First published in Bangalore Mirror
Church Street has been getting quite a high these days – Social, Tapwater, and Bierre Republic. Pavilion Mall, where Bierre Republic is located, seems like a sandwich with nothing in between – the ground and top floors are active but the two floors in between looked unoccupied. There’s no valet parking but they have space in the basement. The huge signage outside serves as a beacon of hope as you trudge past two floors of desolation and alien-looking faux vegetation to finally land up, ironically, near a man in a sailor suit! You could choose to be boring and take the lift too. Another small flight of stairs gets you to the dining area with many parts to it – alfresco with a few enclosed portions, a smoking section, a smaller lounge area, and even an ‘upper deck’. The furniture is almost all wood, except for the plush sofas in the smoking section and some other elements, and that includes the décor consisting of ‘barrels’! It was edging towards tackiness, but the beer posters manage to pull it back a bit. The alfresco section is the perfect place to be in typical Bangalore weather and offers a superb view of the Public Utility building. A live band was in the house, and except for a massacre of The Cranberries’ “Zombie”, which almost provoked us to violence for the sake of silence, they were quite good! Meanwhile, as the evening progressed, the service began reflecting the ‘ship’ theme – they were totally at sea, and were finding it difficult to manage the orders, despite the valiant efforts of their active crew, whom we felt sorry for.
We had reserved, but they found it difficult to make a place for six, so we had to do a little weird clubbing of tables and manage. We decided to begin the voyage with a few cocktails, which looked interesting on paper. Russian Fever, for example had vodka, vermouth, green chilly and lime juice, perfect ingredients for some Moscow magic, but it fell short on alcohol content as well as flavours. The Tahiti Breeze and Oriental Spice fell in the same category, and the usually reliable LIT was insipid too! For the price being charged, we felt like giving the bartender a taste of some Russian aggression! The saving grace was the white wine and vodka mix with banana and kiwi.
The first starter that made it to the table was the cottage cheese – char grilled and superbly made, despite not really delivering on the pesto stuffing and the green apple in the dip. The Chicken Tenders was next and was a bit of a disappointment- a spicy sauce but the dish itself being a cross between Dhaba and cheap Chinese. The Thai Chilli bites (we chose the steak option) made a quick save – tender meat with a feisty sauce coating. The Coconut Shrimp skewers was the last starter we tried. The shrimps were succulent enough, but the breading was quite a #fail.
Around us, we saw beer towers being consumed in abundance, and that does seem a good strategy here – food, and beer being the choice of alcohol. The microbrewery, set to open in a month, would fit in well into this picture too.
In the main course too, the vegetarian dish arrived first – the penne with fiery Mexican pema sauce. This turned out to be the joint winner of the dish of the day, courtesy the spectacular green chilli cream sauce. The Mongolian beef, served with white rice, had beef cooked just right, and our only little tiff with it was that the ginger flavour managed to overpower everything else. The Sautéed Chicken Marsala was chicken breast medallions with sautéed mushrooms in a Marsala wine sauce. Another excellent dish with the mashed potato and subtle sauce complementing the chicken very well. The spinach was a superb touch too. The Pizza Quarta Formaggi A La Polo didn’t quite look its complicated name. But appearances were deceiving, and the different kinds of cheese and the combination of grilled and barbeque chicken made it the other dish of the day winner. We also tried the Tempura fish sandwich, which not only impressed for the fish itself, but also for the wonderful toasted focaccia bread.
There are only about three options available in desserts, and we decided to go for the Blueberry Cheese Cake. But we weren’t destined to know what it tasted like, because after close to half an hour, we declared it lost at sea, and asked for the check.
A meal for two would cost around Rs.1800 (Inclusive of taxes and service charge) – a cocktail, a non veg starter, a main course dish and a dessert. The drinks were a disappointment, we loved most of the food we had – some of it was downright awesome! The ambiance too is quite interesting. But they really need to be better prepared for a crowd. Also, while the theme might be based on a ship, expressing it in the form of fresh water scarcity by making customers ask for it a gazillion times is a bit much!
Bierre Republic, No: 62/63, Pavillion Mall, Church Street, Bangalore Ph: 080 41233655