Toit

So Bangalore got its first micro brewery, but before you go all gaga googoo over it, they still haven't started brewing their magical elixirs as yet - on the lookout for a brew master (those interested and know a thing or two, please go apply and join so we can get the party started). And since this place is so close to work, it made it all the more interesting that we pay it a visit...and soon!

Toit derives its name from the Irish pronunciation of the word 'tight', usually used whenever a hot member of the fairer sex meanders within visual range of horny male members. "Ooh, she's tight!" would be the expression, and with the Irish twist and twang from their accent, tight gets pronounced as 'toit'. And so the idea was born. Toit is spread over a large area - over three floors, with sufficient seating, and types of seatings available.

When it comes to the food and drinks, there's quite a bit on offer here. You can see the menu here. The soup we had the first time, the mushroom and barley soup was nice, and the use of barley was a first for me in a soup. Mr. P polished it off without too many complaints, and the texture too wasn't course and grainy, but just right.

Mushroom & barley soup

Toit also serves wood-fire oven thin crust pizzas (this wood fire thing is catching on pretty fast). The simple Margherita was quite a delight, except for the fact that a little flour was present at the bottom of the crust, sticking to the fingers after each slice, requiring us to 'dust' our hands to get it off. That apart, we thought is tasted quite nice. However, when Ms BakeAnything and Ms Quiche visited Toit, they said the sauce on the Margherita was just wrong, and it spoilt the taste for them, so I guess maybe this is one of those things that are right sometimes and not at other times.

Another angle of the Margherita pizza

The BBQ chicken pizza was simply superb. The chicken was cooked very well, and the juicy morsels that they were along with the BBQ sauce and the cheese felt divine. The veggie attack pizza was also good, with a good selection of toppings doing the job, although I suspect anything that has sauce and cheese on it with something that's bread-based or the likes would automatically taste good if the basic setup is there :)

BBQ chicken pizza

Veggie attack pizza

The blue cheese and fettuccine pasta was quite filling and has a very, very strong odour/smell to it, so unless you're someone who has had blue cheese before and like it, I'd suggest you stay clear of this on unless you don't mind experimenting.

Blue cheese and fettuccine

The Swedish meatballs (combo of beef and pork) was a slightly weird dish. This too came with a strong smell/odour - I'm guessing those Swedes have remnants of their Norse heritage, and so don't mind a few things that reek a bit. Taste wise, they were ok, but I thought it was a little difficult to discern the taste of the pork from the beef. And also, come on, don't serve it with just sauce! Some creativity for a dip would've been nice.

Swedish meatballs (beef & pork)

When I heard the words 'Mexican bhel', I didn't know whether to be excited happy or excited scared. However, whatever 'fear' I may have had was unfounded coz it turned out to be a real winner. The dressing for this salad-esque dish was something like a 1000 island dressing, and this had quite a zing to it.

Mexican bhel

Fruit punch

Long Island iced tea

Some of the other starters that we had were the bbq baby corn. This was ok, nothing great, but having vegetarians in the group does make you have to order some of the dishes that may otherwise be just blah. The chicken wings, on the other hand, were quite superb. Juicy, meaty, well cooked, well flavoured...what more dya want?

BBQ baby corn

Chicken wings

As I mentioned before, some of the vegetarian dishes were quite insipid, and the potato wedges were a prime example of this. Bland, and without any real flavour besides that of the potato, this was something we could've done without. On the other hand though, the cottage cheese fingers was a good option to go with, especially since the cottage cheese (paneer) was quite fresh and soft.

Potato wedges

Fried cottage cheese

After some spiritual upliftment, if you do get as far as the main course, then probably everything would taste good or everything would taste bad depending on the levels of spirituality attained. I had a chicken burger, and it the kind you'd get at most cafes, where the patty seemed to be one of those that're already made and then fried. Not really the kind I like.

Chicken burger

That's a blurred out image of me, caught unawares when a friend took a picture with the flash on - talk of a deer caught in headlights!

Dazed

The veg macarena and the moussaka were also nicely done, if you like dishes that have tonnes of cheese in them or those that are baked - I was a little high on spiritual content, and so didn't really care what was what, and what tasted how, but I think I liked the moussaka over ther macarena (although I like dancing and the Los Del Rios and all that, the moussaka was better).

Veg macarena

Moussaka

On to the desserts, and once again, those who weren't high went to enjoy the kahlua mousse, the Toit special (dark layered chocolate cake), and a crème brûlée. I liked the Toit special the most, while the others chose the mousse. The crème brûlée tasted good, but I've had better (which isn't saying that it was bad).

Kahlua mousse

Toit special

Crème brûlée

Food: The drinks aren't too expensive; waiting for the micro-brewery to get started; bar & finger food is very good, rest is decent.
$$$: Not very expensive, considering you'll be spending on drinks as well. only food, for two, could work out to around 1200 or so (if you eat well).
Service: Very good
Verdict: Must visit


Toit, #298, 100 Feet Road, Namma Metro Pillar 62, Indiranagar, Bangalore. Phone: 25201460

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

The Ugly Duckling

I'd heard a lot about this new place on Millers Road, and was quite intrigued by it's name and the fact that it served Greek and European cuisine piqued my curiosity enough to make me want to try it out. The restaurant is owned by an Indian and a Danish national, and it's named after Hans Christen Andersen's famous story, because both owners are big fans of the author. Visiting this place was also a first of sorts, not only in terms of the cuisine, but also because I got to meet a new friend, whom I shall christen Ms SpunkyFunk.

The interiors of this place are pretty decent, and the wall is full of paintings which I thought gave the sense that they were trying hard to establish a European connections, while Ms SpunkyFunk thought it was, well, for lack of a better term, pointless! And although we did not see a single picture or showpiece of a duckling (let alone ugly), there were several frogs with different instruments, which Ms SpunkyFunk loved and wanted to take home.

And so on to the food. We both ordered a round of iced teas

and for appetizers, Ms SpunkyFunk ordered an egg mimosa,

which was very similar to deviled eggs, and the only thing I didn't like too much about it was that it had raw onions (I prefer them caramelised). I ordered a fish croquet, which was crumb fried and served with a dip.

Oh, I forgot to mention, Ms SpunkyFunk is a lacto-ovo vegetarian, so I had to eat the fish on my own (I wasn't complaining).

For our main course, Ms SpunkyFunk ordered an aubergine moussaka,

which she said wasn't quite the way a moussaka was supposed to be. Well, she's travelled all over Europe, and was quite right in her assertion that a moussaka ought to have a slightly more runny gravy of cheese. I had a Prawn Souvlaki, which consisted of skewered prawns with a bed of rice along with a spicy marinara, and it tasted pretty good.

I did, however, have an issue with the skewered prawns - they were skewered with tooth picks, and I had a bloody hard time getting them off using just the forks, and so had to use my fingers and get them a little messy.

For dessert, despite my initial apprehensions, Ms SpunkyFunk talked me into having a Ferrero Rocher wedge, which turned out to be really very nice,

sinfully chocolaty, while she had a passion fruit gelato sorbet,

sorbets being her favourite form of dessert anywhere, even over ice cream! The sorbet tasted amazing, and is something I'm going to have for certain the next time I come here. Sunday was a cloudy day, just the kind of day I like - no sun, slight drizzle and a little nip in the air. Add to that a nice lunch with a beautiful and extremely chatty person - sweet!

Food: Good
$$$: Moderately expensive
Service: Could have been better
Verdict: Can certainly try once

The Ugly Duckling, 71, 5th Floor, Sona Towers, Millers Road, Benson Town, Bangalore. Phone: 22375982