BM Review: Bangalore Bistro

This visit to Bangalore Bistro was official - it was part of me doing a review of the restaurant for the tabloid Bangalore Mirror. Pretty snazzy huh? :) Mr P and Mr VP accompanied me on the 10th of April, on a warm Good Friday night. We were joined there by Dr V, the photographer from Bangalore Mirror - Ph.D in English, and as Mr P said, "He looks too happy to be married!".

I was informed that I won't be able to put up the same content on my blog, but there no restriction on me giving a link here to the review, so click here. However, I am allowed to put up the pics of the food we ate (the ones I clicked), so those are here.

Once in a blue moon (Orange juice and blue Curacao)

Virign Mary

Once in a blue moon with someone's bust as the backdrop

Res Sea (Strawberry crush, lime juice and 7 Up)

Corn and cheese fritters

Caroza (sandwich with pesto and buffalo mozzarella)

Spoony beef

Cream of mushroom soup

Mozzarella and jalapeno balls

Citrus pepper fish

Veg gnocchi with mushrooms

Lebanese veg shawarma rolls with hummus

BaPeTo Chicken (Basil pesto tomoato) with polenta

Lava Java

Sizzling Brownie

Mango Cheesecake

Food: Very good.
$$$: Moderately expensive, around 400-600 per head depending on what you have.
Service: Very good.
Verdict: Must visit if you like continental and Mediterranean food.

Bangalore Bistro, #74 Brigade Road, Opposite St. Patrick's Church, Bangalore. Phone: 41131616, 25571616

At the risk of losing the review, since I can't expect the website to host the link for years, after a period in time I'm posting the review here:

The dictionary defines bistro as a small, modest, European-style restaurant or café. Bangalore Bistro is anything but small or modest, and one look at the place will dispel any notions of a small street-side café you may have conjured up. The restaurant has three sections — open air, a fine dining area and a lounge area. Chef Junaid Rafiuddin, formerly with the Taj Residency, started Bistro in 1999 on Cunningham Road, dishing out Italian and Continental fare. Around two-and-a-half years ago, a change in location to Brigade road seems to have also brought about a change in the ambiance and
cuisine, with a Mediterranean touch added to the place.

My guests were Pranav and Prashanth, both techies who’ve travelled around the globe on work and have sampled the wares of lands beyond our shores. Dressed in shorts and Ts on a warm Friday night, we stepped into Bistro to warm, comforting lights and light music, and sheeshas in the open air section – belly dancers would have completed the Mediterranean feel! Sigh. The menu starts off with Chef Rafiuddin extolling the chefs for the use of “...prized ingredients that makes all the difference...” In the menu, under soups, there aren’t any options given, only this line: “We would be glad to cook up anything for you.” This place scores for originality for sure.

A rule of thumb that I use at fancy restaurants to judge how good the food will be is by ordering a cream of mushroom soup and a Virgin Mary (if on the menu). If these two can be made to perfection, you can be assured that the food to follow would be good. The soup and Virgin Mary turned out to be fantastic, so were the other drinks — Red Sea (strawberry based) and Once in a Blue Moon (orange juice and blue Curacao).

Unlike several other places, veggies won’t have to worry for choice (Pranav being a veggie will testify), simply
because there’s plenty. The corn and cheese fritters were tasty, although the cheese inside could have been cooked a little more. The coroza (sandwich with pesto and buffalo mozzarella) was delightful, the mozzarella and jalapeno balls felt a little doughy (probably the only disappointment of the night), and the spoony beef was subtle and light on the flavours.

Onto the entrées, and although Pranav thought the gnocchi was a mixed bag, with the sauce having the right blend of herbs and spices while the gnocchi itself being a little bland, the Lebanese shawarma rolls (which had a zing to them), the citrus pepper fish and the basil pesto chicken were all executed to perfection. Prashanth has a sensitive stomach that usually acts up if the oil used is bad or stale, but he pointed out that the oil didn’t seem to have been reused – a definite plus. The desserts we had were superb — sizzling brownie, mango cheesecake and a Java lava, which was molten chocolate in a coffee cup served with ice cream.

The staff is extremely patient and helpful when it comes to helping you decide what to have, and what’s more, they know what’s on their menu. Their patience was demonstrated that evening when they put up with the tantrums and the ruckus created by a group of 20 or so high school/college kids celebrating a birthday there. My guests and I were amazed at the decibel levels the kids touched and by the way birthdays are celebrated today — I guess it’s a generational thing, meaning I’m getting old!

Bangalore Bistro is one of those places that delivers on its promises. The quality and finesse of the dishes match up to the ambience, and unless you are the type who’s used to the overwhelming power of spices and masalas in Indian cuisine, you would have to make an effort to not like this place.

Bangalore Bistro

The first time I had heard of this place was when it used to be located on Cunningham Road. And after it 'moved', I hadn't a clue as to where it went. But then, after about 6 years, I heard that it's on Brigade Road. Brigade Road?!?!?! That sent me into a tizzy as I'm pretty well aware of what's there on Brigade Road and what's not, and the mystery was further compounded when I read that it was located after Eva Mall near St. Joseph's Commerce College. That's it, I was now eager to go to this place just for the heck of seeing where it was.

And so before I decided to 'pay them a visit', I checked up on the net and came across their website, and was impressed by the layout and the content. When I came across the menu, there was only one thing that ran through my mind: either this place is an undiscovered gem of a restaurant serving classic Mediterranean and Italian food, or it's another wannabe in a long list of wannabes. After calling them and finding out where exactly it was on Brigade Road (it's on the 3rd floor of the building soon after Joseph's Commerce college, in the same building as South Indian Bank), I made plans to go there on Saturday night.

Mr P and Mr VP joined me there. Mr P was held up a little due to the infamous Bangalore traffic, so while Mr VP and I waited, we were extremely impressed with the setup. Bistro has an open roof top seating arrangement as well as indoor seating. We started off the evening with Virgin Mary's (yeah, yeah, I know, Saturday night and no alcohol? Well, we're responsible citizens and don't drive after drinking). We started off by sitting outside, high above the noisy Brigade Road traffic with a view of St. Patrick's church sipping on our Mary's and without a doubt, the Virgin Mary's here are the best we've had anywhere so far. It's tangy, it's sweet, it's a lil spicy, and also salty with the salt around the rim of the glass. It's a drink that'll get all the taste buds in your mouth into action in a subtle way and prepares your palate for the evening.
(The colour may seem off because I used the flash on my phone camera)
It was a pretty chilly night, and after switching seats from the open to the inside, we knew a soup would do wonders, and so we had a Mexican veg soup, and specifically asked them to make it moderately spicy. The best part about the Bistro is that on the menu, there are no selection of soups available, and under the heading Soups is a line that says "We would be glad to cook up anything for you". How confident is that!

The china used here is of top quality and extremely well thought of, and the soup was served in a wonderful dish, and not some run down bowl. Along with the soup, without too much deliberation, we settled for the Bruchetta platter and a Caroza (which is Italian bread sandwiched with pesto and buffalo mozzarella).

The Bruchetta platter had an excellent assortment of toppings for the Bruchetta, which included olives, mushrooms and cheese, tomatoes and cheese, and one with some green paste which I'm not too sure of (which tasted good). The photos were taken after we took a couple of the Bruchettas and a Caroza because they were so appealing that I forgot to click away as soon as they arrived at the table. The caroza tasted great. The mozzarella gave a very slight salty taste which complemented the taste provided by the pesto. Although Mr VP couldn't taste the mozzarella, there weren't any complaints from Mr P or from me.

For our main course, I ordered a Paella Matador, which is a Spanish dish consisting of green mussels, prawns, squid rings and fish with long grain rice, herbs and saffron. Ask any good chef and they'll tell you that eating involves four of the five senses, and the sense of sight is as important in relishing your meal as are the senses of taste, smell and touch. When the waiter brought the dish, I realised that we had probably hit the jackpot with this place. The presentation was very nice, and I have to say it's one of the better presented dishes I have had. Also, the quantity was a lot, and if I have to say that it was a lot, then trust me, it was a lot, irrespective of whether or not we had a Virgin Mary, the soup, bruchettas and the caroza.

Mr VP ordered the BBQ veal chops. I had never tasted veal before and I have to say the veal served here was very tender and juicy. Also, the barbecue sauce used wasn't the American barbecue sauce, but and Indian one which tastes much better than the American one (so says Mr VP, and I'll take his word on that...he is any expert on such matters).

Mr P ordered a mock meat steak, which was a soy based steak. I think this was the only 'disappointment' of sorts in the evening because although the steak tasted good, Mr P was a little disappointed that the steak was more like a big cutlet with soy and other vegetables ground in! But hey, when you're a vegetarian, you can't crib about your food not being like this or like that especially if it's trying to imitate meat (I don't think Mr P would take too kindly to that). But I'd like to add that Mr P didn't 'complain' as such and ate his food like a good boy :)

All in all, if I have to rate this place against some of the other joints serving Mediterranean and/or Italian cuisine, I'd have to say that this place comes up tops. In quality (and quantity), ambiance, decor, and taste of food, this places matched Sunny's (Vittal Mallya Road), and where it probably beats Sunny's is on pricing (they're probably the same, but psychologically this place just felt better). I won't say that it's low cost, but it's the average fare for any restaurant in Bangalore that serves up food of this quality. The staff were friendly and weren't the bossy, uptight type, and won't unnecessarily bother you with too many questions, but at the same time won't forget about you until called for. That fact that they're a chilled out bunch was exemplified when a large group trooped in with half a dozen kids around the ages of 5 and 6. While the older people got down to sitting and talking (adult stuff, I assume), the kids were running all over the place making quite a racket, and they weren't once reprimanded by the adults or the staff (much to our..., well, what should I say, it would be unfair to get upset at them...they're kids after all). But one thing I'm sure of is that we've definitely decided to visit Bistro again, and I'm eagerly waiting for the second trip.

Food: Very good.
$$$: Moderately expensive, around 400-600 per head depending on what you have.
Service: Very good.
Verdict: Must visit if you like continental and Mediterranean food.

Bangalore Bistro, 74, 3^rd Floor, Sumera Towers, After Eva Mall, Opposite St. Patrick's Church, Brigade Road, Bangalore. Phone: 41131616, 25571616