The meal began with the Kinoki Philadelphia Maki - Sweet shitake mushroom with cucumber and cream cheese. Do bear in mind these are tasting portions for two - This was nicely rolled maki, simple and a good way to begin the meal. I found the wasabi on the side grainy - a first for me but it still did pack a good punch. I also found it interesting that strawberries were added to the garnishes. 


The Tomato tea was up next and let me tell you that this is a rendition of a tomato soup unlike any other I have tasted. A clear, flavourful French style consomme with tiny dices of vegetables and crab vermicelli. The soup is poured into your bowl at the table and the wave of delicious aroma that envelopes you will have you pick up your soup spoon instantly in anticipation. And you will be well rewarded. I rarely finish soups just to make sure that there is enough of space for what is to come, but this is one I drank down to the last drop.


The Spinach and Coconut  Soup with prawn was next and this is a heavier, earthier soup where surprisingly the prawn and the spinach complement one another - nothing overwhelms and everything comes together beautifully.


The Sashimi platter was a compact yet loaded one - It comprised of portions of prawn, salmon, tuna, seabass and egg. The seafood, especially for sashimi and sushi is of topnotch quality. Chef Tanvi did tell us that they are particular about their vendors and that the fish supplied to them is on par with some of the established names in the industry. Good knife skills on the sashimi and the chef does take good care of making his presentation count as well.


Based on what the chef has on had, you will be served up a very nice combination or Moriawase Maki Roll platter if you ask for it. Pretty to look and to eat up, it has crab stick and tuna with avocado in the center and is wrapped up with avocado, tuna, salmon and finished off with some tobiko.


Vegetarians do not despair, there is a good deal of sushi choices for you as well. The Asuparagasu Roll or Asparagus roll being one of it. The crunch of some fresh asparagus combined with the creaminess of avocado make this a good one to initiate you into the world of sushi, or even if you have been at it for a while.


Mixed seafood nigiri - They tasted as good as they looked. There was no disputing the freshness of the fish. They were rolled well and made for a great mouthful. There are some things that just don't need an explanation. And yes we did a lot of sushi.


Heading towards the mains now, we decided to go with the Spanakopita - having heard a lot about it. The version we opted for was stuffed with feta and spinach and is served with a smoked tomato ragout on the side. When the glass cloche is lifted, the aromas are what food dreams are made of. The pastry is lovely, well layered and it all comes together rather well.




We just had to have something from the Teppanyaki counter and opted for the pork in Hoisin sauce. There are several sauces to choose from and you can have your meat and veggies tossed up just the way you like it. The Teppanyaki has quite a bit of flair to it as you will see from the short clip below.

Firing it up! #ruthdsouzaprabhu #Bangaloresrestaurants #teppanyaki

A post shared by ruth dsouza prabhu (@bangaloresrestaurants) on May 10, 2017 at 9:56pm PDT

We ended the meal on Fire and Ice - Broadway's version of a Baked Alaska that is fired up with flaming alcohol at the table. A refreshing change from the chocolate orbs that are usually the ones that make an appearance. This one was just perfect to end the meal.

A meal at Broadway is roughly in the Rs 3000 category. Another fun fact is that they have a truck of their own that will come to your home and cater up a meal live! How's that for a rocking home party? The place is kid-friendly too. The loos are nice and clean.

Broadway Gourmet Restaurant
Address: 2802, 27th Main Road, Sector 1, HSR Layout
Phone: +91 9845856677
Meal for two: Rs 3000
Serves alcohol: Yes
Valet: Not sure, we cabbed it.

As soon as you are seated, the table is set with tandoori papad, freshly sliced onion/chilli/lemon and the bar menu appears. What's even better is that the fabulous bartender, whom I hear, Farzi Cafe shares as well, who will customize a drink for you if you so wish.

 We began the Ciroc Mineral water - some premium vodka with a citrus base, which was my choice. The Siyappa which married orange juice and malted whiskey and was for the birthday man and the Chocolate Thandai for the friend at the table. Each of the drinks were very well balanced, did not water down during the course of time thanks to too much ice and carried the right level of potency. 


From here we proceeded into the more substantial starters. What is good about the menu is that there is an equal mix of vegetarian and meat based options ensuring, every from Dada to Papa to Pappu have something to order from. The Paneer Barrel Tikka is shaped like a barrel that has then been sliced. This tandoor roasted paneer is stuffed with crumbled pickled paneer stuffing that gives it a nice zing. The 'roastedness' of the paneer is what elevates it. In fact, there is an entire section of the menu dedicated to paneer - so eat your heart out!

Jau Mushroom Chakli - barley and mushroom kebabs spiced by a hand that seemed to have dipped into the spice dabba of traditional Punjabi household. Round patties fried crisp with a steaming hot filling. Be careful of burning those delicate buds - dip into the mustard and garlic dipping sauce first for a heightened taste of things.

Somewhere around this point we realized that we were already at the 75% full mark - but, when the staff sets down the Gabbar Prawns and it looks like what you see above, that fictitious tummy tucked away in the depths of those love handles springs to life! A classic representative of how the simplest of ingredients can make the biggest of impressions - yogurt-chilli marinade, tandoor roasted and then served with drizzle of mustard and prawn head oil. Do I really need to say more?




Lehsun Palak Chenna - Again, a good example of how simple dishes done well can be a triumph - the spinach garlic and split cheese dish is a reminder of home.

As we settled ourselves down, we were brought a basket of papads and crisps, typical to an Indian meal with classic Dakshin chutneys of tomato, coconut and coriander. They always make for the best munchies while you wait for the parade of food to begin. Also accompanying these crisps was a pleasant and refreshing drink of coconut water and mint. 




There were quite a few of main courses that made their way to the table, signature thali and katori style. Helpings from these dishes were ladled into each of our katories and were accompanied by Rice Pathiri - a staple thin chapati-like bread that is usually served with an array of meat dishes, just like it was this evening. Ummi explained how this pathiri is not really an easy thing to make and takes a long while mastering it. Along with the rice version, is a slightly sweeter coconut version that is deep fried, slightly greasy, but so satisfying with the likes of the tomato chutney and bhindi masala that was served

One of the first dishes from the main courses that came our way was the Alisa - a wheat and mutton porridge preparation which looks very similar to the haleem, but is a lighter (thanks to the lower meat, higher wheat proportion), made fragrant with caramelized onion and a light hand on the ghee. This is the dish that you will go back for, all through your meal and then, if you are like me, post dessert too.



Each of the main courses were distinctive in their flavours. The Kozhi Varattiyathu with onions and fennel paste rubbed on chicken drumsticks is mild, yet very flavourful, with a strong punch from the fennel. Both the Vendakkai Mulakitthatu (Bhindi Masala) with a touch of chilli and Thakkali Vatichathu (Tomato Chutney/Gojju) had distinctive tangy flavours, pairing very well with the pathiri. The Erachi Varatharacha Curry (Mutton Curry) is quite typical of a Kerala style mutton curry that is coconut based.

To say this interview is long pending is an understatement. Chef Vivek Singh of the Cinnamon Club and Cinnamon SoHo fame in the UK, came down to Bangalore last November for a 5-day pop-up at the Riwaz of Ritz Carlton. The showcase was a collection of his signature dishes across the two restaurants as well as from his book 'Vivek Singh's Spice at Home". He came down to India courtesy Jet Airways and what a pleasure it was interacting with him for the interview.

A deep-voiced, articulate man, we spent a good while chatting on various things. Since this was a phone interview just before the pop-up took place, I recorded the call. And then a few days later had to reset the entire thing losing a lot of data. That is when I thought I lost this interview as well. But as luck would have it. And that was the end of the story for me. But just imagine my surprise, when I picked up a new phone recently, and had the data transferred in, this file popped up from one of the folders! So this interview was done in November 2015, you are going to read it now and let me tell you, it does make for a good read. 


The "curry" in London today, is a whole different ball game? Does it measure up to its Indian counterpart and how has it evolved?Curry, at best in India, would describe a style of cooking or a section on the menu. But in the context of UK life, it has transcended those boundaries and turned into a phenomenon. A phenomenon of going out for an Indian meal or experience. It has acquired a much larger connotation than we would give it credit for in India. Curry is possibly Britain's favourite food, or at least in the top 3. It is now synonymous with going out, with Asian entertainment. It encompasses all of Indian and Southeast Asian cuisine and covers a larger scope.

How would you describe your approach to Indian food?My approach is something, which I believe, has relevance anywhere in the world you are in. I like to describe my cooking as evolved/evolving modern Indian. Why evolving? Because I have been a firm believer, through my 20 years of cooking that standing still isn't an option. No matter how accomplished you are, like any other art form, if you are not evolving, you are certainly not going forward. So whether it music, movies etc, everything has to evolve and so does food.

Why modern? When I went to the UK, I thought the menus and restaurants and the way they were styled, the service etc, was not necessarily reflecting the dynamism, the energy and the aspiration of the new and young India I had left. The world had come a long way and so much had changed in the 90s in this country and so much more was changing after this. However, in the UK and the at the risk of sounding irreverent, I felt that the imagery that they used for India, the way people thought of Indian curry as cheap and cheerful, chalk wallpaper, sitar music playing in the background, the imagery of the Taj Mahal, the snake charmer and lion... there was so much more to India than that and none of that aspiration and energy was being conveyed.

And that's why to me, modern was important, to convey the sensibility of a young India. Indian food, because that is my root, that is the cuisine I have chosen to excel in and a lot of our dishes are inspired by Indian dishes. They could be from popular, familiar Indian dishes that people may know already or dishes from lesser known regions of India. What we do is take traditional Indian dishes, deconstruct and dissect them, combine the spicing techniques with the very best of local seasonal produce that money can buy. So which ever part of the world I cook in, it remains relevant.

Through this I take a centuries-old recipe and connect that to something seasonal and fresh. By connecting those two worlds, I believe, we have created a beautiful marriage of the young and the old or the bold and the beautiful as I like to call it. It is truly Indian in its inspiration and at heart, yet is contemporary and comfortably sits in the global context, much like the modern Indian person.

Is your food pan-Indian inspired?
Our restaurants serve pan-Indian food. Often different influences can be found sitting together on a plate. For example - I will take a piece of halibut which is a quintessentially British frying fish, that is
cherished in the UK and will cook it in a tandoor, and combine it with a Bengali Kasundi or mustard sauce. I might serve it with a lemon rice which comes from Kerala. There are very different thoughts and techniques from across the country that is coming together with something that is British.

How do your work on your research for recipes to adapt?
A lot of my inspiration from my experience of cooking in India. I cooked for about 8 years in Mumbai before I left for the UK. I come back very often, not necessarily for inspiration, but for family, business and the like. My inspiration comes from memories, memories of the past, journeys, celebrations, a lot of it from reading books and what may be happening in the world, in the contemporary sense.

So for example, one of the dishes on the menu is a Carpaccio of cured Salmon, with a deconstructed Bengali Jhal Muri and it is served with wasabi-esque, green pea and mint chutney. For me that dish connects so many dots - fish and mustard is not really a British flavour, but more of a Nordic one, Salmon and Wasabia are very Japanese and recognized world over; and fish and mustard is very Indian and the jhal muri is a favourite childhood snack of. So I take a cured piece of salmon, dress it with a potato chaat made up with mustard oil and then I put some caramelized muri on top. So it is a deconstructed dish that has crunch, punch, salty-sweet cured salmon and it comes together as a global dish.

On the international spectrum, do you think Indian food has made a mark? How or why?
I think among the top cuisines of the world in the past 20 years, Indian food definitely features in the top 4. Whether it was the 80s or 90s when French food was all the rage. Or when Italian become
popular world over, thanks to its simplistic approach and wider appeal and hearty, homely cooking. Chinese, both because of its migrant population and its appeal and in recent times, on the sophisticated level probably Japanese. But Indian, over the last 20 years, has been up there on top. I don't see the affection for Indian food waning any time soon. It may have had its share of prejudice, 'Oh its curry, I will go home smelling of curry or garlic and I can't back to office and maybe its unhealthy to have everyday. But more and more people are realizing that there is much more to it and that it is not meat cooked to death in brown sauce. So people are discovering more and more and are becoming familiar with regional nuances and the health benefits of various spices. I see the interest certainly maintaining its strength rather than waning.


What are your personal influences when it comes to Indian cooking?
Plenty! When I started off, I was completely mesmerized by the Dum Pukht style that was going on at the ITC in the 90s. I was particularly fond of the NW Frontier style of cooking by Manjit Singh Gill at Bukhara. These were godfathers as far as someone was concerned back then. There is still so much credit that goes to chefs of this caliber who put Indian food on the map. I have been cooking now for over 20 years and in the last 4-5 years, I have realized how much of an influence my mother's cooking has had on me. Some of them comes from memories of trips and celebrations. One of the favorite times of the year for me in the UK is autumn, because of the game season. I was starved of cooking with game in India - rabbit, venison, etc. I would hear these stories of Rajput princes going on hunting expeditions for months, and hunting and pickling and we had no experience of that because we did not do any of that. I am able to cook all that in the autumn in the UK and I am able to reinvent and reimagine those images that may have been lost.

I grew up in Bengal, so the period between Durga Puja and Diwali is known as Bijoya and that is the Indian equivalent of Christmas, except that it is not one day, but three weeks. Everybody exchanges,
mithai, gifts... the memories of those times etc have a great influence on my cooking. So we have food that comes out on a trolley, that is carved up at the table and, flambed, all of which are celebratory influences. 

What is your fondest food memory?
As a child, attending a typical Bengali wedding with 500-600 people where they would be put a thali in front of you and then they bring out dishes in sync... they will bring in a pakoda, some fried things,
some puris, dry and wet vegetables, rice and then they do it all over again. One of my fondest memories is having a Chingri Malai curry, I keep it on the menu for a few days and take it off so I don't get fed up off it, just to keep the romance alive.

What is the kind of meal you would like to sit down to at the end of a long day at your restaurants?
Its usually rather late when I get home, too late to have a proper meal. I usually plonk myself in front of the TV to unwind with a toasted teacake filled with a very spicy masala omelette. That is my kind of guilty pleasure.

What do you like doing outside the kitchen?
I try to create a lot of bandwidth around what I do. I like to read a lot - I read around 4 books at a time maybe some fiction, something on food, something on business. I love to unwind with music - Sufi
music being an indulgence. I love to go through compilations of Muzzafar Ali and so on. Between reading and music, I am also actively involved in the pottery that is used to create my food. I think that is failed side of me. I would have loved to be a potter if not a chef, but I can't throw anything on a wheel. Its much harder than it looks. So we have created Indian pottery with contemporary European glazes and contemporary shapes. I find that very therapeutic to indulge with.

Soon after this interview, we sat down to a media preview meal by Chef Vivek. You can check it out here . And I leave you with images of that meal.

All the trappings of a Chicken Bhel Puri served in a traditional spice dabba. Throw in all the ingredients into the spiced puffed rice, shake it up and you have a rather filling snack.

Tunday on Toast - Lamb cutlets on crispy toast with some yogurt-mint chutney. Good cutlet as far as the finely minced meat goes, but this one didn't work too well for me because of the strong dusting of what tasted like an improvised chaat masala that coated the mouth and left no room for the moistness of the cutlet to come through. Very generous in terms of portion size, I would say this is best shared by at least three people if you want to try out more on the menu.

Meri Chilli Teri Toast - Salan chillis stuffed with cheese, batter coated and deep fried, with the milder dusting of the early mentioned masala powder, with a cheesy dip. This one hits the spot beautifully- crispy, spicy, gooey cheese. Do be careful of that first bite, cheese can be deceptively steaming hot.
Biryani 65 - Now, as much as I love experimenting with food, the comfort of a good biryani (and I ain't no biryani snob -region, style, ingredients matter not to me. If it tastes good, I am a sucker for it) is eternal. This one comes in a little pressure cooker, that can be a little difficult to maneuver over a full table, nevertheless, it is what is inside that matters the most. The quantity is good for 2 good eaters and the crisps at the side keep everyone happy.


Fettusuey - When Fettucine pasta and khowsuey come together you have this cracker of a dish (yes Masterchef hangover! Sue me!) Anoushka loved the dish and had it on both visits, in chicken. An amazing broth of flavorful coconut milk, crunchy vegetables and the varied  garnishing of peanuts, chilli oil, coriander and caramelized onions. A very comforting dish that the current weather in Bangalore begs for.

I honest to God did not think Pork Belly Chettinad could ever be a thing, but it is... and what a thing of beauty it is. Thick slices of pork belly with a great meat to fat ratio, smothered in a Chettinad curry that packs a good punch of pepper and with crunchy veggies thrown in - this can be a meal for one especially if you are always looking for a way to thank porcine Gods for the creativity they bestow on chefs.

On both occasions desserts did not really happen because of the lack of tummy real estate. There is a lot left unexplored on the menu that I would like to go back for. Service was good despite being almost a housefull. I personally found the colourful string back chairs in the cafe area a little unbalanced to sit on and the tables there a bit low for comfort, but the second time round, regular chairs and tables did the trick. A meal for two is in the Rs 2200 + taxes category which is absolutely great for the space and the portions. The loos are clean and are entertaining in terms of decor too.