Caesar's

Friday night saw P, VP and I make a sudden decision to go watch the new Bruce Willis movie Surrogates @ Fame Lido. After the movie, we were wondering where to head for dinner and started walking along M G Road, coming up with and scratching off options. We came up with Caesar's, and since none of us had been there, we decided to walk it down.

Entering Caesar's was like stepping into a era of Bangalore that existed when I was growing up as a kid. The paint, the setup inside, even the smell for that matter seemed to be screaming 'old Bangalore'.

We settled in and ordered a round of jaljeera. Three big glasses arrived, and along with it we also ordered a round of simple onion rings. The rings were oily (well, duh!) and the two clowns with me made me eat most of them - I tell you, these guys won't let me reap the benefits of all the exercising I'm doing (I run for 30 minutes every evening).

Jaljeera

P is a big fan of soups, and one of the soups caught his eye - tomato egg drop soup. Sounded interesting, and he asked me if I was willing to split a soup with me, which I was, so a split soup it was. The soup was actually nice, and although watery (P for some reason thought it would be creamy), he liked it too.

Tomato egg drop soup

Onion rings

While downing the rings and our soup, we were engaged in an prolonged discussion about the pros and cons of arranged marriage versus a love marriage, and everything that most of today's about-to-be-married folks seem to have taken for granted, especially stuff about the expectations from marriage - it's not the same as it was when our parents got married, that's for sure.

Garlic bread

After a wait for nearly half an hour, our mains arrived. VP ordered a Chicken ala Kiev, a crumb fried chicken dish that was filled with butter, served on a bed of mashed potatoes. And typical of VP, he never finishes a meal, and invariably it's me who mops up what he's left, but my steak was a little too filling, and so I wasn't able to finish his meal.

Chicken ala Kiev

My steak ala Caesar's was a superb combo of beef and chicken, and although I try to avoid beef nowadays, what with the global warming and stuff (in case you're wondering what's eating beef got to do with global warming, well, the cows that are in farms where they are raised for their meat are the no.1 source of methane, and I've verified it as well). In this case I made an exception, and now I can't think of why I chose to do so. In any case, my steak was good. Nice cut of beef, and the chicken was good as well.

Steak ala Caesar's

P didn't seem to have any complaints about his shashlik, and as usual, mopped it up quietly.

Veg shashlik

I was too full to eat dessert, and so the guys ordered a hot chocolate fudge from which I had a couple of spoons before paying the bill.

Hot chocolate fudge

Next weekend is deepavali, or diwali, as it's known in the north. I'm off to Mangalore, and hopefully I'll be able to indulge in some culinary adventures there. But before that, there's a whole week in Bangalore, so hopefully there's something more to come.

Food: Good
$$$: Slightly expensive; the bill came to about 1680 with tax.
Service: Good, but also a little slow. Also, they don't rush you & give you all the time you need.
Verdict: Worth a visit once in a while just to get the good, clean 'smell' of old Bangalore. Oh, and like I said, the food's not too bad :)

Caesar's, 9/2, Mahalakshmi Chambers, M G Road, Bangalore. Phone: 25584144

Aquasphere

My mom had to attend a seminar for psychiatrists on Sunday afternoon, and so it was a perfect opportunity for me try out Aquasphere, a place I'd been waiting to visit ever since I leanrt of its existence. And so my brother and I went there for lunch, and I had clear instructions for my brother - no chicken, only sea food is what we'll be ordering.

It was a slightly long drive, but worth it, because upon entering the place you're straightaway put at ease by the soothing light blue colours inside the restaurant, and the large aquarium there on the wall adds to the setup. My only grouse was the fact that the seats are carved out of stone/concrete, and so you can't move/adjust the seats, ergo, no point in adjusting the table since the person on the opposite side would be inconvenienced. Apart from that, I think everything about the food was good. My brother, as usual, had to have something to drink, but thankfully, this time he didn't go for his usual mango based drink, but had a blue curacao based drink called Caribbean Blue.
I settled for a spicy hot crab soup, and the amount of spices was just right - not hot enough that you'd be breathing out fire like an ancient Chinese dragon, but just enough to whet your appetite.
For appetizers, we ordered a plate of prawn wontons, oily (expected) but tasting great, especially with the garlic sauce they gave.
Apart from the wontons, we ordered a seafood basket, which consisted of crab, squid rings, prawns, and two types of fish. You have an option of tandoor (not spicy) style or Thai (spicy). Since my brother doesn't eat spicy food, it had to be tandoor style.
Apart from the fishes in the aquarium and the seafood on our plates, there was a little bunny hopping around the place, quite to the amusement of a couple of kids who had come to the restaurant. Seen here below, the little fellow (or felli?) was spending some time at my feet.
For our main course, I ordered a seer fish sizzler, Thai style, which came along with flat noodles, and tasted great.
My brother ordered a chicken sizzler, continental style, that came with fries and boiled vegetables (I allowed him to have chicken for the mains - a change of heart :) ).

Another pic of bugs.

Food: Fairly good
$$$: Fairly expensive (roughly 300-500 per head depending on the size of the group you're in).
Service: Ok, nothing special
Verdict: Worth a visit ONLY if you're in the area.

Aquasphere, 17, Sri Rama Layout, 1st Main, Next To Elita Promenade, just outside Brigade Millenium main gate, 7th Phase, JP Nagar, Bangalore. Phone: 41329017, 41329674