Ali Baba Cafe

The Gourmet Group had decided on visiting Ali Baba Cafe this past weekend (April 10), and so that's where we went.

Some of the furniture (below), and above is the entrance when viewed from the inside.

Although I've covered Ali Baba before, there were a lot of things that we had that I'd not had before. The doogh, which is a yogurt and soda drink is very good and refreshing for the hot days we have.

Doogh

Another drink we had was the Tausha, which was a cucumber based drink which was also pretty darn good. This didn't have fizz, but I immediately knew why they say 'as cool as a cucumber'.

Tausha

The third drink was a mint+lime drink. Again, another winner.

Mint+lime

For starters, we had an Ali Baba jumbo platter (non-veg), and also a couple of veg dishes, one of which was the Kadang Fry, which was slices of sweet potato that were batter fried. This is a very typical coastal dish.

Kadang fry

The hummus was superb, garlicky and the olive oil used made the hummus taste good.

Hummus

The other veg dish was the Bhendi Fry, which was fried lady's finger (okra).

Bhendi fry

For the main course, we had decided to have the weekend special biryani, called Maqboos. So we had the chicken and mutton biryani, dajaj maqboos and laham maqboos. In the laham maqboos, the laham (mutton) was a bit stringy, but I liked the dajaj (chicken). Along with there, we also had some roti with keema, and some vermicelli dish mixed with mutton, which I liked, but some of the others thought would have been better with something a little more firm instead of the vermicelli./

Keema + roti

Dajaj Maqboos

For dessert, we had a kunafa, which was made from semolina, dried fruits and had a base made of cheese.

Kunafa

Qahwa with dates

This was nice, but a little hard to cut with the spoons. Overall, a wonderful meal, and even though we had a record number showing up, this was quite a pleasant meal.

Alibaba Cafe

Mr VP and I went out for lunch to Alibaba Cafe in Frazer town on Saturday, the same place I'd first visited with my brother. Mr P was supposed to join us but he had a lot of work to finish and so was at office on a Saturday - that guy's becoming a deranged workaholic!

Since my last visit here (which also happened to be my first), I'd told Mr VP about the place, and he's visited the place twice after that, making this his third visit in 3 weeks. Surprisingly, he was ready to have lamb dishes as well, hearing which I was thrilled, coz Mr VP has an unusual 'syndrome' where the teeth on the left side of the lower jaw 'hurt' every time he eats lamb. Yes, weird, I know. We started off with a Moroccan tea pot,
and I tell you the tea these guys make is simply the best in Bangalore. It's not your regular tea powder and milk chai, and just like the Iranian tea I had during my last visit, this one was great. In fact, in terms of flavour, this one scores over the Iranian tea.

The menu is divided into three sections, detailing the cuisines of three different regions: Bhatkal (coastal Karnataka, above Mangalore), Arabian, and Persian. We ordered a chicken appetiser from the Arabian section called shish taouk, which is actually a Turkish shish kebab. The Persian equivalent is the jujeh kebab, which is what I had when I visited the last time.
Since Mr VP agreed to try lamb, we went in for a Persian lamb starter called kebab koobideh,
a Persian (Iranian) kabab made from ground lamb and put on a skewer. Although it tasted good, paying Rs. 165 for two kababs left me a little miffed, especially after the Rs 4 kababs I had in Delhi :)

For our main course, we wanted to have biryani, and so the weekend special dijaj machboos, or chicken biryani (half plate) was ordered.
The guy who took our orderd (I'm guessing he's also part of the management, and certainly not the wait staff) asked us not to order any side dish with the biryani as the taste of the biryani would be lost. Who were we to argue with him, and I'm glad we took his advice, because the biryani tasted heavenly. Not pungent, yet tasty, not greasy, yet smooth. It was great.

Sadly, just as the last time, they didn't have all the items in the dessert section, and so we settled for a shaufa pana pudding, amde from dil leaves and eggs. And just like the last time, it was very good :)

Service:Good - at least they were able to suggest good stuff
$$$:Usual Bangalore cost of around 300-500 per head (depending on size of the group & appetite)
Food:Superb!
Verdict:Worth a visit, wherever you stay in Bangalore
Extra info: 5% service charge is added to the bill

Alibaba Cafe, # 69, 1^st Floor, M M Road, Frazer Town, Bangalore. Phone: 40917163

Alibaba Cafe

Saturday evening was when Mr P, VP, my brother (let's call him Spook) and I were to go out to watch Angels & Demons. The afternoon was going to be a bore and so I took my bro out for lunch, since it was the last two days of his vacation before the start of college. We went to this place called Alibaba Cafe and Restaurant in Frazer Town.

I'd heard a lot about this place, and was itching to go there. I'd also read that the tea served here was supposed to be superb, so I ordered an Irani Tea, and true to what I'd heard, this tea was simply fantastic. The aromas emanating from the glass were truly refreshing, and although it didn't require any sugar (because it wasn't bitter like regular tea without sugar), I plonked in a cube, which still didn't alter the taste too much and I still had a wonderful cuppa tea.
My bro had something called a Saudi Champagne - a mixture of apple juice, lemon juice and soda. For starters, since there were just two of us, and my brother hasn't got half the appetite I have, we just ordered a special kabab platter called the Bakhtiyari kabab, which was a mixture of mutton and chicken from two other kabab dishes - joojeh kabab (chicken) and chebeh kabab (mutton). The chicken was succulent, while the mutton was rich in flavour.

The menu is divided into 3 sections: Arabian, Persian, and Bhatkal (coastal Karnataka, North Canara dist.). For our main course, we ordered from the Arabian section, a chicken dish called gulgul.

Spook had a Kerala Paratha and a kuboos, the traditional Arab bread you usually have hummus with.

I ordered a couple of gawa polis, traditional Bhatkal parathas made from wheat.

For dessert, I went traditional again, and ordered something called a shaufa pana, a pudding made from dil leaves and egg. Although I was in a mood to experiment, I really didn't expect the dessert to be as tasty as it turned out to be. It was simply amazing. It kind of had the effect that a good mouth freshener has at the end of a meal. I think this is one of the best Indian desserts I've had in a long, long time, and it may just be one of the best I've ever had. Simply amazing.

This place isn't too heavy on the wallet either - well, ok, I guess that's a relative thing, but the two of us ate whatever was mentioned above for Rs. 541, which included a 5% service charge, but I had no problem leaving another 5% because I was thoroughly impressed with the food.

Alibaba Cafe & Restaurant, No. 69, 1^st Floor, MM Road, Frazer Town, Bangalore. Phone: 40917163.