

Cocktail samosas and mini chicken burger

Albert Bakery, #93, Mosque Road, Next to Barista, Frazer Town, Bangalore.

BM Review: Saffron

I'd been to this new place called Saffron in Koramangala to review the place for Bangalore Mirror this past weekend. My guests were Santosh Gowda and Suhas Cadambi, but engineers from RV and avid quizzers (which is how I met them) and also hard-core foodies. The review can be read here.

Below is a pictorial description of what we had with the summary at the end.

Reshmi kebab

Achari Paneer Tikka

Mutton Seekh Kebab

Shammi Kebab

Boti Kebab

Navratna Korma

Keema with Egg

Mutton Qorma

Peethi Poori

Mutton Biryani

For the below three, one is rabri, one is kheer, and one is phirni. You guess which is which :)






I gave the place an equivalent of 2.5 out of 5, primarily because the mutton dishes weren't up to the mark, but otherwise it was OK, nothing special.

Food: Decent
$$$: Moderate; our bill came to a touch over Rs. 1800 (they have a 7% service charge)
Service: Decent
Verdict: Can visit if in the area
Extra Info: It's on the road where Lazeez, Thulp, Kabab Magic and Rolls United are...in fact, it's just after Rolls United (on the other side of the street), and before Nous Systems.

Saffron, #5, 1^st Floor, 1^st B Main, 1^st Block, Koramangala, Jakkasandra Ext, Bangalore. Phone: 41317579