BM Review: Plan B

So when I heard about this place from Ruth and Sudhakar, especially the fact that they served beef and pork, I knew I absolutely had to visit it, review or no review. But in fact I did end up reviewing the place, and here's where it is. A couple of mistakes, and so my apologies to my guests, coz the labeling of their names seems to have gone a bit awry in what's ended up in the papers.

So my guests were a former quizzing team-mate of mine from college, Srusti, and a couple of his ex-colleagues from Thought Works (Judy & Tejas), P and VP, and also HPDude. And little did I know that the opinions would be as diverse as they were at the end of the meal. Judy and Tejas thought the chilli fried pork wasn't cooked well enough, while on the other hand, VP and I loved it. There were no complaints about the pandi curry though; all meat eaters dug into it. The wings could have done with some more 'meat' on them, but tasted good otherwise.

Spicy wings

Cheesy fries

Since Srushti wasn't too fond of red meat, he ordered the chicken satay, which turned out to be decent.

Satay

Pandi curry

Chilli fried pork

For the main course, VP immediately pointed out to the black board and said he's having the smoked pork chops. Straight away, let me say that those were the best chops I've had. E.V.E.R. Truly fabulous.

Smoked pork chops

Judy settled for the chicken lasagna, which turned out to be quite nice, with a good amount of cheese mixed in it.

Chicken lasagna

Srushti's jerk chicken steak was good, but not 'jerky' enough if you ask me. The jerk spices weren't very prominent and I thought it could have done with a bit more, but Srushti liked it the way it was.

Jerk chicken steak

P had the stir fried vegetables, which turned out to be just ok. 'Passable', he said, 'but nothing special'.

Stir fried vegetables with herbed rice

The burgers here are truly amazing. Tejas had the Juicy Lucy, a huge beef patty (probably the biggest in Bangalore) while HPDude had the Don't be a chicken burger. Both were great, with the Juicy Lucy living up to its name. I had a pulled pork sandwich, having spicy cured pork, and I couldn't have enough of it. If I hadn't filled myself up with the starters, I'd have had another one for sure.

Don't be a chicken burger

Pulled pork sandwich

Juicy Lucy

The desserts need some work done on them (at the time of writing this, one of the co-owners assured me that the desserts section has had a complete overhaul). The chocolate truffle seemed a little old, and had a 'stale' taste to it, while the oreo cheesecake tasted good, but seemed to a have a little more gelatin added to it, making it a lot stiffer that it should have been. The apple pie though, was quite good, with a liberal dose of cinnamon (who wouldn't like cinnamon I ask!).

Chocolate truffle with ice cream

Oreo cheesecake

Apple pie

Food: Apart from the desserts, the rest of the food was superb.
$$$: I guess this is what I'd call standard Bangalore rates - a bill of close to 3500, with 5% service charge for 7 people, with a couple of alcoholic drinks.
Service: Decent
Verdict: Can give Windsor Pub some serious run for its money. Must visit.

Plan B, #20, Ground Floor, Castle Street, Off Brigade Road, Bangalore. Phone: 41119225.

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.

BM Review: Oriental Wok

A couple of weeks ago, I'd visited this place called Jin's Hut... at least that's the name I was given to believe it was known by, but it turned out the owner had rechristened the place as Oriental Wok. shortly after opening as Jin's Hut. The review can be read here.

Steamed momos

Kimbap

Chicken satay

One of the many ramen noodles we had

With the different kimchis

Bibimbap

Needless to say, I've been very busy at work and haven't been to update the blog, so apologies for the same. Also, there was some problem at home with the UPS which kept cutting off power to the computer whenever I turned the comp on. Now that that is resolved, hopefully things will pick up.

Food: Good
$$$: Cheap
Service: You order, they serve. Expecting more is lunacy.
Verdict: Since they're the only ones serving Ramen, it's worth a visit, but given the seating limitations (a total of 12 people can sit inside, not any more), I wouldn't recommend it to those across town.

Oriental Wok, 5th A Main, 2nd Block, HBR Layout, opposite Barista, near Jal Vayu Vihar, Bangalore. Phone:9972252368

Mugen

About 3 weeks back, I was supposed to go for a review, but because of last minute cancellations by my guests, I had to cancel and settle for dinner with P and VP. And since P was done late at work, we had to meet someplace near Indiranagar, and so we decided to go to High Note. But when VP and I got there, there were no seats available, and so the next option was Mugen (and I"m glad we went there).

Since P was going to be late, we ordered soups for ourselves. A mushroom clear soup for me and VP had a chicken wonton soup. Just as our soups arrived, so did Mr. P and he immediately zeroed in on one of the Thai soups - Tom Kha Pag. The soups were good. The mushroom soup had three kinds - button, shitake, and oyster, while P said his Thai soup was also pretty decent.

Mushroom clear soup

Chicken wonton soup

Tom kha pag

Once done with the soups, we moved on to some starters. Since VP has some allergy towards lamb and mutton dishes, we had to stick to chicken and sea food, and also since he has an allergy to most oils, we have to be careful not to pick dishes that are deep fried. Boy, talk about making things difficult! We ended up ordering some Thai grilled chicken and some peppery prawns, while P ordered some veg stir fry which was glazed in a plum sauce, giving it a nice sheen and a sweet taste.

Kai yang horappa (grilled chicken with Thai herbs & basil)

Pag pad namboy (veg stir fry in plum sauce)

Kung pad kra tiem prik tai (peppery prawns)

I don't if it's a sign that we're becoming old or what, but we were quite full by this time. So main course was a tame affair (and a struggle). I ordered an egg white and olives fried rice (it had olives, ans so I wondered if we were at an Italian place or an Oriental place!) while P ordered a veg Pad Thai. VP had some allergic reaction to something even before coming to the restaurant which made him sneeze right through dinner and so he decided to skip the mains in the interest of continuing sneezing. Also, the side dish that we ordered, okra and bamboo with spring beans, had bamboo shoots in it, which VP doesn't like the smell of, so out he went, while we dined.

Both the main course dishes were nice, although being tired and kind of full didn't allow P and I to enjoy it as we'd have liked to.

Egg white and olives fried rice

Pad Thai (veg)

Dry cooked okra, bamboo shoots, and string beans

Overall, a nice meal, but I wish we weren't so bummed out at work - it would have allowed us to enjoy the meal a whole lot more.

Mugen, #2011, 3^rd Floor, Above Indigo Nation, 100 feet road, Indiranagar, Bangalore. Phone: 41481414

Hari Super Sandwich

On Sunday, I visited this sandwich and chaats joint in Jayanagar upon the insistence of Roopashree, a big time foodie and regular contributor to burrp. The review can be read here.

Chili cheese sandwich

Gulkand and cheese sandwich

Chocolate sandwich (yup, chocolate)

Bread masala

Dahi boondi

Om puri masala

Hari Super Sandwich, 121/A, 8^th Main, near Presidency Hotel, 3^rd Block, Jayanagar, Bangalore. Phone: 9901117355, 9844417049.

Harima

I was told sometime back that Dahlia on Church Street served better Japanese food than Harima. Unfortunately, by the time I started making enough money to visit joints where I'd have to pay in excess of Rs. 500 (per person) for a meal, Dahlia had closed, and so Bangaloreans like me have to settle for Harima (unless you consider Zen at The Leela Palace and Shiro in UB City as 'authentic Japanese'). Without a doubt, Harima is miles ahead of it's nearest competitors (in Bangalore at least).

Seven of us (deadly sinners) went to Harima on Saturday for lunch, and we weren't disappointed one bit.

Sake 'shot' glasses

One of the lamp shades, snap taken by The Professor

My sake glass

Tempura

Harima Deluxe Platter (sushi & sashimi)

Beef noodles

One of the 'bento' boxes - like a thali, or a set meal

Okonomiyaki - Japanese style pizza-pancake

Another bento

My bento box

Green tea ice cream - me not likey!

Wasabi ice cream - the wasabi can really explode inside your head, so take smaller spoonfuls

Overall, great experience, especially for someone like me who's always game to try on new food. Someone at work asked me how could I get myself to eat "such kind of food", with an expression of pure revulsion. To which I gave my standard answer - if it's good enough for humans in a different part of the planet, it ought to be good enough for me. I don't believe in a lot of our societal barriers like caste, religion, etc., but what I've noticed is that a lot of people belonging to, let us say, a particular section of Hindu society that places them right on top, seem to be clinging onto the caste system because it's the only way they can have the sense of being 'important'. A few hundred years ago, yeah, but today, when we're in an era of being able to send man to the moon and send data in a few seconds over several thousands of miles across the globe, I'm at a loss at how to react to such people when they make such obnoxious statements. In any case, this is a different discussion, not for my food blog.

At the end of the day, we're all human, aren't we? I'm not eating food that a South American vampire bat or a tape worm eat, I'm eating what other civilised humans are eating. Don't forget that.

Food: If you're ready to appreciate the food and cultural philosophy behind food from a foreign land, then this food is superb.
$$$: Very expensive - we paid Rs. 1100 per head, but mainly because of the Rs. 3000 sushi platter. Well worth the money since this isn't a daily or monthly thing that I do.
Service: Good
Verdict: Like I said, it's the only Japanese restaurant in town, and it's worth a visit if you're game for some exotic food. May not be suitable for vegetarians, although if you eat egg, then you may just be able to have a few things to eat besides sea weed :)

Harima, 4^th Floor, Devatha Plaza, Opp. Bishop Cotton Boys School, Residency Road (Field Marshall Cariappa Road), Bangalore. Phone: 41325757