Bangalore restaurants- Food and Travel: Takeaways and order-ins

Maiya's - Home Delivery

Monday, January 16, 2012Me! In words

We have lived in Jayanagar long before Maiyas made an entry. In the 10 years that we have lived in this area, we have been to MTR twice - once for the meals and once for the breakfast. And Maiyas - well we went there once and were told it was a 45 minute wait for a Rs 110 breakfast buffet. We didn't really think it was worth it and came home. I guess it mostly the crowds the put us off considering we eat out largely on weekends and would rather spend timing eating than standing in line.

If there is one thing I have mourned about in terms of food in Bangalore is the lack of people who deliver breakfast. Back home in Mangalore, we have outlets falling over themselves to deliver even just a bowl of chutney if you ask for it. So when I suddenly stumbled upon the fact that Maiyas was delivering breakfast beginning as early as 7 AM, I did a little whoop of joy. The menu is limited but covers all the essentials and my favorite - bisi bele bath. Here is a look

This is how the boxes come

The masala dosa with chutney

Pineapple kesari bath

Bisi Bele Bath

Idli Sambar

Chandrahara (available only on Sundays)

Now all the breakfast items come relatively hot. The chutneys and sambars are fresh. Typical of Maiyas, everything is loaded with ghee. The bisi bele bath in fact has a thin layer over it and also has cashews and those little sambar onions which add a whole new dimension to the taste. The sweets are typical breakfast ones and the Chandrahara has a good measure of clove in it as well. They also have meals of different kinds that get delivered. I ordered a quick working day lunch combo of the holy trinity - sambar rice, rasam rice and curd rice. Below is how the package came.

And this is how the meal looked when I opened the box. Nice, when you are in a hurry but if its a little leisurely I wouldn't want my rice and gravies mixed. They have chapathi meals, north Indian, joladda roti among other options.

Other likes for Maiyas delivery is that they also deliver their bakery products - have tried their wholewheat bread and butter cookies. Also tried a couple of pastries and they are all nice. Once you register with them, they give you a number and you don't have to repeat your address each time you call. Mondays are the only day delivery is not available. An average breakfast for two - 2 dishes and sweet dish is around Rs 200.

Address: 459/30, 30th Cross, 4th Block, Jayanagar Bangalore

Phone:43311111
Cuisine: South Indian breakfast, north indian meals, Gujrati too.
Wallet factor: Rs 200 for two breakfast

Bangalore restaurant reviews budget eating north east

Chakkhum

Wednesday, July 27, 2011Me! In words

An email one day told me of a mobile Manipuri Kitchen. Some reading later, I came to understand that Chakkhum (kitchen in Manipuri) has a website where you can read their menu. Choose anything you like and no matter where you are, the food will be delivered to you at a time you specify. Now if that is not enough to pique your interest, I don't know what is. I was really curious and since we have taken a shine to northeastern cuisine this was definitely worth experimenting with. So one evening, we got online, checked out the menu and pretty much went on a binge. Food can be ordered in 250 ml boxes for one person or 500 ml boxes for 2. What follows is pictorial...

Alu-Kangmet & Nga Ataoba (Chilly Potato & Fried Fish) - 250 ml

Just as the description says, its chilly potatoes and fried fish. The slice of rohu is marinated in spicy spices, pan fried with mashed spicy potatoes. Spice factor is upped a few notches with a generous sprinkling of chilli powder on the fish. This was really tasty and is definitely on the order-again list.

Eromba (500 ml)

This explanation of the dish is from their site - Eromba is a generic name for a dish prepared by mashing boiled vegetables along with fermented fish (Ngari) and chilly (Umorok or Uchimorok). It is prepared by boiling and mashing different vegetables like Pan or Arbi or Colocasia, Bamboo Shoot (Soibum), Banana Flower to name a few along with boiled/fried chilly, Umorok and fried dry fermented fish. As for the taste, the were lot of textures going on here. Some soft and squishy, some crunchy, some crispy, lots of spicy... overall this is meant to be a side dish, more of an accompanying chutney of sorts. Its a seriously acquired taste, especially for me.

Nga Atoiba (Partially Mashed Fish Curry) - 250 ml

The site says - A traditional Manipuri fish preparation using fresh water fish commonly known as ‘Sareng’ (wallago attu), a species of catfish, is must-have for all special occasions in Manipur. The fish is in there bones and all and so you have to be a bit wary when eating this. Goes well with rice since the gravy is a bit thick and loaded with peas, greens and tomatoes. Overall an interesting dish for fish lovers.

Nga ga' Soibum Thongba (Fish and Bamboo shoot preparation) - 500 ml

This is meant to be a thick gravy and is a party special. The fish used is rohu and the bamboo shoots are sliced thick. The fish is nice and chunky and if you like the punch of bamboo shoots, you will like this dish.

Ok Thongba 500 ml

Yen Thongba 500 ml

Ok Thongba (Pork curry) and Yen Thongba (chicken curry) - The photos make it obvious that the gravies were below a curtain of oil. Personally I loved the chicken curry, though am a pork lover. The pork gravy was spicy and tasted good too, but after a while, the oiliness of both dishes didn't work and the taste was lost somewhere in between.

Chak-how (Sweet Dish-Brown Sticky Rice)

This is made with a unique Manipuri sticky brown rice. And I read a little too late on the Chakkhum site about how this is supposed to be had with milk or cream. We didn't and just took a spoon each straight from the bowl. Sweet yes - but a seriously seriously seriously acquired taste.

Overall this meal was quite interesting. One thing you have to note about all the dishes that a predominant spice is chillies. Without exception, all the dishes were half way to heaven on the Scoville scale. I did talk to the people at Chakkum and they said that toning down on the oil and the spice is something they can work on, so I guess you just need to make that clear when you order in. There are several other interesting dishes Ngaringkha (Fried Head and Gut with Potato) if you are up for the experiment. All of these dishes here came to a nice Rs 750, which is great. To streamline things remember this.

Order Timings:

7:00 AM - 10:00 AM - Lunch orders for the same day

10:00 AM - 4:00 PM - Dinner Orders for the same day

4:00 PM - 10:00 PM - Orders for next day

Website for menu - http://www.chakkhum.com

Phone: 9686669988

Accepts Cards: Cash on delivery

Closed on Wednesdays

Bangalore restaurant reviews Takeaways and order-ins

Ammi's biryani - innovation at its best

Tuesday, September 22, 2009Me! In words

When Ammi's biryani was first launched, it went on a media blitz. You could see the yellow and green colours anywhere and everywhere. I always wondered what it would be like... but then seeing that the outlet was based in Koramangala (at least initially), I assumed that only people there would be the privileged lot for this takeaway service. So I was absolutely delighted when I found a delivery boy at a neighbour's house here in Jayanagar delivering goodies. I promptly a snagged a menu and resolved to call them the next time a biryani itch took over. Which it did pretty soon.

The taking of the order was cordial and we were informed that Ammi's biryani had recently started making their biryanis in basmati. Good, we seemed to have ordered at a good time. When the delivery came, I was quite amazed to see something like a pizza delivery box in my hands...

Pizza box style packaging on my shiny but ancient gas stove

We had ordered for two mutton biryanis and a chicken kebab. Each box was neatly compartmentalized - a sealed tin foil box of piping hot biryani, sealed raita, tomato salan, meetha and very thoughtfully an empty container for the bones. Each one of these was labelled and there even was a plastic spoon and paper napkin. This packaging seems to be the answer to hearty TV dinners and makes for excellent office lunches when you want to binge. The biryanis are yummmmmy and the tomato salan just the way a Hyderabadi muslim family friend (my yardstick for a good salan) makes.

The mutton biryani box

The chicken kebabs were soft and juicy. The quantity of the biryanis is really generous and even a biryani freak like me could not handle the entire thing in one sitting. The meetha was a rice kheer and was nothing exceptional, but nicely rounded off the meal.

Chicken Kebabs

We loved the meal so much that we promptly ordered again the next day, this time ordering a chicken biryani and mutton kebab. Again the chicken biryani was good, I still stand by biryanis have to made of mutton alone. The mutton kebab was small in terms of quantity and semi-gravy, again nothing spectacular.

Mutton Kebab

This time round, the menu announced that they were introducing Ammi's Khaana, these were basically khushka (fragrant ghee rice) combos in mutton, chicken, kofta and paneer, with sheermal bread and a sweet. What do I say - I couldn't resist and so on the following weekend, we ordered one each of Ammi's meals in chicken, mutton and Kufta Cutt (as they call it).

Each meal is neatly labelled so you can't be blamed for eating someone else's

The chicken and mutton were of the same gravy... tomato based and nice. The chicken though tasted better in the gravy than the mutton. The kofta curry was made of horse gram extract and came with a full boiled egg. The sheermal bread look distinctly like a croissant, but went well with the gravies. The khushka was a delight, soft, fragrant with just the right amount of ghee.