Spiga

Spiga is back! Almost opposite the older location, above the Giovanni showroom at the corner of St Mark's Road and Vittal Mallya Road, Spiga seems to be drawing all its old faithful back into its realm, and also seems to be pulling in new recruits.

VP and I reached Spiga around 1:15 and had to wait until 1:55 to get a table. P called and said he'd join us a little late. Once we were seated, our waiter got a basket of 3 slices of garlic bread, and here's the kicker - all three were of varying sizes, like the three bears in the Goldilocks story. There was a papa garlic bread (long), a mama garlic bread (medium), and a baby garlic bread (short). We waited for a few minutes, hoping that we'd be given plates, but that didn't seem to be the case. Hungry, we dug into the bread. Finally, we motioned to the waiter to get us some plates, and he got us plates.

When the starter arrived, it did seem a little disappointing, given the standards we'd come to expect form Spiga. The oregano chicken skewers didn't come with the skewers (OK, I may be getting a little ahead of myself, but I thought at least wooden skewers!). Instead, although you could make out the holes in the chicken where the skewers passed through, they came with tooth-picks! Now that, for some reason, was very putting off.

Oregano Chicken Skewers

And what's the deal with the naan-like bread by the side? They sure as hell don't seem to be the kind you can scoop the chicken pieces with (the pieces are way too large, and there isn't any gravy to mop up). The chicken tasted nice, like any other malai kabab that I've had at any of the numerous tandoori food places in the city.

For the main course (by which time Mr P had joined us), I ordered a classic steak sandwich. My previous visit to Spiga at the old location saw me having something very common - some kind of pasta, while the persons seated at the table next to ours were having a very beautiful looking sandwich, so I was craving for something like that. My sandwich tasted good, with just the right amount of mayo added to it and although the lettuce was whole, cutting the sandwich helped combat the difficulty in eating a large leaf of lettuce. However, when they say steak sandwich and serve you a filling of shredded chicken slivers, to say it's kinda disappointing would be the understatement of the century.

Classic Steak Sandwich

VP ordered a bacon-wrapped fish, served with penne. He had a severe headache, and so that gave him an excellent excuse to eat slowly, but I guess he liked the dish coz he almost ate the entire thing on his own.

Bacon wrapped Fish with Penne

P ordered a simple Thai red curry (vegetarian) and all too quickly polished it off as neatly as the rice seemed to be polished.

Thai Red Curry

We were pretty full (VP and I had visited Egg Factory for a snack while waiting to get seats in Spiga, so we were full), and so settled for one blueberry cheesecake. The cake was nice, and was different from most other cheesecakes you get elsewhere (which are almost like a slightly more hardened mousse).

Blueberry Cheese Cake

I don't think I'm heading towards Spiga again in a hurry. The music was way too loud, and it being a Sunday, so were the people. the service was eh, and the only silver lining was that the food didn't disappoint. Thankfully, with me, that's the most important criteria, you know, kinda like why men go to watch an Anna Kournikova match...not for her tennis, or like when women go to watch a John Abraham movie...for his looks of course, not his acting skills (in his defense, have you ever seen a mannequin 'act' anywhere?), but the fact that there was this charm and aura around Spiga made me expect a lot more from it.

Food: Good
$$$: Around 400-500 per head; may reduce if group size is bigger
Service: Eh!
Verdict: I liked the old Spiga better - in terms of food, service, ambiance, and best of all, it didn't have mind-numbingly loud music playing all the time.
Extra Info: The music is very loud, and people speak at the top of their lungs and act as if they own the place, so if it's a pleasant environ you're looking for, certainly not on weekends.

Spiga, above Giovanni, Corner of St Mark's Road & Vittal Mallya Road, St Mark's Road, Bangalore. Phone: 42110469 , 42110470

Lazy Saturday morning @ Egg Factory

Saturday morning was about as lazy as it gets. P, VP and I met for breakfast at 9 (I was famished by that time, since I'm used to having my breakfast @ 7 AM!). P was late, and so VP and I started off without him. We started off with a french toast with cream cheese and blueberry preserve. I've always loved this version, and it didn't disappoint again.

French Toast with Blueberry Preserve and Cream Cheese

I'd never had any of the special "Manipal connection" dishes on the menu before, and so VP and I decided to take a shot here. I had the mota special, and boy, did it have 'fat' in it or what! You can see the oil/ghee (clarified butter) floating on top.

Mota Special

VP decided to have the bread masala, and it did seem a lot lighter than the dish I ordered, although both tasted good.

Bread Masala

Finally, P arrived, and ordered a cilantro chilly omelette.

Cilantro & chilly omelette

VP then ordered an omelette with tomato sauce, simple yet effective.

Omelette withTomato sauce

P and I then decided to split a classic - huevos rancheros, a classic Mexican breakfast dish, served with tortillas.

Huevos Rancheros

This was P trying to take a picture of a glass of water. Not too sure what he was thinking, but then again, he's been working real hard and not been having enough coffee :)


Finally, for dessert, we ordered a new one we saw on the blackboard. It said zabaglione, and was a custard type dish with a wine flavour along with cream and chocolate shavings on top. It had a great taste, and kinda had a cinnamon/mouth fresher taste which 'pops' in your mouth.

Zabaglione

On the way out, we saw the co-owner of the place, Yogesh himself, and he let out a secret about the new dessert. Firstly, it was his research and tweaking of the recipe, and secondly, the thing that popped in the mouth... go eat it and find out (nothing bad or disgusting or shocking, just something simple that would pleasantly surprise you).

Bored of work, head to Egg Factory!

Eggs can really cheer you up, and when you're in good company, discussing 'spiritually' uplifting stuff (apart from food talk, of course), then the meal can be all the more delightful. I visited TEF twice in a week; the first time when I was pretty frustrated with work and just wanted to go and have a good meal in the evening, and the second, a week later, with my brother when my mom had gone to Mangalore to attend a wedding.

The night I attended alone (alone because P and VP were held up at work and couldn't make it), I started off with a cilantro chilli pesto omelet with toast. The owner, Yogesjh, while chatting with me suggested I try the Cha Tan (Chinese fried egg topped with peas, bits of carrot and soya ham served with rice) for my mains, and that's what I did, finally winding up with a bread custard. I also got around to asking why they stopped serving my favourite dessert, the poor knights of Windsor any more, and Yogesh gave me a valid answer for that (not too sure if I should be putting it down here without his permission). I also got a few pointers for my upcoming trip to Delhi next month. All said and done, dinner was great, as usual, and no complaints.

Cilantro chilli pesto omelet

Cha Tan

Bread custard

When my brother and I went (second time), I was supposed to meet the lil tyke (not so little anymore!) at around 6:30, but got held up at work till 6:15, and so by the time I reached TEF, it was almost quarter past 7. Thankfully, he was carrying a storybook (that's something genetic with both of us), and so was passing away his time reading. We ordered a French toast stuffed with cheese and blueberry preserve, and then went for the main course - a pasta mushroom ragout for him, and I settled for the omlete curry combo.

French toast stuffed with cheese and blueberry preserve

Penne with mushroom and cheese ragout

Plain rice and the omelet curry

A couple of parathas with raita

After dinner, we thought of going to Lakeview Ice Cream parlour since it had been ages since we'd been there, and so walked the almost 1 KM to MG Road. As luck would have it, the place had shifted - to the complex adjacent to TEF. Thankfully, my brother wasn't in a foul mood and so didn't crib about having to walk back the same way we came.

Upon getting there, it just didn't feel the same, although the wait staff were. I guess location does matter! My brother had the chocolate mallow sundae, while I had an old favourite - the Callison special.

Chocolate mallow sundae

Callison sundae

2 weekes of non stop eating

Hurray! Finally, my brother's exams are over, and the next day we were off to shop for his birthday gift. Well, we didn't end up buying his 'gift', that's been put off for another day, but we did end up buying a lot of books to read. After the little shopping spree at Blossoms, we landed up in The Only Place, named that way because when it opened in Bangalore, it was the first restaurant (and for quite a while the only restaurant) to serve beef. And so it was a lasagna for the little brat, and I settled for a lamb burger.

The lasagna was good, and it's the first time I'm seeing it served on a plate, and not a bowl or a deep dish.

The burger though, was, well, a little dry for my liking, and I've certainly had better. And I just hate it when they add a raw slice of onion in burgers...why can't they caramelise it??? How hard is it? I can certainly wait a couple of minutes longer!

The 5^th of April saw Mr P and Mr VP headed towards F&B to have their 'lunch @ 360', and although a couple of the dishes we had were slightly different from when I had been there earlier on Christmas day of 2008 with my brother, and so there wasn't a lot of clickety click. Plus, the two of 'em were pretty amazed by the food and the service and wasted no time in tucking into the grub as soon as it hit the table.

Chocolate mousse with blueberry cream

Anise spices cake

I forgot what this one was :)

The next weekend we were off to watch Fast and the Furious 4, and before we stepped into the theatre, we went to this place called Ramana's on Cunningham Road, just after Wockhardt hospital. Simple, north Indian fare, but amazing to taste. Too bad we were in a hurry to get to the movie, and so I didn't get snaps here as well :(

Egg Factory Republic Day weekend special

Since I am such a big fan of this place, I thought it would be pertinent to mention here that The Egg Factory on St. Marks Road will be having a special menu for the long Republic Day weekend (24^th, 25^th and 26^th Jan '09). I've been told on good authority (and trust me, it doesn't get bigger than this) that the menu will have a whole new range of dishes for breakfast on these three days ranging from new omelettes and frittatas to new dishes like burritos, along with speciality breads like bagels, croissants and English muffins, and also the ever famous English Egg Benedict.

For the vegetarians who don't mind eating egg, but would cringe at the thought of there being meat at the Egg Factory - relax. There won't be. Then "how would an egg Benedict be complete without ham?" you may ask?. Well, either the meat won't be there at all, or the equally tasty soya substitute may make its debut at the Egg Factory (the only way to find out would be to be there and order it). So be there; I sure will!

F&B - The Garden Cafe

It's been so long since I wrote about any place I'd been that typing itself is now feeling like such a tough chore! And add to that the fact that I visited the Garden Cafe on Christmas day last year (exactly a month since I'm writing this), I've forgotten most of the details. However, the fact that I'm writing this should suffice to indicate that the place is either worth visiting coz it's a treat, or it's an absolute disaster (for this it's the former).

The Garden Cafe is the new avataar of Bouquet, which is what it used to be called before I guess. Now with the daily 'buffet', they have made things really interesting. I used buffet in quotes and said interesting simply because at Rs. 360, you get to eat all the items on their menu (and trust me, there are a lot of dishes) - from soups to appetisers, from sandwiches to pasta to classic continental fare, this place gives you absolute value for money - a setup to put you at ease, great ambiance, excellent service, and amazing, lip-smacking, finger-lickin food.

As I mentioned, I had visited this place on Christmas day with my brother (who was in the midst of his Christmas vacation/study holidays). And since this was a while ago, this post will only have the names of dishes we had, and not the usual long drawn out story with the pictures.

I think this was called Pacific Blue (something with Blue Curacao)

A mango mocktail my brother had

Chicken Satay

One of the best prawn dishes I've had - with garlic, ginger and soy sauce

Chicken Tikka

Christmas special - Scallops on mashed potatoes and leek

Pasta fusili for the brother

A classic BLT sandwich

BLT again

Chocolate & almond tart

Lemon Meringue

Cinnamon something

Like I said, I just remember pigging out, and since my brother isn't that great an eater, I allowed him to have what he wanted, and gorged my way through lunch.

Food: Fantastic
$$$: Complete value for money (I think the buffet has now increased to 375)
Service: Good
Verdict: Must visit. In my opinion, the best sit-down buffet for a multi-cuisine meal anywhere in Bangalore (all things considered)

F&B - The Garden Cafe, Papanna Street (off St. Marks Road), before Vittal Mallya Road, Bangalore. Phone: 40333888

The Egg Factory

Well, it was back to the Egg Factory for me and my brother on Saturday morning. Well, it was his first time here, and we decided to come here since we had to drop by his school to take a photograph of him in front of a statue which had the names of students from the school who participated in world war 2, for a project he was doing as a part of his curriculum.

My only worry that morning was that it would rain, because just as we left I noticed dark clouds and realised then (a little too late) that it had rained the previous night. I was in a Tee and shorts, while my brother was not in anything more helpful (A Tee and a pair of bermudas).

I ordered an orange juice for myself and my brother had a mango juice. Since I was in the mood to really tuck into something, I ordered a garden frittata which came with a large portion of garlic bread,

and also a herbed egg sub to complete my breakfast.

Since my brother was having a hard time deciding which sub to order, I kinda prodded him towards the piperade, which was something I had had during my previous visit (first visit) here.
Being a fussy eater that he is, it was quite a sight to watch him tuck into his sub and at the end of his meal acknowledge that he was happy with what he ate and was 'full'. After a good breakfast, I went home and slept until it was time for lunch (no wonder I've again started putting on weight).

Ice + Spice

On Sunday, I went out to Blossoms bookstore on Church Street. It was a long time since I'd visited the place, and as usual, when I hit a bookstore, I almost always walk out with at least one book. This time was no different. On the way back, I stopped at Ice+Spice cafe on St Marks road. It's where the old Richie Rich ice cream parlour used to be, and from what I've heard of Ice+Spice, it was supposed to rival some of the best cafes in the city.

First off, if you're claustrophobic, don't sit inside, because you may freak out, but otherwise, this place is dandy. It's a very small place, so if you happen to visit when college students or the pretentious "yo crowd" of Bangalore decides to hang out there, then parking your bottoms may be an issue.

The menu is classic cafe material- coffees, teas, and beverages, along with burgers, sandwiches, quiches, pastries, etc. The food is good and fresh, and the service is quick. In case you're trying a burger, try the 'Tons of fun burger', which comes with an option of lamb or chicken.

It's a big burger, with lamb/chicken, a fried egg, chicken salami, and the usual lettuce, tomato, onion, and mayo. I just loved the burger, and I have to say that since I've been on the lookout for 'the perfect burger' most of my 'eating out' life in Bangalore, this place so far I think has the real deal. Indian's used to be good during the early 90s and Mac Fast Food on Church St. used to be the best, and for those who are satisfied with the crap a McD's or a KFC throws at you, then you can go and ... never mind.

The smoothies are really great and worth the money you pay. I had a frozen strawberry smoothie, and this thing was sinful.

This place isn't overly expensive, but the food here is most certainly better than the 'food' dished out at most cafe, like a Casa Picola or CCD. That's right, you heard me, this place serves better food than a Casa Picola. They may not have the variety a Casa Picola offers you, but at least they ensure you quality with what they serve. Definetly worth a visit if you're going down St Marks road.

PS: Also, try to step inside and check out the AC they have. I've never seen an 'upright standing AC', and this thing looks really cool.

Food: Very good; my fav. burger joint
$$$: Not expensive
Service: Fast food, what service do you expect? Anyway, it's pretty decent and quick
Verdict: My fav. burger joint - says it all don't it?

Ice+Spice, 22, opp. State Bank of India main gate, Adjacent to Kabab Korner, St. Mark's Road, Bangalore. Phone: 41121160, 32507859

The Egg Factory

This place is tucked away in a small lane opposite the main branch of State Bank of India on St. Mark's Road, in a building called White house. The settings are wonderful: it's got a robust look, not flashy, almost rustic, but very comfortable, with a great view of the beauty of old Bangalore on St. Mark's Road. Here is a snap of the view from where we were sitting. The owner, Mr Yogesh, came and joined us for lunch and had a chat with us. As the name suggests, the prime ingredient in almost all dishes is egg, and there's no other meat on offer. To some, this may seem a little disappointing, but I have no idea why it should be. As Mr Yogesh said, if they wanted the other accompaniments like ham and/or bacon (which typically go well with eggs, the classic English breakfast), there are a lot of other joints for that, and also, serving only eggs gives the place a sort of exclusivity that the others don't enjoy, sort of a USP that is unique by all standards. And surely, skipping meat and substituting it with eggs, once in a while, shouldn't be that big an issue. They also whip up dishes without the yolks upon request, and have an extremely fancy list of dishes.

Onto the food, and we had decided to eat as much as we could and get the best this place had to offer. We started off with the tomato & mozzarella crostini

and the mushroom pepper crostini.

While Mr P thought the mushroom pepper was the better of the two, I'm a sucker for cheese and mushrooms, so I had to give equal points for both, and both scored very high. Mr VP, as usual, couldn't make up his mind which one was better and was the undecided voter in this survey (there are always a few of these undecided chaps in every poll).

We then moved on to omelettes. Apologies for the delay in clicking the pictures; we were having a very nice conversation with Mr. Yogesh and so I remembered only when we were half done with the omelettes. Mr P had an Irish omelette, which had onions, chives and lemon juice (sorry for the late click, but Mr P had devoured most of it before I realised I had to click),

Mr VP had a Spanish omelette which had kidney beans, onions, tomatoes, peppers-basically, the works,

and I settled for the broccoli and mushroom omelette.

All the omelettes came with slices of toasted bread and with butter and jam separately. We'd already wolfed down the toasted bread with half the omelettes before I remembered to click away, but I can say with full authority that the omelettes are big and not a cheap excuse for an omelette. The toasted bread and butter & jam teleported me back to the days when I was a child and would make my triple decker egg sandwich after reading of Jughead's exploits in Archie comics. All the omelettes tasted good (they'd better have, coz if you can screw up an omelette, then you shouldn't be running a kitchen, let alone a restaurant!).

And away we marched towards the next meal. We were trying to sample one from each section (and there were plenty of sections). We ordered a garden frittata (Mr Yogesh's recommendation),

a piperade 6 inch sub, which had egg and mushrooms with the usual stuffings of onions , lettuce, etc.,

and two rice curry combos: the spicy onion egg curry,

and a son-in-law curry (a Thai dish with golden boiled egg and tamarind with roasted peanut sauce) [sorry, but the picture seems to have vanished from my phone]. The use of tamarind was a little aggressive, but not to the point where you couldn't eat it. My only regret is that we didn't cancel one of the rice dishes for a pasta dish (especially since there was a line in the menu that read: Italian pasta at Indian prices :) ). Nevertheless, the food we had was amazing and if the staff at the Egg Factory promised satisfaction, they delivered it on all counts, and how! We made sure we left a little room for dessert, and had a poor Knights of Windsor, which was bread with raisins, fried with butter and jaggery and sprinkled with cherry shavings, served as a sizzler,

and a regular caramel custard because the other dessert we wanted to have(a strawberry filled omelette soufflé) wasn't available.

After the meal, the only thing running through my head was why didn't I live close to St. Mark's Road. The Egg Factory is an amazing place for those who can manage to put an egg down their throats without worrying about the holy repercussions. Credit cards aren't accepted right now and Mr Yogesh informed us that it was because the companies that lend the machines to swipe have become a bit strict and expect you to have stayed in business for about 6 months before they issue a machine, so for the time being, cash rules, although they do accept the Sodexho food coupons as well (which to me is a boon).

And did I mention that the best thing about this place is that it's an all day diner (from 8 AM to 10 PM), so even if you're hungry at say 5 PM around Lavelle Road or St. Marks' Road, and most other restaurants are closed, this place would be open, and you go in and tuck away into one of the desserts or wraps or subs, if not an omelette, or all of the mentioned. A nice walk in the nearby park or on Lavelle Road would help after the meal, as it did for us.

Food: Superb
$$$: Complete value for money
Service: Decent, prompt
Verdict: My favourite place in Bangalore! That should be all you need to hear.

The Egg Factory, 29, White House, Ground Floor, Behind Dewar's Wine shop, Opposite State Bank of India Head Office, St. Mark's Road, Bangalore - 01.