BM Review: Ruh

This week I visited a restaurant called Ruh on the Outer Ring Road (ORR) to review it for The Bangalore Mirror. The review can be read here.

The restaurant serves Mediterranean and Indian food. We stuck to the Mediterranean section. My guests were Vrata Venet (who was also one of my guests at C'est la vie), and a couple of his friends: Eric Vicario, a Spaniard, and Olivia Godeluck, a French national, both living in Bangalore, who've started a company called Karavel Consulting for Spanish and French SME companies that wish to start businesses here.

The pictorial tour, along with some additional info is here:

The al-Harira soup, which had shredded lamb with cinnamon, lemon, and a touch of honey, was superb.

al-Harira soup

Sangria, which had peaches in it, was liked by Eric and Olivia.

Sangria

Vrata had a glass of one of the Indian red wine varieties.

Red wine

Patatas Bravas, or spicy potatoes, served with a nice salsa dip.

Patatas Bravas

The evergreen hummus, along with pita bread and pita chips.

Hummus

We ordered a Spanish omelet, but what came out, according to Eric, wasn't a Spanish omelet. "It's a nice nouveau dish, but the real deal".

Spanish Omelet

The spinach croquettes weren't as big as Eric thought they'd be, and certainly didn't look very appealing, and they were pretty fair when it came to taste.

Spinach Croquettes (yes, I know, they don't look too appealing)

The non-vegetarian mezze platter had hummus, baba ghanoush, tabouleh, pita chips, little samosas called samosi, kibbeh, little buns filled with minced meat, and chicken.

Non-veg mezze platter

The vegetarian moussaka was nice, with the vegetables cooked nicely and seasoned well. Vrata and Olivia thought they were a little aggressive with the pepper, but that didn't spoil the dish and it was still very good.

Veg moussaka

The seafood paella was a disappointment of sorts - not in terms of taste, but authenticity. What was served to us wasn't a paella, but a risotto! As a risotto is was pretty good (although I'm not sure cheese goes well with seafood), but a paella it certainly wasn't.

Seafood Paella (turned out more like a risotto)

The albondigas, or Spanish meatballs, were served with a spicy tomato sauce, and were served on a bed of rice. For the Indian palate, this tasted good, but the guests thought it was a little too spicy for their liking.

Albondigas, or Spanish meatballs, in spicy tomato sauce

The tiramisu could have used a little more sprinkling of coffee powder on the top, but otherwise it was good - mascarpone and Marsalla were both present.

Tiramisu

The baklava, a thin pastry made of sheets of phyllo dough, filled with nuts and honey, was nice, although it did feel a little dry, but not adversely.

Baklava

**Note from the writer (me)**: A couple of friends went to Ruh on Valentine's Day, and from what I heard, there were several people at Ruh on that day, more than what they could handle, and so the service suffered, and so did the food. This review was a based on experiences 5 days before V-Day.

Food: Very good, especially the Lebanese, Arabian, and Moroccan. Spanish needs a little work, but it's still good.
$$$: Around Rs. 500-700 per head without drinks.
Service: Good.
Verdict: Definite must visit.
Extra Info: The ambiance is wonderful. Although I don't have pictures of the restaurant here, I'll be sure to get them during my next visit. The restaurant is located on the Outer Ring Road (ORR), very close to the Sarjapur Road-ORR junction. If coming from Sarjapur Road, turn onto the ORR, and once you see the service road, get onto it and go ahead till you cross a petrol bunk. It's a little ahead after that.

Ruh, 912 & 913, 4^th Floor Terrace, Ganapa Towers, Outer Ring Road, Bellandur Village, Varthur Hobli, Bangalore. Phone:42022727/37, 9845175777

BM Review: Ta'am

Totally forgot about this review that I'd done for Bangalore Mirror on the 31st of July. It can be read here. I gave the place a 2, because of the not very nice food, neither in terms of authenticity nor taste. And I think this is my shortest post so far :)

Food: OK, nothing great.
$$$: Not expensive, our bill for what we ate came to around 950 (for four people).
Service: Nothing special - decent I guess.
Verdict: You can skip this place.

Ta'am, 8^th Main, 4^th Block, Adjacent to Exide showroom, Kormangala, Bangalore. Phone: 41169898, 41469595

The full review is here:

The website for Ta’am gives the definition of the word ta’am as ‘taste’ in the Hebrew language, and goes on to say, “...that summarises our desire to provide tasty food to our patrons!!” Never underestimate the power of a well-designed website and well-crafted sentences to mislead you. Or maybe I’m a dunce to have thought I’d be transported to the bustling streets of Lebanon (when there are no bombs going off) to savour Arab street food in the company of my guests and like-minded gourmands — Ravi D’Abreo, his brother Ashish D’Abreo, and Mohammad Ziad, partners at the creative firm Origami. The three have spent a lot of time in West Asia, with Ziad running the operations from Dubai, and so have had the opportunity to sample first-hand dishes like falafels, hummus and pita bread.

Ta’am is your friendly neighbourhood falafel joint, which started initially only with a vegetarian menu, but in its new avatar, a couple of chicken items have come in as well. Promoted by Anil Elassery, who spent a significant amount of time in Israel, Ta’am tries to bring to Bangaloreans something which isn’t the usual Italian-Continental fare. Falafels, by the way, seem to have taken Israel by storm, the way curry did in m e r r y ol’ Engl a n d . Originally made from fava beans (yes, the ones that Hannibal Lecter loves!), falafels took birth in Egypt. Over time, the dish migrated north into the Arab world, where chickpeas replaced the fava beans. Mashed with onion, garlic, coriander, salt and pepper, the mixture is made into small, slightly flattened balls and fried, resulting in a falafel.

With a mixture of warm and Spartan, yet comforting and contemporary décor and seating arrangements, Ta’am is nestled in a quiet part of Koramangala, off the main road. What would endear you for certain are the colours used inside — fresh g r e e n a n d yellow a n d pastels of other shades. We started off with mocktails and fruit juices on an unusually warm July night. The drinks, written on a white board next to a salad counter (something we agreed to skip), were quite okay.

With a limited menu — three dishes of pita bread stuffed with either falafels or chicken (along with pickles, cabbage, tomato, etc), and four platters (veg and non-veg) consisting of hummus, falafels, chicken and pita — we started off with the initial three. The pita with barbecued chicken was a complete let down. The chicken seemed old, cold and didn’t have an iota of the smoky, barbecued taste to it at all. What’s worse, it was overcooked, making it lose all its juices and leaving it chewy and dry. Guys, the chicken is dead — there’s no need to kill it again! The pita with the kababs in it was only slightly better, with the chicken having a mildly spicy taste to it. The falafel, though, was the best among the three, and I don’t mean best among the worst. It was actually good. According to my guests, it came pretty close to the real deal, with only the tahini (sesame paste) dip being a little too watery.

Although disappointed, we thought the hummus-pita combo could act as a saving grace for Ta’am (and our stomachs — this was our dinner). We ordered pita bread and hummus with baba ghanoush, an Arabian dish made from mashed aubergines (brinjals) with various seasonings. Typically, a baba ghanoush has a smoky taste to it, as it’s broiled over an open flame. The one we ordered fell flat — no smoky taste, no taste of any seasoning. And sadly, the hummus was no better, with it neither having the texture nor the colour one associates with hummus, made from mashed chickpeas, blended with tahini, olive oil, lemon juice and garlic and salt, with the tahini giving it a creamy white look. The consensus was that there wasn’t enough tahini used, and overall, the hummus with the baba ghanoush didn’t seem anywhere close to what you'd get on the streets of the Arab world.

If you’re a debutant to West Asian street food, then I guess this could pass the muster, and, in fact, even make a nice snack. But having been exposed to the real deal, it was sad that apart from the falafels, nothing else came close to replicating the magic. So if you’re around Koramangala, looking for a quick snack, apart from a regular sandwich, Ta’am could be an alternative to be considered.