Ants Cafe - photos

Sometime back, in December, I met these two amazing ladies, who not only blog about food, but they're also awesome cooks. Some of the awesome things they've cooked can be read on their blog Purple Cinnamon and Salt. And with food being the common link, one of them had featured as a guest at Xian, while the other one waits her turn. Both have become good friends of mine, and I shall call the two Ms Quiche and Ms BakeAnything.

Some weeks ago, we'd visited Ants Cafe in Indiranagar as Ms Quiche had been called for a photo shoot (not just for the food, but for the clothes and accessories sold at the Ants Store as well). And being the wonderful person and friend that she is, she invited me to tag along for the photo shoot, to experience the whole thing. So although this technically isn't a review of the cafe - certainly not the way I usually do it - there are photographs of the dishes put up here, and suffice to say that the food was actually quite good, although Ants would primarily like to be known as a store that sells products made by the artisans in the North-East, the popularity of the cafe could certainly bring in more customers for the store as well. Boy, that was one long sentence, wasn't it? :P

One the many artifacts available at Ants. This one is a mask from Sikkim

Also, on the food front, every now and then there are North-East food festivals that take place here. Won't explicitly guarantee it, but this blog should be able to update the junta about whenever this may be happening.

Blue curçao?

Iced tea

Blueberry and something

Mango (R), and forgot the name of the drink on the left

Mango

Bruschetta, or simply garlic bread with various toppings

Salad

Salad

Spinach soup

Vegetable something

Chicken breast with herbs and cheese

Open sandwich

Fish with mustard sauce something

Lasagna

Lasagna, different angle

Third angle for the lasagna

Spaghetti and meatballs

Waffles with ice cream and maple syrup

Waffles with ice cream and maple syrup

Ants, # 2023/B, 14^th A Main, 1^st Cross, Hal 2^nd Stage, 100 Feet Road, Indiranagar, Bangalore. Phone: 41521742

BM Review: Chamomile

Wow, it's been a full month since the last post. Sorry for the delay, but after shifting to a new house, there are soooo many tasks that crop up every now and then, at times I've even wondered if it was worth it. Well, just so that I don't leave that dangling, it is. So a while back, I visited Chamomile again, this time to review the place for Bangalore Mirror. The review that was published can be read here. As I had already visited the place during Christmas, I knew what to expect from the place, but since we were in a group, and it was essentially going to be a collective opinion, I didn't see any points of potential conflict. Moreover, when P, VP and I had visited during Christmas, we ordered from the special Christmas menu, while this time around we were ordering from the regular menu.

There aren't any snaps of the starters that we had, so apologies for the same. For starters, we selected dishes from the regular menu as well as the bar menu. So the dishes we had from the regular menu were shrimp and avocado salad, honey mustard chicken, herb marinated prawns, and chicken wings and mushroom & Parmesan cigars from the bar menu. The only disappointment here was the salad, with the avocado being old and soft, 'sagging' being a word used at the table by someone. It surely could've use a shot or two of botox. The wings and the honey mustard chicken were nice, both with suitable amount of seasoning and flavours. The hits at the table that evening were the herb marinated prawns - large, chunky prawns marinated in a mixture of coriander, basil and perhaps mint (green stuff), and the mushroom cigars - these were phyllo stuffed with mushrooms and Parmesan cheese. The mushroom cigars were a pleasant surprise and were actually quite delightful and we couldn't seem to have enough of these.

For the mains, we selected one dish from each 'section' that we were able to form after looking at the menu. So Italian saw us ordering the aubergine lasagna (also doubled up as the vegetarian option) and the seafood cappelletti (cappelletti is a stuffed pasta, and means 'little hat' because that's what it kinda resembles), proteins were going to be the T-bone steak and the rosemary flavoured leg of lamb, and then there was grilled salmon in an orange sauce with a whole lot of other things.

The salmon was the only disappointment - almost no seasoning, bland, and the fish actually seemed old. The rest of the dishes though, we quite superb. The T-bone steak was a lovely cut of meat, and I'd for it to be done medium-rare, and it was done to near perfection there, well seasoned, and the mashed potatoes served with it were also very nicely done. The only grouse - they gave us a stainless steel table knife instead of a proper knife knife, and cutting a medium rare steam with such a knife is quite an effort. The cappelletti was a pleasant surprise - didn't have a fishy smell to it, tasted good, and although the texture of the stuffing inside wasn't very 'firm', it tasted good nonetheless, and so got the thumbs up.

Grilled salmon with an orange sauce

T-bone steak

Seafood cappelletti

Usually, whenever someone uses rosemary, they tend to screw up the flavour by using too much. If you ask me, adding too much rosemary often kills the dish, but these guys had managed to get the amount just right for the leg of lamb. What's more, the meat was cooked well and it wasn't chewy, making it a good selection, and a better dish to eat. The aubergine lasagna was a smashing hit at the dinner table that night. Who'd have thought a bunch of carnivores would be raving about a vegetarian dish, but that's exactly what happened. Although the lasagna looked a little disheveled, when it came to taste, it was quite exquisite.

Rosemary leg of baby lamb

Aubergine lasagna

Desserts were a bit of a mixed bag, tending more towards bad than good. The strawberry cheesecake was the same as the last time, good to taste, but hard and not creamy and soft (however, I've been reliably informed that they have now changed the cream cheese they use for the cheesecakes, and so it's supposed to be better now), the hazelnut brûlée had a nice crust, but what lay beneath was nowhere near the custard-like texture that a brûlée is supposed to have. The vanilla pannacotta was just waaaay too plain and insipid, and I'd have liked to see a little less gelatin used so that it is a little more 'creamy' when spooned out. The saviour of the night was the triple layered chocolate mousse, rich and chocolaty and not disappointing us any further.

Strawberry cheesecake

Vanilla pannacotta

Triple layered chocolate mousse

Hazelnut brulee

Food: Good. Need to work a little on the desserts and this place can be a winner.
$$$: Slightly expensive. Approx Rs 1000 per head for a full meal.
Service: Good
Verdict: Can visit for a select few dishes.

Chamomile, #4031, 1^st Floor, Above Bombay Store, Next to Domlur Flyover, 100 Feet Road, Indiranagar, Bangalore. Phone: 42156000, 42167000

After hours...iftaar raid in Frazer Town

Ramzaan is that time of the year when almost all the Muslim dominated areas of Bangalore (for that matter anywhere in India) are abuzz with a lot of activity post the evening prayers (after the fast is broken). M M road, the one perpendicular to Mosque road in Frazer Town, is one such area where even someone like me, who is kind-of a cleanliness freak, won't mind stepping into for the feast that is set up before our eyes. Last Saturday, I'd been there with Suhas and Santosh (from Saffron and Khazana), along with Ruth's husband Sudhakar (from Pizzeria Romano and Veekes & Thomas), we set about in the hope that we'd be able to cover some decent round.

The first attempt at this turned out to be a washout as the rains showed no mercy, and this Saturday (28th), the rains didn't seem to want us to have a good time. But by 6:30, thankfully, things cleared out, and by the time we met at 7, it seemed like we were late! The crowds swarmed both sides of the streets, and popular joints on the road had set up stalls outside selling anything from skewered chicken to roast legs to kababs to rolls... it went on and on.

Since Sudhakar had to leave in a rush (he plays for a couple of bands, and had a performance that night), we had to initially rush through a few things, and so the first bunch of snaps are on his phone, so you'll have to see them on Ruth's blog once she puts them up. We had some batter-fried chicken on skewers, which in all honesty, was the kind of stuff you'd wanna give to people to make them quit eating chicken! It was bland and dry. The other two dishes - the gosh (the first name eludes me now) and the caramel custard were very good. The cara,el custard especially, for just Rs. 15 a piece, was a steal if you ask me.

Once Sudhakar left, Suhas, Santosh and I had a little more leisure in selecting where and what to eat. We moved over towards Kababbish, and immediately realised that this was where the hard-core stuff was at. A plethora of beef items with a smattering of chicken dishes. Santosh would have to wait (he doesn't eat beef), while Suhas and I tried some roast tongue. Crunchy, 'meaty', and very spicy. I initially thought we'd been conned as I didn't expect the tongue to have a similar texture to that of beef, but then realised that the tongue is pure muscle, and hence it wasn't surprising that it did have the same texture as the beef. It'd have been better if we could have tasted the meat more, but the overdose of spices seemed to have killed it.

Tongue roast

After a glass of 'paani kum chai' each, we crossed the road onto another shop selling anda mutton kheema fry, or eggs and minced mutton in a thin roti and fried. Just looking at these things being fried can give someone a major arterial clog, but what's life without indulging in a few such activities! Quite a meal in itself.

Anda mutton keema fry

Anda mutton keema fry up close and personal

Once this was done, we hopped into Bombay Chowpati Kulfi and downed a coupled of kulfis before calling it a night, but agreeing that we needed to have a revisit to do 'justice' to this place.

M M Road, Perpendicular to Mosque Street, Frazer Town, Bangalore.