Gastronomical g-spot

Cadbury Dairy Milk Silk

2012-02-05T09:46:00.005+05:30

Foof! The last 2-3 months have been insane in terms of the amount of work - I guess this is typical of how things are when you join a new workplace, and more so when it's a startup :)

So after the impressive campaign to launch their product 'Silk' (no Smitha, this is chocolate!), Cadbury has come out with another variant called Silk - Orange Peel. If you're the kind who loves a fruity flavour added to your chocolate fix craving, then this might actually help. The balance between the orange pulp flavour and the bitterness of the zest seems to be balanced, but then again, this could be subjective.

The TV ad is a decent one, and although I'm not too sure I followed the ad fully, it was a nicely made one.

Personally, I like to have some dark chocolate as well, and I keep waiting for the day when dark chocolate in a higher percentage is introduced by Cadbury (in the Bournville series perhaps), so that I don't have to spend the extra bucks on imported brands like Lindt.

Chinese Feasts

2011-12-06T22:49:00.006+05:30

Chinese Feasts was a restaurant on MM Road in Frazer Town, in the not-so-busy part of MM Road. And before I start off about this experience, I have to state that I've been told Chinese Feasts has closed - the owner was having problems with the rent being raised exponentially by the landlord. Sometime in the month of October, I was invited by my friend Chung Tham (a third gen Chinese Indian) for dinner along with his family at a restaurant that is owned by a person of Chinese origin, and we were going to be eating some real Hakka Chinese food, and not the MSG loaded and/or manchurian dishes we usually get at most 'Chinese' joints.

We started off our meal with a soup - battered meatball (beef) soup with tiny shrimps in them as well. The beef is 'battered' - actually, thrown against the walls of a steel bowl repeatedly. the tenderisation that happens and the resultant texture is different from what you get using a meat tenderiser. The meat is them rolled into meatballs and cooked and added to the soup. When I tasted it, I was amazed to note that the texture was actually more tender that traditional meatballs that I've eaten. Since the dishes served were all off the menu, I don't know the exact name.

Chinese tea

The next appetiser was pan-fried chicken momos. This one had fillings that tasted quite nice, but I wasn't too sure why they pan-fried it when steaming it was an option. I didn't ask that though. I guess I'll never know now :)

Chicken pan-fried momos
The food just kept on coming. We were served a chicken dish that had a sauce that seemed a mix of tomato, vinegar, ginger and chillies. The ginger though was pungent and strong, but was a more mellow. The addition of sesame seeds, to me, seemed unnecessary, but who cares - the dish tasted great. Chinese version of chilli chicken!

Chilli chicken
The chicken was followed by fish - again, in a sauce that was more glazed, but the fish was very nicely cooked, and came apart very easily in the mouth. The flavour wasn't spicy, and was more sweet, but it made for a wonderful balance with the other dishes. The fish was followed by another cousin from the sea, prawns, in a coriander gravy, and this was absolutely yummy.

Fish
Coriander prawns
A stir fry and a couple of bowls noodles later, we were almost purring in pure delight and satisfaction.

It's too bad that Chinese Feasts has closed down. Would've been great to have the restaurant around, but I'm glad I got to visit it at least once.

European Art of Taste - Via Milano

2011-10-30T12:03:00.008+05:30

The second event of the European Art of Taste (EAT) was held at Via Milano, and this was a more fun event. It was a cook off for home cooks, and the cuisine was... obviously Italian! The idea was the showcase Italian food and cooking using some prime ingredients like olive oil and pasta.

Chef Gianfranco Angelillo of Italy was down to show Italian food at its simplest and evocative best. Via Milano was the venue where the good chef would demonstrate how to prepare four dishes and then the contestants would have to replicate one of the dishes based on the one they drew from lots. So what did I have to do in all this? Why, I was one of the judges, of course! Along with Nisha Millet, the former swimming champion. The contestants were a bunch of random people and teams were formed by mixing the people to form heterogeneous groups. The image on the right is of Chef Gianfranco prepping for one of the pasta dishes - penne in a mushroom ragù. Mind you, the Italian ragù is quite different from the French ragout. While the latter is generally a main dish stew, the former is sauce made by simmering meat with finely chopped vegetables.

The event was a fun event, and all the participants had a gala time, and as judge, I had a splendid time, first tasting the dishes made by Chef Angellilo, and then tasting those made by the contestants. The hardest part Nisha Millet and I had was selecting the winner, and after constantly reworking our scores, we settled on a team for first and second place.

Below is a set of photographs of what Chef Angellilo prepared. Simple, and tasty.

Sautéing the mushrooms
In go the cherry tomatoes
Voila! Penne with cherry tomatoes and mushrooms
Tossing fusili in the Carbonara sauce
Fusili carbonara with zucchini
Crespelle - Italian crepe stuffed with squash and carrots
Making a frittata
Frittata with squash

European Art of Taste - Caperberry

2011-10-30T12:02:00.011+05:30

A few weeks back, my friend the Wicked Witch of the Feast invited me over to Caperberry, where there was a dinner being held to showcase Italian art and food, in association with the European Art of Taste (EAT) in conjunction with the Italian government and the EU. I was thrilled to bits, and even though this was more a Page 3-ish event, I couldn't have cared less and made sure nothing else was added to my calendar. Suman's post on this event can be read here.

The event was like this: art was going to be showcased, art that was inspired by food, and in turn Chef Abhijith Saha had prepared a 4-course meal that was inspired by the art (that was inspired by the food)... see where I'm going with this? :) Every dish was to be paired with a wine from the IGM, a consortium of wine producers, and also needed to have pasta, provolone cheese, or extra virgin olive oil. Each course had two options and each diner could select which one of the dishes they'd like to be served.

Amuse bouche - Tomato & mozzarella
In the first course, there was a green apple, arugula and walnuts with provolone cheese salad. The crunchy apples, mildly acidic, combined well with the oily nuttines of the walnut, and the cheese added a new angle to the taste. The dressing seemed to be done only with olive oil (extra virgin), and it was a pleasant surprise that there was no vinaigrette added. I guess the zing from the apples' acidity was sufficient. The photo I took of this came out blurred, and so apologies - but then again, it's a salad, so I'm sure you won't have to let your imagination run wild :)

The other dish in the first course was a seafood soup, a Ligurian seasfood stew (Liguria is a coastal province in the north-western part of Italy). The seafood stew was a rich, thick, tomato-based soup with (our soup had) fish, prawns, and squid. To my mind, the squid should've been in the form of the usual squid rings, but by using just a chunk of the squid in the soup, I thought it spoiled the 'tenderness' of the soup because the squid was just rubbery. Served with a piece of toasted bread that was lightly moistened by a pesto, the soup was a delightful dish, save for the squid.

The second course began with diners having the option of choosing from a fettucine aglio, olio e peperoncino with cherry tomatoes and green peas, topped with a some cherry foam. Since Caperberry brands itself as a restaurant that dwells into molecular gastronomy, it was a classy rendition of a foam, but personally, I didn't see the need for it with the pasta, although it still was a superb foam. This was otherwise a simple dish, but then again, with just olive oil constituting the major part of the 'sauce' component of this dish, it's very easy to go wrong with it.

If the cherry foam on the pasta was classy, then the alternative dish to it, rotolo di lasagna al prosciutto with pesto, along with chilled melon cappuccino was classier - the chilled melon cappuccino at least. The prosciutto was a shade too thin for my liking, but that aside, it blended in superbly with the rotolo, while the melon cappuccino was simply mind blowing - cool, light, and airy.

The third course consisted of a potato gnocchi and provolone stuffed morels in a mushroom sauce. The thought of trying out morels was very tempting, enough to make me almost order for this. This is a very simple dish - not simple in terms of the effort it takes to make it and make it right, but simple as in it's almost a commoners dish. There was a musty/earthy aroma that wafted from the dish, perhaps enhanced by the drizzling of olive oil (extra virgin I think). Mushrooms have always occupied a special place in my gastronomic heart, simply because I think they are more of a bridge between veg and non-veg food, even more than eggs are, and what's more, they're freakin' delicious. Too bad I opted for the other dish!

After reading about the dish that I opted for, there'd be no points for guessing which one I had hoped to have actually ordered. The other option for the third course was the lemon zest and garlic marinated leg of lamb in a red wine jus with baby potatoes. The meat was absolutely tender, and it was so lovely to have actually gotten lamb, and not the leg of an old goat or sheep! However, the taste was something even I couldn't get my tongue around. To me, and the other two guests at my table (a rockstar who's the founder member of the band Thermal and a Quarter and his wife :P), the dish was lacking some basic seasoning. That aside, for me the red wine jus and the lemon zest just didn't seem to gel with the lamb, but the Italians at the other tables felt it was done absolutely flawlessly. So I guess this is very evident of the fact that food is such a subjective, personal thing, that at times, in spite of a dish having been executed flawlessly, there could still be someone who may not appreciate it. Damn! I actually felt bad when I learnt that the dish was actually executed the right way because I pride myself in having a palate that is very adaptive to subtle flavours. Well, there are always exceptions.

For dessert, it was a common dessert for all - a red wine poached fig tart (r), passion fruit panna cotta (c), and a tiramisu (l). I absolutely loved the passion fruit panna cotta - a delightful execution of the panna cotta. The amount of gelatin used was dot perfect, leaving the texture of the panna cotta in a state where a slight tap with the spoon would make it quiver, like a 16^th century French courtesan whose inner thigh would quiver at the touch of her lovers fingers. I have no idea how or where I got that line from, certainly not from Jane Austen, but you get the idea about the desired texture, don't you.

The fig tart and the tiramisu were pretty decent, but I was going back to polish of the glass that had the panna cotta. I was just so glad that I got the opportunity to be a part of this event, and from what I heard, this was by far the most formal and 'official' Page 3 event, something that I absolutely loved. It's also made me want to go and try Caperberry again, since a lot of water seems to have passed under the bridge since my last visit.

Food street - thindi beedi

2011-10-27T16:53:00.042+05:30

Food street, or thindi beedi (literal translation in the local language Kannada - also the local name it's known by) - God knows for how long I've been wanting to visit this place, and for some reason or the other the visit kept getting put Finally, last month, a bunch of us foodies got together and made a visit to the Mecca of local Bangalorean food.

Nestled in an obscure, one-way lane near Sajjan Rao circle in V V Puram (click for Google Map), this place boasts of being the nerve center for street food in Bangalore - and it's spot on. Now when I say street food, or anyone uses the term street food, it's always got to do with local food, so don't be dreaming of wings and satays and laksas here - it's pure vegetarian, and it's local...and I didn't miss meat one bit while I was there! Well, OK, maybe the thought did cross my mind once, but that was only BEFORE we started our eating frenzy, and moreover, I was truly excited about what this place had to offer. Below is a snapshot of the Google map for directions from Lalbagh west gate.

At the Sajjan Rao circle end, we have the iconic V B bakery, a landmark of the Bangalore past. But just because I said Bangalore past, don't be fooled into believing that it doesn't draw in the hordes today. It dates back to the early part of the 20^th century, a time when this part of Bangalore was the actual Bangalore, the real Bangalore (along with Malleswaram), while areas where bakeries like Albert bakery (Frazer Town), Thom's (Kamaraj road), and All Saint's and Fatima (Brigade & Hosur road respectively) were part of the British cantonment area. We ended up having their honey cakes, cream puffs, and another kind of puff pastry that is locally called Bombay salt (it's a twisted puff pastry, but it certainly isn't salty). Delightful doesn't even come close to describe how the honey cake tasted. Another specialty of theirs is the apple cake, which we surprisingly didn't buy, but then again, we had to meet up with others and there was tonnes of food to be had.

Honey cake
Cream puff
Once we finished VB bakery, we started our walk up the street, stopping at almost every hole-in-the-wall to check what was cooking. There was a jalebi & gulab jamun shop that's quite famous, but he was closed that evening (damn our luck!). We crossed a lot of shops selling chaats of various kinds, and there were plenty of people, families and friends alike, gorging on whatever caught their fancy.

A couple of old timers enjoying their chaats
We then located what we had been told we needed to have - the dosas. Yes, at night. What? Just because a Shanti Sagar or Sukh Sagar or any of your local darshinis/sagars doesn't serve you a dosa post lunch doesn't mean no one eats them in the late evening. In fact, dosas are the perfect pre-dinner snack (any time snack actually) you can have since they're usually quite light and digest fast. Of course, if you have them in multiples of two or some such number, then, well... :) All the same, dosas are very popular in Bangalore, and apart from Mysore and Udupi, you get the best dosas in India here. There, I said it. Sue me. And yes, we eat our dosas almost anytime - as a snack or as a meal itself.

While our dosas were being made, some of the guys snuck off and bought some of the local batter-fried chaats, or bajjis as we call them here. The capcicum and raw banana ones were the ones that were bought, and both, apart from being batter-fried, also had grated carrots, chopped onions, a sprinkling of coriander and a dash of lemon juice and chilli powder - perfect way to get your appetite whetted.

Capcicum (bell pepper) bajji (left), and raw banana bajji
The dosas available here are the local variety - so no fancy Davangere benne dosa, or neer dosa, or Mysore open dosa. The regular stuff like a plain, masala, set, rava, and ragi dosa, and some local beauties like the akki rotti and the avarekaalu dosa. The latter, having avarekaalu, or the Hyacinth bean, is a kind of flat bean that is grown locally here in Karnataka and I haven't come across too many people from any of the other states who've spoken or know much about it, so if there's someone who isn't from here and knows that this pulse is grown elsewhere, please do let me know in what form it's cooked, etc etc etc. The wiki link I've provided says that people in coastal Maharashtra also grow it, and the Tamilians too use it a bit. Anyway, back to the bean, and it's typically used in a curry, but you'll also find this fellows in khara baths served in your darshinis/sagars, or served along with akki rotti.

A masala dosa being made

The avarekaalu dosa batter (left), and squirting ghee onto the dosa
The finished product
Plain dosa with two chutneys
While the avarekaalu dosa was slightly heavy, it was lso mind boggling when it came to falvour - especially when you scooped some of the curry along with the dosa. It was superb to taste and if there was nothing else available to eat, two of these babies and you'd be hunting for a bed to catch a few zzzs. The plain dosa was nice and crisp, and while it may just have been a plain dosa, it was good nonetheless.

More snacks were to follow - what I thought were onion rings, someone told me they were in fact curd rings. These rings were crisp on the outside, but just melted inside your mouth. Pav bhaji, bread along with a 'gravy' of mashed potatoes, onions, peas, and tomatoes...lapped up in no time and I needn't have to explain why. The akki rotti was a little different from what most of us there were accustomed to. The ones made in Mangalore and South Canara are more white, and not as pliable that it can be folded as the one we had (see photo below). Taste wise, it was nice, but not memorable.

Curd rings (left), and pav bhaji

A very different type of akki rotti (rice roti)
And of course, how could any street food in Bangalore be complete without the ubiquitous gobi manchuri, fiery red in appearance yet sweet with a little bit of heat from the chillies in it. And mind you, we Bangaloreans take our gobi manchuri very seriously - to the point where we'll kill for it! The floating pani puri - yeah, I know, and one look at the photo below you'll know why the name - wasn't much to talk about. The tomato slice chaat was a nice snack - puffed rice on top of the slices along with the usual condiments like grated carrot, chopped onions, coriander, lemon and chilli.

The ubiquitous gobi manchuri (left), and floating pani puri

Tomato slice chaat
One of the dishes that we had that I don't seem to have a photograph of is the gundi appa (see Ganesha hubba post). Also, there's supposedly a vendor who sells some of the fluffiest idlis in town, and serves them only with chutney. Legend has it that the old timer who runs the place is kinda a grouch, and if you ask for sambhar, he literally barks back at you saying he serves it only with chutney, so hopefully I'll get to experience this another time - the idlis I mean, not his bark.

Apparently a trip to food street wouldn't be complete if you didn't visit Shivanna's gulkand at the end of the street. A slightly eccentric chap, this Shivanna guy has his own unique way of keeping track of your orders and even taking your orders - from what I gathered, unless you're with someone who's already been-there,done-that, you're going to be waiting for a long time. Anyway, the gulkand was quite delightful along with the ice cream, but all the raving aside, I guess it's more of an acquired taste kind of a dish.

Gulkand with cut fruits & ice cream @ Shivanna's store
And just as we were finishing, the heavens opened up and the deluge was quite a strong one, leaving me drenched to the bone as I went to get the car parked a couple of streets away. But who cares about a little rain - and a near impaling on one of the barricades/divider with those spikes on it after a two wheeler lost control and hit me - it most certainly was an evening to remember, and for all the right reasons.

Ganesha Hubba Utsav

2011-10-25T20:01:00.022+05:30

This years Ganesha Hubba Utsav was held, as it always is, at the APS grounds in Basavanagudi, close to BMS College of Engineering. And as always, there was a lot of fanfare and robust crowd participation. And once again, as usual, the food festival was a huge draw for both the foodie and the non-foodie, tourist and the local. Although vegetarian (it's a religious festival), crowds swarmed the location on all days.

The Davangere benne dose, one of my favourites, was a smashing hit this time around as well. As well, you ask? Have you forgotten last year's Ganesha Hubba Utsav, part 1 and 2? Hmpff. Anyway, my fake outrage aside, the dose was just as buttery soft as before, and if it weren't for the plethora of dishes on offer, I'd have been scarfing down 4 of these babies.

Davangere benne (butter) dose

From the Davangere Bayaluseema region to the Karavalli or coastal region (yup, my area). I started of with the Mangalore goli bajje, so called because of their resemblance to a goli, or marble - mighty big ones I might add! Made from gram flour (besan), these deep fried delicacies are had with coconut chutney. Deep fried, hot, a little spicy - how can you go wrong.

Mangalore goli bajje

Again, many apologies for posting this so late - I know the hubba (festival) was over a long time ago (month and a half now) and this is probably only going to unnecessarily make you crave for something that you can only get after a year, but then again, I hope this annual event is something you'll be making a note of and heading towards each year. Sure, it's deep into south Bangalore, and most of the Koramangala-Indiranagar-Marathahalli-Whitefield junta think it may not be 'cool' enough for them - suit yourselves folks, I'm just putting gyaan here, the rest is up to you.

In an effort to catch up with the growing backlog, the rest of this post shall be pictorial with minimal text in it.

Making the dosas

Being served the dosa - everyone wants in on the action when they see the camera :)

Mangalore buns and kurma (left), pathrodey (Colocasia roll)

Making masala dosa

Sweet kadubu (left), and semeda addye (rice noodles) in coconut milk

Jolada (jowar) roti with brinjal curry, green gram curry, and chutney powders

Making gundi appa (left), and the appas served with chutney

Making neer dosa

Kadubu with chutney

The only part apart of the fest I didn't particularly like (apart from the fact that there is no non-veg) is the fact that every year, the contract to make and serve the food is given to Adiga's. At the very least, I'd have thought there'd be some kind of bidding process, or giving the cuisine of each region to a different catering chain - that way not only would things be fresh, there'd also be more focus on the food for that particular cuisine. Although a lot of the food here was good, some of the classy regional dishes weren't made the way they're supposed to. And I felt regions like Chickamagalur and Coorg (among others) weren't properly represented with their local favourites. This problem could very easily be sorted out by dividing the regional cuisines among multiple caterers.

BBC GoodFood India

2011-10-23T17:59:00.004+05:30

Folks, BBC GoodFood has just launched the India edition of the magaazine, GoodFood India, and this promises to be a crackerjack of a magazine. They're also running a competition on their FaceBook page, so those of you interested in winning a trip to Spain...well, go ahead, click the link :)

Herbs & Spice burger fest, Pizza Hut, and Spoonful of Sugar

2011-10-10T01:52:00.004+05:30

A couple of weeks back, my mom had gone off on a tour to Amritsar, Jammu, and Srinagar with her friends from medical school. So that meant no lunch for me to pack, and so that meant eating out. Herb & Spice was running a burger fest during that time, and so that was a blessing that I very happily gorged on.

Complimentary bread and herbed butter with the beverages
The pulled pork burger that was served was divine. Not just coz I love pork, but it truly was a fine example of how a burger should be, and how pulled pork ought to be. The pork was well flavoured, 'pulled', or extremely tender, and there was sufficient amounts of it to me smile from ear to ear. The honey mustard pork burger wasn't as good as the pulled pork burger - not that it was bad, but the pulled pork was just better - but the honey and mustard did add a nice zing to the burger. And once again, as with the pulled pork burger, there was enough of meat in the patty.

Pulled pork burger

Honey mustard pork burger
The Thai beef burger was a fairly big let down - there wasn't anything in the burger that even remotely whispered Thai, let alone screamed. If they'd just called it a 'big beef burger', or had pinned any such lame name to the burger, I think it would've been great because as a simple beef burger, it was nice.

Thai beef burger
The burger fest ran for about 10 days to two weeks. Perhaps the next time they do some such thing, a little more thought into some finer details would be appreciated - like NOT placing the lettuce below the patty on the bun. As someone who loves burgers and sandwiches, and believes that a burger tastes best once all the components have been 'assembled' in the right way, this one minor glitch did get me to frown a wee bit.

Pizza Hut seems to have come out with a new menu - and by that I couldn't care less about anything, but a friend of mine dragged me to try some of the new goodies. Upon arriving and taking a look at the menu, the new pizzas did seem nice - if they'd deliver them in a size that I thought would be acceptable! Yeah, as you may have guessed, I'm not a big fan of Pizza Hut, or Domino's, but between the two, I think my vote would go to Domino's for the only reason being that the size of their pizzas are complete value for money (hah! I just used another very Bangalore phrase).

The beverages we had were average. The much touted very berry daiquiri had way too much of the berry thing going on in it - it was so tangy that once sip of it and I think my blood curdled, but that was before my whole body shriveled up with my face sporting that look when you have something unexpectedly sour and tangy. I'm pretty certain that too much of any berry will make it a gooseberry! Thankfully that was my friends drink, and my green apple mojito was decent enough to counter the effects that daiquiri had on me.

Very berry daiquiri

Green apple mojito

The Jamaican jerk chicken skewers quite decent in taste (although the spices used didn't seem like the actual Jerk spices), but the chicken did seem a little dry, but I guess that was being consistent with the standards set by Pizza Hut. Hey, if it was any better, they'd be moved from fast food to gourmet food, which I'm guessing would be a big no-no for their brand.

And finally, the pizza. A pesto pepperoni (pork) pizza is what we zeroed in on, although, in hindsight, we should've opted for the pollo heaven because that seemed to have a lot more meat on it. Nevertheless, the pork pizza was quite nice, think crust and all. They could've drizzled a bit of oil on top of it, but it was good nonetheless.

Pesto pepperoni (pork)
For dessert, we found this choco chip cookie sundae very intriguing and so we decided to give it a try. From the photo, you'll notice that there's a baking pan, and the cookie is actually at the bottom of it with some almond savings and ice cream on top of it. Warm cookie with cold ice cream was an amazing way to bring life back into the meal, especially since bits of the cookie were stuck to the pan and those slightly burnt bits are usually the gooiest and yummiest parts.

Choco chip cookie sundae

Spoonful of sugar is located right next to my office (OK, ex-office now, but when I visited it for this particular post, I was still working at GXS). Apart from the desserts - cakes, pastries, tarts - that they're famous for, Spoonful of sugar also dishes out a few pastas, quiches, and sandwiches, any one of which can be a full meal in itself. And so one afternoon we headed towards the place for an outdoor lunch (they have 3 tables outdoors and 1 indoors). I had more or less made up my mind to go and give their quiche a try (I've had some of the sandwiches before, and wasn't really in the mood for any kind of pasta that afternoon).

And so quiche it was for me. Taste wise, there wasn't much to complain about, but my friend who'd joined me is some sort of an expert when it comes to baking, and immediately pointed out to me that the crust of the quiche wasn't completely baked. If you notice the base, you can make out two thin yet distinct layers of differently coloured 'layers' - one golden brown, and another that's pale creamish gray in colour. This, according to my friend, is an indication of the base not having been baked properly. I didn't give a hoot - I loved the taste, but it did make me wonder about whether I should give a hoot about such things. Of course I should!

Quiche
The lasagna was, on the other hand, decent but the cheese used on it was quite evidently old, and it was a reheated lasagna served to us. This was disappointing, given that Spoonful of sugar's USP is that they use only the freshest of everything.

Lasagna
We rounded off our meals with a mud pie and a lemon tart. Both were divine. The chocolate pie, with warm molten chocolate oozing out (see picture) was simply fabulous, while the lemon tart was zingy and good in its own unique way. My friend was again going to point out how the base wasn't done properly but I asked her to put a lid on it and yenjaay it :)

Ramzaan food walk

2011-10-08T09:26:00.011+05:30

In a bid to reduce the backlog and get back on track as soon as possible, I shall try to post one blog entry a day for the next 5 days. Yes, it's difficult, but then so is life, and you don't see most of us kicking off our shoes when the going gets tough, do you? So, backlog, and hence a post on Ramzaan that dealt with a food walk on M M Road is coming up now!

The caramel custard is something that is a must have. Buttery soft, with a touch of rose water essence (a little too much in our case)... you know what, this was over so long ago, I don't think it's fair to bait y'all with talk about the food, so let's just take a pictorial journey on this one - that way the pain will be less for both you and me :)

A breakdown of the things I ate: caramel custard, seekh kababs, qubani ka meetha, dry fruit sherbet, anda keema roti, satays, and an entire chicken leg and thigh.

Au Bon Pain

2011-10-03T23:39:00.007+05:30

Au Bon Pain - pronounced "O bon paa" or "O bo paa", with a hint of an "n" sound at the end of "paa". It is not "O Bo Pay", as they've put it across all their outlets across Bangalore. Trust me, I checked - my brother knows French, and he laughed through his ass when he heard of the way they've put it. Au Bon Pain means "of good bread", and the French word for bread is "paa" (with the hint of 'n' at the end). So now that we've got that out of the way, I was invited for a tasting at Au Bon Pain's latest outlet in Koramangala, near the Sony World signal, opposite KFC/Taco Bell.

The trick to get a real 'feel' for the food lay in getting the right balance between the traditional favourites and the curious I-wanna-try-that-one types. The cinnamon rolls is something I've always wanted to have, and so finally this was the chance that I wasn't going to let go by. It was baked nicely enough, but had a little too much cinnamon for my liking. I wasn't the only one - Ms Quiche and Ms BakeAnything came to the same conclusion.

The Danishes on the other hand were sinfully yummy - both blueberry and pineapple. Soft, sweet, and with just enough crunch around the edges, these quite easily made up for the extra cinnamon that had started to burn my lips.

Cinnamon Roll

Blueberry Danish

Pineapple Danish
The crostinis/bruschettas that were there were decent - dishes that you ought to eat hot and not let sit under the air conditioning in the belief that it will pick up extra flavour.

Olive & mushroom crostini
The hummus sandwich was a bit of a let down. There was no trace of the hummus, visibly or by means of taste, and when we mentioned/queried the staff, we were told it was the thin, creamy layer you can see on the top half of the bun.

Hummus sandwich
The rest of the 'snacks' were quite good. The muffin and the brownie were good, although we felt the brownie could've been a little more gooey, but the cookie (already nibbled on in the snap) was perfect in taste and texture. The sandwiches were quite decent and the only grouse we probably had with them is that we aren't given a choice of bread. That apart, stuff seemed pretty dandy.

Schezwan sandwich
Turkey ham sandwich

Since this wasn't a regular visit, I shan't be having the usual summary at the end of the review. Apart from the food we ate, you've also got the regular 'lunch' food, with 4 types of soups, and you can pick pre-packaged stuff off the shelves, which includes 'healthy' options like muesli and salads, and desserts as well. There are also beverages, both on the shelf and in the dispensers (see photos) that can be had. So overall, for a weekday lunch, I think this place has it made. If you work near one, then it really is quite a decent option if you're used to eating out.

Zomato - suggestions, likes, and dislikes

2011-09-27T08:36:00.006+05:30

The online food & lifestyle guide Zomato.com wanted to get feedback from users about things that would get a thumbs-up as well as those features that would require further improvement.

What I like about the site (as an engineer and someone who's worked countless hours on graphical user interfaces) are:

1. The font, colour scheme, and layout: Very well chosen colour scheme and font, one that doesn't put any strain on the eye, has good contrast, and the navigation from one link to another is very easy (logical, if I may let a little bit of the engineer side of me comment).

2. Quick search: Be it in real life, or on the net, people hate waiting. The search functionality is easily one of the fastest I've come across, and given the sheer volumes (OK, numbers) of restaurants in their database, it's mighty impressive.

3. Pictures: Pictures speak a 1000 words...then what would 1000+ pictures speak? Right from the git-go, Zomato has made it a point to focus on pictures - collected from all possible sources (which made them stand apart from their competitors). And how can one not have pictures when it comes to food? :) the more the merrier.

Some of the things that that didn't quite catch my fancy, that I'd maybe like to see changed are:

1. Replacing original copyright marks on images: While Zomato has done the right thing in putting their watermark on the images, I think it would've been a nice(r) gesture had they retained the original copyright mark of the person who submitted the image simply so that it becomes an almost symbiotic relationship with the original image provider. While I'm not too sure about legal implications (Zomato does explicitly state that the images used aren't all their images and take explicit permission to use the images), having both the original copyright, as well as the Zomato watermark could be something that would've been greeted with slightly more cheery faces.

2. Open now: While the 'Open Now' feature was indeed a novel introductory feature on the site, it's been on beta for far too long (for my liking). I actually think this is something that would be quite beneficial for those who eat at odd hours (I'm sure this group is quite a large number), and also another one of the differentiating factors between Zomato and its competitors.

3. Recommendations by Zomato/editors/experts: The editors/experts, who've been chosen by Zomato for writing reviews to help boost the credibility of the reviews & ratings for a restaurant, should also be provided with a section to give their recommendations for restaurants in almost every cuisine. This way, if a user who visits the site with the sole intention of finding places that serve, let's say burgers, then he/she can search for that and among the search results, the first few should clearly indicate that these are the places Zomato recommends. The remaining results can be displayed in the existing order.

As far as UI suggestions go, I have a suggestion for getting alerts from Zomato about various 'events', both under the Restaurant Guide as well as the Events section. It would be great if a dashboard of sorts is set up for user who log into the site with their logins. Upon doing so, they will be presented with a divided screen, the left side containing a notice board or a dash board of sorts, where a one-time activity of customising the alerts can be done.

Clicking the 'Click here' link should take the user to a tab on the dashboard where he/she can select the alerts based on the list provided. The list would have to be provided by Zomato based on what they think would interest the users most. The user then proceeds to 'check' the options of where and how to receive the updates. Also, an option of allowing the user to select specific restaurants that he/she may love and would be interested in knowing about any new event/dish/update about could be provided in separate tab.

The text box can be AJAX-based and as the user starts typing out a name, options can appear below and the user can then select a restaurant name from the options displayed. The selected options can be then shown in a table below, where the user can again select where and how they wish to receive the alerts about these place.

After selecting how he/she wants to receive the alerts, the save button can be clicked so that the settings are saved.

Once the settings are saved, the next time the user logs into the site, he/she can get a snapshot of the alerts on the dashboard (if they had chosen the dashboard option), and by clicking the appropriate option, can be directly taken to the page with the details rather than scouring through the site (events section) in search for the specific event. While this may not be a revenue generator, it could certainly boost the users usability experience on the site.

Biryani Pundits

2011-09-11T23:49:00.011+05:30

Biryani Pundits is a restaurant that has come up in the same spot in Koramangala that once housed Sonakshi Sharma's (another restaurant). When you hear the name 'Biryani Pundits', you're bound to think of a joint where you'll be spoiled for choice with copious varieties of biryanis. Au contrare, one look at the menu, and you'll notice that the biryani constitutes a very small percentage of the total number of items on the menu. So much for 'it's all in a name!'. Located in Koramangala, a little after Umerkot, Biryani Pundits has colour-coded seating only on the first floor and can seat around 30 people or so. The ground floor, by the looks of things, is mainly the wait-for-your-take-away spot. The food on offer ranges from kulchas to iddiappams, from naans to idlis, and perhaps almost everything in between.

With a menu as diverse as the one they have here, it took 5 of us dissect it and put every section to the test (or in this case, taste). So after scanning through the pages, we thought of starting with the lamb head meat fry, but were told that it isn't available...on a Saturday night! Of all the days in the week, you'd expect restaurants to stock up on what's on the menu for the weekend, but that wasn't the case here. So a lamb liver fry, a chicken 65, a paneer chilli, chicken tikka, and chicken and lamb kottu paratha made up our starters.

Lamb liver fry

Chicken tikka

The paneer chilli was about the most atrocious excuse for paneer I've EVER had. Really, it was that bad. A coating of corn flour gave it an almost bullet proof-like jacket that our teeth found hard to penetrate at first, but we did make inroads, eventually. The chicken 65 was probably the best dish of the evening, being soft, juicy, and well flavoured. While I can't say with authority that I've ever tasted an authentic chicken 65 before, this one at least tasted good, so full marks. The chicken tikkas were the usual fare and there wasn't anything memorable about it. The kottu parathas were decent, although a couple of folks believed that the salt wasn't mixed properly as they got mouthfuls of more salt than what they'd bargained for.

Kottu paratha
For the mains, we had to try the Pundits special biryani. Along with that we wanted to have the iddiappams, which we were told weren't available. And the guy taking our orders gave us some extra info here: "Not available coz they smell bad!!!" Like we wanted to know that. Thanks, next time also tell which buddy of yours in the kitchen is digging his nose, and who's got their pinky waxing the insides of their ear! And that pretty much summed up the service in general - uninterested, just passing through the motions. This was exemplified by them bringing all the food at once and plonking it on the table, only to realise that there wasn't any space left, which then made them try to make space by removing plates that still have food on them!

So we went with the special dosa, egg appam, lamb biryani along with the Pundits special, a chicken pepper curry and a lamb curry. The special biryani was anything but special. There was hardly any difference between it and the lamb biryani except the meat. Both tasted below average. The special dosa, again, proved hard to decipher what made it special, because any of the Shanti Sagars will server you a paper masala dosa in the shape of the an inverted cone. The curries were just OK, but the biryanis, as mentioned, were below average, and so the overall dinner experience was one I'd like to forget soon.

Special dosa
Egg appam
Lamb biryani
Chicken pepper curry

The biryanis were supposed to be served with raita, brinjal curry, and a dessert. They never came. So we asked. And they asked back, "Do you want them?" I honestly started looking around to see if there was a hidden camera, a la candid camera show where we were the scapegoats. Alas, that wasn't to be. This was happening for real.

I don't know what kind of punditry got the owners to conceptualise this sort of an operation or what the philosophy was behind then name and the menu, but good luck to them is all I can say. I wish I could rate this place 1.5 stars, but I guess 2 should convey the message. If it runs for more than a year, they should consider themselves fortunate. Or they can just thank their stars that there are sufficient people who appreciate bad food. Whatever.

Food: You've gotta be kidding me!
$$$: Affordable - approximately Rs 300-350 for two.
Service: Uninterested
Verdict: Visit if you're a bachelor with no particular interest in good food because you're primary concern is to save up on your hard earned money.

Biryani Pundits, #1018, 80 ft Road, Near Wipro Park Signal (after Natural's), 1^st Block, Koramangla, Bangalore. Phone: 8880050001

Aroy

2011-09-10T10:16:00.000+05:30

I know there's been a really long delay, and my apologies for the same.

Aroy is one of those places in South Bangalore that would lead some people to believe that it wouldn't 'fit in'. It serves Thai food primarily, and a smattering of dishes from the neighbouring areas.

This post has been so long overdue, I think I've lost a few of the snaps I'd taken! Anyway, so given that my experience with Thai food in Hyderabad was quite delightful, and given that I came to a conclusion that there is a huge market for Thai food in Bangalore (if done right), Aroy would end up a shade paler compared to my experiences in Hyderabad, but it's nevertheless quite good (at least better than that place Benjarong).

To start off, one slight disappointment with Aroy is that they do not serve pork and beef, but I'm guessing that's more because of the fact that they're located in south Bangalore than anything else. I wish people weren't so fickle, and wouldn't stop going to a place just coz something THEY don't eat is served there. I keep hearing that we are a tolerant society and all that, what bull! This kind of behaviour says otherwise.

Aroy is located on top of the Crossword building. They have an open air seating as well as air conditioned indoors. When there isn't any hint of the acclaimed Bangalore rain, then the outdoor would be the better option. Each table has an 'umbrella' made of cane and iron and does a good job of shielding the table from the prospect of water draining from the clouds, but it isn't wide enough to cover your backside.

That said, let's move on to the food. I'm really a sucker for the Tom Kha soup, and Aroy makes a delightful Tom Kha. Creamy, with just enough heat that comes from the chillies in them but not so much that you can't taste the rest of the flavours from the galangal, lemongrass, and coconut milk. Available in veg, chicken and prawns, this is must have, especially if you're in a group as you could split one portion with someone else, unless you're the kind who's usually described by your friends as a bottomless pit (or other such phrases).

Before I continue any further, there aren't any vegetarian dishes that I can talk about exclusively here, but since most of the veg dishes are more or less the same minus the meat component, you can draw a fairly accurate conclusion about the dish.

Among the starters, the Pandan chicken is a must have. Medium sized chunks of boneless chicken marinated in soy sauce, sugar, and a hint of ginger juice, wrapped in the Pandan leaves and deep fried, these little parcels are guaranteed to keep you licking your fingers clean.

If you're a fan of crispy lamb, then there is a version of that available, although I would suggest you skip that and head for the seafood, even if you don't eat/like seafood - it's better than the lamb. One of the things that ticked me off now is that during all the visits I made (3 in total), they did not have the crab stir fry that is on the menu. So we settled for the crab meat balls. Crab meat with corn flour and some seasoning and spices, stir fried, wok-tossed and served. Tasted nice, but I'd have liked to have had the whole crab stir fry instead (especially since it's on the menu!).

Having eaten the crab, we moved on to the prawns - wrapped in banana leaves and cooked. The spices were a combo of red chilli, ginger, garlic and something I couldn't quite place my finger on. This is was quite liked by everyone at the table, with the prawns cooked well.

For the main course, we stepped slightly away from Thai for a bit and settled for the Burmese dish of khow suey, or khao soi. The dish is essentially a noodle dish that is served with a coconut milk based curry. Apart from this, there are several condiments that are served alongside this, which once mixed, provided some much needed zing and add a different texture (adding peanuts). The one served here is quite good. The chicken gravy served with the noodles wasn't spicy, and overall, the dish is quite a nice one, especially if you' prefer subtle flavours as opposed to the more robust ones typically seen in Thai food.

Condiments for the khow suey
Khow suey
The pahd kee mao, or drunken noodles, unlike other noodles, consists of flat noodles and has bean sprouts and seasoning. If you like the flat variety, then you'll probably enjoy this one. And once again, the peanuts and the bean sprouts in this give it a nice texture, and if you haven't figured it out already, I like peanuts in the noodles. Just to have a side dish, we tried the chicken with cashew nuts and bell peppers. The dish went well along with the noodles, the gravy being mildly sweet and the chicken being not to spicy.

They also have the standard dishes like the Thai read and green curry, and there are a couple of stir fries involving duck meat. I've never had dessert here, primarily because I've been quite content at the end of my meal. Overall, Aroy gives a decent account of Thai food in south Bangalore in more than a decent setting.

Food: Good
$$$: About Rs 500 or so per head, depend in how people are present.
Service: Decent
Verdict: Must visit if in south Bangalore

Aroy, #74, 15^th Cross, 3^rd Phase, JP Nagar, Bangalore. Phone: 40939311, 41290535

Delays

2011-08-31T22:38:00.003+05:30

Dear readers,

Apologies for the delay in posting anything new. I am currently locked in my den studying for... well, an exam, what else, and hence haven't been able to post anything new for a while now. The drought shall end soon, I promise. See y'all soon, in about 8 days time.

-K

Edo

2011-08-15T08:00:00.030+05:30

After Harima, I've been wanting to have sushi and sashimi for the longest time. With ITC Gardenia opening in the city, and with it an authentic Japanese restaurant Edo, it was high on my 'to-do' list, and eventually I got to go there. The image to the right is quintessentially Japanese, representing the most well-known dishes.

Edo is about as authentic as it gets when it comes to Japaense cuisine (at least in India). The restaurant, one among 6 at Gardenia, is quite truly spectacular. Soft, mellow (and yellow) lighting, along with a display of some of the seafood, well spaced-out tables, a spic-n-span appearance, and comfortable ambiance makes Edo a wonderful location for a celebratory meal of sorts. Or if you've got the money and enjoy Japanese food, you could just go there to enjoy some good Japanese food. I was there to celebrate the birthday of an extremely close friend, and we were quite excited about the evenings meal. We had opted for the Kyoto fixed meal (the other two being the Tokyo meal and the Nara meal).

While the Nara meal was a vegetarian meal, the Kyoto and Tokyo fixed meals were non vegetarian. The fixed meals consist of 7 courses, so it's quite elaborate and you'd do well to go to Edo to spend some time there and get pampered. The Kyoto meal costs Rs 3200 + taxes, Tokyo Rs 5000 + taxes, and the Nara (vegetarian) will set you back by Rs 2500 + by taxes.

The 7 course meal can be broken down into the following categories: zensai (appetisers), sashimi, yakimono (grilled items), nimono (steamed), agemono (deep fried tempura), sushi, shokuji (staples - rice or noodles), and mizugashi (desserts, numbering 3). The zensai served to us consisted of crab, fish, and egg.

While the fish and egg were pretty decent - the fish nice and soft and the egg, almost like a cake, thick yet fluffy.

Sea bass
Egg
The crab seemed to be the 'just like crab' meat available at Spar and other supermarkets. It tasted good, but no different from what's available frozen.

Crab, or just-like-crab meat?
The second course, sashimi, consisted of salmon and tuna, was quite simply fabulous. The fish were fresh, plump, and fleshy, and the staff also come up to your table and grate fresh wasabi (horse radish) at the table. Also, the wasabi is grated using a paddle that has shark skin - apparently the authentic tool for grating wasabi for sushi and sashimi.

Salmon (orange), and tuna with seaweed and wasabi
Shark skin paddle to grate wasabi, with wasabi root
The third course, yakimono, had grilled chicken and sea bass, and was quite tender and wonderfully flavoured in a teriyaki sauce and was served with a spice mixture of 7 spices that went wonderfully well with soy sauce.

Full view
Ginger, in the form of a fish tail
The next course, nimono, which was a steamed dish, again, had sea bass along with the broth of 4 other steamed vegetables, separately steamed to maintain their individual properties in taste and flavour. Carrot, lady's finger (okra), pumpkin, and brinjal (egg plant/aubergine). The reason for steaming the vegetables separately and then adding everything together is so that the flavours are retained intact. The sea bass itself was quite fabulous - thick, juicy, fresh. I'm guessing so many dishes consisted of sea bass 'coz they must've bought sea bass fresh that morning, which is an excellent plan of action - using the best fish you've got for the meals for the day.

Sea bass
The fifth course was the tempura, and it was perhaps the only disappointment - not because it was bad, but compared to the rest of the food, it was extraordinarily insipid.

The sixth course was a dish that has become synonymous with Japanese cuisine - sushi. Little maki rolls with salmon roe, and then of course, there was salmon itself, along with red snapper. The quality of the fish, in all the dishes thus far, was quite simply superb. And they weren't miserly with the portions that they served either...well, they'd better not have been. After all, we were paying a small fortune for them.

The seventh course (and at this point I realised that desserts would make it an 8 course meal) was shokuji, or the staples. You can select either rice or noodles mixed with chicken. This comes with a bowl of miso soup. Boy, do I love a miso or what! Thin, light, packed with flavour, what more can you ask for in a soup. Needless to say, it's comforting. Check out the steam coming out from the bowl in the snap to the left. There are some scallions that are chopped and sprinkled on the top. Normally, I'm not a big fan of too much of green flotilla in my soups, but in this case, since the greens were very easy to chew and send into the labyrinth that was my stomach, I was OK.

We ordered noodles as we were both fans of noodles. The noodles were glazed in a teriyaki-like sauce and the chicken in it actually had falvour, as opposed to the chicken pieces one normally finds in fried rice or noodles, which are usually flavourless and dry. I was busy picking the chicken pieces with my chop sticks.

Finally, the dessert, or mizugashi, that consisted of three things: sesame flavoured ice cream, a Japanese yuzu lime cheesecake (thanks to Gautam John [@gkjohn] for helping me with the name), and green tea tiramisu.

Sesame ice cream
Japanese yuzu lime cheesecake
Green tea tiramisu
While the ice cream most certainly had an acquired taste to it (in my opinion, it was way too strong), the cheesecake was more subdued (or subtle) in flavour, and actually felt quite light as opposed to ones with heavy cream cheese in them. The tiramisu, we felt, should have been sweeter, or at least, we'd have liked it sweeter because among the trio, there wasn't a single dessert that was 'sweet'... I mean, desserts, come on! There needs to be something a little sweet, especially when you're having three. Playing with various levels of sweetness among the three would have made the perfect end to the meal. Overall, an excellent meal, one worthy to be eaten on special occasions.

Food: Excellent.
$$$: Expensive; 5 star rates. The Kyoto meal is Rs 3200 + taxes, Tokyo meal is Rs 5000 + taxes, and the Nara (veg) meal is Rs 2500 + taxes.
Service: Very good, and they explain the dishes really well.
Verdict: Must visit if you like Japanese food.

Edo, ITC Gardenia, #1 Residency Road (Field Marshall Cariappa Road), Bangalore. Phone: 22119898

Brahmin's Coffee Bar

2011-08-08T18:43:00.000+05:30

Brahmin's Coffee Bar is a small self-service fast food joint deep into south Bangalore (Google map), near Shakar matt, between Basavanagudi and Chamarajapet. Operating since 1965, this little place has been, and still is, the best joint for idlis and vadas in town. They've even won the competition for the best idlis conducted by Times of India.

Here's another angle of the idlis and vada, taking a holy dip in the chutney.

The idlis are soft and fluffy, and for an extra 4 bucks, you'll also get a small dollop of white butter - butter made from buffalo milk. Brahmin's is one of the few places that doesn't offer you sambar, but only chutney. At most times, you would see an old gentleman, Radhakrishna Adiga, the owner, sitting at the entrance, pouring chutney to those walking out with the idlis and/or vadas.

Photo credit: Upasana Nath

The kesari bath (left), made from rava (that wonderful substitute for rice that came up trumps during world war 2), contains a lot of pineapple. I have heard some people complain that there is perhaps a little too much pineapple for their liking, but I didn't have any complaints - I love my kesari bath sweet, with a slight oily glaze brought about by the ghee.

The khara bath (right), the spicier complement for the kesari bath, is just as good. An ideal way to eat it is by filling half the spoon with kesari bath and the other half with the khara bath. The combination of sweet and spicy will continue to dance on your palate long after you've downed the dishes.

Stacked up and ready to be downed.

Tea and coffee are the only beverages available here - quite nice.

Photo credit: Upasana Nath

Photo credit: Upasana Nath
Nice trick to make sure you don't burn your fingers - I learnt it the hard way!

The place before the renovation and 'upgrade' of the board.

After the restoration or renovation, however you look at it. Photo credit: Upasana Nath

Food: Very good
$$$: Rs 150 for two
Service: Self service
Verdict: Must visit

Barhmin's Coffee Bar, Ranga Rao Road, near Shakara matt, Shankarapuram, Bangalore.

Swensen's (Koramangala)

2011-08-01T20:35:00.007+05:30

Swensen's is the latest ice cream brand to hit Bangalore, and going by the look of things, they mean business. For a Bangalorean like me, who's grown up eating ice creams at Lake View on MG Road, and later at the new upstart called Corner House, Swensen's (along with a host of other joints) is a welcome change. Now the common ice cream eater has been presented with a multitude of choices - almost like how the ushering of capitalism did by replacing communism. With San Francisco-based Swensen's making a foray into the markets, the competition just got hotter...or colder. Three outlets that I know of are at Mantri mall, Meenakshi mall, and Koramangala (near the Sony signal).

Although Swensen's internationally is known for its gourmet burgers and grilled sandwiches, right now they've just opened up for ice creams, including some 'India-centric' flavours. While there are several sundaes to select from, you can also select from any one of several individual falvours. And for those of you who love cake/brownies/fudge in your ice creams, there are combinations with those as well.

The sweet princess (above) was a sweet mix of strawberry, vanilla, and whipped cream. The fondue for 2 (served with 4 scoops of ice cream - you can select the 4 flavours) comes with sliced bananas and cantaloupe and a bowl of molten chocolate. Quite heavenly this is. The other fondue is the fondue for 4, which includes 9 scoops of ice cream.

The nutty crispy tower comes filled with fruits and nuts and ice cream with chocolate sauce mixed in and some wafers thrown in for good measure (crispy...how else?).

The glasses in which water was served was also very funky - it seemed as if they had almost all the names of the sundaes on the glasses. By far the most innovative use of water glasses I've seen - in fact, I think these are the funkiest glasses I've seen in restaurants and eat outs.

The waffle ice cream was just that - a waffle topped with a couple of scoops of ice cream with some whipped cream. And really, personally, although I'm up to trying any weird combo, I'm more of a 'waffles-for-breakfast' kind of a guy.

I don't know the name of this last one we had, but you've got to hand it to Swensen's for getting creative. Apart from the ice creams, there are also some sorbets. The sundaes are colourful and vibrant. They're big. And they're pretty darn good.

Food: Very good
$$$: Approx. Rs 200 - 250 for two.
Service: Harried when the crowd picks up.
Verdict: Must visit.

Swensen's ice creams, 80 Ft Road, Opp. Barista, near Sony Signal, Koramangala, Bangalore. Phone: 41613524

Baking eggs

2011-07-23T12:32:00.007+05:30

It's been a while since I cooked something at home, and this morning, after my morning run, I was in the mood for something sinfully heavy. Looking around the house, the only thing(s) that could qualify as heavy were egg and cheese, so I got to work with it. I was soon reminded of a post by Ms BakeAnything and Ms Quiche about mixing stuff with an egg and baking it. And so I got to work on the same.

Now even while making simple omelettes, to make things a little exciting, we add a host of things - onions, tomatoes, spinach, bacon, ham, cheese - to name a few, so I thought of doing the same. I had a little pork pickle left (purchased at Thulp a while ago), a new bottle of Tom Yum soup paste (that Ms Quiche had bought for me recently), and so I decided to toss in these two along with some cheese, onions and garlic. For seasoning and flavour, I used paprika, salt and pepper. Although I started out with 1 egg, I soon realised two was the optimum number.

So I cracked two eggs into a mug, beat them with a fork, chopped up a quarter of an onion, bashed the daylights out of one clove of garlic, added some salt and pepper, and then went on to add a teaspoon of the Tom Yum paste and the remainder of the pork pickle in the jar (about a table spoon). Feel free to substitute the pork with ham, bacon, mushrooms, bell peppers or whatever you love to go into you eggs. No real substitute can be suggested for vegetarians for the the Tom Yum paste, so just add whatever flavouring you desire. Top it up with cheese - as much as your heart desires. I also added some paprika for flavour.

Preheat the oven at 200C and cook at 200C for 18 minutes (Ms BakeAnything had suggested cooking time of 20 minutes at 180C). The end result was quite fabulous and a wonderful meal for brunch.

Ingredients
2 eggs
1 tsp paprika (optional; use chilli powder if you want it spicy)
1 clove garlic, crushed and make a paste
1/4 onion, chopped
1 tsp Tom Yum paste
1 tbsp pork pickle (use ham/bacon/chicken/ground beef/musgrooms/bell peppers)
Cheese, as much as your heart can handle
Salt & pepper to taste

Method
Chop the onion fine, make a paste out of the garlic, whisk the eggs and add the onions, garlic, salt, pepper, paprika, Tom Yum paste, and pork pickle. Add all these into a ramekin (I don't have one, so I used a ceramic mug). Preheat the oven at 200C. Once preheated, place the ramekin/mug into the oven and bake at 200C for 18 minutes. Alternately, preheat at 180C and bake at 180C for 20 minutes. Ensure that ehatever dish you use for baking is evenly shaped so that the heat is distributed evenly and cooking happens evenly.

Of wings and lollipops

2011-07-12T16:21:00.007+05:30

This post isn't about a review of any restaurant to give you insights about the food at a particular joint, but rather to give y'all a few details about a very popular dish. In case I haven't mentioned it here before (don't think I have), my favourite cuisine is... what, tell me? Go on, take a guess... I dare ya! Honestly, there isn't any one particular cuisine that I'd prefer on a whole over any other cuisine, but comfort food for me is anything that can be fitted between two slices of slightly toasted bread/bun. Yup, the sandwich, and its cousin the burger top the imaginary list of what can be called my favourite food. If someone holds a gun to my head and asks for a cuisine, I guess I'll have to say 'pub food'.

To some extent (quite a large extent actually), sandwiches and burgers can also be categorised under pub food, and I guess because I like to multi-task, sandwiches are probably the one food item that I can eat and work with at the same time. Also, stating pub food has another reason - for one, it involves pork :) and another universal favourite, chicken wings or Buffalo wings. This post is dedicated towards shedding some light chicken wings.

Photo credit Hub Pages
There are a lot of places now in Bangalore that serve wings with varying degrees of heat. Plan B even has a 'Wings Tuesday' event where you can get a dozen wings for Rs:120 (and also buy a beer and get one free before 6 P.M), Toit has a heavenly bowl of wings for those interested, while that new upstart, Nando's, also has a plate of scary looking wings (scary coz the entire wing is served - drummette, wingette and tip, without being cut) with their famous peri-peri sauce. Of course, there could be several other joints serving wings, I just stuck to the more popular ones.

For those of you who love to dig into a bowl of juicy, succulent wings slathered with enough sauce to make it slide between your fingers without any resistance, dipping it into a tartar sauce of mayo or just eating them the way they are, I'm sure you'd have encountered the same problems I have. Inconsistency. Perhaps not in taste, but most certainly in terms of size. Yup, when it comes to food, size does matter.

I've had my fair share of disappointments, mostly noticing that some of the peices are almost devoid of meat, while some are so full of meat you wonder whether it actually is a wing or something else. And then there's this mysterious dish called a chicken lollipop, that sort of resembles a chicken drumstick (leg) but is smaller, and you never quite know what or where it came from. Well, this post aims to give you some gyaan about that as well.

The chicken wing consists of three sections, much like the human arm (evolution).

Image from Just Bento
Most places in the west, notably the US, where wings, or Buffalo wings (since they're supposed to have originated in Buffalo, NY) are a rage, make use of the first part of the wing, the drummette, for their wings. The drummette resembles a drumstick (chicken leg) and quite often I've seen a mildly perplexed look on the faces of people eating this when they'd ordered for wings. Also, being a more meatier portion of the wing (just like how we have our biceps in the top section of the arm, the wing packs a lot of meat in the drummette). In India (I'll speak for Bangalore alone now), most places that serve wings give you a mixture of drummettes and wingettes and more often than not there would be more wingettes than drummettes. So the next time you order that bowl of wings, make a mental note of how many wingettes and drummettes came in your order of wings. Although there's no 'rule' as such as to what ought to be served, common sense would suggest that the drummette would be a piece that the folks dining would prefer, since the wingette, apart from having less meat, also as twice the number of bones (2) in it when compared to a drummette.

The next topic is the chicken lollipop (alias Drums of Heaven). What part of the chicken does this mysterious piece come from? The answer is ... you guessed it (didn't you?), the chicken wing again! If you recall my second post while I was in Hyderabad, a waiter had served us chicken lollipop when we had ordered wings and tried to pass it off as 'wings' by claiming "...lollipop will be more yellow colour, Sir." To be fair (now), they did serve us wings, just not in the way we expected them to. That's like asking for mashed potatoes with your steak but being served French fries instead!

Here's a link where you can see the entire process of how a lollipop is made. The drummette is taken and the meat from one end of the bone is separated off from the bone while leaving the meat at the other end attached to the bone. This 'dangling' meat is then pulled over the other end of the bone (like removing a sweater, getting it inside out and leaving it to cover your head). After that, all that remains is the simple task of seasoning the meat, and coating it with batter and frying it. However, places that want to act cheap and make an extra buck at the cost of the customer would use the wingette section, remove one of the two bones in it (the thinner bone), and then follow the process of making the lollipop. So in case you find a difference in the amount of meat on top of the lollipop, check the size of the bones, and if you notice a difference, it could well be a lollipop made from a wingette and not from a drummette.

So now that you know what 'actually' a chicken wings dish ought to consist of, and what a chicken lollipop is, I'll leave you to go figure out where the best of each can be found in the city you live in, and it's for you as a customer to make a list of those places that are trying to pull a fast one on you.

Spaghetti Kitchen

2011-07-11T23:27:00.000+05:30

I don't seem to understand where the space comes up from for new(er) places in Indiranagar. I've now noticed that Little Italy has opened up again on 100 Feet road, a couple of hundred meters from their previous location (their earlier premises saw another Italian place called Italia come up). Spaghetti Kitchen and Copper chimney are what seem to be the new kids on the block. Having visited Copper Chimney at Bangalore Central (MG Road) and not in the mind for north Indian cuisine, we decided to visit Spaghetti Kitchen for lunch.

The decor at Spaghetti is quite tasteful. The restaurant is nicely lit with natural light from the facade and then there are enough lights that ensure you aren't shrouded in darkness. Since it was a working day and we didn't have the luxury of spending a lot of time, we had to (sadly) opt for the fixed meal (Rs 399). The starters arrived at the table and almost immediately vanished into the mouths of my colleagues before I could take a picture. I'm guessing that's why I don't have pics of the non-veg starters... or were there non-veg starters? Can't remember. Anyway, the veg starters were a little insipid, except for probably those cheese balls in the background. Also, as part of the meal, we could have a glass of wine or beer. While some opted for beer, some had wine.

Veg starters
Red wine
A complimentary bread basket with a very nice dip was actually one of the highlights of the meal. Imagine that - free stuff that tastes good! The pizzas (both veg and non veg) come only in thin crust, and were decent, although from a taste point of view, it wasn't anything to rave about. The spaghetti was just plain boring - not too much of flavour, and if someone has to add oregano/chilli flakes for flavour, then something is seriously lacking in the dish.

The fish was nicely done, with a slight crust on the outer surface and the body soft inside. The tofu dish too wasn't too bad although my colleagues who had it claimed it was a piece of rubber that was coloured white-ish and served :) I didn't think so though.

Garlic bread & dip
Pizza
Spaghetti
Fish something
Tofu something
I thought that desserts would be saving grace, and in terms of taste they were. However, from a service stand point, I think I found something seriously lacking. We were a group of 6. Now take a look at the photo below and tell what's wrong.

Dessert platter
Couldn't figure it out? Well, we were 6, but there were only 4 of each! I dunno if this is because that plate on which they're served can have only 4 per type, but I don't care. Why are things so rigid? And no, they didn't get another plate with 2 more of each little cake. I guess it pretty much summed up the entire experience.

I won't be giving my usual report card because I only had the fixed meal, and would love to try the a la carte once. But if the standards set by the fixed meal are anything to go by, then this would be another case of a big brand hoping to survive only by reputation and by catering to only those who aren't very discerning (sadly that number is still quite large).

# 2006, 1^st Floor, 100 Feet Road, Adjacent to Vodafone, Indiranagar, Bangalore. Phone: 41113500

It's been 3 years

2011-06-27T02:00:00.005+05:30

To all the readers, snoopsters (I made that word up right now), lurkers, slurpers, burpers, and everyone else far and in between, Gastronomical G-spot completes 3 years today. From a blog that started out as an outlet for my cooking experiments to writing about food that passed on my plate, to eventually 'reviewing' restaurants as an outcome of 'demands' made by readers of the blog (I didn't even know people followed the blog back then), it's been a joyful path that the blog has meandered through. Now I wouldn't want to dramatise this and say "the blog has come a long way" - quite simply because it hasn't - so to put me in a position where 3 years from now I'll be able to say with authority that the blog has come a long way, I'd like to ask you, my readers, if there's something different you'd like to see or read about to continue to be kept informed (because that's all my blog does - inform you), then please do let me know.

As a proponent of total free speech, all criticism and slamming and whamming of me and the blog will be accepted and published in the comments below, except for socially disturbing language (this too is a phrase I conjured up just now, so I'll have an added task of coming up with a definition for it) - simply because it would spoil it for all other readers (unless of course it's universally funny). Suggestions given shall be incorporated wherever possible as long as they don't stray from the underlying ethos and spirit of the blog (once again, I'll have to figure out what it is first). So please feel free with thoughts and ideas, both here in the comments' section as well as on the Facebook page. And no, I'm not paying you for this, but if I think someone's really given me something challenging and enjoyable to work with that I think is a winner of an idea, I might just sponsor a meal for two at one of the places covered here of the winners choice (of course, I'll be one of the two that I speak of).

And so on this day (coincidentally also happens to be the birthday of an extremely close friend), I think the first thing I'll try to change about my writing style is to use shorter sentences and not put so many things in brackets. Stay tuned to the blog, there could be a windfall in terms of meals... I have spoken too much, not another word.

Malaysian Hawker Fare Food Festival

2011-06-19T10:04:00.001+05:30

There is a food festival "The Malaysian Street Hawker Fare" at the Crowne Plaza hotel in Electronics City. Here's a summary:

Malaysia is known for its exotic and sundry street food which reflects the impact of the multicultural aspects. After the success of our Maharashtrian Food Festival we bring to you this next journey of discovery to explore this unique melting pot - that is - The Malaysian Street Hawker Fare. The Malaysian Hawker Fare will hit you with a variety of exotic and tantalizing dishes with a hint of Indian, Chinese and South-East Asian influences to be experienced.

Explaining the cuisine as a gourmet extravaganza Malaysian chefs Chef Sous, Mohamed Haniff and Demi Chef de Partie - Nor Halis Shafik specially flown in from the sister property in Kuala Lumpur for the event shares few secrets from the Menu such as, “Kambing berempah dengan kentang (Lamb stew with lemon grass and coriander), Nasi goreng kampong (Authentic malaysian fried rice), Bami Goreng (Authentic malaysian fried noodles) and Lepat pisang (Steamed banana wrap cake)”.
The celebrations begin on the 13th of June up to the 24th of June for Lunch Buffet at 24@43 (Crowne Plaza Bengaluru, Electronics City)

Cost per head: lunch buffet – Rs. 395 (plus taxes) per person; ala carte dinner – Rs. 1500 (plus taxes) for 2
Contact: 080 3985 4700
Lunch Buffet: Monday - Friday

Touché Diner

2011-06-14T10:20:00.019+05:30

Technology has touched our lived in so many ways that a majority of the technology and the advances that let us get through a day with relative comfort is taken for granted. With the coming of touch screens, it was only a matter of time before this was incorporated into a restaurant's menu/ordering system. The idea was mooted by several people a long time ago, and I guess it wasn't a surprise that we actually are seeing this being implemented. Bengaluru got its first touch screen restaurant, rather appropriately (and obvious) named, Touché Diner.

Located on 100 Feet Road Indiranagar near the 12^th main signal, the restaurant is mysteriously shrouded in black and dark shades inside - to enable the almost unearthly glow from the touch screens to 'light up your world'. The tables are large, as one would expect, and depending on the seating capacity per table, there are suitable number of touch screens on the table. Once you place your order, the order is sent to waiters who carry Samsung Galaxy tablets and they confirm the order before transmitting it to the kitchen.

The food, sadly (well, sadly for me), is a hodge podge of dishes from multiple cuisines as diverse as chalk and cheese. My fear with places that are 'multi-cuisine' is that there isn't much consistency and so far my fear has been well founded. 6 of us visited Touché diner for lunch, and while they did have the option of an executive buffet, we chose to go a la carte, for again, I'm of the opinion that the a la carte food is always better than the buffet food. You'll have to excuse the quality of hte pictures - hadn't carried my camera, and the camera on my phone is normally quite bad, and lousy under poor lighting conditions.

The Manchow soup, apart from being spicy, didn't have anything else and was just pathetic, while the roasted tomato & zucchini soup was tangy but quite insipid. The potato-leek soup was an absolute winner for us all - creamy, well flavoured, and smooth. It reminded us of a favourite - the cream of mushroom.

Manchow soup
Potato & leek soup
With the soups out of the way, it was time to munch on some of the starters. The spare ribs in a Tex-Mex sauce were quite a revelation - well cooked, succulent (could've been a bit spicier though), but my only grouse was that we were given only 3-4 ribs...for Rs 365.

Ribs
Another angle of the ribs
The fish skewers were also quite decent and thankfully the fish was cooked just right. The flavours used here were quite delectable, and Mr. VP actually ate everything on his plate.

Fish skewers
The Waldorf salad didn't seem very exciting (poor lighting in the restaurant results in uninspiring looking dishes), and when it came to the palate, either it was genuine mistake, or common error usually committed, but where was the basic seasoning??? You don't have to marinate the salad in salt & pepper, but PLEASE SPRINKLE SOME. Yes, for the salad. For any salad. Especially if you're primary dressing consists of mayonnaise. The Insalata de flowers - a mixture of red and yellow peppers with corn was quite nice to look at on the plate and pretty decent on the palate.

Waldorf salad
Insalata de flowers
The best veg starter we had was a dish whose name eludes me now (and I can't seem to find it in the menu here). It consisted of buffalo mozzarella cheese along with tomatoes and basil, and a drizzle of a dressing with balsamic vinegar, and it was quite divine.

For the main course, I went ahead and had the lasagna Bolognese, and although this was a spin on the classic spaghetti Bolognese, it was quite simply superb. The ground beef was fresh, and the lasagna was cooked just right with the right amount of cheese - loads of it! Also, in my opinion, this was a healthy spin on a classic dish, the kind of experiments that should be tried out in restaurants so that gourmands can get to experience something refreshingly different. Why limit experimentation only to the bedroom?

Lasagna Bolognese
On a previous visit, I had indulged in the pork chops on a bed of mashed potato along with an onion and sage sauce. The chops were succulent and the sauce was quite brilliant - excellent use of flavours that complimented the potato's bland taste.

Pork chops with onion & sage sauce
The fish sizzler we had was OK, but I am a purist and hate sizzlers, so perhaps the dish was actually good, but I'll still go with 'just OK'. The mushroom risotto was nice if you like cheesy risottos. Although bland (it's one of those dishes you have for 'subtle flavour'), this risotto was done quite nicely.

The veg shaslik, like all veg shasliks I've had all my life is small restaurants, was nothing great, with a few veggies and paneer skewered on sticks and served with herbed rice.
Veg shaslik
Another angle of the veg shaslik
The penne Arrabbiata was nice, but nothing to write home about - a dish if skipped, well, let's just say you wouldn't be missing much. The presentation of all dishes served here is given special attention. Very nicely done.

We didn't opt for dessert as we were quite full, and so left it at that. Given what we'd eaten, the portions, the taste, and the overall experience, I think Touché is a touch, or several touches too expensive. It's all very well to enthrall the guests with gizmos and technology, but this is a restaurant, and you can't shy away from the primary responsibility of serving good food. For 6 of us, the meal came up to a almost Rs 5400 (all inclusive, with a 10% tip). For this kind of money, I think any guest should get to eat absolutely authentic food, which sadly, isn't the case here. Not only was the meal not a 100% authentic to the cuisines served, some of the food is good, some OK, some plain bad, so they'd do well to improve on the kitchen front. 3 stars is a bit of a stretch actually, but what the heck, nobody's perfect right?

Food: OK. Pork and fish dishes good. Rest are average or poor (for the money charged)
$$$: Very expensive. Almost 700-800 per head for a full meal.
Service: Decent
Verdict: Can visit once, but for the money charged, the food needs to be a lot better.
Extra info: Presentation of dishes is very nice.

Touché Diner, 3^rd Floor, #762, Above Reid & Taylor Showroom, 100 Feet Road, Indiranagar, Bangalore. Phone: 30412940 ext:107

When we grilled through the night

2011-06-06T14:20:00.009+05:30

Soon after the Assamese food festival, the next night, Ms Quiche and Ms BakeAnything invited me to Ms Quiche's place for a night of fun cooking and drinking.

Ms Quiche: "BYOB and BYOF is what it's gonna be."
Me: "Eh?"
Ms Quiche: "Bring your own booze, and bring your own food."
Me: "Oh OK", I said, and I thought to myself, "Wicked!"

The ladies were onto something and were planning on sausages, grilled chicken, salads and what not. The salad was quite a hit even though there wasn't a shred of meat in it. Pineapple, watermelon, and lettuce with a dressing made of olive oil, balsamic vinegar and honey. Divine! Quite simply fabulous. I'd personally never thought of using honey in a salad dressing (or anywhere), but then again, my culinary expertise is very limited.

The chicken was marinated with ginger, garlic, chilli and paprika, and some vinegar and sugar with salt. At the end, we were tearing into the chicken like cavemen. Here's the link to their recipes.

Everyone got a welcome drink, a mojito, and it was quite a superb one. I wonder if these women are moonlighting somewhere without my knowledge.

There was also some grilled fruits - pineapple, raw mango, tomatoes and peppers. The pineapple and raw mango was also a hit.

I decided to make bacon-wrapped prawns. This dish is a result of my hatred towards all places that batter-fry this marvelous combination, thus killing two birds with one proverbial stone. Grilling, or pan frying the combo is the way to go, and the best way to go about doing this is by creating a nice pasty marinade for the two main actors in this show.

Recipe for prawn marinade:

20 medium sized prawns (use large ones if you please), deveined, with tails on (keeping the head on is optional, depending on personal preference)
4 cloves garlic
2 tsp sugar (preferably powdered)
2 1/2 tsp paprika
1 tsp red chilli powder / cayenne pepper
1/2 tsp pepper
3/4 tsp coriander powder
1/2 tsp cumin powder
3/4 tsp salt
1.5 tbsp oil (I used olive, but again, your choice)
1 lemon, juiced
10 rashers of Bacon
40-50 Toothpicks

Recipe for bacon marinade:

2 tsp paprika
1 tsp chilli powder
1/2 tsp cumin powder
1/2 tsp coriander powder
1/2 tsp pepper

Method:

Wash and de-vein the prawns, and dry them using paper towls. Mince the garlic as fine as possible. Make a paste out of the garlic, along with the sugar, paprika, chilli powder, pepper, coriander powder, cumin powder, salt, lemon juice and oil. Mix well, and then apply on the prawns and allow to marinate in room temperature for about 30-45 minutes. Now, heat a pan (without oil) and once it's hot, add a few rashers of bacon on it and start to fry them. No, no oil. The bacon has enough fat and we want to fry it in that itself. The idea is to partially fry them, until some of the fat melts and is rendered in liquid form. Do not fry until crisp; we need the bacon to be in a state where we can fold it around the prawns. Once the bacon is slightly cooked, take them off and dry them on paper towels. Collect the fat from the pan and keep aside. Repeat this until all the rashers of bacon have been partially fried, and collect whatever fat you can.

Once all the bacon has been partially fried, prepare the marinade. Mix all the ingredients for the bacon's marinade and use the fat collected (as much necessary) to mix all the dry ingredients and make a paste. Apply it on the bacon and allow it to marinate for about an hour. Once both the bacon and prawns have been marinated, take one rasher of bacon and put two prawns, heads together, into it, such that the tail ends stick out of opposite sides. Roll the bacon over them and secure this with 2 toothpicks, criss-crossing each other (or as many needed to secure it - I used 3 in some cases). Repeat this for all the rashers of bacon and prawns. Keep the 'parcels' in the refrigertor until about 30 mins before they are to be grilled.

Once your grill is ready, and the charcoals are hot, use a skewer and brush a little oil on it and run it through each bacon wrapped prawn(s) parcel. While skewering, leave the toothpicks on or it would fall apart. Skewer about two or three per skewer and set on the grill. Turn the skewers over periodiclaly to cook evenly. If you're using a pan, then leave the skewers aside and set the pan on a high flame, and once the pan is hot, add a half teaspoon of some of the fat collected from frying the bacon. As soon as it starts to sizzle, add the parcels onto the pan. how you manage to do this with the toothpicks still in the parcels is a test of your ingenuity. But rest assured, removing the toothpicks will spoil the show because you want the prawn(s) wrapped under the bacon blanket to get infused with some of that bacon goodness while it cooks.

Assamese Food Festival

2011-06-02T20:44:00.005+05:30

In continuation with the post put up some time ago about the Assamese food festival that was to be held at ANTs cafe, here is the review.

Our meal started off with a drink called Kordoi, which is Assamese for star fruit. This was a really nice juice with a sweet and sour taste. Since Ms Quiche is Assamese, she was our 'guide' of sorts when it came to the food. She was all gung-ho about the food festival, dressed in a traditional Mekhela and all. The maas patotdia was a very nice chunk of fish cooked inside a banana leaf parcel. The flavours of the rohu fish were intact, and though only subtle, it was a very nice dish. Some of the other starters were fritters of pumpkin and brinjal. Along with these, there were several accompaniments like the bhoot jolokia (spiciest chilli in the world), khorisa (fermented bamboo shoots), and kharoli (fermented mustard paste).

Maas patotdia

On to the mains, and while rice was obviously going to be the staple carbohydrate source, many of us fell in love with the bengena pura, which was roasted brinjal which was them mashed. A few dals added to the melange of dishes, but what most of us were eager to reach the meats - and it was well worth the wait.

There were two fish(y) dishes, and one mutton dish. the murighonto, or fish head curry, was a flavourful, and if you aren't averse to eat fish head, this was indeed a wonderful curry, although it did involve using your hand and mouth in tandem to work the meat from it. The other fish curry, the norosingha mashur jul, was a mildly sour dish yet wonderfully flavoured with the levels of heat totally acceptable.

The mutton, mangsor jul, ooh, the mutton! How we raved about it till late in the night. Tender, tasty, in a light gravy with potatoes - clubbed with rice, this was simply amazing. We wound things off with the paayox (pronounced as paa-yosh), which was like kheer or payasa, and was also quite superb - had me literally licking the bowl clean.

Mangshor jul

Norosingha mashur jul

Can't wait for the next food fest!

BM Review: Suggi

2011-05-26T21:40:00.015+05:30

Sometime last month I'd visited a restaurant called Suggi in JP Nagar along with Ms BakeAnything and Ms Quiche. I later returned to review it for the Bangalore Mirror. The review can be read here. Suggi is the harvest festival in many parts of Karnataka. And this Suggi serves food from the Malnad area of Karnataka - Malnad is the Anglicised word for Male (rain) Nadu (region).

Malnad sits at the top of the Western Ghats, and hence is on the windward side of the approaching annual south west monsoons, and hence rainfall here is in abundance. The cuisine here is quite similar to the cuisine in South Canara (Mangalore and surrounding areas), although there are a few differences here and there, notably the use of pepper (image of mutton pepper dry) and few other spices in most dishes, that would otherwise be missing from the recipes of most dishes from South Canara.

For starters, we went whole hog and nearly out did ourselves (on both occasions). The mutton masala was simply fabulous, with the meat cooked extremely tender and the masala used was quite superb. The ghee roast was a copy of the famous dish from Kundapur (near Udupi, where the dish took birth) and since imitation is the best form of flattery, this ghee roast did a good job - the ghee still dripping off the pieces. Both dishes were cooked so well that the meat was just falling off the bones. Delicious doesn't begin to describe it!

Mutton masala

Another angle of the mutton masala

Chicken ghee roast
Fish! Just had to have some fish. Being a Mangalorean, it would be sacrilege to not :) and the seer fish (anjal) fried in a banana leaf with a red chilli paste marinade was just what the doctor ordered (actually it's what Ms BakeAnything ordered). And it was just as heavenly as the other dishes ordered. Now most of the dishes ordered thus far had a very similar marinade (if not the same) consisting of red chillies, garlic, turmeric, fenugreek among others.

Anjal masala fry
A few of the other dishes we had were the prawn masala (very similar to the ghee roast and anjal fish fry), the Malnad chicken (dry), and badane (brinjal/egg plant) sukka (a dry preparation with grated coconut and spices mixed), and a local favourite, the mutton pepper dry. The prawns were quite good, and the brinjal sukka (the lone veg dish during the review) was also very nicely done. The Malnad chicken was high on colour and decoratives, but low on flavour, while the mutton pepper dry was just that - dry and a little chewy!

For the main course, we chose to have the neer dosa, akki roti, appams, and shavige along with the Malnad chicken curry. The neer dosas were the best I've had outside of home, without a doubt, and kudos to the restaurant for getting it spot on (even in restaurants serving Mangalorean and Bunt food I've not had them this good). The batter for the appams had fermented quite a bit more than necessary and the strong smell was a turn off. The akki roti and shavige (Bunts and Mangaloreans alike, we call this semeda addye), served in the shape of an idli, were quite nice along with the chicken curry.

Neer dosa and shavige with Malnad chicken curry
Appams
Akki roti
Shavige
Desserts were a tempered affair, with us settling for the tender coconut payasa, which was quite delightful and refreshing actually (maybe we should start off our meals with this!) and a pumpkin halwa, again, something that I quite liked. I'm not sure about the Malnad region, but in South Canara cuisine, we do make a lot of halwas, and when I say halwa, don't think of it only as the stretchy, rubbery 'chunks' or blocks of sweet-meat that's made, but more along the likes of the carrot halwa. Typically, vegetables like ash gourd and pumpkin are used and there are copious amounts of cashew nuts and raisins thrown into it, along with a lot of ghee. Literally a heart stopper, but delicious none the less.

Tender coconut payasa
pumpkin halwa

Food: Very good
$$$: If you go whole hog and eat properly, it may come to about 400 or 500 per head, but otherwise around 300-400 per head would be the average
Service: Decent
Verdict: Must visit if in the area

The Narayan's Suggi, 683/A II Phase, Near Delmia, JP Nagar, Bangalore. Phone: 40988636, 40988637

El Tablao

2011-05-25T08:36:00.016+05:30

A month ago, a cousin of mine had come down from abroad, and she was here for a whole month. Last weekend was when she was to leave, and so before she left, us cousins (those who could make it) decided to go out for dinner. We settled down on El Tablao in Koramangala. El tablao, if you didn't already know, or haven't guessed, served Spanish food, with a special emphasis on tapas. The menu of El Tablao can be found here on the Zomato website.

We started our meal with a couple of sangrias. Now my understanding of a sangria was that it was a mixture of wine along with brandy and some chopped fruits. However, the one we were served had only wine (or had so much wine it totally masked the brandy). It tasted good though, so I guess it was ok. Was a little depressed that when it came to spirits, there was no beer (guess it didn't fit in with the tapas concept). Expectedly, they had a big list of wines, some martinis and gin (I think), along with the sangrias, but no beer. And while sipping on the sangrias, we also munched on some of the acclaimed tapas on offer.

We started off with the chorizo, the famed sausages from Spain. The ones served here were chopped and sautéed in red wine. These tasted quite good, but a little hard, which made me assume this was the cured (smoked) version. I thought the chorizo would've been spicier, but then perhaps that's the Mexican variety (totally different from the Spanish one, which uses paprika).

One of my cousins has turned vegetarian for a short period, and so for him we ordered the patatas bravas, which is generally a very popular bar snack. It was served with a spicy sauce that seemed to get its zing from a dash of vinegar in it. The other dish that we ordered to warm the cockles of my cousin during his vegetarian escapade was a Spanish omelette. OK, not vegetarian, eggitarian!. The Spanish omelette was near perfect - fluffy, almost like a cake, although when we ripped the top open, it started to deflate.

Patatas bravas

Spanish omelette

My brother isn't too adventurous when it comes to food, and so to make sure that he didn't end up eating stuff that made him uneasy, we did end up ordering a chicken tapa, called brocheta de pollo Pimientos y cebolla, or skewers of chicken breast marinated in spices, peppers and onions. I'm guessing the 'spices' were essentially paprika and some garlic. Well cooked, and no complaints.

We also ordered a plate of the lamb chops, although why the description states this as lamb cutlets, none of us knew. There were solid bones, as one would expect in a lamb chop, and there wasn't a hint of minced meat anywhere in sight, which would've been essential for the cutlets.

When there's spare ribs on the menu, it's a little hard for me to not order them, and so a portion of spare ribs was ordered. Straight away I'll say two things: the ribs tasted nice, but these weren't the most tender ones I've had, and nowhere close to the best I've had, not by a long shot. I just wish these were tender like the ones I've had at Xian.

And then something really sucky happened! We were ready to order our main course, and of course, we wanted to try the paella (pronounced pa - 'e - ya), and so when we placed our order, we were informed that the paella takes about 35-40 minutes to make. WTF! There was no mention of this on the menu anywhere, and the least they could've done is told us this all important piece of information at the time of take the order for the starters so that we could've placed the order for the main course well in advance. Damn! So the only other thing to do was to wait, and while doing that we ordered another starter, a prawn dish, batter fried and served with mayo. This one wasn't anything special, and given that I had it when people batter fry prawns, I couldn't care too much about this dish.

Finally after more than 45 minutes, the paella Valenciana arrived. Another bit of info for you the unsuspecting reader, is that the paellas mentioned on the menu along with the price is a portion for one person, but they don't serve it for one person, and the minimum quantity served is for two, so be prepared to shell out 2x the cost of the paella. In terms of presentation and taste, full marks. The dish is served in a paella itself (paella is actually a vessel in which the dish is actually made). Taste too, was quite good, with sufficient chunks of chicken and seafood tossed into it. I just wish we were informed about the delay in serving this so that we wouldn't have had to sit idle waiting for the food for over 45 minutes.

Desserts were a dull affair, although there was a little bit of comedy. I asked the waiter what the "cake of the day" was, and "Black forest, sir" came the reply. At which point, my cousin said "Oooh maaiiiii" and put his hands on his face, acting all happily shocked and excited that we were going to eat black forest pastry! :D Was quite a sight. My brother had an ice cream - 3 flavours ice cream.

Food: Overall, quite OK if you limit it to some of the tapas
$$$: Not too expensive as I'd previously thought. The above meal with 4 sangrias came to around 3,500. We were a group of 5.
Service: Decent
Verdict: Visit for some good Spanish tapas.
Extra info: Paella takes a minimum of 40 minutes to make, so plan and order accordingly. And it's served for two, so multiply the cost given on the menu by 2 for your calculations.

El Tablao, #612/1, 80 Feet Road, Near Sony World signal, 4^th Block, Koramangala, Bangalore. Phone: 41410124

Birthday at Pepper Cafe

2011-05-20T08:57:00.003+05:30

This post is more than a month overdue. It was the day I updated the description of the blog from "A 27 year old Bangalorean's ..." to "A 28 year old Bangalorean's ...". It was my birthday dinner at Pepper Cafe with a few of my closest friends. Special day, special people, special moment. Nothing much to write, most of the dishes were the same as what we had when I'd gone to review the place.

One fact worth mentioning is that Ms Quiche and Ms BakeAnything came with a gift - Ms BakeAnything had baked me a wonderful chocolate cake. I usually don't choke, but I did while writing this post :) Many thanks also to Rohan D'Souza (partner & chef at Pepper Cafe) for ensuring the food was top notch.

Chef's summer salad

Italian chicken bites with garlic scallion mayo

Fish rissoles

Crab, chilli and corn soup

Fried calamari with cocktail dip

Beetroot hummus

Grilled basa topped with Cajun spiced crab

Asparagus and artichoke fusili pasta

Chicken something with a pepper sauce

Lebanese lamb chops with tabouleh

Grilled tenderloin strips with vinegar salad and horseradish cream

5 spice marinated chicken breast with spicy Asian sauce

My budday cake

Assamese Food Fest @ Ants Cafe

2011-05-18T09:11:00.004+05:30

There's going to be an Assamese food festival this Saturday, the 21^st of May. Since this is a 'limited seats event', I suppose calling and making reservations would be a good thing to do if you plan to go.

The Menu for the Assamese Food Festival

Welcome Drink: Kordoi (Star Fruit) Juice

Main Course:
Joha saulor bhaat (local aromatic rice)
Omitaar Khar – Raw Papaya cooked in Khar
Maati Mahor Dail – Split Black Gram Dal Curry
Xoru Aloo and Xak – Small Potatoes with Greens
Bengena Pura – Brinjal smoked and mashed
Aloo Pitika – Mashed Potato with mustard oil, onions and green chillies

Maas patotdia (baked fish in banana leaf)
Mangsor Jul – Light Mutton and Potato curry
Norosingha maasor jhul (fish in curry leaves)
Ow Tengar Dail – Lentils cooked with Elephant Apple

Accompaniments:
Kharoli – Fermented Mustard Paste
Khorisa – Grated Bamboo Shoots Fermented
Bhoot Jolokia – Hottest Chili in the World!
Narikol Bota – Chutney made from Coconut and Lentils
Desert
Koni Dhaanor Payox – Millet Kheer/Payasam

Click photo below to enlarge.

The little joys in Hyderabad - 2

2011-05-10T22:47:00.015+05:30

So part 2 of the Hyderabad diaries is here.

Beyond Coffee: Beyond Coffee is a nice, cozy cafe in the Jubilee Hills are, just before the road to Hitech City. It has an open air seating area amidst grass and a tiled shaded area, usually where those who huff and puff sit, and an indoor section as well. All I'd heard about this place was the the New York cheesecake was simply divine, and so that's all I'd set my sights (and taste buds) on. And true to the reputation, the cheesecake came up a winner. Easily the best I've had my whole life (hands down, by miles).

Shadab: Shadab is an old hotel in the old city part of Hyderabad. Although most people say that the biryani at places like Paradise and Bawarchi are the main show piece in Hyderabad, the real stuff is to be had in the old city area. And so I braved the heat, and walked a total of 3.5 km in the blazing sun (after visiting Salar Jung museum and the Char Minar), and even though my feet (see photo below) did look like a piece of barbecued meat at the end, the biryani and the falooda at Shadab was worth the walk. Totally. I kid you not. And until then I didn't even like faloodas, but since Ms Quiche told me the faloodas here were a specialty, I stood up, did a jig to shuffle my stomach contents (by then filled with a full bowl of the special mutton biryani, meant for two people) and make room for the falooda, and downed the thing. I was good to walk another 10 km if needed (as it turned out I had to walk another 2.5 km before I got an auto as none of the autos in the area were willing to come to where I had to go to).

Heard of sun-dried tomatoes? How 'bout sun-burnt feet?

Some random shots of gelato:

Once upon a time: This is one of the restaurants at the Green Park hotel where I was staying. Essentially they serve Indian food, with a smattering of Chinese as well. We had ordered some snacks from the bar menu - garlic grilled prawns, chicken wings and egg pakodas. The prawns were straight out of the freezer where they'd been chilling for a month or so - rubbery to the point where they could've been used to patch the puncture in your car tyre. The wings we magically transformed into drums of heaven (see photo), and yet the waiter insisted that these were indeed chicken wings. "Drums of heaven will be having more yellow colour, Sir". Somehow, adding a 'Sir' at the end seemed to add authority and authenticity to what he said. I wasn't in a mood to argue anymore; anyone who's eaten out more than once would've schooled him about the faux pas. The saving grace was the rogan josh, which was nice and tender. Thank goodness for that, for I'd imagined him bringing me lamb chops or something, trying to pass it off as rogan josh by telling me "chops will be having no gravy, Sir". Can't leave out the 'Sir'.

Garlic grilled prawns

Drums of heaven, which the waiter insisted were chicken wings

Egg pakodas

Rogan josh

Kibbeh: Kibbeh is an Arab dish, somewhat like a kabab, but comprising of broken wheat mixed with minced meat and fried. One of the many forms of kibbeh are croquettes. Kibbeh, here, happens to be a Lebanese lounge bar in Hyderabad. I visited Kibbeh on the night when RCB were playing the Rajasthan Royals in their own backyard (Warne's last home game) and immediately settled in with Anthony Bourdain's Kitchen Confidential and a mug of beer. And to keep my taste buds happy, I ordered a meat sambousek, a Lebanese dish from which we get the word (and the dish) samosa. Sambousek is essentially the same (shapes vary depending on the stuffing), and it came with a feta dip. The sambousek was nice, and although 4 (or 5? don't remember now) pieces were quite filling, I wasn't going to stop at just one dish.

Sambousek

So after the second beer, I decided to go for a very common (boring?) Turkish dish - the chicken shish taouk, which is essentially chicken grilled on skewer (shish = skewer, taouk = chicken). The chicken was soft and succulent, and was nicely flavoured with garlic and yogurt. This came with two dips - feta and hummus. Feta, ok, I can understand, but why hummus? Anyway, I didn't care. RCB were knocking the stuffings outta the Rajasthan team and I was enjoying some nice food.

Chicken shish taouk

Thai Express: On my last night in Hyderabad, I visited Thai Express, a lovely joint in the Banjara Hills area (Road Number 2 I think) that, needless to say, serves Thai food. Although I went here twice, I ended up eating the same things both times because these were recommended by a Ms Quiche, and when you're alone, there's only so much you can eat. And since I love a good Tom kha ga soup, that's what I started off with. The combination of coconut milk, galangal, lemon grass, kaffir lime leaves and some spices can get me to just about do anything you like. What can I say, I'm a self confessed Tom kha-holic, this was as good a Tom kha as I've had before.

Next, I decided to have the Thai meat pancakes, delicates pancakes stuffed with mince meat. This came with a sweet-ish sauce filled with chilli flakes. The combination of the sweet and chilli along with the texture and the taste of the pancake is hard to describe, but rest assured it was quite terrific. Damn! Bangalore sure needs a good Thai joint, and fast! Too bad Shiok closed down, coz that was the only good Thai place in the city. Any future restaurateurs, if you're planning to open a restaurant, there's a huuuuuggeeee market for Thai food in Bangalore, so please go Thai. And my frustration was compounded while writing this because I realised the snap I'd taken wasn't the best, as the lighting inside (at night) isn't very camera-minus-flash friendly.

And finally, the last dish I had was another hot favourite at Thai Express - the soft shelled crab. Except, I didn't have it at the restaurant as it was late and I had to get back to the hotel I was staying at (no vehicle you see, was at the mercy of the local auto drivers). So I had it parceled and had it back at the hotel room. And it was yummy. Served with a multitude of sauces, ranging from the sour of soy to the heat from chilli, the sauces only enhance the taste of a wonderfully done dish.

Soft-shelled crab

The little joys in Hyderabad - 1

2011-05-10T14:41:00.020+05:30

I'm in Hyderabad currently. Got here on the 30^th of April, and I'm here for two weeks. Sadly, this isn't a visit on holiday - I'm here on work, and so although Hyderabad would be a fabulous place to spend eating, my posts will be very limited as the only times I get to step out will be during the weekend, and that certainly won't be enough to sample even a fraction of what Hyderabad has to offer. Nonetheless, the few places that I did visit shall be dutifully written about, but not as a review, but more as a sort of 'FYI' post.

Ruci and Idoni: Ms Quiche and Ms BakeAnything took me to this place that was a super market that also had a cafe on the top floor (somewhere in Banjara Hills). So for breakfast you have the option of selecting various items from a check-list and eventually you're served up the same, and you can see whatever I'd selected.

Close-up of the Danish

While the ladies opted for a croissant, I opted for the Danish, and I was pretty damn glad I did. I mean, just look at the photo and that should say it all. Picture's worth a thousand words, right? :)

Ten Downing Street: TDS as it's popularly known as to the locals, this watering hole has seen many a party, and from what I'm told, it's a popular handout with the crowd from Google, Microsoft, Facebook, and the students at ISB. For Bangaloreans, to get an idea of TDS, all you need to do is step into Tavern at the Inn in The Museum Inn on Museum Road, and Tavern surely scores over TDS when it comes to the food, and the service (not my opinion alone, but my two friends who've been in Hyd now for a while and were formerly in Bangalore for quite a few years were of the same opinion). I guess for ambiance we'll need to flip a coin coz Tavern is quite a place during an EPL game, while TDS I'm told is quite the place to be during karaoke night.

Random food eaten here and there

Drums of heaven

Seekh kabab

Paya

Haleem with fried onions

Drums of heaven - OK, seekh kabab - nice, paya - crap, haleem - nice

Shots so random I won't even classify them :)

ISB: Umm, yes, Indian School of Business. Saturday saw me visit the ISB campus with a couple of friends from school. Inside, we came across as a couple of stalls, one selling momos and the other selling juice blends of several kinds. While I wasn't able to take a picture of the drinks we had (watermelon and ginger), I did get snaps of the momos, and they were quite nice. Rs 20 for a plate of 5 (or was it 40? don't remember now), but well worth the money.

After snacking on the momos, we headed to the cafe where two of us had grilled chicken sandwiches, while another had a pasta. All the dishes there were priced at sub-hundred and many were sub-fifty, which made my eyes do back flips inside the sockets - I never get to see such prices in Bangalore (damn! should've taken a pic of the menu). Food was tasty, didn't cost anything I'm used to paying, and for those interested, apparently the chole batture is one of the hottest selling items there.

Another post will follow shortly (by the weekend) - cheesecakes, biryanis, and more! Stay tuned.

BM Review: Sofraah

2011-05-05T10:43:00.001+05:30

A few weeks back, after visiting Tangra, I visited Sofraah, also part of the same hotel (Eden Park) that Tangra belonged to. Sofraah, or dastarkhan, is a floor spread of meals in Central Asia. We were a group of 5, and there weren't anyone from the elitist minority, so we could peacefully eat our meats.

Sofraah is tastefully decorated and thankfully there aren't any souvenirs from battle-scarred Afghanistan that may bring back memories of khuda gawah. We dove straight away into the food. The Peshawari tandoori murgh and the buranche kabab were the options in chicken that we had, while the galouti kabab carried the flag for lamb.Straight away I'll tell you that what was served as a galouti kabab was NOT a galouti kabab. Or maybe the galouti was hiding under the thick coating of batter that was protecting the tenderised lamb meat inside. It tasted OK, but was certainly not a galouti kabab. The tandoori murgh was decent, like any other tandoori chicken dish, but the buranche kabab was something - chicken marinated with beetroot, I kid you not! And it tasted good too. Tender chicken, with the natural sweetness of the beetroot and a few other delicate spices made this a winner for us.

Peshawari tandoori murgh

Buranche kabab

Another angle

Galouti kabab

The Amritsari machchi was nice and although made in a tandoor, it was still quite soft. And for someone like me who isn't a big fan of cooking fish in a tandoor, I must say that this was quite nice. Or we got lucky. The jalpari jhinga (large prawns cooked on bamboo skewers) was also quite a nice dish, and the prawns served were nice and big and thankfully Sofraah did not go cheap on the prawns.

Amritsari machch tikka

Jalpari jhinga

Jalpari jhinga again

On to the main course, and while having a mutton biryani has now become a formality (turned out to be a nice biryani), we also decided to have some of the breads with a chicken and a mutton dish. A very colourful chicken dish called Sofraah murgh masala, colourful because of the multitude of bell peppers used in it. The dish tasted quite good, and there were no complaints. The anchali gosht too was a well made dish, with the mutton being soft and tender, and the flavours coming out to the fore.

Gosht biryani

Sofraah murgh masala

Anchali gosht

Finally, for dessert, we ordered a qubani ka meetha (a Hyderabadi dish in a Mughlai restaurant? Strange indeed!), and although this dish was nice and sweet, and the apricots used were good and weren't spoiled, I have to say that a true compote-like texture was missing. Don't get me wrong though - if you've never had it before, you might even like it, for taste wise it was quite good, but texture wise, it came up a bit short.

Qubani ka meetha

Food: Nice
$$$: Moderately expensive. The above meal cost us around Rs 3700 for 5 people (including 4 mocktails).
Service: Decent
Verdict: Can visit if in South Bangalore.

Sofraah, Eden Park Restaurants, 722/2, 36^th Cross, 10^th ‘A’ Main, Jayanagar 4^th Block, Bangalore. Phone: 42777333

World Cup finals...a day to remember

2011-04-22T16:27:00.014+05:30

Becoming world champs in any discipline isn't a joke. And in cricket crazy India, to lift the coveted trophy that the teams play for is almost a demand, a mandate and not an option. Captains and coaches have lost their jobs in search of the elusive trophy that came to our shores once before, in 1983, a couple of months after I was born. And so on the evening of 2^nd April 2011, the day of the cricket world cup finals between Indian and Sri Lanka, I was at Ms Quiche's place, along with Ms BakeAnything. After the semi finals against Pakistan (also watched at Ms Quiche's house), we'd decided that we were going to watch the finals there too, sitting in the same spots in the same positions.

Ms BakeAnything had baked a cherry pie, and while it was sitting in the fridge after it came outta the oven, we were watching our bowlers get tonked all over the park by the Lankan batsmen. The recipe for the pie shall be put up on their blog and I shall provide a link to it in a later post. Midway through the innings, both ladies decide we need to cook something to go with the pie. I was pleased as punch...cooking, food, and a cricket match. But these two ladies didn't allow me anywhere close to the kitchen, let alone the ingredients or any action that could've helped in the whole cooking process.

Some of the tweets that I tweeted once the game started

So while I had to settle to click pictures and keep myself entertained with the cricket and give a little commentary to the ladies, they set about boiling potatoes and peeling them, slicing them thin, seasoning them with Italian seasoning and then pan frying them. Once this was done, some cheese and water to get it a little runny and presto - one world cup winning snack ready to be downed :) I tell you, we were convinced that we had a small part to play in the victory - sitting in the same positions when fours and sixes were hit, realising that different positions made our chaps get out and so shifted back to original positions, and of course, eating the right things.

Some of the conversations we had:
Ms BakeAnything: Against Pak, when I was cleaning the house, Sehwag was hitting 4s. The moment I sat, he got out!
Ms Quiche: So clean, take the broom...fast!
Me: Yes please!

During the middle overs, the game got a little slow.

Jayawardene then started taking our bowlers to the cleaners!

Q: SL will make 275, but we will win.
Me: It's 268, with one ball to go. He has to hit a six for your theory to work!

Six of the last ball!

Me standing hands akimbo in front of Ms Quiche.
Me: You'll pay dearly for this! That last six had better not cost us...
Q: Hehe.. we'll win, don't worry (very unconvincing voice).

Our start was disastrous. Two wickets down in no time, that crazy Lankan called Malinga with his hideously bleached blond hair is giving rise to a lot of potty jokes. We're all worried whether our batsmen are going to choke. The crowd has all but lost hope, but this being the Bombay crowd and not the Calcutta crowd, they don't want to throw stuff onto the field and hand the match over to the Lankans (a la 1996), so they stay behind and try to pretend that they can actually be sportive. People make Rajanikanth jokes and want him to save the team.

There's a partnership building. Looks like our team has some spunk and fight in them. The Lankan skipper starts resorting to cheap lawyer tricks to get a breakthrough. The umpires aren't having any of it though. Thankfully!

Now the boys are fighting back. The run rate required is still manageable. Some bimbo named Poonam Pandey had promised to strip for the team if we won the cup. Do it for Poonam at least, the chants on Twitter get louder. Murali, the ace Lankan spin wizard is getting tonked around. There's real hope now. And it isn't even optimistic hope, we're talking realistic hope here.

Oh boy, in between all this, there's food to eat. And it's awesome what these ladies have made. The pie is abso-effing-lutely delicious, and the potato sliced thingy with the cheese dip was pretty darn good as well. After pan frying them, the ladies had drained the slices on tissues to remove the excess oil, and so when we bit into them, they tasted quite 'light'. And if you like fried stuff, and cheese dips, then too bad you missed out on this :)

The match began to get interesting again. Gautam Gambhir was leading the charge along with young Virat Kohli. All of India was praying for Ganbhir to make a century (he was well on his way). Twitter is chirpy again. People making jokes...until Sanjay Manjrekar opens his mouth, and the dreaded commentator's curse strikes! Gambhir is bowled for 97. Damn!

It's still not over. The game I mean. The food's been polished off, we'd stepped out and come back with some dinner, and now we had only our finger nails to chew on. And in comes the captain and plays the innings that'll go down in history as the epitome of a captain's innings, courage under fire, call it what you like. And finally, just as the last shot of the Lankan innings was a six, the new drug we were all high on, MSD, lambasted one over and above the stands to send a billion into a frenzy never seen before.

Toit

2011-04-20T23:14:00.013+05:30

So Bangalore got its first micro brewery, but before you go all gaga googoo over it, they still haven't started brewing their magical elixirs as yet - on the lookout for a brew master (those interested and know a thing or two, please go apply and join so we can get the party started). And since this place is so close to work, it made it all the more interesting that we pay it a visit...and soon!

Toit derives its name from the Irish pronunciation of the word 'tight', usually used whenever a hot member of the fairer sex meanders within visual range of horny male members. "Ooh, she's tight!" would be the expression, and with the Irish twist and twang from their accent, tight gets pronounced as 'toit'. And so the idea was born. Toit is spread over a large area - over three floors, with sufficient seating, and types of seatings available.

When it comes to the food and drinks, there's quite a bit on offer here. You can see the menu here. The soup we had the first time, the mushroom and barley soup was nice, and the use of barley was a first for me in a soup. Mr. P polished it off without too many complaints, and the texture too wasn't course and grainy, but just right.

Mushroom & barley soup

Toit also serves wood-fire oven thin crust pizzas (this wood fire thing is catching on pretty fast). The simple Margherita was quite a delight, except for the fact that a little flour was present at the bottom of the crust, sticking to the fingers after each slice, requiring us to 'dust' our hands to get it off. That apart, we thought is tasted quite nice. However, when Ms BakeAnything and Ms Quiche visited Toit, they said the sauce on the Margherita was just wrong, and it spoilt the taste for them, so I guess maybe this is one of those things that are right sometimes and not at other times.

Another angle of the Margherita pizza

The BBQ chicken pizza was simply superb. The chicken was cooked very well, and the juicy morsels that they were along with the BBQ sauce and the cheese felt divine. The veggie attack pizza was also good, with a good selection of toppings doing the job, although I suspect anything that has sauce and cheese on it with something that's bread-based or the likes would automatically taste good if the basic setup is there :)

BBQ chicken pizza

Veggie attack pizza

The blue cheese and fettuccine pasta was quite filling and has a very, very strong odour/smell to it, so unless you're someone who has had blue cheese before and like it, I'd suggest you stay clear of this on unless you don't mind experimenting.

Blue cheese and fettuccine

The Swedish meatballs (combo of beef and pork) was a slightly weird dish. This too came with a strong smell/odour - I'm guessing those Swedes have remnants of their Norse heritage, and so don't mind a few things that reek a bit. Taste wise, they were ok, but I thought it was a little difficult to discern the taste of the pork from the beef. And also, come on, don't serve it with just sauce! Some creativity for a dip would've been nice.

Swedish meatballs (beef & pork)

When I heard the words 'Mexican bhel', I didn't know whether to be excited happy or excited scared. However, whatever 'fear' I may have had was unfounded coz it turned out to be a real winner. The dressing for this salad-esque dish was something like a 1000 island dressing, and this had quite a zing to it.

Mexican bhel

Fruit punch

Long Island iced tea

Some of the other starters that we had were the bbq baby corn. This was ok, nothing great, but having vegetarians in the group does make you have to order some of the dishes that may otherwise be just blah. The chicken wings, on the other hand, were quite superb. Juicy, meaty, well cooked, well flavoured...what more dya want?

BBQ baby corn

Chicken wings

As I mentioned before, some of the vegetarian dishes were quite insipid, and the potato wedges were a prime example of this. Bland, and without any real flavour besides that of the potato, this was something we could've done without. On the other hand though, the cottage cheese fingers was a good option to go with, especially since the cottage cheese (paneer) was quite fresh and soft.

Potato wedges

Fried cottage cheese

After some spiritual upliftment, if you do get as far as the main course, then probably everything would taste good or everything would taste bad depending on the levels of spirituality attained. I had a chicken burger, and it the kind you'd get at most cafes, where the patty seemed to be one of those that're already made and then fried. Not really the kind I like.

Chicken burger

That's a blurred out image of me, caught unawares when a friend took a picture with the flash on - talk of a deer caught in headlights!

Dazed

The veg macarena and the moussaka were also nicely done, if you like dishes that have tonnes of cheese in them or those that are baked - I was a little high on spiritual content, and so didn't really care what was what, and what tasted how, but I think I liked the moussaka over ther macarena (although I like dancing and the Los Del Rios and all that, the moussaka was better).

Veg macarena

Moussaka

On to the desserts, and once again, those who weren't high went to enjoy the kahlua mousse, the Toit special (dark layered chocolate cake), and a crème brûlée. I liked the Toit special the most, while the others chose the mousse. The crème brûlée tasted good, but I've had better (which isn't saying that it was bad).

Kahlua mousse

Toit special

Crème brûlée

Food: The drinks aren't too expensive; waiting for the micro-brewery to get started; bar & finger food is very good, rest is decent.
$$$: Not very expensive, considering you'll be spending on drinks as well. only food, for two, could work out to around 1200 or so (if you eat well).
Service: Very good
Verdict: Must visit

Toit, #298, 100 Feet Road, Namma Metro Pillar 62, Indiranagar, Bangalore. Phone: 25201460

BM Review: Tangra

2011-04-15T10:58:00.004+05:30

A few weeks back I'd been to Tangra, a new Chinese restaurant in Jayanagar, part of Hotel Eden Park. The review for Bangalore Mirror can be read here. Some desk monkey has gone and changed the title from "Buddha ain't laughing" to "Hakka steaming the neighbourhood". What's the connection, I have no idea, but whatever...their paper, their wish.

Tangra is a region in Calcutta that housed a large number of tanneries owned my migrant Chinese, commonly known as Hakka Chinese. The food brought to India by them was adapted for the Indian palate (actually the Bengali palate), and the result is there for us to see all over town (and the country).

Unlike many 'Chinese' restaurants, Tangra thankfully isn't set in dingy, dim red lights with clichéd images of dragons and Chinese writings all over the place.

The wanton soup we had was quite a pleasant way to get started. The clear soup was well flavoured and there weren't too many flotillas to mask the taste of the wantons in them. The other dish that brought a warm smile was the prawn dumpling, with it's soft exterior shell and delicately flavoured contents. The Hawker's style Singapore chilli crab came quite close to the real deal, but we all agreed that there was hardly any chilli and it would have tasted better if it were a soft-shelled crab.

Wonton soup

Hawker's chilli crab

The veg sui mai was quite bland and felt sticky inside the mouth, while the lemon chicken — strips of batter-fried chicken with a lemony flavour — felt a little insipid; perhaps a more robust dip would’ve helped. Spring rolls that are deep fried need to be served piping hot or else the charm is lost, which was the case here.

Tangra lemon chicken

Spring rolls

Among the mains, perhaps the sapo chicken caught our fancy because of the use of rice wine in it. The sizzling noodles too were nice, but why it's called Japanese sizzling noodles has left us flummoxed.

Sizzling noodles

Date pancake

The service is quite nice and guests are helped with suggestions for what to order.

Food: Standard Chinese fare
$$$: Not too expensive, given the setup and all. Maybe around Rs. 800 for two.
Service: Good
Verdict: Can visit if in the area and if you want to dine in a little more comfort.

Tangra, Eden Park Restaurants, 722/2, 36^th Cross, 10^th ‘A’ Main, Jayanagar 4^th Block, Bangalore. Phone: 42777333

Momo festival

2011-04-08T12:43:00.003+05:30

There's a momos festival at Ants Cafe tomorrow and the day after (9^th and 10^th April).

I guess the poster says it all.

Phobidden Fruit

2011-03-21T21:37:00.013+05:30

So the last time I visited Phobidden Fruit in Indiranagar, I was a newbie to Vietnamese cuisine, to the point where I knew only about Pho (had heard about it) and was a little blank when it came to more or less everything else. Well, I spent some time learning (if you can call the description that follows as learning) about the cuisine - reading Wiki to watching videos, including one having the bad boy himself, Anthony Bourdain, I had a more sound 'theoretical' knowledge about the cuisine when I went in the second time.

Vietnamese cuisine is a classic example of east-meets-west, and how tây (Vietnamese for 'western') culinary influences have been absorbed and seamlessly integrated into the local cuisine - in this case, the western influences are French, and although the cheeses that France is famous for may not be on the list, it's a little more than just the baguettes that were introduced. So we were all very thrilled to visit the place, this time around with a bigger group (12 of us).

The seating downstairs is a little limited - two 4 seaters, and one longer table behind the spiral stair case. However, upstairs, (after you've twisted yourself up via the stairs) the seating capacity improves.

The view as soon as you reach the top

We started off with something to drink. While a couple of caffeine fiends had cold coffee, some of us had iced teas, Pandan iced teas, and a tropical fizz (lime and mint in a fizzy mixture). The drinks were indeed quite refreshing, especially given the fact that the mercury seems to have already started on it's northward journey this early in March (hopefully they'll come up with some way to shift+del the month of May year). The snap right below here is that of Sriracha (pronounced si-ra-cha, after the town in Thailand it originates from, which is a mixture of red chillies, vinegar, garlic, sugar, and salt). Try a spoonful of the Sriracha and it'll bomb you outta your skin!

Sriracha (L), pickled carrot and radish (R)

Lemon iced tea

Pandan iced tea

Tropical fizz

Cold coffee

Vietnamese cuisine wouldn't be complete without pork. And when you have spare ribs on the menu in a sweetened bbq type sauce, you'd be crazy to miss out on it. The ribs were wonderfully done, although we'd hoped that either there'd be a few more pieces, or at least slightly bigger pieces. The beef spears were minced beef, seasoned and drizzled with sesame seeds and grilled. These were quite juicy and although they weren't the melt-in-your-mouth type texture (this isn't like a seekh kabab), it was still very good.

Spare ribs

Beef spears

Vietnamese cuisine involves the use of a lot of vegetables (crunchy and fresh ones at that), either directly in the preparation process, or indirectly in the form of condiments served along with any dish. Bean sprouts, raw onions, and greens of various kinds are the most popular. We ordered a rice crepe-like dish called Banh xeo, served along with the fish sauce nước mắm (don't ask me to say it - I tried and I sounded retarded, I swear). This was stuffed with mushrooms and sprouts, but was a little difficult to eat without looking clumsy, with the stuffings falling out all over the plate. This tasted ok, but certainly wasn't a 'hit' at the table. What was a hit, however, were the chicken spring rolls (also served with nước mắm). These too were stuffed with sprouts and a few strips of carrot and choice veggies along with the chicken, and the taste and texture was excellent. These spring rolls were made with the thin rice paper wrapper and weren't deep fried with flour-based wrappers (thankfully!). I tell you, rice is soooo much more easier to deal with than wheat (spoken like a true South Indian).

Banh xeo with nước mắm

Spring rolls with nước mắm

To round up the starters, we had a plate of chilli beef and pork momos. The chilli beef had small pieces of beef that were very nicely done and not chewy at all, while the pork momos tasted very nice, although the outer casing a touch too thick.

Chilli beef

Pork momos

For the main course, we knew we had to have Pho, which enjoys the status of being like Vietnam's national dish. So we had planned to divide the Pho and has asked for extra bowls (and let me say this categorically - the wait staff actually had an issue giving us extra bowls, claiming there weren't as many as we wanted! Yikes). Anyway, with that out of the way, we also ordered a Bún riêu (a north Vietnamese specialty) that involved crab meat in it. I loved this dish, although there was one fundamental flaw in all the Pho and Bún dishes. Vietnamese cuisine involves the use of rice noodles in most of the dishes, especially in Pho and Bún dishes. Phobidden fruit has substituted the rice noodles with the flat wheat noodles, thereby making the dish heavier and not the moderately light dish it's supposed to be.

The Pho too was filled with the flat noodles, and had a dash of extra cinnamon (like the last time I visited), but was otherwise it was nice (considering this is the only place I've had Pho). Apart from the Pho, the Bún bò too was filled with the flat wheat noodles. Now, the Vietnamese word Bún is for a clump of rice noodles. So when you call something A, but give B, then, hmm, that's not right, is it? The Bún bò was spicy, look at the image to see the amount of chilli flotilla on it. But there was flavour too, and I'm not being sarcastic. But the only disappointment was the fact that since the noodles weren't made of rice, they didn't absorb anything, and were slithery and slippery.

With some of the typical Vietnamese dishes out of the way, some of the other dishes we had were a reef soup, a Vietnamese chicken curry, and tamarind fish noodles. The chicken curry was very good - well flavoured, tender, and juicy. The reef soup too was quite nice, but the tamarind fish noodles was a little insipid - nothing special. My last grouse was that a particular dish called the Bánh mì (a pork sandwich) was not available. This wasn't available even the last time I visited. The Bánh mì is almost as iconic to the Orient as the Cuban pork sandwich is to the Occident. Having something on the menu and continually saying "It's not available" is just plain stupid.

Bún riêu

Reef soup - stirred, not shaken

Vietnamese chicken curry

Pho (vegetarian)

Tamarind fish noodles

Bún bò

Pho (beef)

I'm not too big on south-east Asian, or far eastern desserts for that matter, and we were quite full after the meal. All in all, a very satisfying meal, and coming from an authenticity angle, a few changes here and there (most noticeably with using rice noodles instead of flat wheat noodles, and actually having the Bánh mì) would go a long way in making Phobidden Fruit a much sought after culinary destination in Bangalore.

Food: Very good
$$$: Around 500-600 per head
Service: Decent; could get a little cold with larger groups :P
Verdict: Must visit

Phobidden Fruit, #965, 12th Main, Next to Yamaha store, HAL 2^{ndM/sup> Stage, Indiranagar, Bangalore. Phone: 41255175}

Ants Cafe - photos

2011-03-20T12:59:00.011+05:30

Sometime back, in December, I met these two amazing ladies, who not only blog about food, but they're also awesome cooks. Some of the awesome things they've cooked can be read on their blog Purple Cinnamon and Salt. And with food being the common link, one of them had featured as a guest at Xian, while the other one waits her turn. Both have become good friends of mine, and I shall call the two Ms Quiche and Ms BakeAnything.

Some weeks ago, we'd visited Ants Cafe in Indiranagar as Ms Quiche had been called for a photo shoot (not just for the food, but for the clothes and accessories sold at the Ants Store as well). And being the wonderful person and friend that she is, she invited me to tag along for the photo shoot, to experience the whole thing. So although this technically isn't a review of the cafe - certainly not the way I usually do it - there are photographs of the dishes put up here, and suffice to say that the food was actually quite good, although Ants would primarily like to be known as a store that sells products made by the artisans in the North-East, the popularity of the cafe could certainly bring in more customers for the store as well. Boy, that was one long sentence, wasn't it? :P

One the many artifacts available at Ants. This one is a mask from Sikkim

Also, on the food front, every now and then there are North-East food festivals that take place here. Won't explicitly guarantee it, but this blog should be able to update the junta about whenever this may be happening.

Blue curçao?

Iced tea

Blueberry and something

Mango (R), and forgot the name of the drink on the left

Mango

Bruschetta, or simply garlic bread with various toppings

Salad

Spinach soup

Vegetable something

Chicken breast with herbs and cheese

Open sandwich

Fish with mustard sauce something

Lasagna

Lasagna, different angle

Third angle for the lasagna

Spaghetti and meatballs

Waffles with ice cream and maple syrup

Ants, # 2023/B, 14^th A Main, 1^st Cross, Hal 2^nd Stage, 100 Feet Road, Indiranagar, Bangalore. Phone: 41521742

BM Review: Pepper Café

2011-03-09T19:26:00.013+05:30

Some time back, I had visited Pepper Café on St. John's Road to review it for the Bangalore Mirror. I had taken along the Keppelmeisterin from the Peppa Zzing visit, her fiancée, and a couple of her friends along. And what a wonderful time we had! The review for Bangalore Mirror can be read here. Below is the review for the blog.

When the phrase multi-cuisine starts to sound like the nails across a blackboard, perhaps it’s time to explore, or better, switch to, a newer phrase – Eurasian cuisine. Pepper Café does just that, and luckily for Bangalore, it does so with some verve and panache. Situated on St. John’s road, next to Lavanya theatre, this casual wine-and-dine joint (at the time of writing this, I was told that wine would be introduced shortly) certainly knows how to ensure the satisfaction of the guests.

We were a group of 5 carnivores, with no inhibitions when it came to food. We started our meal with some iced teas. Five people with good appetites meant that we ordered five starters. Again, at the time of writing this, there was only one soup on the menu (we skipped it), and so ended up ordering a plate of beetroot hummus, a plate of Italian chicken bites, fish risoles, Caesar’s salad, and the chef’s special salad.

I love a good hummus and I love beetroot, so a naturally sweet beet in the form of a hummus seemed to be quite a treat - and it was. Soft, creamy, sweet, with a hint of garlic along with olives in it not only made it good, but a first for me with the use of beetroot. The chicken bites were seasoned with herbs and came with a sip that seemed like a mixture of mayo and a 1000 island dressing. The chicken was cooked well and it retained its juices.

Beetroot hummus

Another angle of the beetroot hummus

Italian chicken bites

The fish risoles were crumb fried portions, and came served with a salad and tartar dip. Again, quite beautifully done in terms of taste and presentation.

Fish risoles

On to the salads. I’m of the opinion that apart from fresh, crunchy ingredients, a good dressing makes for a good salad. And luckily both criteria were met in this case. What blew us away was, however, not the Caesar’s, but the chef’s special salad. Comprising of feta, lettuce, tomatoes, olives and jalapenos with a tangy dressing, not only was it refreshing, but it was a treat on that sunny afternoon. The Caesar's salad too was good, but there's nothing to write home about.

Caesar's salad

Chef's special low fat salad

Balsamic Vinegar and Olive Oil

For the main course, we stuck to some old favourites and some fancy creations that are part of the menu. Grilled lamb chops with tabouleh and mint coulis, basa fillet with cajun spiced crab, Vietnamese lemon chicken, a beef steak with mashed potatoes and veggies, and an Aqua pizza - no points for guessing that it had seafood on it.

Once again, all the dishes ordered were spot on in terms of taste and presentation, and the only grouse we had was that we weren't asked how we wanted the steak - rare, medium, or well done. That aside, the lamb chops and the tabouleh were done nicely and complemented each other, while the beef steak was served well done (but once again with a stainless steel knife...wonder why people don't give proper high carbon knives) and tasted good too. The Aqua pizza came with a thin crust, and the seafood toppings were fresh, and it was baked nicely with a nice drizzle of olive oil on top to give it a nice glossy sheen.

Aqua pizza

Grilled lamb chops with tabouleh and mint coulis

Beef steak with mashed potatoes and veggies

The basa with cajun spiced crab on top of it was quite easily one of the tastiest fish dishes I've eaten. Fresh, well flavoured, and the cajun flavoured crab added a different taste and texture to the dish that was well accepted. Lastly, the Vietnamese lemon chicken seemed to have received the most accolades, but the chicken itself, in my opinion, didn't seem that special (it was good, not great), but the condiments that came along made for a good dish.

Basa with cajun spiced crab

Vietnamese lemon chicken

For desserts, it was a bit of chocolate overload. Apart from the brownie, which was quite superb in taste and texture, the other other two cakes (chocolate based) were merely blah.

Brownie with ice cream

One of the chocolate desserts

The other chocolate dessert

Food: Very good
$$$: For a full meal with something to drink, starters, main course, and dessert, around Rs. 600 per head.
Service: Good, but dishes could take a while to arrive
Verdict: Certainly worth a visit
Extra info: Parking for cars may be an issue since St. John's road near Lavanya theatre is a little narrow. Two wheelers can park in any of the side streets.

Pepper Café, # 9, St. John’s Road, Near Lavanya Theatre, Bangalore. Phone: 4113 0000

BM Review: Aioli

2011-02-23T22:29:00.012+05:30

In the month of December, VP had told me that there's a new place called Aioli that's opened up close to where he lives, and a few days when he was home alone, he'd visited the place for dinner and absolutely loved the place. So one day when I had journeyed to his place (trust me, when you travel from BTM layout to that halli of his called Kamanahalli, that IS a journey!), we went to Aioli for lunch, and I liked the place myself and thought it was a fit case for a review. So the review given here will be a combined review of sorts - dishes from both visits will be under the spotlight.

The first time we went there, and since it was just the two of us, we ordered a plate of chicken wings, and for the main course he had the prawns with rosemary dunked in olive oil served in a terracotta dish while I had the Moroccan lamb chops. For desserts, we had a pot of happiness (made from hung yogurt), and grilled pineapples with chocolate sauce.

The chicken wings tasted really nice, and the smoky taste from grilling them over a charcoal fire was superb. However, the usual levels of spiciness that of these wings was enough to get my nose running, so you'd do well to tell them to serve them to you a notch or two lower with respect to spiciness - 'medium spicy' as we so eloquently say in Bangalore (probably India).

Chicken wings

For the mains, VP decided to go in for the prawns with rosemary in olive oil. Olive oil is the only oil VP can have without his stomach going for a toss. Now the thing with rosemary is that it's one of those herbs that either you like it or you don't, and if you do happen to like it, then it's very easy to start disliking it. Too little of it and you'll wonder what the big deal if, and too much of it overwhelms the dish to the point where you'll wanna push the plate away and rinse your mouth with water or something. So the time when Prash had visited alone, I think they'd got the amount of rosemary right coz he loved the dish, but his time around, he said it was 'OK', and both of us felt the rosemary was a touch higher than what we'd have liked. Also, I'm not sure, but some of the prawns didn't seem the best in terms of taste, although I couldn't be certain if this can directly be attributed to the rosemary, or something in the prawns themselves.

I had the Moroccan lamb chops. Though the snap isn't the best I could've taken as it doesn't show sufficient amount of flesh on the chops, suffice to say that they tasted good - well flavoured with herbs, and accompanied by some herbed rice. You can ask for pita bread, fries, or rice for the carbs, although the herbed rice was more Indian-esque than Moroccan, but it served its purpose well.

Grilled prawns with rosemary in olive oil

Moroccan lamb chops

For dessert, the pot of happiness made from hung yogurt seemed a good one, and along with that we decided to have a plate of grilled pineapples with chocolate sauce. The pot of happiness was nice, but a lil too sweet for my liking, while the grilled pineapples were quite good, save for the tutti-frutti that's added to the top.

Grilled pineapple with chocolate sauce

Pot of happiness

The review that I wrote for the Bangalore Mirror can be read here. During the review, we started off with a plate of chicken wings, and this time around, I made sure I asked them to make a little less spicy, and it turned out to be a good thing. Along with the wings, we also ordered a plate of hot dogs with salsa rossa (and later we ordered another plate of the same). The hot dogs came on skewers with a few grilled veggies - the standard lot of peppers, onions, tomatoes, and the likes. These turned out to be quite a hit at the table, hence the repeat order. The final starter was a baba ghanoush, a creamy, flavourful mush of brinjal served with one of the softest baked breads I've ever eaten. Order this dish just for the sake of the bread that's served with it - bliss!

Baba ghanoush

Hot dogs with salsa rossa

With the starters out of the way, we worked our way through the menu for the mains. We ordered the Moroccan lamb chops (again), the Jamaican jerk chicken, two fish preparations - sear fish in lime aioli, and another one with a red-chili marinade, and a vegetarian dish comprising of stuffed peppers and tomatoes.

The lamb chops were just as good as they were the first time I came - well cooked, sufficient meat, well flavoured, and a good number of chops. The jerk chicken tasted good and was nicely cooked, although I thought the jerk flavouring could've used a little more of the Scotch bonnet pepper (a key ingredient in jerk seasoning) - or whatever pepper they were using in their jerk seasoning. The stuffed peppers was just plain insipid and boring, and I don't think we got to see,hear, taste or smell any of it after it came to the table.

Jamaican jerk chicken

Stuffed peppers and tomatoes

The two fish dishes were instant hits and were the highlights of the meal that evening (in the main course). The fish were fresh, the marinades perfect, the cooking done just right and the taste was quite superb. A point to note was that the red marinade didn't seem to be very Mediterranean, although I could be wrong since I don't remember everything that went into it. Midway through the meal I realised I wouldn't be satisfied with what I'd eaten (quantity - I have a deep stomach) and so I ordered a Turkish doner as well. Click the link to see what it actually is, and for the lazy, it's very similar to the Arab shawarma, where meat is sliced off a vertical spit and filled into a bread pocket/made into a roll. This was nice, but could've be better in terms of adding a mayo-based sauce or something since the meat was getting drier by the minute.

Sear fish with lime aioli

Sear fish with red marinade

Turkish doner

For dessert, we had three dishes, of which, sadly, only one was good, while the other two were, quite frankly, bad. So let's start with the bad - the chocolate somethings, made from powdered chocolate and set in the shape of hearts. Taste and texture wise, this just didn't do the trick for any of us. The other dish that could've been good but ended up being not so great was the crème brûlée. The top wasn't fired crisp, while although the inside did try to make up for it, it was falling short of the mark in terms of texture. The one saviour for the desserts was the panna cotta, which was neither too sweet nor too hard and did manage to salvage a little for us after the meal.

Panna cotta

Hazelnut creme brulee

Chocolate something

All in all, a very nice place, good concept, and although it actually isn't a near smoke house, the grill house part of it does make it seem a viable option for a good meal once in a while.

Food: Very good
$$$: Rs 500 - 600 per head for a full meal
Service: Good, but could use a few more hands on weekends
Verdict: Must visit if in the area

Aioli Bbq and Grill Smoke house, #409, 1^st Floor, 5^th Main, 2^nd Block, Kalyannagar, HRBR Layout, Bangalore. Phone: 42984259

Strawberry Soufflé

2011-02-09T19:19:00.005+05:30

A couple of weekends ago, mom and I made strawberry soufflé at home. She was expecting guests - a whole lot classmates from her days back in med school. So apart from the rest of the stuff that was made, the soufflé was one of the main draws that evening. Traditionally, soufflés contain eggs and are baked dishes, but mom's been calling this soufflé since I was a kid (back then she used to make one using pineapples) and so I've continued to call it soufflé.

Ingredients:
2 boxes strawberries (box = the small plastic boxes available nowadays)
2 packets cream (200 ml packets)
Gelatin
Sugar to taste

Take strawberries from one and a half boxes (leave half a box for garnishing and popping them into your mouth for an oh-so-lovely feeling). Wash them thoroughly. Take a vessel with about 3/4 lt. of water and dump the strawberries into it, put it onto the stove and bring to a boil. Add enough sugar to the solution/suspension until it's sweet enough (remember, we'll be adding cream later, which will further reduce the sweetness, so be generous). Once this is done, strain the liquid and set aside. While the strawberries are being boiled alive, add about 6 teaspoons of gelatin to a glass of water and allow it to swell. [Note to reader: The 6 teaspoons of gelatin is the proportionate amount needed for 400 ml cream plus nearly 1 lt. of water] Put the strawberry pulp into a blender and b(l)end it like Beckham until it's nice and smooth (mind you, when I say smooth, I mean it shouldn't be chunky). Add this pulpy awesomeness to the liquid strained above. Once the gelatin has swollen, add it to the strawberry + water mixture and allow to set (it would be hot, so let it rest in the open and then move it into the fridge).

Strawberries

After the suspension has set (around 6 hours, give or take a little), take the packets of cream and blend it into the suspension using a hand blender. Be sure not to whip the cream too much too soon or it'll become butter! Pour the new mixture into a large dish you wish to set it in, or into individual cups/bowls and smoothen it. Garnish the top with slices of strawberries. If you've got chocolate sauce at home, you can work your magic and create heaven in your home.

Soufflé

Soufflé - close up

Enjoy it cold, and if you think you like it a little runny, allow it to thaw a little - the gelatin loses its hold on the suspension and it becomes creamier and runnier.