Road Trip

Last weekend, while VP was still cooling his ass in Malaysia or Indonesia or Bali or wherever, P, NitWit, ThePilot and his fiance (let's call her ThePilotess) planned to go to Woodstok, since NitWit is currently staying quite close to the place. So by the time ThePilot and his lady reached NitWit's place and we decided to walk down to Woodstok and got there it was 8:30. Hmm, well, the thing is, 8:30 on a Saturday night isn't the best time to start hoping that there would be empty seats (well ok, you can hope, but it would be futile). So I remembered that Road Trip was up the road, and we pulled ourselves to trod up the road, and I think we got lucky on two counts: we got a nice table (just managed), and the meal turned out to be quite a good one.

Firstly, I think this place has had a makeover. Now I've never been here before, but with a name called Road Trip, you'd think there'd be something in the place to remind you of bikes and the likes, wouldn't you. Next, I think is may vary from person to person, but when a restaurant has a menu and also a blackboard mentioning the day's 'specials', and people seem more interested in the specials than the menu, is that a good thing or a bad thing? No reference to Road Trip in particular, I'm just asking.

ThePilotess had apparently eaten a lot during lunch, and so she settled for a walnut and pear salad with Parmesan cheese. Pretty decent looking, and it tasted nice as well, especially since the pears were still crisp and not chewy.

Pear & walnut salad with Parmesan cheese

P had a chilled potato and leek soup, to go with the potato and leek soup he had a couple of weeks back at 100 Feet. Not too sure how this tasted, but he polished it off pretty fast, so I guess there must've been something good about it. Or maybe he was just plain hungry.

Chilled potato & leek soup

The pièce de résistance arrived next - pork sausages wrapped in bacon. Wowwee! Pork AND bacon. Awesomeness I say, just the very idea, and what's more, it tasted amazing. Fab idea, I must say.

Pork sausages wrapped in bacon

For P, apart from the soup, we ordered a dish of sauteed mushrooms with broccoli. This could have tasted better (to me) had I not assumed it would be spicy. Damn! Lot of assuming going on nowadays. Note to self: stop assuming stuff, this isn't like you! Coming back to to dish, I think P liked it, and not only he, but the others were sticking their forks into the dish as well.

Satueed mushrooms with broccoli

In the middle of dinner, we were exchanging stories with ThePilot and ThePilotess about our respective encounters with snakes and how one morning I was woken up by my mom (abruptly) and we came face to face with a beautiful spectacled cobra in our TV cabinet! (see photos). For the main course, while ThePilot was guzzling his beers (ThePilotess drives him around whenever he drinks. I wish they made more girls like her. Ladies, that's the kind of role model you need to have. Think about the guy as well once in a while!), the rest of us ordered. NitWit stuck to his age old tradition of having a chicken lasagna, P asked for a spinach and mushroom quiche, ThePilot wanted to have the beef steak ("..when there's pork and beef around, I don't even look at chicken and lamb", he says), and I had the roast pork in a white wine and fennel sauce.

The lasagna looked like mush, and wasn't standing very well, but I guess it tasted quite OK since NitWit didn't complain and mopped it up. The quiche was OK but not spectacular, but good nonetheless. The roast pork with the white wine & fennel sauce was good, although I wish there'd be a little more fat on the pieces that were served. Come on guys! It's Saturday night...I wanna sleep like a baby with a smile on my face...the sausage and the bacon put me and the smile on a collision course, and I'm sure the extra fat would've given it the 'wham' needed at the end (and by that I'm not referring to anything gay...wham, George Michael..aah, forget it). Oh, before I forget, the mash potato was really awesome...that's one thing I usually end up leaving, but I was polishing the plate this time around.

Mushroom & spinach quiche

Chicken lasagna

Beef steak

Roasted pork with white wine fennel sauce

VP had once told me that this place wasn't very nice (and at the time of writing this he tells me that he actually meant it isn't consistent). The inconsistent part is something I've heard from a few other people as well, and so I guess I'm willing to buy that. Just glad is a good meal overall :)

Food: Good

$$$: Reasonable (I guess). 5 people, 4 beers, and the food above, with a 10% tip came to around 3000.

Service: Decent

Verdict: Can surely consider a visit if in the area (I've been told this place is very inconsistent - sometimes very good and sometimes quite bad. So given the sinusoidal wave pattern, I guess my visit coincided with a crest on their graph).

Road Trip, 3524/1, Park-Service Road, 1st Main Domlur, Indiranagar, Bangalore. Phone: 41155848.