Bangalore restaurants- Food and Travel: J P Nagar

Egg Factory - JP Nagar

Friday, August 24, 2012Me! In words

We have always loved Egg Factory on St Mark's Road - sure we cribbed about the traffic, the lack of parking space and the sometimes serpentine lines to find a seat... but the fact that we braved all of it, not once, but several times meant that it struck all the right chords. Its been a while now since we went to the St Mark's outlet - blame it on lack of time and wanting to try out new places. So when the JP Nagar outlet of Egg Factory opened up, it took care of two things - a new place to try and lesser time in travelling for a good bite.

We found our way to the JP Nagar outlet one afternoon for lunch. Unfortunately, here too parking is a bit difficult, but we found some behind the outlet. Bikes stand a better chance though. When you step up, you see a nice semi-open air seating arrangement on two levels and a regular space on the inside. If you have seen Egg Factory - St Mark's road, then the decor is a CTRL C / CTRL V. So is the manual styled menu. We settled on the higher level benches on the outside and got down to business.

Pink Lady and I love apple

First order of the day was to get something to drink - Pink Lady and I Love Apple it was. Both are drinks we have had before and they tasted great. The apple one has a nice not-too-pulpy texture to it and honestly they both didn't last through the meal like they were supposed to. On earlier visits to Egg Factory we were always in groups. We used to order multiple dishes and share it so that we taste and get to order a lot more. Though we were just three of us here, we kind of went the same way again.

Akoorie

We started with the Parsi Akoorie - Scrambled eggs, Parsi style. Almost all dishes here come with a side of toasted bread/garlic bread, butter, sauce etc as applicable. And so a generous portion of the scramble, and two slices came along. It didn't have that watery base that sometimes tends to gather on a plate when eggs are scrambled. Loved the bite of green chilli as well.

Eggs and mushroom ragout penne

Anoushka decided on a white sauce pasta and for her we got the Eggs and Mushroom Ragout Penne. Really Really creamy, the sauce was laid on thick, yet had not dried up as some white sauces tend to do. It was a nice balance of cheese and sauce with lots of mushroom and egg. The dish was really heavy despite which little one managed to demolish a good portion of it. And if it worked well for her, it works good for me too.

Fajitas with bell peppers, mushrooms, eggs, tomatoes

Sudhakar had the Fajitas with bell peppers, mushrooms, eggs, tomatoes. I personally loved the deconstructed way it was served. Allowed us to put it together the way we wanted it. the sour cream was thick and yum and the salsa tangy. The egg and the red bell peppers was of course the highlight.

Huevos Supremo

I wanted to have the Mexican Huevos Supremo. Nice thick omelette stuffed with... I honestly don't remember, but whatever it was, it had a crunch, spice, tanginess and in the brown sauce with the garlic bread made for some real comforting food.

Roasted Chilli Frittata

There was space for just a small bit more and the Roasted Chilli Frittata it was. The chillis were deseeded am guessing and then roasted. Am saying this because most of the green you see there is chilli and it did not bring any fire engines clanging to Egg Factory. It was spicy yes, but not so much so. And since I am one of those who would rather end on spice than sweet, it worked well.

Caramel Custard

But then, we just had to have some sweet right and so a caramel custard, Sudhakar's eternal favorite and a Strawberry cheesecake it was. Both just the right portions and sweetness.

Strawberry cheesecake

Visiting the JP Nagar outlet was like being at the St Mark's one... the ambiance, the food, et al is a mirror image. The only small grouse I had was that all of our dishes were brought in together. So we had a table full of food some of which went a bit cold by the time we got to it. May be pacing out orders or asking how we would like the orders to come it might help. This meal for the three of us came to Rs 3 shy of Rs 1000. The loo is clean.

Address: Ground Floor, #288, 15th Cross, 18th Main, 5th Phase, JP Nagar, Bangalore

Phone: 40124848

Cuisine: All things Egg'quisite'
Wallet factor: Rs 800 for 2

Parking: Nope... sheer desire for good food should be your inspiration

Bangalore restaurant reviews J P Nagar kid friendly

Aroy

Monday, June 25, 2012Me! In words

Yet another one of those places that is close to home, yet we never really got around to visiting it. Aroy, it was one weekend. Again, a reiteration here, knowledge of Thai is close to nil, so everything here went on basis of presentation and taste. My only other experience of Thai has been a visit to Thailand when I was around 8 and sometime last year at Benjarong. One I don't remember and the other was nice.

So Aroy has an al-fresco seating, which am guessing is quite nice in the evenings and an indoor airconditioned one. We chose the indoors and settled down as close to the AC as possible. It didn't really help. It was one of those standing devices which some how seemed to be cooling things a little above our heads.

As we were looking through the menu, we were given a small starter in an interesting cone-covered plate. Don't really know what the mix was, but it had a bit of everything - sweet, sour, crunchy and spicy... very nice on the tongue.

Anoushka (attn: Radhika) decided on the chicken corn soup. Can never understand what it is with these kids and sweet corn soup. Anyways, the soup was quite a bowlful, not as piping hot as normally soups are, but nice nevertheless. She did manage to get through most of it.

Sweet corn chicken soup

For starters we went with the grilled lemon grass chicken with a raw papaya salad on the side. The chicken was boneless nice and tender and very lemony. I guess that is why I liked it a lot. Papaya is not one of my favorite fruits, nevertheless, the salad was quite nice on the side. The portions were just enough to whet the appetite for two.

Grilled lemon grass chicken with raw papaya salad

We went to the main course then - a black olive fried rice and chicken with cashewnuts and bell peppers. Yes, may be not the best of choices for a Thai experience, but both went really well together. The black olives gave the rice a nice little bitter-sour tang and the slight sweet-spiciness of the chicken gravy brought it all together. We were able to get through both with hardly anything left for a doggie bag.

Black Olive fried rice

Chicken with cashewnuts and bell peppers

Not too full from the meal we decided on having two desserts - the water chestnut rubies in coconut milk and the pumpkin custard. Sadly both just did not work. The water chestnut rubies were generous in quantity but tasted very bubble-wrappy in the very thin coconut milk. The fact that it was freezing cold helped a few bites go down, else I really preferred the Benjarong version over this one.

Water chestnut rubies

The pumpkin custard, though good on taste, was deceptively minuscule in the large dish that came. Three cuts of pumpkin with a small part of the center scooped out and filled with the custard. The presentation was too bulky, the custard minimal, though good and we really didn't feel like it came together as a dessert.

Pumpkin Custard

Overall, we liked Aroy - will definitely go back for an evening experience and perhaps order something a bit more Thai maybe next time round. The loo is clean. The bill came to around Rs 1700. The service is pleasant.

Address: #74, 15th main, 3rd Phase, JP Nagar, Bangalore

Phone: 40939311

Cuisine: Thai
Wallet factor: Rs 1300 for 2

Parking: Some space out front and around

Bangalore restaurant reviews Buffet J P Nagar

Village - the soul of India

Friday, January 27, 2012Me! In words

There are so many long holiday weekends this year and I already have things planned out for most of them. But when it came to this particular one (the Jan 26th one), we had to shelve most of our plans for several reasons. Not one to give up that easily, I had this one holiday well planned out - Get as early as possible to the Lalbagh Flower show and then head out to the Butterfly Park at Bannerghatta road with a nice lunch in between. The Lalbagh Flower show, at least what I got to see of it considering the crowd was like someone had told the Bangalorean population gold was being handed for free, was really nice. But we saw half and got out before we got squashed. Next we headed to Bannerghatta road, but half hour of not making any head way in senseless traffic and we just hightailed it back. I needed to pick up some stuff for junior and we headed to Central Mall in JP Nagar. As luck would have it I did not get what I was looking for. As we were leaving, happened to notice this ad painted on the lift - "The Village, Yeh Ek Restaurant Nahin, Ek Anubhav hai" - Its not a Restaurant its a experience". Since we were there and its was lunch time, we decided to head there. And so all the way to the 6th floor we went.

At the door we were greeted by this guy playing the dhol. You pay at the entrance for the buffet, which was vegetarian and then enter. I was totally floored then - below is one of the first sights you see... an absolute village setting. You have a fake neem ka ped (tree) with a jyothish (astrologer) sitting there waiting to read your palm, you can get mehendi done or even some tattoos. The whole place is divided into sections that are typical to the village. You have the Billu Barber section, complete with the mirror and grooming paraphernalia, Imperial Talkies where a real ancient B&W film was playing. Bal Vidya Mandir with the blackboard et al, the Police Taani, Babloo ki Goshaala (Babloo's cow shed) and more. It was so much to take in at one time and junior was in excitement overdrive.

The neem ka ped and astrologer

An overall look

The Billo Barber section

Imperial Talkies and Bal Vidya Mandir

Now for the food experience. As you enter, you have these guys dressed as chaiwallahs carrying little steel glasses of jal jeera and shikanji in those metal tea carriers. You can take as many glasses as you like. Next a chap dressed as an inmate of Central Jail (which later features as an important part of your meal) comes around with an old time kettle filled with hot tomato soup. The Shikanji and Jal Jeera were ice cold and great and the soup was so-so. We took in a bit of the movie at Imperial Talkies while we sipped on these.

Being served by the inmate. I just caught him at the wrong time,
he was actually smiling all the while

Next you can head to the Chaniya Maniya counter and gorge on all sorts of chaats. There was a shouting match going on between the Theka (where ice golas were being made) and this counter. Each was yelling out typical hawker style to get more people to their corner. It took me a few minutes to figure out that it was the same guy with the gun throat heading from one counter to another and creating the ruckus. But good fun it was! We missed it at the beginning, but opposite the GoShaala is the paani puri guy and you should have some from there if you like tangy, spicy, aloo filled puris on your little plates.

The food is a mix of Rajasthani, Gujrati, Marwari, Punjabi and some South Indian thrown in for good measure. And so, there is a push cart serving a variety of farsaan. Lot of crispy savories and junior came back quite often. All the mains were served at "Hungry Eyes Chowmein Center". From what I can remember - dum aloo, paneer in a thick cream based gravy, Sarson da Saag, two kinds of dals, a moong dal pulao, rasam vada, white rice, sambar, mango kadhi, dal kichdi, pav bhaji and jalebis made hot of the fire. Tried most of it and liked what I ate. What particularly stood out was the mango kadhi, the moong dal pulao and the sarson da saag.

The Farsaan Counter

Hungry Eyes Chowmein center (Oh Yes! there was chowmein as well)

And so where were the rotis you ask - in Central Jail of course. You head there and get your dosas or rotis made on the spot. The choice was between naan, makki di roti and parathas. I had one of each and all were great. Skipped the dosas though.

Central Jail, where most people actually stood and had their meal so that they could get hot rotis literally off the tandoor and into their plate

A look at one of my initial servings - dal khichdi, dum aloo,
makki di roti, sarson ka saag and a dal

We sat close to the theka in the Billu Barber section. Do not miss the truck wheels put up with those tacky oneliners you see on trucks. Now while seated here, one of the chaps was roaming around with this bucket filled with fake (or not) Carlsberg beer bottles filled with chaas (buttermilk). I called him over and had 3 three glasses of that cold yumciousness. Got a scratchy throat today though!

Now can you miss having an ice gola after all this - I could but Sudhakar was not about to. He decided on a strawberry kiwi one and had a ball finishing it off. I headed to the Mishtan Bhandar (sweet stall) and had one of each - kala jamun, tiranga burfee and something called Kela Burda. This looked very much like a gulab jamun, only thing the stuffing was predominantly banana... warm and yum.

In the making and on the plate

Strawberry Kiwi ice gola

Tiranga Halwa, Kala Jamun and Kela Burda

By now we were pretty stuffed and simply walking around - I got my palm read for Rs 51 and thoroughly enjoyed an impromptu Bhangda show by this big group of guys who came in and made the punctured autorickshaw cum seating table their adda. And through it all came this guy on cycle selling "garama garam chai".

Garam chai from the cycle wallah

This huge truck where a large family can be seated

The impromptu bhangda session

What the Village has to offer

I agree that this was an experience more than a restaurant. At the end of it I had spent more time taking it all in and taking photos than I actually ate. The food is nice, the novelty factor is certainly there. The "Laadies" and "Jhaantz" loos are equally clean, though the Laadies could do with some mopping. For the Rs 750 this cost us, chomping on a paan and ringing a bell on the way out to show our appreciation, I would say it was completely worth the fun!

Address: Bangalore Central Mall, 45th cross, JP Nagar

Phone:9663294243
Cuisine: North Indian, buffet, bit of South Indian too
Wallet factor: Rs 750 for two

Parking: Mall parking

Bangalore restaurant reviews Breakfast J P Nagar

Upsouth

Monday, December 05, 2011Me! In words

Every weekend, my kitchen is on strike... being a work from home mother takes it toll and by the end of the week I just want someone else to do all the work. And that is when most of our experimenting happens. Finding a good breakfast place can get difficult. There are a few good ones in Jayanagar but we have exhausted everything on their menus. Have been hearing of Upsouth outside Ragigudda temple and have been meaning to visit for a long time. So why not not begin the weekend this way we thought.

Its hard to miss the place. It has two levels of seating, the downstairs being largely occupied we headed on up. The decor is honestly a mix between an upscale darshini and a wanna-be coffee hangout. So while you have huge orange splashes and one-liner jokes all around, you have college / office canteen style tables and chairs to sit on, all packed really tight together.

What I instantly liked about the place is that they are a "thindi" place all through the day. So you don't have to worry about waking up in time to grab breakfast somewhere on a weekend. Second, you can order singles of every item or choose some of their combos. Its self service and so you place your order, pay for it and wait a short while. Just like in a darshini, the coffee counter has a nook of its own. Food will be a picto-review

A look at the service counter and decor

This is one of the combos we took for Anoushka - It has 6 button idlis and sambar, a mini masala dosa, 1 uddin vada with sambar and this was followed by a large poori (pix below) and veggie saagu. There were three chutnies on the plate - good old coconut, mint/coriander chutney and a tomato/chilli one or was it the pomegranate seed one?!. Since everything was piping hot when it came to the plate, it was great. The button idlis were really soft and nice and Anoushka thoroughly enjoyed the mini version. The potata masala in the dosa was thankfully well spiced and not clumpy like most darshinis tend to serve. Loved the plain coconut chutney. And the sprinkling of raw onions on the vada sambar really did a neat trick. The poori was off the kadai and into the plate and not as oily as they normally are.

Sudhakar started with the paper masala dosa. Perching pretty on the plate it came with the sambar on the side and was nice. Junior pretty much left her plate and attacked this when she saw it.

I am a sucker for good bisi bele baath. And now, after Maiyas home delivery for breakfast, this is the second place that serves it all through the week and is close to home. Steaming hot, it came with all the accompaniments that most darshinis scowl when you ask for them. There was coconut chutney, raita and a good helping of kaara boondi on top. The rice and dal where a good mash and loved that the veggies still had a good bite to it and were not a paste. Maiyas adds in sambar onions which are I feel are a brilliant addition, but nevertheless, this one was good too.

Bisi Bele Baath

Anoushka loves kesari baath/sheera and we had to have one of that too. I think there was a bit of food color in this one since the yellow seemed to be in competition with the sunflowers (if there were any around). But that did not do anything to bring down the yummy taste. It was nice, a good amount of roasted nuts in it too.
Needless to say junior did not need help polishing this one off.

We rounded it off with cold rose milk and hot kapi. I haven't had rose milk since I was maybe in school when mom used to make it for me. This was tasted really nice - no OD'ing on rose syrup and sweetness, but just right. The coffee too got a thumbs up from Mr Prabhu.

Rose milk, Kapi and the view from our seat

On another visit, we partied on

A nice glass of spiced buttermilk

This was a another combo with pooris and aloo bhaaji, a vada with chutney and sambhar, pongal, raita, curd rice and kesari. Loved everything on this plate except for the pongal. It was quite dry and very bland for my taste. Even the raita did not help.

Onion rava masala dosa. This was crisp and heavenly with the chutnies

Masala uttappam with shredded carrot, capsicum and a sprinkling of masala powder

Overall really liked the place - serves beautifully as a all-day breakfast/brunch place especially if you have partied too hard the previous night. There are several other options in terms of eating - plain parathas with veggie curries, a few other types of dosas, vadas and rice preparations. The service is quick enough. Each of the two visits came within Rs 250, which for a brunch for three was really good. The loos are on the first floor where we were and needed some attention.

Address: No: 23, 26th Main Road, 9th Block, Jayanagar Bangalore
Phone:22443434
Cuisine: South Indian
Wallet factor: Rs 150 for two
Cards Accepted: Not too sure. We paid cash
Parking: For bikes yes to an extent. For cars, "Dear Goddess of Parking, just this once, hear our prayer"