Aroy

I know there's been a really long delay, and my apologies for the same.

Aroy is one of those places in South Bangalore that would lead some people to believe that it wouldn't 'fit in'. It serves Thai food primarily, and a smattering of dishes from the neighbouring areas.

This post has been so long overdue, I think I've lost a few of the snaps I'd taken! Anyway, so given that my experience with Thai food in Hyderabad was quite delightful, and given that I came to a conclusion that there is a huge market for Thai food in Bangalore (if done right), Aroy would end up a shade paler compared to my experiences in Hyderabad, but it's nevertheless quite good (at least better than that place Benjarong).

To start off, one slight disappointment with Aroy is that they do not serve pork and beef, but I'm guessing that's more because of the fact that they're located in south Bangalore than anything else. I wish people weren't so fickle, and wouldn't stop going to a place just coz something THEY don't eat is served there. I keep hearing that we are a tolerant society and all that, what bull! This kind of behaviour says otherwise.

Aroy is located on top of the Crossword building. They have an open air seating as well as air conditioned indoors. When there isn't any hint of the acclaimed Bangalore rain, then the outdoor would be the better option. Each table has an 'umbrella' made of cane and iron and does a good job of shielding the table from the prospect of water draining from the clouds, but it isn't wide enough to cover your backside.

That said, let's move on to the food. I'm really a sucker for the Tom Kha soup, and Aroy makes a delightful Tom Kha. Creamy, with just enough heat that comes from the chillies in them but not so much that you can't taste the rest of the flavours from the galangal, lemongrass, and coconut milk. Available in veg, chicken and prawns, this is must have, especially if you're in a group as you could split one portion with someone else, unless you're the kind who's usually described by your friends as a bottomless pit (or other such phrases).

Before I continue any further, there aren't any vegetarian dishes that I can talk about exclusively here, but since most of the veg dishes are more or less the same minus the meat component, you can draw a fairly accurate conclusion about the dish.

Among the starters, the Pandan chicken is a must have. Medium sized chunks of boneless chicken marinated in soy sauce, sugar, and a hint of ginger juice, wrapped in the Pandan leaves and deep fried, these little parcels are guaranteed to keep you licking your fingers clean.

If you're a fan of crispy lamb, then there is a version of that available, although I would suggest you skip that and head for the seafood, even if you don't eat/like seafood - it's better than the lamb. One of the things that ticked me off now is that during all the visits I made (3 in total), they did not have the crab stir fry that is on the menu. So we settled for the crab meat balls. Crab meat with corn flour and some seasoning and spices, stir fried, wok-tossed and served. Tasted nice, but I'd have liked to have had the whole crab stir fry instead (especially since it's on the menu!).


Having eaten the crab, we moved on to the prawns - wrapped in banana leaves and cooked. The spices were a combo of red chilli, ginger, garlic and something I couldn't quite place my finger on. This is was quite liked by everyone at the table, with the prawns cooked well.

For the main course, we stepped slightly away from Thai for a bit and settled for the Burmese dish of khow suey, or khao soi. The dish is essentially a noodle dish that is served with a coconut milk based curry. Apart from this, there are several condiments that are served alongside this, which once mixed, provided some much needed zing and add a different texture (adding peanuts). The one served here is quite good. The chicken gravy served with the noodles wasn't spicy, and overall, the dish is quite a nice one, especially if you' prefer subtle flavours as opposed to the more robust ones typically seen in Thai food.

Condiments for the khow suey
Khow suey
The pahd kee mao, or drunken noodles, unlike other noodles, consists of flat noodles and has bean sprouts and seasoning. If you like the flat variety, then you'll probably enjoy this one. And once again, the peanuts and the bean sprouts in this give it a nice texture, and if you haven't figured it out already, I like peanuts in the noodles. Just to have a side dish, we tried the chicken with cashew nuts and bell peppers. The dish went well along with the noodles, the gravy being mildly sweet and the chicken being not to spicy.




They also have the standard dishes like the Thai read and green curry, and there are a couple of stir fries involving duck meat. I've never had dessert here, primarily because I've been quite content at the end of my meal. Overall, Aroy gives a decent account of Thai food in south Bangalore in more than a decent setting.

Food: Good
$$$: About Rs 500 or so per head, depend in how people are present.
Service: Decent
Verdict: Must visit if in south Bangalore

Aroy, #74, 15^th Cross, 3^rd Phase, JP Nagar, Bangalore. Phone: 40939311, 41290535

Brahmin's Coffee Bar

Brahmin's Coffee Bar is a small self-service fast food joint deep into south Bangalore (Google map), near Shakar matt, between Basavanagudi and Chamarajapet. Operating since 1965, this little place has been, and still is, the best joint for idlis and vadas in town. They've even won the competition for the best idlis conducted by Times of India.

Here's another angle of the idlis and vada, taking a holy dip in the chutney.


The idlis are soft and fluffy, and for an extra 4 bucks, you'll also get a small dollop of white butter - butter made from buffalo milk. Brahmin's is one of the few places that doesn't offer you sambar, but only chutney. At most times, you would see an old gentleman, Radhakrishna Adiga, the owner, sitting at the entrance, pouring chutney to those walking out with the idlis and/or vadas.

Photo credit: Upasana Nath

The kesari bath (left), made from rava (that wonderful substitute for rice that came up trumps during world war 2), contains a lot of pineapple. I have heard some people complain that there is perhaps a little too much pineapple for their liking, but I didn't have any complaints - I love my kesari bath sweet, with a slight oily glaze brought about by the ghee.

The khara bath (right), the spicier complement for the kesari bath, is just as good. An ideal way to eat it is by filling half the spoon with kesari bath and the other half with the khara bath. The combination of sweet and spicy will continue to dance on your palate long after you've downed the dishes.



Stacked up and ready to be downed.


Tea and coffee are the only beverages available here - quite nice.

Photo credit: Upasana Nath

Photo credit: Upasana Nath
Nice trick to make sure you don't burn your fingers - I learnt it the hard way!

The place before the renovation and 'upgrade' of the board.











After the restoration or renovation, however you look at it. Photo credit: Upasana Nath











Food: Very good
$$$: Rs 150 for two
Service: Self service
Verdict: Must visit

Barhmin's Coffee Bar, Ranga Rao Road, near Shakara matt, Shankarapuram, Bangalore.

BM Review: Suggi

Sometime last month I'd visited a restaurant called Suggi in JP Nagar along with Ms BakeAnything and Ms Quiche. I later returned to review it for the Bangalore Mirror. The review can be read here. Suggi is the harvest festival in many parts of Karnataka. And this Suggi serves food from the Malnad area of Karnataka - Malnad is the Anglicised word for Male (rain) Nadu (region).

Malnad sits at the top of the Western Ghats, and hence is on the windward side of the approaching annual south west monsoons, and hence rainfall here is in abundance. The cuisine here is quite similar to the cuisine in South Canara (Mangalore and surrounding areas), although there are a few differences here and there, notably the use of pepper (image of mutton pepper dry) and few other spices in most dishes, that would otherwise be missing from the recipes of most dishes from South Canara.

For starters, we went whole hog and nearly out did ourselves (on both occasions). The mutton masala was simply fabulous, with the meat cooked extremely tender and the masala used was quite superb. The ghee roast was a copy of the famous dish from Kundapur (near Udupi, where the dish took birth) and since imitation is the best form of flattery, this ghee roast did a good job - the ghee still dripping off the pieces. Both dishes were cooked so well that the meat was just falling off the bones. Delicious doesn't begin to describe it!

Mutton masala

Another angle of the mutton masala

Chicken ghee roast
Fish! Just had to have some fish. Being a Mangalorean, it would be sacrilege to not :) and the seer fish (anjal) fried in a banana leaf with a red chilli paste marinade was just what the doctor ordered (actually it's what Ms BakeAnything ordered). And it was just as heavenly as the other dishes ordered. Now most of the dishes ordered thus far had a very similar marinade (if not the same) consisting of red chillies, garlic, turmeric, fenugreek among others.

Anjal masala fry
A few of the other dishes we had were the prawn masala (very similar to the ghee roast and anjal fish fry), the Malnad chicken (dry), and badane (brinjal/egg plant) sukka (a dry preparation with grated coconut and spices mixed), and a local favourite, the mutton pepper dry. The prawns were quite good, and the brinjal sukka (the lone veg dish during the review) was also very nicely done. The Malnad chicken was high on colour and decoratives, but low on flavour, while the mutton pepper dry was just that - dry and a little chewy!




For the main course, we chose to have the neer dosa, akki roti, appams, and shavige along with the Malnad chicken curry. The neer dosas were the best I've had outside of home, without a doubt, and kudos to the restaurant for getting it spot on (even in restaurants serving Mangalorean and Bunt food I've not had them this good). The batter for the appams had fermented quite a bit more than necessary and the strong smell was a turn off. The akki roti and shavige (Bunts and Mangaloreans alike, we call this semeda addye), served in the shape of an idli, were quite nice along with the chicken curry.

Neer dosa and shavige with Malnad chicken curry
Appams
Akki roti
Shavige
Desserts were a tempered affair, with us settling for the tender coconut payasa, which was quite delightful and refreshing actually (maybe we should start off our meals with this!) and a pumpkin halwa, again, something that I quite liked. I'm not sure about the Malnad region, but in South Canara cuisine, we do make a lot of halwas, and when I say halwa, don't think of it only as the stretchy, rubbery 'chunks' or blocks of sweet-meat that's made, but more along the likes of the carrot halwa. Typically, vegetables like ash gourd and pumpkin are used and there are copious amounts of cashew nuts and raisins thrown into it, along with a lot of ghee. Literally a heart stopper, but delicious none the less.

Tender coconut payasa
pumpkin halwa

Food: Very good
$$$: If you go whole hog and eat properly, it may come to about 400 or 500 per head, but otherwise around 300-400 per head would be the average
Service: Decent
Verdict: Must visit if in the area

The Narayan's Suggi, 683/A II Phase, Near Delmia, JP Nagar, Bangalore. Phone: 40988636, 40988637

BM Review: Sofraah

A few weeks back, after visiting Tangra, I visited Sofraah, also part of the same hotel (Eden Park) that Tangra belonged to. Sofraah, or dastarkhan, is a floor spread of meals in Central Asia. We were a group of 5, and there weren't anyone from the elitist minority, so we could peacefully eat our meats.


Sofraah is tastefully decorated and thankfully there aren't any souvenirs from battle-scarred Afghanistan that may bring back memories of khuda gawah. We dove straight away into the food. The Peshawari tandoori murgh and the buranche kabab were the options in chicken that we had, while the galouti kabab carried the flag for lamb.Straight away I'll tell you that what was served as a galouti kabab was NOT a galouti kabab. Or maybe the galouti was hiding under the thick coating of batter that was protecting the tenderised lamb meat inside. It tasted OK, but was certainly not a galouti kabab. The tandoori murgh was decent, like any other tandoori chicken dish, but the buranche kabab was something - chicken marinated with beetroot, I kid you not! And it tasted good too. Tender chicken, with the natural sweetness of the beetroot and a few other delicate spices made this a winner for us.

Peshawari tandoori murgh

Buranche kabab

Another angle

Galouti kabab

The Amritsari machchi was nice and although made in a tandoor, it was still quite soft. And for someone like me who isn't a big fan of cooking fish in a tandoor, I must say that this was quite nice. Or we got lucky. The jalpari jhinga (large prawns cooked on bamboo skewers) was also quite a nice dish, and the prawns served were nice and big and thankfully Sofraah did not go cheap on the prawns.

Amritsari machch tikka

Jalpari jhinga

Jalpari jhinga again

On to the main course, and while having a mutton biryani has now become a formality (turned out to be a nice biryani), we also decided to have some of the breads with a chicken and a mutton dish. A very colourful chicken dish called Sofraah murgh masala, colourful because of the multitude of bell peppers used in it. The dish tasted quite good, and there were no complaints. The anchali gosht too was a well made dish, with the mutton being soft and tender, and the flavours coming out to the fore.

Gosht biryani

Sofraah murgh masala

Anchali gosht

Finally, for dessert, we ordered a qubani ka meetha (a Hyderabadi dish in a Mughlai restaurant? Strange indeed!), and although this dish was nice and sweet, and the apricots used were good and weren't spoiled, I have to say that a true compote-like texture was missing. Don't get me wrong though - if you've never had it before, you might even like it, for taste wise it was quite good, but texture wise, it came up a bit short.

Qubani ka meetha

Food: Nice
$$$: Moderately expensive. The above meal cost us around Rs 3700 for 5 people (including 4 mocktails).
Service: Decent
Verdict: Can visit if in South Bangalore.

Sofraah, Eden Park Restaurants, 722/2, 36^th Cross, 10^th ‘A’ Main, Jayanagar 4^th Block, Bangalore. Phone: 42777333

BM Review: Tangra

A few weeks back I'd been to Tangra, a new Chinese restaurant in Jayanagar, part of Hotel Eden Park. The review for Bangalore Mirror can be read here. Some desk monkey has gone and changed the title from "Buddha ain't laughing" to "Hakka steaming the neighbourhood". What's the connection, I have no idea, but whatever...their paper, their wish.

Tangra is a region in Calcutta that housed a large number of tanneries owned my migrant Chinese, commonly known as Hakka Chinese. The food brought to India by them was adapted for the Indian palate (actually the Bengali palate), and the result is there for us to see all over town (and the country).

Unlike many 'Chinese' restaurants, Tangra thankfully isn't set in dingy, dim red lights with clichéd images of dragons and Chinese writings all over the place.

The wanton soup we had was quite a pleasant way to get started. The clear soup was well flavoured and there weren't too many flotillas to mask the taste of the wantons in them. The other dish that brought a warm smile was the prawn dumpling, with it's soft exterior shell and delicately flavoured contents. The Hawker's style Singapore chilli crab came quite close to the real deal, but we all agreed that there was hardly any chilli and it would have tasted better if it were a soft-shelled crab.

Wonton soup

Hawker's chilli crab

The veg sui mai was quite bland and felt sticky inside the mouth, while the lemon chicken — strips of batter-fried chicken with a lemony flavour — felt a little insipid; perhaps a more robust dip would’ve helped. Spring rolls that are deep fried need to be served piping hot or else the charm is lost, which was the case here.

Tangra lemon chicken

Spring rolls

Among the mains, perhaps the sapo chicken caught our fancy because of the use of rice wine in it. The sizzling noodles too were nice, but why it's called Japanese sizzling noodles has left us flummoxed.

Sizzling noodles

Date pancake

The service is quite nice and guests are helped with suggestions for what to order.

Food: Standard Chinese fare
$$$: Not too expensive, given the setup and all. Maybe around Rs. 800 for two.
Service: Good
Verdict: Can visit if in the area and if you want to dine in a little more comfort.

Tangra, Eden Park Restaurants, 722/2, 36^th Cross, 10^th ‘A’ Main, Jayanagar 4^th Block, Bangalore. Phone: 42777333