Chamomile

It was Christmas day, and I had just moved into my new house, and what's more, along with VP, I'd visited the house of one of his colleague's who stays very close to where I live. So after some nice homemade wine at her place and some appams and stew, VP and I headed back to my place and started wondering where to go for dinner. P was down with viral fever, so it would have had to be at a place close to Indiranagar. Looking into the newspaper, we saw this new place called Chamomile and decided to head there for dinner.

Chamomile, named after the tea, is located on 100 Feet Road, and serves European cuisine. For Christmas, they has a special menu (apart from their regular menu), and since the items on it were 'special', well, so was the cost. But I guess they were banking on the fact that the merry season would have people in high enough spirits to splurge a little...at least, that's the principle we were dining out on :)

We started with a drink that we seem to have made our very own - a virgin Mary. Our principle of testing a barman's skill by the way he/she makes a virgin Mary can tell you whether he/she knows the business still holds good. This one was very good - not the best I've had, but very good nonetheless. And not surprisingly, there was soup that we had as well. P and VP settled for the special soups from the Christmas menu: braised red pepper soup with balsamic vinaigrette foam for P and a shrimp and crab bisque for VP, while I settled for one from the regular menu - a roasted sweet garlic and rosemary soup. Although the soups sounded grandiose, they actually fell flat a little. The red pepper soup didn't have any zing or heat in it, the bisque didn't quite give out the yummy flavours of the crab and the shrimp, while my soup was just way too course and grainy.

Virgin Mary

Braised red pepper soup with a balsamic vinaigrette foam

Roasted sweet garlic and rosemary soup

Shrimp and crab bisque

We decided to have one starter, and so went for the twice cooked mushroom. Not sure how many times it was cooked, but it tasted quite good, with the little smudge of cheese on top doing it a world of good.

Twice cooked mushrooms

VP and I were in two minds when it came to the main course: we wanted to have the turkey for sure (part of the special menu), but apart from that there was also a pork dish on the special menu that we wanted to try out, but weren't sure whether we'd be able to finish all the food coz VP was already full, and usually I end up eating what he leaves, and I didn't want to stuff myself like a pig that night, so we settled on a single main course dish for the two of us - the stuffed turkey roulade. P decided to skip the special from the Christmas menu and settled for mushroom stroganoff.

The turkey's stuffing was quite good, but the meat itself seemed to lack some basic seasoning. That, combined with the fact that we weren't given separate steak/serrated knives and had to use the usual stainless steel crap that's kept by your plate meant we struggled with the meat a bit. P ordered the stroganoff thinking it would be light, but with mushrooms and cheese making most of the stroganoff, it was anything but light. Taste wise, again, the cheese and the mushrooms seemed to have a taste that can best be described as one that you need to acquire, but being a sucker for mushrooms, I didn't seem to mind it too much.

Stuffed turkey roulade

Mushroom stroganoff

For desserts, again, two from the Christmas menu (apple pie and Christmas pudding), and one from the regular menu (strawberry cheesecake). I think desserts is their Achilles heel of sorts; while the apple pie was sinfully good, the 'pudding' (more like the rum cake we get) and the strawberry cheesecake were a big let down. The pudding was way too dry, while the cheesecake was just too hard and not creamy enough.

Strawberry cheesecake

Apple pie

Christmas pudding

Overall, a satisfying meal, but by no means a memorable one. The service was pretty decent, and so was the ambiance. And given that the seasonal menu was a 'special' (along with 'special' rates - read expensive), one would've thought that there'd be some extra effort put in to make all the dishes memorable. Since this was an outing where we essentially had stuff from the Christmas menu and not the regular menu, I'll leave out the 'ratings' that I give. Another visit perhaps.