Category: Restaurant Reviews

Bar Spirit Forward

Let’s just say that at some point, the presence of Bar Spirit Forward on my feed became intense enough for it to outweigh the laziness of transporting ourselves from Whitefield to Lavelle Road. The place is housed next to a nostalgic favourite from almost a couple of decades ago – The Rice Bowl. The entrance is subtle enough to make you wonder if you’re in the right place. It’s all part of the play.

Make sure you reserve in advance so you get a warm welcome. 🙂

The decor is all world charm and sophistication, with the wicker and plush leather giving it the well-heeled elegance it’s probably aiming for.

That being said, it helps to also have tongue firmly in cheek lest we take it all too seriously.

An Umami Old Fashioned is what I began with. The ingredients were a mouthful – Jim Beam ,Vermouth, Amaro, Cherry Brine, Brown Koji Boy Cacao Miso, Bitters – but thankfully, those many cooks didn’t spoil the broth. I’d rate it high amongst the OFs I’ve had.

D had a 3 Gin Vesper which had gin heavyweights – Monkey 47, Tanqueray 10, Greater Than with Short Story vodka, Lillet Blanc, Dry Vermouth – which came frozen and poured straight from an icy bottle, served with blue cheese stuffed olive.

We didn’t begin well in terms of food. Not that there was anything particularly wrong with the Dak Bulgogi, but the smokey grilled chicken with scallions and sesame wasn’t something that gave you a foodgasm either.

The surprise package was the Lemony Roasted Cashews. Spicy and insanely addictive. Not to mention phenomenally good value for money. No, I’m not nuts, give it a try!

The Chicken Della Vittoria was a creamy, slurpy, wholesome affair and we throughly enjoyed the flavours and texture of the hot chicken stew.

Show me a person who can resist that Bailey’s Hot Chocolate Cake, and I’ll happily take their share. A great loaded dessert to end the meal.

The service is pleasant enough, one must expect a certain level of snootiness. The place was surprisingly a bit noisy thanks particularly to a loud middle-aged party of three, who were unfortunately at a table near ours. Thankfully they left in a bit. We loved the ambience and the food and didn’t grudge the Rs.4000+ bill we got. I’d recommend at least one visit.

Bar Spirit Forward, Lavelle Road, Shantala Nagar Ph: 077956 54575

April 6, 2025
Idyll

This is far from our village, but thanks to the metro, if we get out early, it is quite a breeze getting to Indiranagar. And that is how, one Saturday evening, we broke our rustic idyll to visit Idyll, about whose fusion fare we had heard good things.

Idyll has two floors. The top floor is the one with the pounding music and cool bar. Relatively, the ground floor is the more ‘boring’ one, almost like the family room, and that’s where we chose to sit. That ‘maze’ symbol on the lamp (that we loved) is everywhere and kept reminding me of the Westworld maze. See that ceiling again?

The Kashmiri Old Fashioned was what I came for. Roasted raisin infused bourbon, spiced Demerara almond syrup, and in-house Kashmiri bitters was how it differentiated itself from the standard version. I enjoyed it because it didn’t go overboard on the sweetness and they didn’t scrimp on the alcohol.

D tried the Kerala Mango Pachadi – tequila based, with strained mango pachadi and a few other ingredients, which turned out to quite good. As always, looked prettier than my drink too!

We started with a Pandi Pork Bao – slow cooked pork belly in Kachampuli vinegar with fermented Thai chilli. We loved the spice level, the well cooked meat, and the superb flavouring.

Meen Moilee Dimsum made us very curious. River sole, coconut milk and fermented chili oil. I think, once you get used to the idea of the weird combo, it is tasty enough. 🙂

The last dish we tried was the Chorizo Kachori Chaat, which is your typical chaat with Goan chorizo. It wasn’t bad, but this, I thought, was the one that did the fusion the least justice.

The bill came to a little over Rs.3700. Indiranagar pricing, but hey. Excellent food and drinks, prompt and helpful service, and a peaceful ambiance if you get there early.

If you like a little bit of experimentation, try Idyll when you’re around next.

Idyll, 608, 12th Main Road, HAL 2nd Stage, Indiranagar, Ph 6364315734

February 9, 2025
Maize & Malt

There is a reason why I have a particular dislike for breweries on Sarjapur Road and ORR – they follow a fixed template of a hugeness, a dirty pool, bad beer, and barely-teen young adults posing for Insta reels. Just to be clear I don’t have a problem with the last one, it’s actually quite hilarious.

But it’s my unfortunate duty to inform you that our hamlet of Whitefield is now being invaded by these kind of breweries. BLR Brewing Co being another recent example. Maize and Malt follows the same template as you can see from the image below, and to add insult to injury, they even claim to have an Anglo Indian theme to their menu. A misconceived hat-tip to Whitefield, I guess.

And now for the second bit of bad news. We tried all the beers available, and in what is truly a tragic scenario, had to choose the least worst because they were all bad! Belgian Wit and Hefeweizen.

The only reason to cheer turned out to be the starters. Their Mama’s Special Tangy Pork is excellent, though I wonder who decided to tandoorise (yes, they do write Anglo Indian Tandoor in the menu!) it with a mint chutney. The Mutton Kaima Unde Fry is also very good, though they took the ‘small plate’ very literally.

We then tried the Wild West Chicken Flatbread with caramelised onions. It wasn’t as bad as it sounded though they decided to serve it in a takeaway box. And finally, the easy test for any semblance of Anglo Indian expertise is the Bread Pudding. But don’t even bother.

The service was par for the course, though thanks to people moving around chairs and their table system being not very agile, we had our food taken to others and vice versa. I even considered taking things if they looked good, but didn’t really see anything worth that effort. We deeply felt the loss of a little over Rs.2600 thanks to this misadventure.

Maize & Malt, 3, 4th Cross Rd, Vigneshwar Nagar, Kaveri Nagar, Krishnarajapuram (it’s behind Decathlon)

January 12, 2025
Pangeo

We had many gastronomic reasons to go to Forum Rex Walk, but we finally decided on Pangeo because we found the dishes interesting. The journey of a thousand calories begins with a Metro trip. These days, we time our exit from our hamlet of Whitefield to the city in such a way that we get a reasonably peaceful metro ride. The fun part was that thanks to the maze that Forum Rex Walk is, we first sat down at Ouro, which is on the same floor. D and I both looked around and felt it looked different from the images we had seen, and then realised… 🙈

Pangeo has a bit of everything in terms of seating spaces – the standard big screen, a bit of open sky, and cozy corners. We arrived early but the place was already quite crowded, so it’d be a good idea to reserve a spot.

D chose the Strangest Things. No, that’s the name of the drink. A gin-based cocktail, which she liked. And I started seeing a strange thing that I have since then observed in many other places – calling the drink Old Fashion! I tried it despite the name-mangling, but I have had better.

Since we have charcoal now in everything from toothbrush to water, we decided to try the Charcoal Chicken Dumpling. I am not sure the charcoal made any difference, but the chilli infusion made it a decent dish.

When there is Bheja Fry, attack! This one was served on phyllo pastry, and was quite spicy. We really liked it.

The Loaded Polo Wonton had minced chicken and cheese in a wonton cup. Great texture mix, excellent cheese, and helped us cool our tongue after the spice bomb.

We were a bit wary of the Naga Chilli Pepperoni but it turned out to be quite tame in term of spice.

D is a recent convert to Baileys, so when we found a Baileys Tiramisu, we had to get it. The Tiramisu was excellent in itself but the Baileys at the bottom meant that there is a nice kick to it as well. Well worth a shot.

The bill came to a little over Rs.4500, which given the location, is believable. There’s no dearth of variety in the menu, the ambience was good, and the service was decent, if not great. If you’re in the vicinity, maybe drop in.

December 8, 2024
Hokkaido Japanese & Korean Restaurant

Just as the restaurant itself is hidden in Indiranagar, Korean too is hidden in the menu. Actually, it doesn’t exist. There’s only Japanese. Now that I got that off my chest, we got there on a Sunday afternoon and had the place all to ourselves. It’s functional in terms of seating but made quite lively with the use of lighting and the art.

D, I have realised will have Miso if there is Miso, so we ended up with a delicious Miso Shiru that set the appetite well for the Stir Fried Beef, which had great texture and just the right amount of spice for us.

We first met Tamagoyaki at the Tsukiji Outer Market in Tokyo and I have been a fan since. This one didn’t really reach that level, but was definitely not bad.

We debated mains a lot and finally agreed on Gyu Niku Udon – udon topped with beef (again). On hindsight, we should have chosen something else because it was a bit similar to the soup. But we enjoyed it nevertheless.

We were a bit disappointed since we wanted Korean, but Japanese is a good second. The service is prompt and very helpful. We were left lighter by about Rs.1800. Overall, not a bad outing if you’re craving Japanese.

Hokkaido Japanese & Korean Restaurant, 10/1-1, 1st Floor, 7th Main, 1st Cross, Appareddypalya, Indiranagar

October 13, 2024