BM Review: Chamomile

Wow, it's been a full month since the last post. Sorry for the delay, but after shifting to a new house, there are soooo many tasks that crop up every now and then, at times I've even wondered if it was worth it. Well, just so that I don't leave that dangling, it is. So a while back, I visited Chamomile again, this time to review the place for Bangalore Mirror. The review that was published can be read here. As I had already visited the place during Christmas, I knew what to expect from the place, but since we were in a group, and it was essentially going to be a collective opinion, I didn't see any points of potential conflict. Moreover, when P, VP and I had visited during Christmas, we ordered from the special Christmas menu, while this time around we were ordering from the regular menu.

There aren't any snaps of the starters that we had, so apologies for the same. For starters, we selected dishes from the regular menu as well as the bar menu. So the dishes we had from the regular menu were shrimp and avocado salad, honey mustard chicken, herb marinated prawns, and chicken wings and mushroom & Parmesan cigars from the bar menu. The only disappointment here was the salad, with the avocado being old and soft, 'sagging' being a word used at the table by someone. It surely could've use a shot or two of botox. The wings and the honey mustard chicken were nice, both with suitable amount of seasoning and flavours. The hits at the table that evening were the herb marinated prawns - large, chunky prawns marinated in a mixture of coriander, basil and perhaps mint (green stuff), and the mushroom cigars - these were phyllo stuffed with mushrooms and Parmesan cheese. The mushroom cigars were a pleasant surprise and were actually quite delightful and we couldn't seem to have enough of these.

For the mains, we selected one dish from each 'section' that we were able to form after looking at the menu. So Italian saw us ordering the aubergine lasagna (also doubled up as the vegetarian option) and the seafood cappelletti (cappelletti is a stuffed pasta, and means 'little hat' because that's what it kinda resembles), proteins were going to be the T-bone steak and the rosemary flavoured leg of lamb, and then there was grilled salmon in an orange sauce with a whole lot of other things.

The salmon was the only disappointment - almost no seasoning, bland, and the fish actually seemed old. The rest of the dishes though, we quite superb. The T-bone steak was a lovely cut of meat, and I'd for it to be done medium-rare, and it was done to near perfection there, well seasoned, and the mashed potatoes served with it were also very nicely done. The only grouse - they gave us a stainless steel table knife instead of a proper knife knife, and cutting a medium rare steam with such a knife is quite an effort. The cappelletti was a pleasant surprise - didn't have a fishy smell to it, tasted good, and although the texture of the stuffing inside wasn't very 'firm', it tasted good nonetheless, and so got the thumbs up.

Grilled salmon with an orange sauce

T-bone steak

Seafood cappelletti

Usually, whenever someone uses rosemary, they tend to screw up the flavour by using too much. If you ask me, adding too much rosemary often kills the dish, but these guys had managed to get the amount just right for the leg of lamb. What's more, the meat was cooked well and it wasn't chewy, making it a good selection, and a better dish to eat. The aubergine lasagna was a smashing hit at the dinner table that night. Who'd have thought a bunch of carnivores would be raving about a vegetarian dish, but that's exactly what happened. Although the lasagna looked a little disheveled, when it came to taste, it was quite exquisite.

Rosemary leg of baby lamb

Aubergine lasagna

Desserts were a bit of a mixed bag, tending more towards bad than good. The strawberry cheesecake was the same as the last time, good to taste, but hard and not creamy and soft (however, I've been reliably informed that they have now changed the cream cheese they use for the cheesecakes, and so it's supposed to be better now), the hazelnut brûlée had a nice crust, but what lay beneath was nowhere near the custard-like texture that a brûlée is supposed to have. The vanilla pannacotta was just waaaay too plain and insipid, and I'd have liked to see a little less gelatin used so that it is a little more 'creamy' when spooned out. The saviour of the night was the triple layered chocolate mousse, rich and chocolaty and not disappointing us any further.

Strawberry cheesecake

Vanilla pannacotta

Triple layered chocolate mousse

Hazelnut brulee

Food: Good. Need to work a little on the desserts and this place can be a winner.
$$$: Slightly expensive. Approx Rs 1000 per head for a full meal.
Service: Good
Verdict: Can visit for a select few dishes.

Chamomile, #4031, 1^st Floor, Above Bombay Store, Next to Domlur Flyover, 100 Feet Road, Indiranagar, Bangalore. Phone: 42156000, 42167000

Chamomile

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

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

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

Virgin Mary

Braised red pepper soup with a balsamic vinaigrette foam

Roasted sweet garlic and rosemary soup

Shrimp and crab bisque

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

Twice cooked mushrooms

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

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

Stuffed turkey roulade

Mushroom stroganoff

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

Strawberry cheesecake

Apple pie

Christmas pudding

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