Bangalore restaurants- Food and Travel: Second Helpings

Cafe Thulp revisited

Thursday, July 22, 2010Me! In words

Bangalore restaurant reviews Continental European

Veekes and Thomas

Friday, March 26, 2010Me! In words

Bangalore restaurant reviews Korean Second Helpings

Soo Ra Sang

Thursday, February 18, 2010Me! In words

Ashoknagar Bangalore restaurant reviews Indian

Kungh - never too much of the good things

Monday, October 26, 2009Me! In words

We were back at Kungh's in two short weeks. Dad had this itch to eat Seekh kebabs and we just couldn't think of a better place to take him to. And better yet, he was footing the bill this time. So as always, since this is the second review of the place, its going to be more of a photo review.

The Seekh kebabs - Just as juicy and tender as the first time round. In fact Sudhakar just could not stop saying how he felt all the food we ordered was better than the first time round.

This time we had a vegetarian starter as well - Alwae - This was cubes of potatoes marinated in a tangy curd/chilli mixture and deep fried. Despite this, the potatoes were not dripping with oil. They tasted great. The centers were a bit raw, maybe a few more minutes in the oil would have helped.

Kebab pulao formed part of the main course. The pulao came with ringlets of seekh kebab mixed in it. Contrary to the way it looked, the dish was not dry at all and could be eaten without any accompaniments of a gravy or chutney. It tasted great and was made even more heavenly with the chicken qurma that Javaid (the owner of Kungh) suggested.

The chicken qurma came with a layer of oil floating on the top. Of course this contributed greatly to the taste. However, despite the grease, this boneless chicken dish felt light and washed off the hands easily. No residue here.

The last time we came here, we had the yakhni and this time I had its counterpart - The Rista. A wonderfully light gravy with balls of pounded meat. It tasted wonderful with fluffy steamed rice.

Since we were four of us, we decided to have to have one each of the four desserts available. Clockwise - The big plate has the badam halwa, the dark one is Qubani Ka Meetha, Rice Kheer and the phirni all of which were great. We also had some saffron lime sodas and Kahwa to wash it all down. This meal came to Rs 950.

Address: 32, Castle Street, Ashoknagar, Bangalore - 25

Phone: 41126043

Cuisine: Kashmiri

Wallet factor: Rs 800 for two

Cards Accepted: Not at the time of writing this review, but it should be soon

Parking: can be a bit of a problem

You can read an earlier review of Kungh here

Bangalore restaurant reviews Continental Koramangala

Vicky's La Terrazza

Saturday, October 24, 2009Me! In words

It was Mom's birthday and I had given her a choice of places we could take her to celebrate. She decided on continental and I just had to go back to Vicky's La Terrazza to sample more of the menu. This time round we went in the evening and the place looked lovely. Dim lighting and a semi-open terrace made for a lovely setting.

For starters we had the chicken fingers with black olives in mayo. Hot and crispy, these looked very much like their fish counterparts and tasted just as good. The black olives were chopped up and dunked in mayonnaise making it at once rich and a bit tangy. A nice combination with the hot chicken fingers.

Chicken fingers with black olives in mayo

Kiwi and Litchee ice teas and good old lime sodas were the thirst quenchers for the evening. Though Vicky's does serve wine by the glass and bottle we decided not to go that way. And of course for Anoushka the mandatory garlic cheese bread.

Ice tea and garlic bread

Lemon Sodas

For the main course I opted for the Ravioli do pollo arrabiatta. This was chicken stuffed ravioli yum yum!! in arrabiatta sauce. When the dish came, straight from the oven to the table, I was a bit sceptical about the quantity and thought I may need a salad to top the meal off. However, half way through the dish I realized that I may actually have trouble polishing it off. This was all thanks to the sinful cheese melted on top.

Ravioli do pollo arrabiatta

Sudhakar had the Chateaubriand with mushroom sauce, well done with mashed potatoes on the side. The mashed potatoes did not have a creamy texture but were nevertheless good. And the steak was too was excellently done with the mushroom sauce being the crowning glory.

Chateaubriand with mushroom sauce

Mom and dad, owners of small appetites in comparison to us shared a mixed grill - this had chicken breast, beef steak, lamb sausage and bacon garnished with pineapple, fries, veggies and fried egg served on a plate. This also comes with a sizzler option. A lovely combo of all the meats

The Mixed Grill

Ask for what desserts are available, because not always do they have all that is mentioned. Most of the desserts are made in limited number and therefore may not be there. We had the almond creme brulee and the Mississippi mud pie. Both of which were heavenly.

Almond Creme Brulee to the left and Mississippi mud pie

This is the second time I am visiting Vicky's La Terraza. You can read the earlier review here. Service is good and you can be assured of having a nice and quiet dinner. The place doesn't get too crowded and is good for that romantic dinner. Parking though can be a hassle since there is no designated parking spot. The bill came to roughly Rs 1500.

Address: No 99, 2nd floor, 5th cross, 6th block, Koramangala, Bangalore - 95

Phone: 41751635/36

Cuisine: Continental

Wallet factor: Rs 1200 for two excluding alcohol

Cards Accepted: Yes

Parking: can be a bit of a problem

China Bowl is also owned by the same management. You will find a review of the restaurant here

Bangalore restaurant reviews Continental Jayanagar

Cafe Mondo

Wednesday, October 21, 2009Me! In words

I love going to places like Cafe Mondo with a bigger group of people. And so after two days of serious binging, my parents and us decided that it was time to go easy and treat ourselves to some nice salads and sandwiches. Cafe Mondo was the first place that came to mind. As we placed our orders we began to discuss how this place was a blessing in Jayanagar. That it was vegetarian and continental was in itself unique. But the fact that it was not an Indianized version of continental, made this place an ideal visit.

And so here goes - Sudhakar went in for the Greek Griller, which was greek cheese melted around kalamata olives, roma tomatoes, red onions and oregano. Served with coleslaw and chips, the sandwich was filling and yumcious. It took a really long time in coming, almost till the rest of us finished, but in the end it was with the worth it.

Greek Griller

Straight from office after a long day, he also decided to have a 5" pizza - Pizza goes boom eggplant, zucchini, red peppers, mushroom and mozzarella. Lovely thin and crispy crust and the pizza was loaded with the filling. Hot and right on the spot.

Pizza goes boom

Dad went in for the Roasted Veggie sandwich which was zucchini yellow pepper, mushrooms, tomato, spinach, cream cheese in herbed panini. Dad was floored and declared it was a brilliant dish.

Roasted Veggie Sandwich

I had the Mondo's Italian salad - Lettuce, tomatoes, banana peppers, black olives, red peppers and cheddar in Italian dressing. Totally loved the tangy taste of the dressing, though as it progressed the tanginess seemed to over power all the other ingredients. Maybe a tad lesser dressing would do the trick.

Mondo's Italian salad

I was ravenous that day and went in for a second salad. Chickpeas Tomato Cucumber salad. The description goes thus - greens, lemon dressing, chickpeas (which were nice and soft, just the way I like them), tomatoes, olives, onions, carrots and feta cheese. The dressing on this one was seriously overwhelming and the cucumber pieces had turned bitter, perhaps from the lime juice that was squeezed on it.

Chickpeas Tomato Cucumber salad

Mom went in for the Fasta Pasta salad that I had the first time round. This was shell pasta with cherry tomatoes, black olives, cucumber, chives with a garlic dressing. As yummy as the first time.

Fasta Pasta Salad

Between all of us, this was washed down with Crushed lemon - lemon and orange juice blended with ice. Fruit blend, mango blended with honey and nut of orange. Also Mixed Bag of berries - a blend of mixed berries with yogurt, milk and ice. All of these were really very good. Also on the table were orders of French fries and cheese garlic bread. Sudhakar ordered the Irish coffee again and this time round he said that he did find some flavoring in it and it was way better than the first time round.

Left to right: Fruit blend, Mixed Bag of Berries, Crushed Lemon

Garlic bread

Irish Coffee

The verdict remains the same - lovely place, a few minor tweaks here and there. We were fortunate to meet with the owners Raghuveer Rajkumar and his wife Esha (who BTW has designed the fabulous menu). They reiterated the thoughts of this restaurant being different and just what Jayanagar needed.

Address: 2/2, Patialamma Gudi Street, Armugam Circle - Bangalore - 04

Phone: 9845132944

Cuisine: Continental - Completely vegetarian

Wallet factor: Rs 350 - Rs 500 for

Cards Accepted: No - you pay for what you want at the counter and eat

Parking: no exclusive parking. But you will find some around the corner

My earlier review can be read here

Bangalore restaurant reviews Breakfast Buffet

Breakfast in Bangalore: Isys

Thursday, September 17, 2009Me! In words

I had just landed back from Mangalore. I got off the train and realised that I seemed to have brought the rain with me. Anyways, since it was breakfast time, Sudhakar decided for us that we would head to Isys. I had this nagging feeling that this was an itch he was dying to scratch for a while now. The word Isys kept cropping up a few times in the last few conversations.

Anyways there we headed. And as last time, I loved the place. What I loved even more this time was that the non-vegetarian offerings were much much more. To start off - there was the health counter with lots of sprouts and green salads. Tomato juice was on offer to wash it all down. Hmmm... didn't really get around to eating from here since am not really a health freak. Figure I still have time for that.

The health counter begins

Next a counter that I can't really put a name to - it had a huge loaf of bread dusted with flour, and a selection of margarine and spreads for the health conscious. There was also a selection of sachets teas, all leaning towards Twinnings and its offerings.

The health counter continues

Next came the vanilla milkshake and pineapple juice, the muffins and cupcakes, fresh cut fruit with watermelon being the most prominent, a choice of cereals with cold milk, sugar and honey. There was also a selection of cold cuts which was quite nice and a herb chicken which turned out to be quite dry.

Milkshakes, fruits, cold cuts

Muffins, cup cakes, croissants, doughnuts, cereals and milk

Going further was the toaster where you could get your bread done to your liking, an orange marmalade and then the counters of piping hot breakfast options. Idlies were of two types, masala and plain and there was coconut and tomato chutney as well as hot and nice sambhar to go with it. Next came the masala vadas as well as the medu vadas, crisp and generous in size. There was also plain and onion uttapam.

A variety in idlis and vadas with yummy chutneys and sambhar

Moving on was the standard masala uppitu neatly shaped, pepper fried sausages and another semi-dry chicken whose name I forget. There was also an interesting pine-apple flavored french toast and yummy red beans to mop up with. A neat standalone counter for dosas with all the works and eggs made to order served well. Keep one thing in mind when you ask for a bullseye - say eggs done on one side and not bullseye or sunny side up - Only then will you get what you asked for.

The non-veg section

With all the additions since my last visit, I thought the price would have gone up. But no. it remained rock steady at Rs 110 per head all inclusive. The loos are clean. And just to repeat myself, this restaurant is a part of Hotel President in Jayanagar 3rd block. They also have an interesting theme restaurant called Gufha which I have reviewed in this blog.

Address: The President Hotel, #79/8, Diagonal Road, 3rd block, Jayanagar, Bangalore

Phone: 41808777

Cuisine: Continental, Thai and Indian

Cards Accepted: Yes

Parking: Exclusive with valet services

You will find a review of their buffet lunch here

Bangalore restaurant reviews Breakfast kid friendly

Breakfast in Bangalore: Egg Factory

Tuesday, August 18, 2009Me! In words

I have written about the Egg Factory twice already now, so I am not going to go into the details of how I love the place, and the workshop decor and the user manual menu. Suffice to say that we wanted a huge breakfast at a decent price and that was what we got.

Started Anoushka off on a plain omelette served with toast, butter and jam. She devoured the omelette and left the toast for me. I asked for an orange juice, which turned out to be a packaged one - Milkmaid's Pulpy Orange if I am not wrong. Not really what I wanted, but I had it anyways. Sudhakar started off with coffee. For him, coffee before, after, during and one for the road... all make sense.

Plain omelette with buttered toast and jam

Coffee and Orange Juice

Sudhakar had the French toast stuffed with cream cheese and blueberry preserve. The four sandwiches were huge and yummy. the cream cheese and blueberry preserve were a great combination on hot toast, which was at once, crispy and soft. But if you don't have much of a sweet tooth, you may get bored with this dish by the third sandwich.

French Toast with Cream Cheese and Blueberry preserve

I had the Southwestern frittata, which as I explained in an earlier post, is a three egg omelette topped with a variety of things. In my case, it was green and red pepper slices with a dash of cream cheese on top. Nice

Southwestern Frittata

Finally, I wanted to have something that was like the Frittata in Tomato sauce... you know the hot, saucy itch that you get once in a while. And therefore selected the frittata in cilantro chilli sauce. I was disappointed that this was not sauce based as the Frittata in Tomato Sauce mentioned just above it on the menu. A bit misleading there. The cilantro sauce was of course a chutney smeared on top of the green and red pepper filled Frittata.

Frittata with Cilantro Chilli Sauce

We took our own time eating. The Manipal specials did not interest us this time round since our previous two tries at them did not live up to the mark. The bill came to around Rs 400 for this breakfast, which is well worth it anytime.

Address: Ground Floor, White House, St Mark's Road, Bangalore

Phone: 42110041

Cuisine: Everything egg based

Cards Accepted: Yes

Parking: Nothing exclusive but not too difficult

Another review is also available

Bangalore restaurant reviews Continental Indiranagar

Herbs and Spice - Third time lucky

Sunday, August 09, 2009Me! In words

I have always liked Herbs and Spice. Granted they may not have been able to please with every dish, but then hey... you can't possibly like everything everytime. This time round I decided to concentrate more the desserts since I wasn't able to do it till now. But I also couldn't resist ordering a main course. So here is a pictorial review of the food that we had at Herbs and Spice along with Bourbon Street, starting with the desserts first for a change.

Lemon Meringue Pie - The pie crust was quite crispy... but the filling was absolute heaven. A warning for those who like lemony lemon pie... the filling had a distinct bitter lemon taste which went perfectly with the layer of crust and cream. Yummy

Walnut Meringue Pie - Now this one was a true delight. And its not like you think. The walnut, rather than being found whole, is all in the flavoring. A crispy walnut biscuit wafer that is stuffed senseless with heavenly walnut cream... An absolute deal clincher for those who love their desserts.

Hazelnut riccota with chocolate - now this is one dessert that has a melt-in-the-mouth hazelnut cake top of with a layer of chocolate icing and chocolate shavings. When you spoon the two together, the medley in your mouth is to die for.

Choco/mocha or a combination of these two words (not sure of the exact name) - A chocolate fudge cake that will send any chocoholic's pulse racing...

Now for the main courses - The beef tenderloin came with spiced potatoes and grilled veggies. Nice, with the beef in this particular dish being tender.

The Spaghetti with Beef Bolognaise was nice but nothing spectacular. The salad on the side with a mustard dressing was great.

The veg pizza was with tomatoes, olives, cheese and mushroom. The base was nice and crunchy and judging by how fast it was eaten, it was good.

Penne pasta with mushroom sauce.

Chicken Chassieur... A nice dish of rice and chicken in mushroom gravy.

Food has always been good at Herbs and Spice... but like everybody else, I agree that the desserts are THE best. Desserts hover around Rs 100 and more. Main courses are between Rs 275 and Rs 350.

Address: 80ft road, Above Planet M, Indiranagar, Bangalore

Phone: 25290399

Cuisine: Continental

Cards Accepted: Yes

Parking: Security guards will help you

Here is another review

Cafe Thulp revisited

Veekes and Thomas

Soo Ra Sang

Kungh - never too much of the good things

Vicky's La Terrazza

Cafe Mondo

Breakfast in Bangalore: Isys

Breakfast in Bangalore: Egg Factory

Herbs and Spice - Third time lucky

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