BM Review: Xian

Last Saturday, I finally visited Xian, along with the owners of the blog Purple Cinnamon and Salt, Pallavi and Upasana, along with Sreeja (a friend of a friend) and her friend Snigdha. The full review for the paper along with a snap of the guests can be read here.

I don't know the exact reason, but someone at the paper seems to like articles in the English language very much, so much so that they added a 'The' to the start of the title I'd given for the write up. I'd titled it as 'Yin yang harmony', to indicate the balance between the good and the not so good at Xian (and there being a giant yin yang at Xian contributed heavily to this title). By adding the 'The' at the start, it sort of makes it sound as an attribute almost exclusively meant for Xian (which obviously isn't true - almost all places could be recipients of this phrase as most would have some not so good things to go with the good...thus, yin yang). But anyway, what do I know about English, I'm just a techie who happens to love and know a little bit about food, so let's put an end to the English grammar lesson here.

We started off with some chicken and pork steamed momos, and then moved on spare ribs, crispy spinach, chilli prawn balls, and bacon-wrapped prawns. The momos were good, but I've found the momos served at delicacy to be better because the outer casing of the momo is not hard, but still soft (at Delicacy), but here, it was a little hard, but taste wise, they were good. The spare ribs stole the show, like totally! Served in a sweet-ish sauce that probably was a mixture of barbecue and a bit of Worcestershire (for a little tang and zing), the meat of actually so yummiliciously flavoured and tender that all of us had to struggle to remain civil at the table. In short, it was good. Then, things slid a little down hill. The crispy spinach was nice, but had flour added to it to 'hold' it together I'm guessing. Bad idea! not only did it add an unearthly whitish-cream colour to the green of the spinach, it cut into the taste as well.

Spare ribs...some of the best I've ever had

Crispy spinach with vegetables

On the menu, this chilli prawn balls was under the 'chef recommends' section. This dish was a little spicy (and some found it a little too spicy). Flavour wise, there was the distinct prawn flavour mixed with a little coriander and chilli, however, what was missing was something to go with the dish and probably cut out a little bit of the heat from the chilli. After talking to Pallavi, who thought a lemon-honey based sauce/dip could've helped as opposed to my garlic-mayo dip suggestion, I tended to agree more with her idea for the simple reason that a bit of acid WAS precisely what was needed for a sea food dish, and the lemon would certainly have provided that while cutting into the chilli. Some garnish on the dish would've helped as well - rather plane-Jane if you ask me.

Chilli prawn balls

Bacon-wrapped prawns. On any given day, I'd have to say that even in my sleep I'd answer that this would be a winner. now I'm not sure if this is the trend everywhere, but here the dish came batter-fried!!! Oh dear, my fat, crumbled heart nearly skipped a few beats when I saw it. And the batter coating was too thick to enjoy the salty, bacon-infused flavour on the prawns. Tch tch, I think even the prawns felt bad, and I felt bad that the prawns didn't get to be more physically intimate with the bacon.

Bacon wrapped prawns

For the mains, we ordered a Malaysian flat noodles and a Thai red curry with a portion of steamed rice. Along with this, we ordered a char-siu pork, dragon lamb, and Xian pickled prawns (with black bean paste). The flat noodles looked nice, with nice colours, and tasted good as well.

Malaysian flat noodles (kway teao)

The Thai red curry was quite lovely - coconut milk, kaffir lime leaves, galangal, and red chilli paste... yummmm-meee!

Thai red curry

Pork was a bit of a specialty here I think, and the char-siu pork served was quite good, save for a few pieces of meat that were a bit chewy. But otherwise, the honey-sweetened pork (generally flavoured with Chinese five-spice powder) is quite a good side dish to be had any time. the dragon lamb seemed and tasted almost like the char-siu pork, with the only difference being in the texture of the meats - they are different animals after all!

Char Sui pork

Dragon lamb

The Xian pickled prawns had got us a wee bit excited. We were anticipating a slightly sour, and probably fermented dish (it did say pickled, and was in a black bean paste, which is normally fermented and pungent). However, what came was a bowl of a thick gravy with prawns and vegetables, with tiny flecks of black bean in it. On it's own, it tasted good, but having being primed with the word 'pickled', it was a let down.

Pickled prawns in black bean sauce

Overall, quite a decent place, and since the prices are slightly on the higher side when compared to any of the other 'Chinese' joints in town, the good thing is the dishes, decor, cutlery, etc do live up to a slightly higher standard that you'd expect while paying this kind of money.

Food: Some good, some not so great, overall - pretty decent.
$$$: Not your average Chinese joint...maybe around 500 or so per head.
Service: Decent
Verdict: Worth a visit if in that part part of town.

Xian, #132, Gangadhara Chetty Road, opposite Ulsoor Lake, Bangalore. Phone: 41515163

BM Review: Elements Heritage

On Sunday, I visited Elements Heritage on Mosque Road in Fraser Town to review the place for Bangalore Mirror. The review that got published can be read here (link will be provided once it's come up on their site). The snaps and the version with no word limit constraints is down here.

At the start, let me say that we didn't have any vegetarian dishes because nothing caught our fancy. The restaurant is setup in a 90 year old bungalow from the Raj era. It's been restored to a pristine condition, and is run by the same family that runs The Elements restaurant on Nandi Durg road. After my interactions with the owner, Asif Mohammad, one thing was clear - this is a person who's passionate about what he does. The food here follows the footsteps of

We started off with the Peshawari murgh tikka, which was very similar to a malai kabab. The chicken was cooked nicely and the marinade was just as we expected there. Along with that, we'd ordered a machchi ke tikka, which was essentially the same flavours but on fish (no snap of the fish dish). The fish was also done quite well. However, the creme de la creme of the starters were the Malabar prawns. Asif and his family are originally from Kerala, the right term being Mappila (or Moplah) and so the dishes from Kerala here are really great.

The tandoori lamb chops were a mixed bag. I liked it, while the guests were of the opinion that the masala used was a little 'raw', meaning, it hits you straight in the throat. Usually this is avoided if the ingredients of the masala are first dry roasted individually and then mixed and used in the marinade. Another interesting starter we had was the seekh-e-elements - seekh kababs that were served on paper thin iddiappams, and were to be eaten as a roll would be eaten - the iddiappam rolled over the kabab. Last but not the least was a special dish, the kaada fry, which is a partridge that is fried whole and served. Although it was the first time for the rest of the crew, I've had it before at Nachiyar's, and this tasted nice, but nothing special.

Malabar prawns

Seekh-e-Elements

Peshawari Murgh tikka

Tandoori lamb chops

Kaada (partridge) fry

For the main course, we again set our sights on a variety of dishes. A meen appam, which involved a fish being stuffed into an appam that was prepared by having rice batter smeared on a banana leaf and folded. This was served with some tamarind sauce and this certainly lifted the taste of the entire dish. The nalli nihari, which I had the last time I was here, was not to be missed, and it lived up to it's reputation. The surprise package though was the moogh dal ki gosht, which was moog dal with lamb served with rice and roti (all main course dishes are served with rotis/iddiappams and two portions of rice, while starters are served with rotis or iddiappams and no rice).

One of the spiciest dishes we had that night (and possibly ever) was the kozhi mulagh itathe. Fortunately, what went in favour of the dish was the fact that it wasn't just overly spicy to kill you, but spicy in a flavourful way. And lastly, there was the biryani, with meatballs in it. Mildly flavoured and served in a handi with the seal made of dough intact, it acted as a balm after the kozhi inferno :)

Meen (fish) appam

Nalli nihari

Moong dal ki gosht

Kozhi mulag itiathe

Meatball biryani

And whatever wee little space we had left inside us, we filled with dessert. Khubani ka meetha, a compote made from apricots (served here with butterscotch ice cream) and a zafrani phirni is what we opted for. Some of the other options were shahi tukda and gulab jamuns, and of course, ice cream, all of which we rejected because the former would have been very heavy, while the latter two were pretty common. Needless to say, the two desserts we had were quite superb.

Khubani meetha (right) with butterscotch ice cream

Zafrani phirni

Overall, great experience, and it's one of those places you'd be forcing yourself to visit each time you're anywhere close to Fraser town and are in the need for a meal.

Food: Very good
$$$: Slightly on the higher side. A full meal for non-vegetarians will come up to about Rs. 600 per head.
Service: Good
Verdict: Certainly worth a visit

Elements Heritage, Mosque Road, next to Savoury Restaurant, Fraser Town, Bangalore. Phone: 41144146

Deepavali cookout at home - 2

So the final day of Deepavali and the brother and I need to eat again, but this time, we decided not to have anything fancy (notice that although I do all the buying, cleaning, cutting, cooking, etc, I just said we...somethings not right, I think I'm not getting enough from this deal). So, good old white rice along with some chicken was the 'order' of the day (that's what my brother does...he orders, and I comply like a dud!).

I still had some coconut milk from the the experiment on day 1 and so decided to incorporate that into the dish. I made a marinade out of coriander, green chillies, and garlic, and marinated the chicken in it overnight (actually it was marinating for almost two days :) ). Oil into the pan, tossed in some more chopped garlic, cumin, and green chillies, fried it a bit, and then in went the chicken. After a few minutes, I added the coconut milk to the pan and cooked over a low flame until the chicken was nice and tender. I should have made a career out of this, although, coming to think of it, I'm not that old yet, so I guess there's still hope :)

The end product

Another angle

Family cookout

So the second night of Deepavali saw the brother and I go to a cousin's place for a family get together. And in Bunt families (as with families of most communities in India), this involves food, and a lot of it. So here's a sample of just some of the things that were on display. The usual "kori-rotti" and "neer dosa" that most people associate Mangalorean cuisine with WAS NOT there, and I'll let y'all know that Mangalorean cuisine isn't just kori-rotti and neer dosa. There's a whole lot more, and although essentially rice-based, there are soooo many dishes that are made.

Chicken biryani

A flat, dry rice cake

Chicken stew

Idlis

Chicken curry

Some kind of payasa

Another sweet stuffed with coconut & jaggery

The last dish, a sweet, is a little unique in it's prep method. The other 'shell' is made from rice. The rice is mashed into a paste and smeared on turmeric leaves. Once this is done, it's filled with grated coconut and jaggery and then it's folded in half and steamed. This is one of the several rice-based sweets we have, and although we had only a fraction of the dishes here, t'was still a superb night of fun, food and frolic.

Coming up, Deepavali cookout at home part 2.

Deepavali cookout at home - 1

Mom wasn't in town for Deepavali and it was time to flex my culinary muscles again, so here's what I did. I wanted to have rice, but not plain rice. So I decided to cook something, and a little differently - without a pressure cooker. So I quickly sauteed some onions, red capcicum and garlic in a wok and tossed in some rice and quickly stir-fried it for a couple of minutes.

I then seasoned the entire mixture and poured in coconut milk, and further seasoned it with some Thai seasoning that I had. Once I got the ration of rice : liquid right (I made the balance by adding water), I sliced in a couple of chillies and covered the wok with a large cover. I think it took about 10 minutes, but keep popping the cover off after 10 mins to check when it's done - you don't want this thing drying out on you.



After the rice was cooked, garnishing was done with a little chopped coriander. Now all I needed were some spicy prawns.


I don't quite know what to call this rice, but for now I'll just call it yummy. The chillies I added turned out to be duds - they weren't spicy at all, which in fact turned out to be a blessing because the rest of the flavours stood out, and the coconut milk just made it soooo freakin' yummylicious.

OK I'll call it Thai coconut-milk flavoured rice (sorry, imagination not working here).

Rice - 1 cup
Coconut milk - 2 200ml packets + water to make up the difference
Red capcicum - 1/2
Onion - 1 large
Garlic - 3 cloves, sliced
Thai seasoning - how much ever you want until it tastes right
Coriander - for garnishing
Salt & pepper for seasoning

So now for the prawns. I got back to sauteeing the rest of the onions, a little tomato, and some garlic.


To this, I added about 3/4 teaspoon of cumin, and then added some prawns that were marinating in chilli powder, lemon juice, ghee and some salt. Cook on a high flame for about 4 minutes or so or until they lose their transparency and become opaque, and voila...

...this is what you end up with. I couldn't have enough snaps taken of this :)



I won't call these the typical Mangalorean prawns, so we'll just say spicy prawns.

Prawns - 250 grams

Tomato - 1/2
Onion - 1/2
Garlic - 3 cloves
Chili powder - 1 teaspoon heaped
Lemon juice from half a lemon
Cumin - 1/2 - 3/4 teaspoon
Ghee - 1 teaspoon (for marinade), 1 tablespoon (for cooking)
Salt to taste

Marinate the prawns for at least an hour in the salt, lemon juice, chili powder, and ghee. Heat pan with ghee and cook onions, tomatoes, garlic and cumin, and add the prawns and cook until done.

Thus ended part 1 of the cookout. Day 2 saw us head to our cousins place where there was a family get together, which meant more food :)

Peppa Zzing

Before going on my long leave to attend a classmates wedding in Lucknow, I'd visited a new burger joint on Infantry road called Peppa Zzing. Now actually I'd visited the place with the intention of reviewing it, but there was some mix up at the BM office and eventually Manuscrypts also ended up going and reviewing the place a few days back, and his review seems to be the one that's going to appear. So here's my 2 cents on the place since it's not going to appear on print.

It's run by Mark Rego. For those of you unfamiliar with Mark, he's an MC, voiceover artist, and also the host of the famous 'booze & brains' event that used to be conducted at The Opus. Apparently, Mark was diagnosed with cancer a few years back, and the docs gave him only 6 months to live. He said bollocks, went into radiation therapy, and finally decided to open a restaurant (which was a dream of his). And so Peppa Zzing was born.

Essentially a burger joint, this place also serves hot dogs, wings, and a smattering of pastas. But I think it's the burgers you should be visiting for. Now since Thulp has set the bench mark for burgers in Bangalore, I'll have to compare Peppa Zzing with it.

I visited the restaurant with Kappelmeisterin and a couple of her (ya)hooligan friends. It was going to be burgers all the way. What I hadn't factored in was the whammy. Remember the Mother of all moos from Thulp? Well, this is it's twin. I wouldn't go all the way to say evil twin, because both were big and tasted great. And as usual, I was the sacrificial lamb who was offered to this monster called the whammy.

Apart from the fact that the patties had bread crumbs in them, I didn't find too many faults with any of them. The only bummer for all of us was the chicken wings. Good sized wings just smothered in sauce, hardly any spices or seasoning, so essentially we could taste only the sauce.

Close-up of one of the whammy burger

The whammy burger

Cheese burst burger

Chicken wings

The burgers come in chicken/lamb/beef. And according to Mark, the kitchen follows strict rules when it comes to using knives. The knives are all colour coded, and the knives from one section are not used for another section - a habit from his stint at The Oberoi and The Taj group of hotels. So I guess people who might be offended otherwise can also breathe a slight sigh of relief.

Kappelmeisterin and her pals aren't heavy eaters, something I learnt during the meal. Once burger and they seemed to be done! Hmppf, imagine that. I finished my whammy and then walking back towards the car, I was heard mooing like a cow all the way till Manipal center (where I''d parked). Truth be told, I continued mooing till the next day.

Food: Burgers are really good. Wish they didn't use bread crumbs though.
$$$: Decently priced
Service: Prompt
Verdict: If Thulp is too far, then this is your other alternative for good beef burgers.

Peppa Zzing, G18, Kedia Arcade, 92, Infantry Road, Bangalore. Phone: 41232843.

Elements Heritage

Deepavali night 1, mom out of town, bro out with his friends, so me out with mine - it's only fair right. There's this place called Elements Heritage on Mosque road I've been wanting to visit in a while, ever since VP told me about it. So on Friday night, after visiting P's house (his mom invited us), we bolted off to Elements for dinner.

Apart from the wonderful ambiance this place has, another unique aspect about Elements in Frazer Town is that the starters all come with a bread or a rice-based thingy to eat with. So the shorba we ordered came with iddiappam, while the paneer tikka and the mushroom dishes came with a naan-type bread.

Shorba

Paneer tikka

Mushroom

For the mains, VP suggested I have the nalli nihari (something he'd tried the last time he was here) as it was really tender and tasty great. I had to take his word on this because normally he doesn't eat lamb/mutton because his gums swell up, and so he eats it only when it's really tender. Every main course dish comes with a piece of Indian bread, a portion of white rice and a portion of some kind of flavoured rice, along with a customary salad.

Nalli nihari

Another angle of the nalli nihari

P had the dal makhani, which turned out to be very good, while VP tried the Lucknowi khandvi, which turned out to be some kind of besan dish, where the gravy was amazing, but the actual 'khandvi' didn't work all that well for us.

Dal makhani

Lucknowi khandvi

For desserts, we had a shahi tukda and a zaffrani phirni, both of which turned out to be quite nice. The phirni gets special mention, since it didn't fell to heavy on our stomachs.

Shahi tukda (l), zaffrani phirni

Elements special chai (aka dancing tea)

Note to readers: do not have any milk based drink after a heavy dinner. You are liable to throw up ;)

Elements also has a buffet with a very large spread, but they don't seem to have enough options for vegetarians in it (3 items if I remember correctly), and since both VP and P were vegetarian on that day, I guess the buffet wasn't an option. But purely by the size of the spread, I think it's worth a shot. The menu and the cuisine seem to have been constructed and designed after not just Mughlai cuisine, but the cuisine of all Muslim rulers throughout India. That's the only explanation I could think of without asking the owners - how else would you explain iddiappams in a restaurant serving Mughlai food?

Food: Very good

$$$: Moderately expensive ~ Rs. 500 per head if you eat non vegetarian food

Service: Good

Verdict: Must visit if in the area

Elements Heritage, Mosque Road, Frazer Town, Bangalore.