Author: manuscrypts

  • China Pearl

    When in Koramangala, and in the mood for Chinese food that doesnt land you in a financial crisis, think China Pearl. For the third week in a row, a restaurant refused to take reservations. The times, they really are a changin’ 😐

    To get there, when coming from the MG road side, take a left at Forum, keep going straight, and take a right turn after you see a park on the right side. No, not a software park, just a normal old fashioned park. Geez!! Its a one way, the same road that has GK Vale among other things, that also include a truckload of restaurants – Chung Wah, Filling Station and so on….. Here’s a map.

    We reached there around 9, and had to wait for about ten minutes. Since Bangalore ain’t so cool anymore, we skipped the soup and had fried chicken momos for starters. That, along with the spicy sauce meant we started well. 🙂

    We ordered a Teriyaki Chicken. thought it sounds a bit like what Harbhajan said a while back, its actually only fillets of chicken in teriyaki sauce. It also has mushrooms. Its a dry dish, and is quite well made. The only snag was that we got it at least 10 minutes before the rest of the main course. Thankfully, it didn’t get too cold. The rest of the main course was made up of a Drunken Chicken and Chicken Malaysian Noodles. Although the former led to a discussion between us on how exactly they got the chicken into such a condition, it’s chicken in rice wine, and is extremely tasty. Its a unique flavour, and definitely worth a try. If you are fine with thin noodles, the place has a lot of options. I’d have taken a Chow Mein, but we already had a gravy dish. The Malaysian Noodles is something we’ve had before and didn’t disappoint.

    The quantity is more than ample for two people, and reasonably priced. All the above cost us less than Rs.600. The service is usually good, but somehow the waiter this time didn’t quite fancy us, I guess. But China Pearl is a regular haunt and we’ll be back.

    China Pearl, 5th Cross, 6th Block, Koramangala. Ph-25501735, 41105060

    Menu and photos at Zomato

    Update September 2011: From the time we’ve been in Bangalore, this is one place where there is always a crowd waiting outside on weekend nights. We’ve visited several time since this review, and it has always delivered. Koramangala is famous for restaurants that disappear by the time you take a U-turn and come back. China Pearl continues to thrive, and that’s why being here is a very happy feeling. The exalted company adds to the pleasure. 🙂

  • GeneRations

    The lights went out, followed immediately by the drone of the apartment’s generator. Now there’d be sound and smoke,but yes, there would be light too. It would get the lamps in the apartment compound going, and he could study. Anyway, it was better than in his house, in the slum next to the apartment.

    until next time, let there be light

  • The Journey

    And they walked on, through the twists and turns of joys and sorrows and mundane experiences. They were happy, they knew that such was life. The only sadness was that through the twists and turns, they lost sight of who they were when they started out, and now there was no time to go back.

    until next time, keeping track

  • Indijoe

    No, not the one on Airport Road- the one made famous by what I consider is the one of the best value-for-money lunch buffet in the city. They have recently opened an outlet on Old Madras Road. To reach there, go down OM road towards KR Puram. After crossing Big Bazaar (on your right), you’ll see RMZ Infinity on the right, would be difficult to miss it with the Mc Donalds M neon. That’s where you’ll find the new Joe. 🙂 Among other things in the same complex/mall(?), there’s a food court, a Subway, a CCD, Beijing Bites, Pathankot, Hakka (Mainland China).

    Though we called for reservations, we were told that they don’t take reservations on weekends, which seems to be becoming a trend these days. Anyway, with all those options above (and I’m sure I’ve missed a couple) that drive would be worthwhile, i guess.

    We got there by around 7.45 and the place was about 75% full. The IPL could explain the crowd at this relatively early hour. You could either sit inside or on the lawn /road facing vernadah. We chose the outside since it was surprisingly more quiet (again thanks to a raucous IPL cheering crowd inside). The ambience inside is a replica of the other Indijoe, and the menu seems to be a truncated version of the same.

    We ordered a non veg combo and a chicken satellite sizzler. The non veg combo consisted of chicken pyramids (er, mini samosa like 😉 ), chicken tenders, mozzarella in carrozza (the taste was worth the spelling), dynabites (these guys know their branding – bread pakoras 😀 ) and spicy chicken wings. The non veg combo is a good way of having a little bit of a lot of things. It actually gives you a feel that you have eaten a lot, and tasty things at that. Dont mistake the red sauce they serve alongside for the normal tomato variety, this one is special, if you are the spicy type. They also give a mustard based sauce, that made me change my impression of mustard in general. The different stuff on the platter also gives you an excuse to try the different sauces one finds at Indijoe – tabasco, worcestershire, and something called HP sauce (wonder if its a tribute to a similar sounding organisation’s office nearby 😉 )

    The chicken satellite sizzler has grilled boneless chicken with mushroom sauce, with sauteed mushroom garnished with cheese and fresh cream. Yes, and fries. The stuff was good, except that the mushroom was almost charred. We would give the benefit of the doubt to the cook, since the match was evenly poised around that time. I’m sure he didn’t mean it. The good part is that even with all the above, it didn’t give us a bloated feeling, so we decided to plod ahead with a ‘Chocolate Decadence’, that, according to the menu was a four storey high chocolate avalanche. In looks, it lived upto its name, but the secret is that its a lot of fluff 🙂 Though it was quite good, it’s no match for those monstrosities one gets at Frescoes. Now, thats chocolate.

    The service is quite good. We got the food very fast. But i think he didnt expect us to have the dessert, so he’d already got the bill made. Indijoe, I’ve always felt, is the least snobbish of the BJN array of eateries, and this one lives up to that image. All of the above cost us about Rs.600. If you don’t mind the longish ride (for anyone not around Indiranagar and its surroundings) a visit would be worth it.

    Indijoe, RMZ Infinity, Old Madras Road. Ph-41113377/3553

  • Name Calling

    He was still wondering about a proper name. He would have a loved a name that had some synergy with any one of his various holdings, but he was not sure that would be possible. After all, that name would also have to symbolise what his outfit stood for.

    So, keeping in mind the fact that most of the players he had on his side were aged around the total number of overs that would be bowled per contest, and the fact that, for this team winning the tournament would be a huge challenge, he named his team. Surprisingly it also matched the name of one of his brands. What more could one ask for?

    And that, ladies and gentlemen was how the naming ceremony of Bangalore’s IPL team was done. Starring Rahul Dravid, AnilKumble, Sunil Joshi, Jacque Kallis etc- Royal Challengers.

    until next time, whats in a name? 🙂

    PS. I should have used better words, in case i have to eat them 😉