Bangalore restaurants- Food and Travel: Korean

Broadway - Gourmet Food theater

Monday, June 26, 2017ruthdsouzap

Don't you just love surprises? I do! Especially when it beats popular notion in dining experiences. Now who would have thought that somewhere in the depths of HSR Layout is a place that can dish up good sushi, a fabulous consomme, Spanakopita, Pork Belly and a Kadhai Prawn with equal panache and finger licking goodness. Chef Tanvi is behind the fires in the kitchen and boy is she doing a bang up job of it all. We were invited to try out the place and I am so glad that we did.

Considering I am partial to Japanese - Chef Tanvi was informed of the same in advance and so we were offered to be seated by the Teppanyaki counter, which we happily did.The meal had a lot of sushi come through, which made me a very happy person, but it does international and Indian, with interesting touches as well. So go there with an open mind and don't be afraid to mix it all up if that's the way you want it.

The view from our seats at the Teppanyaki Counter - there is regular seating as well and little more on an open balcony as well.

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.

Lemon Grass and Curry Leaf Martini and the Tangerine Mojito - both great drinks and spot on in terms of alcohol and flavour balances.

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.

The Balsamic Pork Belly with Microgreens - This wok-finished pork belly is all kinds of sinful. Let's see now - thin slices are layered over one another in the presentation. The balsamic glaze adds this nice sticky layer to the pork which has spent enough of time in the wok being finished to have a slightly crispy layer, a moist fatty one and a completely melt in the mouth meat layer. The microgreens adds that shot of flavour that brings it all together - hot, sweet with a touch of tangy.

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.

With the Ragout poured over it.

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.

Japanese Korean serves beef

Sushi at Hae Kum Gang

Monday, August 26, 2013Me! In words

We are suckers for sushi - totally love it and are always game to try out something new. Sudhakar recently dropped in at Hae Kum Gang, the Korean place with his colleagues for lunch and found that they had launched at entirely new series of "fusion sushi and rolls". He called me up to tell me about it and we settled on it for the coming weekend. And so there we were this past Saturday for lunch. It has been a horrendous week, with work, bad health, school projects, the house and I just wanted a break for it all... sushi seemed to be the perfect treat to give myself.

Hae Kum Gang has spruced itself up a bit since we last went there. A lot more greenery in the place serving as dividers between tables. Despite that the service is not impeded in any way. We settled on a Chicken Donburi for Anoushka and decided to go slow with sushi. We were first served the complimentary panjeon, a Korean pancake - this one had cabbage, a touch of egg, potatoes and onions. Nice.

The Panjeon

The Banchan for the Donburi arrived next. These were all meant to be served cold - the generous helping of kimchi, blanched spinach, spiced baby potatoes and fritters with a soya/scallion sauce which I feel would have been best served hot, since they went a little soggy and chewy now that they were cold.

The Donburi came in a lovely deep bowl, hot enough to give you a facial while seated at the table. It was layers of sticky rice and onions, diced chicken and egg. With the accompanying sauce and the banchan, my fussy daughter did get through most of it, with us snatching bites in between.

Banchan for the Donburi

Chicken Donburi

We started with the Kas 'o Tuna roll - flakes of fresh tuna (thankfully) with nori, slivers of dried fish and teriyaki sauce over it. The yellow that you see tasted like a mix of cheese and mustard and added to the nice texture of the sushi. The vinegar in the rice was not overwhelming like some places I have tried. With 10 pieces to a platter, the division of portion was clear, which is a good thing, since I turn into chopstick ninja if I am shortchanged on my sushi share.

The sushi is served with a steaming cup of miso soup, with juliennes of potatoes at the bottom. Light soy sauce and wasabi too come to the table. But this wasabi was mild and did not pack the wallop.

Next we ordered the Pork Bulgogi roll - the highlight on this was the thin slices of toasted garlic and the watercress. The rolls were packed firm and the pork on the inside was a good bit of meat and fat contributing to the various textures you will feel in the mouth.

Next we asked for the Dragon Shrimp roll - fried shrimp is at the center of this roll with watercress, and flying fish roe. Added texture comes from the crispy flakes of tempura that are sprinkled all over the roll. There is also cheese and a hot sauce on the roll that does wake your mouth up a bit. Take a bite without the wasabi the first time if you are shy of spice.

A closer look at the shrimp roll and the tempura flakes

Finally (though I wish rent-a-tummy was around), we ordered our last platter for the day - Fire Salmon Roll - This had a layer of smoked salmon on top of the roll and some in it as well. It was topped off with flying fish roe, hot sauce, teriyaki sauce and was superlative.

We called it at day at the 4th platter but will definitely be back to try out the remaining rolls in salmon and a couple of more versions of shrimp and crab. For vegetarians there is a single Avocado roll that you could try. The sushi here goes as far as salmon in terms of exotic - no eel, octopus and the likes. But what you get is great - 10 portions to a platter - which made 40 pieces of sushi between Sudhakar and me - all of which came to Rs 1800 inclusive of taxes and oh yes! the Donburi as well. I would definitely go here if I wanted to good quality sushi on a budget. At the end of the meal you are served a small fruit salad which is again complimentary. The service was swift enough though the place was pretty packed by the time we were done with our first platter. The loo for the ladies is on the outside but is clean.

Address: 20, Paul Castle, Castle Street, Ashoknagar, Bangalore

Phone: 41127730

Cuisine: Korean

Cards Accepted: Yes

Wallet factor: Rs 1100 for two on average

Parking: Nothing exclusive and weekends can be difficult

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Thran

Wednesday, April 17, 2013Me! In words

There are literally a handful of Korean restaurants in Bangalore and Thran was the only one we had not yet visited. So one weekend, a little while ago we decided to cross it off our list and see how it compared to the others around. Thran is a small restaurant that functions out of a home. Tthe hall has three tables of 4 and what was once perhaps a master bedroom, a couple of more tables. It seems like a cozy home run affair. The menus have photographs of each of the dishes with small one line explanations on what they are. I saw a few familiars and a few not so familiars and we got down to ordering.

Kimbap/Gimbap, seaweed rolls quite similar-looking to sushi is something we order at every Korean meal (yeah, we get repetitive like that!) and we asked for the Chamchi Gimbap or the tuna filled version. Filled with bell pepper, flaked tuna, zucchini and sweet omelette, this was served with a soy based sauce and turned out to be quite nice. As soon as we placed our order, the table started filling up with banchan or the little bowls of nibbles that are integral to a Korean meal - kimchi, sweet scrambled egg, blanched and chopped spinach, zucchini salad, silken tofu, a spicier version of the spinach and the customary shredded vegetable pancake and its dipping sauce.

Banchan - above and below

Tuna Kimbap

Korean meals can be quite filling since you are constantly nibbling on something. For Anoushka we ordered the Omeu Rice or the Omelette Rice. It is normally drizzled with some tomato sauce, but I asked them hold that since little one does not like her food tainted with any sauce. The rice was filled inside the omelette and this held her fascination for all of five minutes. The rice had some nice diced carrots in it and is served with an egg drop soup and a pureed pumpkin sauce on the side. For Anoushka it was a large meal and we did have a small takeaway bag for later.

Soo Ra Sang has an amazing pork gravy dish Jey Yuk Bokkum. It came in a small sizzler bowl and remains steaming hot till the end. I saw something similar on this menu and wanted to try it out. So we ordered the pork dish, the name of which escapes me. Its about the only pork gravy dish and comes with a side of steamed sticky rice. From the looks of it, the pork look pretty much the same. On tasting, it turned out slightly watery and with lesser punch than the one at Soo Ra Sang. Not that it tasted bad, but I had had better. We also ordered the Nakkji Bokkeum or the Octopus stir fry. This tasted more like a Chinese hot and sour dish, and while the octopus was there in it, the sauce and the veggies just seemed too overwhelming. We ordered another steam rice to go along with this, since the sauce was heavy enough to coat a bowl of rice.

When we were done, the instinct to ask for a sweet of some sort took over. We were offered the cold cinnamon tea which was nice but again not up to the standard of the others we had. Also, cinnamon tea in all the places that offered it was served complimentary and here you are charged for it.

Omeu Rice

Pork gravy

Nakkji Bokkeum - stir fried octopus

Cinnamon tea

Overall Thran would feature last on my list of Korean places in Bangalore to visit. For me it would be a toss up between Soo Ra Sang and Arirang in top spot, especially since both offer grills at the table. Then would come Hae Kum Gang which has a really vast menu and then Thran. The service is alright and language can be a small barrier. The bill for this meal was approximately Rs 2000 and did not leave me very happy with spending the amount. The loo is clean.

Address: 507, Ground Floor, 4th Cross, 2nd block, CMR Road, HRBR Layout, Kalyan Nagar
Phone: 42050685
Cuisine: Korean
Cards Accepted: Yes
Wallet Factor: Rs 1200 for two
Parking: None and it can get quite tight in this residential area

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Arirang

Monday, October 08, 2012Me! In words

Kamanahalli area has always been good to us in terms of food - Aioli BBQ and Grill House, The Naga Kitchen, Appam Corner and Rewind (unfortunately I lost these photos and never put up the review) and so the expectations were a little high for Arirang. After one failed attempt at finding the place we finally landed at their doorstep one afternoon, nice and hungry. We ended up being the only Indians there throughout our meal and this happened on our second visit as well but not once did we feel awkward in any way...

The grill at the table instantly meant that we were going to order something to put together at our table. We decided on the Samgyeopsal moksal with deonjang jjigae or in three words, grilled pork belly and the deal here at Arirang is that anything on the grill has to be a minimum of two portions when ordered. The basic pork belly comes with a lettuce leaves, garlic, sliced onions and mushrooms and then comes the traditionally large selection of banchan or side dishes.

The grill at the table being prepped

Samgyeopsal moksal with deonjang jjigae - grilled pork belly

We were told that we had to chop up the pork belly with the scissors, place them on the grill, throw in the mushrooms and the onions and place the bowl of garlic on the grill directly so that the juices from it don't drip around. When the pork gets nice and crisp, you pull it out, wrap it in the lettuce leaves with your choice of banchan and munch away.

We also decided to have some tuna kimbap while we were grilling. More to scratch the sushi itch we always have. Its not the same deal, but something is better than nothing... And this plateful was really nice. In fact Anoushka too had some and loved it.

Tuna Kimbap

There were a lot of the banchan and many of them were completely new to me and different from our earlier Korean experiences at Soo Ra Sang and Hae Kum Gang.

Sesame leaves and pickled radish

I just loved the color on this green radish

Kimchi and slices of omelette tossed in Korean garnishing

This was an egg white scramble in a sizzler dish

topped off with some shredded veggies

Another sizzler platter with sweet corn kernels
being the main ingredient

The first time round we ordered a squid dish, Ojingep deobap, that came with rice on the side for Anoushka. Its not as fiery as it looks and is loaded with veggies as well as squid in gochujang paste. Little one decided though that it would be just squid bits and plain rice for her and she loved the pork belly as well.

Ojingep deobap - squid and sticky rice

On our second visit, we were started off on cold pumpkin soup. This was literally a puree of pumpkin and in my opinion an acquired taste. I could not get through all of my portion since I don't like grainy feeling cold soups. But that's just me.

The banchan this time round were different with salads and variations of radish being included. There was also tempura and silken tofu, which made this second experience all the more different and interesting.

Banchan on the second visit

Veggie tempura

A fresh salad with a dressing I can't fathom,
but which was tangy

Sundubu - silken tofu - it is as creamy as it looks and rather bland which looking at the dressing you may not expect. Again for me it took two bites to actually start appreciating it but it does make a very interesting addition to the meal.

Pa Jun was also one of the banchan - this thin pancake with shredded veggies in it. Anoushka used to make a meal out of this at Soo Ra Sang when she was much smaller.

Nakji bokkeum or stir fried octopus

I had my eye on the Nakji bokkeum or stir fried octopus with gochujang paste and rice. And I thoroughly loved this one. This time round the spice was not toned down as it was done for the earlier squid dish that we got for Anoushka, so it packed quite a punch, but in a lovely way. The bites of octopus are plenty and very discernible. Its not really a traditional gravy kind of dish that you would expect and the rice can still be a bit dry when you eat it with the octopus, but you do need the rice to help tone the spice levels a bit.

Beef bibimbap

Sudhakar was keen on the beef bibimbap and that is what he had. As with any bibimbap, this was a complete dish in itself, lots of crunch from the veggies and also a bowl that I stole from him, half way through my octopus. Every meal ends with a serving of cold cinnamon tea. You also get starch based water on the table though you can ask for regular. But when you are here you might as well go all the way.

Cinnamon tea

Both times the owners of the place were kind enough to take the trouble and explain the dishes and the way to eat them, despite not being very fluent with the language. Bowls are cleared and glasses are topped up constantly despite a full house (on both occasions). The first time round our bill came to around Rs 2000 and the second time a little lesser. But I felt we completely got our money's worth. The toilet is nice and clean.

Address: 3, NK Enclave Building, Near Chinappa Layout, Opp Himalaya Drug store, 4th Cross Kamanahalli, Bangalore.

Phone: 41732581

Cuisine: Korean
Wallet factor: Rs 1300 for 2

Parking: Nothing exclusive . Can be a little tough