Suisse rendezvous - Mövenpick Swiss food festival

Last week, I was invited to Mövenpick Hotel and Spa near New BEL Road, for the Chef's Table at the start of the Swiss food festival. The Swiss food festival is on till the 14^th of October and will be at the all day dining restaurant My Place. The hotel has flown down their Executive Chef from the Moevenpick in Zurich - Chef Walter Wyssen to showcase Swiss food. "Swiss food is more than just fondue!" And I can attest that it certainly was.

Our meal started off with a cheese platter consisting of some very unusual and some very strong cheese, brought all the way from Switzerland. In fact, Chef Wyssen told us that he brought along close to 210 KG of produce from Switzerland for his food festival. There were hard cheeses, and there were soft cheeses, and even some creamy ones as well. The names are just as strong as the cheese themselves, so I don't quite remember the names of the cheeses now. However, one thing is certain, and you don't need a degree in food sciences - cheeses have an acquired taste, so don't be too gung ho about tasting cheeses unless you're prepared to do so with an open mind and an adventurous palate.

Cheese, glorious cheese!
Next stop, cheese fondue! For this, the chef took us to an area where other chefs were, in front of their burners, and used a heavy-bottomed pan to dunk some cheese into it. And finally, the fondue prongs that were on our table were put to good use, as can be seen in the snap below where the chef

Prongs for the fondue

Bread basket

Making the fondue

Chef Wyssen tasting the fondue
Onto the actual hors d'oeuvre! Fancy eh? Well, it's French, and one part of Switzerland is French. Well, it means 'first course', or the course you have before the main course...starters, in lay mans terms. Oh wait, there's more fancy jargon around the corner. We started off with a lovely beef tartare with bacon gugelhopf. A gugelhopf is a term used in southern Germany, Austria, the Alsace region, and Switzerland for a sort of marble cake. This one had bacon. Everything tastes better with bacon. That's a fact, so deal with it.

Beef tartare with bacon gugelhopf
The second snack was a dry beef slice, rolled and filled with cheese, on a slice of zucchini and a slice of toasted baguette. Red meat and cheese is a lovely combination, and still, this was probably the only 'boring' dish of the evening. Don't get me wrong, it's not that it was bad...it simply didn't measure up against its more illustrious, and tastier counterparts.

Dry beef with cheese
The next canape was interesting, and was my favourite. It consisted of Tete de Moine, a cheese that literally translates to "Monk's head", and combined with a plum and pear bread, this was a real winner for me. The pear bread is what actually stole the show - a fruity sweetness with the crumbly texture of the cake/bread and the cheese was simply fabulous.

Tete de Moine cheese on pear bread

All 3 hors d'doeuvres
We were also given a shot of cappuccino, but not the coffee kind. This was a special one, and used one of my favourite non-meat ingredient - mushrooms! It was a porcini mushroom cappuccino, and was lovely. The earthy flavour of the mushroom along with the light cream and minimal seasoning brought out the flavours to the hilt. In my excitement to down the 'shot', I didn't realise there was actually more than just one 'shot', and it was hot as heck. My throat burnt, I worried that I'd not be able to enjoy the main course, but thankfully it wasn't that bad.

Porcini mushroom cappuccino
 And finally, the main course. The menu given to us said there would be a vegetarian dish, a dish that's as much Swiss as the masala dosa is Indian - the Rösti. A common breakfast dish of the farmers, it consists of roughly grated potatoes mixed with butter and seasonings that is then fried after shaping it into a rough patty. This was served with a mushroom sauce. The other dish was a lamb chop served on an elder aceto sauce and glazed pumpkin. The lamb chop was beautifully medium rare, nicely seasoned, and very tender. By this time actually, most of the diners at the table were dropping like flies coz they were full, and I must admit, you eat a lot of cheese and then some more in the form of fondue, your stomach will need to have some serious capacity to pack away the carbs (Rösti) and animal protein (lamb).

Lamb chops with sauce and glazed pumpkin

Another shot of the lamb chop

Rösti, the unofficial national dish of Switzerland
And as if all this food wasn't enough, there was dessert. And one of the most famous desserts from Switzerland, the carrot cake from the Aargau canton. The Aargau canton is famous for carrots, and in the words of the chef himself "they make everything from carrot...cake, pies, casserole, what not!" A strong waft of cinnamon from the cake makes it way into the nasal cavity, but it doesn't offend the senses, but entices you to dig in. And dig in I did...with gusto!

Rüebli (carrot) cake
Overall, given that this was the first time I was actually eating Swiss food, I'd have to say that it was very good, and extremely interesting. And like India, different regions have different foods, owing to the influence from the Germans, the French, the Italians, and some dishes very native to the land itself. The Swiss food festival is on till the 14^th of October at My Place, the all day dining restaurant at Mövenpick Hotel & Spa, Bangalore. For more details and making reservations, you can check here.

Bow Barracks

Bow barracks is a region in Calcutta (now Kolkata) that has a predominant Anglo Indian community. Anglo-Indian cuisine has an almost mystical air about it. Traditional British dishes with Indian spices, as well as dishes with Indian sounding names would certainly get people new to encounter this cuisine put their thinking hat on - I certainly did!

And so when a place opens up in Bangalore claiming to serve Anglo-Indian cuisine, a cuisine that is on what seems like its last legs, then you want to make sure you get there. Bow Barracks in Indiranagar is run by Sujoy and his wife. Some may describe the setup inside as a little claustrophobic - the presence of a couple of pillars with a slightly low ceiling and the furniture 'just' fitting inside gives this impression. I, on the other hand, appreciated the ambiance and setup and would call it 'cozy' and more like a well kept home.

Melon amuse bouche

Gol guppa amuse bouche

Cold marsh melon soup
We started off with the cold marsh melon soup (which seems to have gone off the menu now - pity, because it was simply superb!) served in a cup and it was divine - cold, with a fruity sweetness to it and a hint of spice, and it was quite refreshing.

Noorani seekh kebab

Aubergine stuffed with chicken

Beef Pantheras
The Noorani sheek kebabs were very good - delicate, and most importantly, they weren't dry. The flavouring was again subtle, and it had a surprising coating of minced chicken around it - chicken and lamb combined well. The aubergine stuffed with chicken too was a nice dish - not overdone, with the smokiness from the aubergines nicely combining with the chicken. The beef pantheras was something I personally didn't like too much - it was a deep-fried dish and I didn't like the taste of oil that lingered on the coating.

Prawn cocktail

Another angle of the prawn cocktail
The prawn cocktail was decent, but nothing spectacular, served with a Marie Rose sauce, or maychup (combination of mayo and ketchup). Now that there's a Continental section, it's good to see that this dish has been pushed into that section. The atoorsi aaloo - baby potatoes with mango chutney and mustard was quite superb, so vegetarians, don't worry, they've got some nice things in store for you as well. The mushroom and paneer dishes from the tandoori section are decent, but nothing to rave about.

Fish bon femme

Pork vindaloo

Veg curry
For the mains, the pork vindaloo and the Hussain lamb curry along with the coconut rice is quite superb. The vindaloo, done the Anglo Indian way, isn't as spicy as the original Goan dish, and so is more palatable for those who don't like spicy dishes, and the lamb was beautifully flavoured with yogurt and was extremely tender - perfect! The fish bon femme - a grilled beckti on a bed of peas with bacon around it - was pretty nicely done. Pan-fried, with the skin made a little crisp, the beckti, a fresh water fish from the East, blended well with the peas and shallots, but was certainly not Anglo Indian (now this has been moved into the Continental section of the menu).

Chicken Kiev

Pork Chops

Duck confit
The pork chops on the menu are a must-try if you are a lover of pork, and the confit of duck was also done to near perfection. Unfortunately, we didn't get to try the beef jalfrezi, which is an Anglo specialty, but that's probably for the next visit. The veg curry along with rice is also quite a delightful curry, although I don't really know too many vegetarians who would walk into a fancy restaurant and appreciate a curry with rice! Well, I didn't ask them to act all pricey :)

For desserts, the honey lime pannacotta had an usual flavour combination that actually worked and worked well, and the amount gelatin used was about right (could have been a little less, but good all the same). Overall, good dish, and so was the chocolate mousse and the tiramisu, although I did not get the distinct taste of Marsala from the tiramisu.

4 Seasons wine tasting and bloggers meet

A couple of Mondays back, I was invited for a wine tasting event at Fava by 4 Seasons who are doing a lot of promotions for their wines. They have regularly been inviting bloggers and other social 'influencers' and educating them about wines and some of the minor points about wines, be it white, red, or rose. The opportunity to get a little more insight into wines and to also meet fellow bloggers from different genres (not just food bloggers) was appealing and too good to miss, and so off I went in spite of it being a Monday evening.

Mr Abhay Kewadkar, the head of UB-4 Seasons Wines and chief wine maker was the host, and his intention was to not only help promote his product, but also to talk to us bloggers and give us an understanding of wines and answer questions we may have about wines. A look at the menu that was prepared for us was enough to make me happy :)

We started off with a glass of Chenin Blanc, and later moved on to a Sauvignon Blanc. Mr. Kewadkar began a very passionate round of conversation about the subtleties in the two wines, and then we gradually moved on towards how wines are paired, and what are the essential characteristics in the wine and food that make them 'match'. 

Sauvignon Blanc

Soon the first course arrived - simple Caesar's salad that was to be paired with the Savignon. The salad was fresh, and the chicken was grilled nicely with the right amount of dressing on the salad. Also, the conversations touched upon how the Indian palate, which may be unaccustomed to wine, would perhaps naturally gravitate toward sweeter wines. Another popular 'idea' in most peoples' head is that wine is only for the sophisticated, high class folks, who dine on fancy cuisines. Mr. Kewadkar very clearly dispelled this notion and explained how the Indian foods can be paired very well with wines. One way to try to get people to change their habits is certainly through interactive sessions like this one.

Caesar salad

To each his own. This was essentially the mantra that needs to be understood. While there can be guidelines about how to pair wines with food, you can never lay it down as a 'rule'. We then moved on to the main course, rosemary lamb chops, paired with both a Cabarnet Sauvignon as well as a Shiraz (both red wines). I think I preferred the Shiraz over the Cabarnet, and it did seem to go well with the lamb chops. The reason we were served both wines was to compare and see what suited our palates better, and then arrive at a 'decision'. The lamb chops were decently done, and although off late I seem to have lost some interest in lamb chops, this was nice. 

Lamb Chops

During the meal ,we were joined by Abhijit Saha, the top chef and person behind Fava and Caperberry. Chef Saha spoke about the changing scenario in Bangalore and India and also spoke about his experiences in Spain (during a recent visit). To round things off, dessert was served along with a blush rosé wine.

Creme brulee with peaches and blush rosé 

The health qualities of red wine have been explained through a lot of studies, especially due to anti oxidants in red wine. Overall, this was a very satisfying experience and one that was loaded with information. And of course, meeting new bloggers across the board is always a wonderful thing. Hopefully, more wine companies will come forward and try to impress upon the public about wines and get them into wines. Thanks to 4 Seasons and this initiative of theirs. You can find more details about their wines on their website.

Sunday Brunch ar The Park Plaza

A couple of Sundays back, I was at The Park Plaza for brunch. Invited. Normally, I don't take invites from restaurants to visit their place and then 'blog' about it - there's always the credibility issue. However, in this case, I reasoned with myself that a brunch cannot be 'fixed' or 'be made more special' for me. I was right.

The Park Plaza is in Marathahalli, near the multiplex (on the same side). The hotel houses a 24 hour coffee shop called The Melange, a North Indian/Mughlai restaurant Zafran (single 'f'), a Chinese restaurant Shao, and a lounge called Gadang. I particularly like the name chosen for the lounge because the word 'gadang' is a  word from my mother tongue Tulu, and basically is used to refer to a local liquor shop. Of course, I didn't ask as to whether that was the case here because I was drawn into Melange like a moth toward a ... no sorry, like a bee toward a colourful flower.

Melange is a huge place, with both indoor as well as outdoor seating. My friend and I chose to sit outside, but that was probably not the best decision in spite of the fantastic weather. The wind was on a rampage, knocking over some of the live grills that were set up outside, and on other occasions toppling over the caps some of the chefs had got on their heads. But it was fun to see in a nice way.

We started off with a laksa that was part of the Asian section along with steamed momos. The laksa had a nice dose of coconut milk and I was sold! The noodles and meat in it was nicely married in the dish along with the veggies. However, I didn't think the dish was spicy enough - given the colour of the laksa, this certainly was not the rempah-based laksa (Sarawak laksa), and it didn't have enough sourness from tamarind for it to qualify as a asam-based laksa (Penang laksa). Given the colour, I'm guessing they were going for the Penang laksa, but I can't be certain. Nonetheless, if you're the kind you enjoys a Tom Kha soup, you're bound to enjoy this, but if you're looking for the real deal, I'm not so sure. 

Laksa

Beside the usual starters like salads, there were also a few neatly laid out amuse bouches that made for a very nice picture. The prawn amuse bouches were really very nice, and the lamb was fantastic - creamy in texture, with good amount of seasoning to bring out the flavour of the meat. Amongst the salads, the carrot salad blew me away simply because of the way it looked (first), and then because of the taste and the fact that is retained a crunch but wasn't hard at the same time, making it easy to eat with a fork. There were also some cured meats - ham and the like, and those were very nice as well, including the melon + ham combo.

The steamed momos that came in, chicken and prawn, were also quite nice, although the shells were a little on the thicker side. However, since they were steamed right there, I'm guessing the shells had to have a slightly thicker 'bottom' to ensure the entire things holds and doesn't crumble and disintegrate.

Starting from top left, moving clockwise: Pasta salad, German potato salad, Mexican carrot salad, and aubergine & broccoli salad

Prawn, lamb, and prawn again

Prawn amuse bouche, all lined up

Mango yogurt

Chicken (left), and prawn momos

The spread for the Sunday brunch is extremely extensive and very impressive. There was a counter where a chef was making pizzas and you could choose the toppings, while another counter had pastas. The are where we sat outside had a tandoor for tikkas for kababs, a burger stand, as well as a huge Weber grill where jumbo prawns were being grilled. The pizzas were decent, although I wish they hadn't been so stingy with the meat toppings.

As part of the brunch, you also get to have cocktails, and there are some really nice cocktails - not your usual run of the mill types - available here. 'Sweet' cocktails are perhaps easy to make, most usually involving the addition of some syrup like grenadine or curacao. However, try one of the spicier cocktails and you'll be in for a treat, especially if you go in for the Indian Mule, a gin-based cocktail.

Salami pizza

Indian Mule (left), and a whiskey-based cocktail along with another gin-based cocktail

I was torn between trying out the tandoori stuff, grilled prawns and burger (all outdoor), and the indoor food that included biryani, rice, and fish curry. Pastas were going to be left out. Eventually, the rice dishes and Goan fish curry won. No regrets. The biryani was spot on in terms of taste, how well it was cooked, and the salan with it was also quite brilliant - a little spicy, tangy, tasty...yum! The Goan fish curry though could've been a little spicier, given that Goans toss in a fair amount of chillies into their curries. All in all, quite a good meal, one that I took a couple of days to work off on the treadmill.

And then there were desserts! Oh yes, I'm not done yet! There was a whole shelf of desserts to choose from, and just looking at them made my stomach want to go on strike, protesting against the stuffing that it was being subjected to. However, better sense prevailed and I did have some desserts. While the creme brulee wasn't up to the mark (it was in a shallow dish, so the caramelized sugar was a in a larger proportion when compared to the custard below. However, the two kinds of creamy deliciousness that I had...they had me hooked. I don't remember what they were called, but they were lovely. I also caught sight of some pretzels (shaped in a manner to resemble the hands of a monk in prayer).

Blueberry & lime

Namashkar, I am pretzel!

Overall, a very satisfying experience and totally worth the drive from where I stay. A few tweaks here and there can be done so that everything is ship-shape and that should certainly get people coming back.

Food: Good

$$$: The Sunday brunch, with alcohol is Rs 1600 + taxes...worth it.

Service: Good

Verdict: Worth a visit at least once, and if you live close by, then whenever you feel like gorging on food on a Sunday.

Hotel Park Plaza, 90/4, Outer Ring Road, Munnekollaly Village, Marathahalli, Bangalore. Phone: 080 49094909

Spoonful of Sugar

This post has been a while in the making. Spoonful of Sugar (SoS) is a small pastry shop, which then became a pastry shop that began masquerading as a cafe, a cafe that was essentially a pastry shop, in Indiranagar. It has been around for a while - it used to be around when I was working at GXS, but when I finally was awakened to the fact that I am what is generally described in many circles as a 'foodie' (around the year 2007), and when I began my gastronomic adventures around town, SoS was a place I frequented many a time, and never once have I been disappointed. Well, OK, I was disappointed once, but that's out of more than 15 visits.

So what do you do when you're stressed? Sleep? Punch something (or someone)? Yell out loud? Use one of those squeeze ball-thingies perhaps? How about 'turning it around' backwards and eating it? No, really, try it. Because stressed, turned around backwards, spells desserts. Coincidence? I dunno.

Lemon pie

A narrow lane, opposite Toit on 100 Feet Road Indiranagar, called Sri Krishna Temple street takes you to Nilgiri's, and a little after that, a left turn directs you toward what is arguably Bangalore's finest spot of cakes, bakes, and pastries. Spoonful of sugar is a quite literally a hole in the wall, and until a couple of years ago didn't even have proper seating - it was more a take-away place. But all that has changed now - well, they have about 4 tables (3 outdoors and 1 indoor) - and although there has been a change in terms of seating arrangements, it has maintained the same high standards of everything it has to offer in terms of food, especially the items for your sweet-tooth.

Raspberry mascarpone pie

Essentially, Spoonful of sugar is a place that serves (or sells) you dishes that in any restaurant would be categorised under 'desserts'. From cakes and pastries, to luscious cheesecakes and creamy tarts, they have them all. All the items are made only in limited numbers per day. The owner, Sangeetha Damani, says that they use only the freshest ingredients and so sticking to a fixed number helps maintain quality.

Cucumber mint cooler

For those with a sweet tooth, some of the fastest moving items are the fruit tarts, the oreo cheesecakes, the banoffee pie, and the raspberry mascarpone pies, the last one being one of my all time favourites, simply because the cream cheese used is quite good, and the amount of gelatin used is minimal, leaving them quite creamy and not 'stiff'. And it's not too hard to see why. There is also a baked version of the classic blueberry cheesecake which is sublime, and usually this competes with the raspberry mascarpone for top slot. The fruit tarts are probably the ones anyone visiting the store should start off with. Firm but not hard tart shells hold a delicious concoction of cream cheese, fruits, and jelly - and thus far, I've only noticed a slight increase in the cost of these, but never a drop in the quality. They also take orders for cakes, and compared to the stores that 'mass produce' cakes, one can immediately spot the difference in the taste, in the richness that oozes from every bite of their cakes.

Baked blueberry cheesecake

Fruit tarts

Spoonful of sugar also caters to those who wish to grab a bite of food. Primarily sandwiches and pastas, they also have some wonderful quiches and fresh dips that are served along with crackers. The hummus here can match the ones made at any top end restaurant in the city. My only grouse about the sandwiches are that they are made using sliced bread; perhaps a next step could be to offer a choice of bread, but I don't know if that would bode too well with the philosophy of the place. It is after all, a spoonful of 'sugar'. Also, the quiche I had, it's base was a little underdone, and the lasagna seemed to have cheese that was old (visibly), and that was the only 'issue' I had that I'd mentioned at the start of this blog post. But that apart, they tasted very nice indeed.

Chicken quiche

Chicken lasagna

When it comes to cost, Spoonful of sugar certainly charges more than any of your other cake shops, but you can easily see why. With ingredients as fresh as the ones used here as well as a quality that many will find hard to match, you will WANT to pay for their food. If you love desserts and can't settle at just one per person, then desserts for two can set you back by about Rs 400 or so. If, like me, you're get a little dessert starved, then you may spend a wee bit more. I personally have polished off Rs 800 worth of goodies here in one sitting, but then that's just me.

Verdict
Food: Very good indeed
$$$: Expensive
Additional info: While it is expensive, you do get your money's worth

Spoonful of Sugar, 421-G, 1^st Main, 3^rd Cross, 1^st Stage, Indiranagar, Bangalore. Phone: 25255534, 25255535