Spoonful of Sugar

This post has been a while in the making. Spoonful of Sugar (SoS) is a small pastry shop, which then became a pastry shop that began masquerading as a cafe, a cafe that was essentially a pastry shop, in Indiranagar. It has been around for a while - it used to be around when I was working at GXS, but when I finally was awakened to the fact that I am what is generally described in many circles as a 'foodie' (around the year 2007), and when I began my gastronomic adventures around town, SoS was a place I frequented many a time, and never once have I been disappointed. Well, OK, I was disappointed once, but that's out of more than 15 visits.

So what do you do when you're stressed? Sleep? Punch something (or someone)? Yell out loud? Use one of those squeeze ball-thingies perhaps? How about 'turning it around' backwards and eating it? No, really, try it. Because stressed, turned around backwards, spells desserts. Coincidence? I dunno.

Lemon pie

A narrow lane, opposite Toit on 100 Feet Road Indiranagar, called Sri Krishna Temple street takes you to Nilgiri's, and a little after that, a left turn directs you toward what is arguably Bangalore's finest spot of cakes, bakes, and pastries. Spoonful of sugar is a quite literally a hole in the wall, and until a couple of years ago didn't even have proper seating - it was more a take-away place. But all that has changed now - well, they have about 4 tables (3 outdoors and 1 indoor) - and although there has been a change in terms of seating arrangements, it has maintained the same high standards of everything it has to offer in terms of food, especially the items for your sweet-tooth.

Raspberry mascarpone pie

Essentially, Spoonful of sugar is a place that serves (or sells) you dishes that in any restaurant would be categorised under 'desserts'. From cakes and pastries, to luscious cheesecakes and creamy tarts, they have them all. All the items are made only in limited numbers per day. The owner, Sangeetha Damani, says that they use only the freshest ingredients and so sticking to a fixed number helps maintain quality.

Cucumber mint cooler

For those with a sweet tooth, some of the fastest moving items are the fruit tarts, the oreo cheesecakes, the banoffee pie, and the raspberry mascarpone pies, the last one being one of my all time favourites, simply because the cream cheese used is quite good, and the amount of gelatin used is minimal, leaving them quite creamy and not 'stiff'. And it's not too hard to see why. There is also a baked version of the classic blueberry cheesecake which is sublime, and usually this competes with the raspberry mascarpone for top slot. The fruit tarts are probably the ones anyone visiting the store should start off with. Firm but not hard tart shells hold a delicious concoction of cream cheese, fruits, and jelly - and thus far, I've only noticed a slight increase in the cost of these, but never a drop in the quality. They also take orders for cakes, and compared to the stores that 'mass produce' cakes, one can immediately spot the difference in the taste, in the richness that oozes from every bite of their cakes.

Baked blueberry cheesecake

Fruit tarts

Spoonful of sugar also caters to those who wish to grab a bite of food. Primarily sandwiches and pastas, they also have some wonderful quiches and fresh dips that are served along with crackers. The hummus here can match the ones made at any top end restaurant in the city. My only grouse about the sandwiches are that they are made using sliced bread; perhaps a next step could be to offer a choice of bread, but I don't know if that would bode too well with the philosophy of the place. It is after all, a spoonful of 'sugar'. Also, the quiche I had, it's base was a little underdone, and the lasagna seemed to have cheese that was old (visibly), and that was the only 'issue' I had that I'd mentioned at the start of this blog post. But that apart, they tasted very nice indeed.

Chicken quiche

Chicken lasagna

When it comes to cost, Spoonful of sugar certainly charges more than any of your other cake shops, but you can easily see why. With ingredients as fresh as the ones used here as well as a quality that many will find hard to match, you will WANT to pay for their food. If you love desserts and can't settle at just one per person, then desserts for two can set you back by about Rs 400 or so. If, like me, you're get a little dessert starved, then you may spend a wee bit more. I personally have polished off Rs 800 worth of goodies here in one sitting, but then that's just me.

Verdict
Food: Very good indeed
$$$: Expensive
Additional info: While it is expensive, you do get your money's worth

Spoonful of Sugar, 421-G, 1^st Main, 3^rd Cross, 1^st Stage, Indiranagar, Bangalore. Phone: 25255534, 25255535

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

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 :)

Spaghetti Kitchen

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

Touché Diner

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

Assamese Food Festival

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!