BM Review: The Rogue Elephant, Basavanagudi

A few weeks back, I'd visited the new branch of The Rogue Elephant in Basavanagudi. The other branch is at Ulsoor, and like the Ulsoor branch, this one is attached to Ambara as well. The full review can be read here.

Not much by way of explanation, but the caramalised figs with savoury pannacotta in a balsamic vinaigrette reduction is probably the most famous dish here. It's not on the menu, and is a special, but usually it's there everyday. This is a must have. Apart from that, the pan-fried fish medallions in a puttanesca sauce and the herb roasted chicken are very good. Also, I have a soft spot for sandwiches and burgers, and the sandwiches here are pretty big and the one we had was awesome.

Iced Tea

Mezze Platter

Just Like Crab Meat

Hummus with Grilled Chicken and Pita

Zucchini Fritters

Caramalised Figs with Savoury Pannacotta in a balsamic vinaigrette reduction

Watermelon salad with Bocconcini cheese

Veg stew for cous cous

Cous Cous with harisa and garlic

Chicken bangers with mash and onion sauce

Pasta Susana

Herb Roasted Chicken

Pan-fried fish medallions in a puttanesca sauce

Pasta Pomodoro

Chicken Coronation Sandwich

Banana Walnut Loaf

Kulfi

Mango Pannacotta

Apple Pie with Ice Cream

Food: Superb
$$$: Moderately expensive. Around 500 per head for a complete meal if you have a good appetite
Service: If the co-owner Anand is there, then be sure to chat up with him. If you ask me, he's the last surviving Britisher in India :) Service is prompt, no complaints.
Verdict: South Bangalore has it all now, so no need to head towards the crowded areas of Koramangala and Indiranagar. This is a must visit, no matter which part of town you're in.

The Rogue Elephant, #93, Next to New Generation School, Opp. Krishna Rao Park, Kanakapura Road, Basavanagudi, Bangalore. Phone: 98456 64681.

Home cooking: grilled chicken legs and yummy soup

After a long time, mom ended up being busy on a weekend, and I jumped at the prospect of cooking again. The weather was cloudy and there was rain in the air - perfect soup weather. In fact, I'd been wanting to have soup for a while now but wasn't able to (work's been keeping me busy).

So I decided to make soup, but I knew that we'd need something else as well, and I thought of making some nice chicken wings. But they don't sell wings at Spar!!! Horror of horrors! Luckily I spotted these yummy drumsticks and so decided to switch from wings to legs.

Some of the ingredients

Seasoning

Into the marinade

After grilling

I read about this way of roasting garlic to bring out an intense aroma. Basically, it involves heating oil in a pan and then bringing the flame down and tossing in the garlic cloves whole - without removing the skin. Cover and allow the garlic to cook for about 3-4 mins or until lightly browned. Turn the garlic over and repeat the process for the other side. Remove the garlic, peel the skin off, and grind it using a pestle and mortar or whatever and there you have it. A little lemon zest, oregano, thyme, the usual salt and pepper, some curd, and into the fridge she went for more than 24 hours. You could marinate it for a shorter period, but I knew that this was for Sunday night, so this was sitting in the fridge from Saturday afternoon until Sunday night.

I used the grill in the microwave, and realised that you need a lot of patience to do this :) It would have been so much more fun to do this in an open grill with charcoal, but you make do with what you have.

For the soup, I knew the only way my bro would have it was if there was some chicken in it, so I cut a couple of chicken breasts into cubes. I also realised I didn't have any stock, and it was too late to prepare stock, so I just used water. I had purchased a bottle of Thai seasoning (it constituted lemon grass, chili flakes, and a few other things) and so knew I'd be using that.

Onions and carrots thinly sliced

Peppers, mushroom, and seasoning

This is when the chicken cubes went in

As good as, if not better than any soup I've had

For the soup (actually, I'm not sure if that's the right word, coz as mom later told me, the pieces of chicken were too big, and there were too many 'things' in it to call it a soup), I started out with an onion and a carrot into some water that was boiled and brought to a simmer. Salt and pepper followed, after which came the red and yellow peppers and the mushroom. Then came the chicken cubes (which I had marinated for a few hours in salt, garlic paste, red chili powder and lemon juice).

To make the soup thick, I added an egg and quickly stirred it (the heat will cook the egg, so be sure to stir and break it up quickly), but I realised this wasn't enough, and so mom asked me to add a couple of tablespoons of corn flour and the resulting thickness was what we wanted. Add corn flour in small quantities by first dissolving it in some water at room temp and then toss it into the pot. Some spring onions and coriander later, with bits of bacon into my bowl, and Sunday night ended in an awesome way. Burp.

BM Review: The Hole in the Wall Cafe

So here I am, back from a short visit to Visakhapatnam, where it was hot and humid and I'm all tired. Here are the pictures of the food from The Hole in the wall Cafe in Koramangala. The review can be read here. My guest for this trip was Paul Nixon, an Englishman who's been living in Bangalore for seven years now. Paul has a great blog called India-aagh, which is a must read.

Watermelon (part of the fruits of both breakfast options)

The continental breakfast is something I'll never get used to - not with my appetite. Fruits, juice, toasted bread, and tea/coffee. The All American, though, was much better - cereal, eggs with salami/bacon/sausage, toasted bread, fruit juice, cut fruits, and tea/coffee. Paul said the sausage was quite good indeed.

Cereal

Eggs & pork sausages

Waffles & honey

Pancakes & honey

The waffles and pancakes were both good. Although served with honey and not maple syrup, the freshness in them gelled well with the honey.

Bacon, mushrooms, and cheese omelet

Breakfast sliders

Food: Good
$$$: Cheap
Service: Decent, but most people come here to chill out, and when they're in a hurry.
Verdict: Good place for breakfast if you're a late riser.

The Hole in the Wall Cafe, # 61, 1st 'A' Main, S.T. Bed, Koramangala 4th Block, (behind Hotel Maharaja), Bangalore.

BM Review: The Hole in the Wall Cafe

I've been way too busy to do anything these past few days, and to top it, I may be going out of town for the weekend, so for now, here's the link for the review. Pictures once I return on Wednesday. Stay tuned, and sorry for the delay.

Coming up...

There are a couple of review for the Bangalore Mirror that are pending. One is for 'The hole in the Wall Cafe' in Koramangala, while the other is of The Rogue Elephant, Basavanagudi. Hopefully the guys at the paper will publish these reviews soon, so I can put them up here along with the snaps. In the meantime, you can catch some of the pictures here on the Facebook page.

BM Review: Tango Calypso

Several weeks back, I'd visited the restaurant Tango Calypso, which is opposite the Life Style and Sapphires toy store on Richmond Road. The review can be read here. The restaurant, although having the word Calypso in it, baring touches Caribbean cuisine. It's more 'Euro American' is what they claim. Well, I put them to the test, and they came up short. You'll have to excuse the quality of the photos for this one - I was using my point & shoot and the lighting was a little dim, hence the blurry images.

The soups, polloa la garlic fungi (mushroom soup with chicken and garlic) and the American corn chowder were both nicely done. Creamy and smooth, they set the ball rolling in the right direction. However, the toppings on the bruschetta weren't good...in fact, they tasted quite bad, as though the tomato was spoilt. And the other thing is they weren't using cherry tomatoes, which I think is the right way to go about it. The Sicily garlic prawns were cooked well, but the garlic was a little string and we weren't able to discern the taste of the other spices (if any) mixed in. The last of our starters, the caribe chicken, seemed to have cajun spices rubbed on it. The chicken was nicely done and it would have been perfect had they not added the cajun spices in excess, thereby masking the taste of the chicken and presenting our palates only with the taste of the spices.

Pollo al garlic Fungi (mushroom soup with chicken and garlic)

American Corn Chowder

Bruschetta

Sicily garlic prawns

Caribe chicken

For our main course, we ended up ordering the following: I had a classic surf n' turf, which came beautifully presented, but I'll be a monkey's uncle if they expect me to cut a steak with a stainless steel table knife! The risotto Milanese and the pasta feta Siciliana were good according to my guests, while the pepper painted salmon fillet seemed a little too small for what was charged and the chicken balsamico was nice, but not memorable.

Surf 'n' Turf

Risotto Milanese

Fusilli feta Siciliana

Chicken Balsamico

Pepper painted Salmon

You can check out Ruth's blog to see a picture, sorry portrait, of Mona Lisa smoking a joint! Although at first glance you'll think this place is one of those absolutely formal dining type joints, the Mona Lisa with a joint just shattered whatever facade was propping up that idea.

Food: Nice, but certainly not worth the money charged. Presentation and ambience are good, but still, I can get similar kind of food (at the same prices or lesser) that tastes a lot better at a lot of other places.
$$$: Expensive. For 5 of us, including VAT and a 5% service charge, the bill came up to Rs 4444.
Service: Decent
Verdict: Unless someone else is paying, I don't think I'd be revisiting in a hurry.

Tango Calypso, #44, Richmond Road, opp. Sapphire's Toy Store, Bangalore. Phone: 25545555, 25554444.

Finally...

...after a long time, I found 7 spare minutes to add a Facebook badge for my blog. Why 7? I Don't know, but that's the amount of time I was free for when doing 'blog work'. Now be sure to catch the action on Facebook as well. However, in keeping with being oblivious to what 'extra' would be provided to the readers by linking this to Facebook, the Facebook page will be primarily for the photos of higher quality (resolution) that can't be uploaded on the blog due to space constraints, although in time there could be some 'discussions' as well.

Shortly, I"ll be moving over to a new site, as Blogspot doesn't seem to be able to cater to all my needs (I've already bought a domain name for gastronomicalgspot.com, so even though some things may change, they would still remain the same), but enough of that for now. Bon appetit!