Category: Restaurant Reviews

  • Mazeej

    (first published in Bangalore Mirror. In my defense, the title I had given was ‘No great sheikhs’, since the plural is what delivers the intended wordplay. Sigh)

    Considering the Malayali population in the Middle East, in a not too distant future, Arabic cuisine might be relegated to being just a part of Kerala cuisine. So it’s probably not a coincidence that Mazeej, with its ‘Flavours of Arabia’ tagline, has chosen to start operations in Koramangala, another area that is also likely to become an honorary part of Kerala.

    Mazeej is located almost opposite India Heritage Academy and near Boca Grande. (map)  In addition to Mazeej, the premises also host Blackboard Cafe and Gakko, a Chinese restaurant. Two wheelers will not have too much of a parking problem, the extra wheels will have to find a side lane nearby. On a broad level, the premises has been categorised to match the three kinds of cuisine being served. There is an outdoor area for the cafe, a slightly more formal dining area for the Chinese restaurant and a semi-covered terrace with loads of oversized cushions that corresponds to Mazeej. However, this is not strictly followed. So you could sit anywhere and order your preference of eats. Here’s the menu before we go further. (click for larger image)

    We started with the Shourabat el Qeema. It was mildly spicy and the meatball’s texture complemented the soup well. The Chicken Manakeesh, an Arabic version of the pizza, was the pick of the dishes, with minced and flavoured chicken on flat dough. Much was expected of the Chicken Shawarma, but it completely disappointed with its blandness. The hummus was a similar tale with not even a trace of olive oil coming through. The Calamari Fry, though crisp, lacked any flavour whatsoever, and the sauce provided with it did nothing to help.

    In the main course, the Shish Tawook, made of marinated chicken cubes was appreciated for the subtle yoghurt and lemon flavours. The Dajaj Alabama was not spectacular, but the tomato-based gravy just about passed muster. The Rubiyan Alabama (prawn) did not even get to the level of its chicken counterpart. The Mutton Nashif was supposed to have tender mutton but that must have been some time back since the consensus was that it was stale.

    Among the desserts, the chocolate walnut brownie was quite good with an excellent chewy texture. The biggest disappointment was that many dishes were unavailable. This included the Cajun fish, most rice dishes, Umm Ali and other desserts like the Caramel Coffee Bavarian, and its vanilla version.

    Helpful staff, who also educate you on the day’s special. But they did decide to bring a couple of the starters after the main course had arrived, and had to be reminded twice to refill our glasses. Considering the portion sizes and the relative scarcity of options for the cuisine, the pricing is just about right. Unlike the region’s more famous export, the prices of these dishes won’t make you recoil.

    Mazeej, No: 816, 20th Main, 8th Block, (opposite Indian Heritage Academy) Koramangala, Bangalore 560095. Ph: 8792143224

  • Barbeque Factory

    Remember El Tablao, the Spanish restaurant on 80 ft Road? Well, in case you have second thoughts about a new cuisine when you get to the building, climb to the next floor, and you reach Barbeque Factory, which serves Indian cuisine. Here’s the map, if you aren’t familiar with Koramangala. There’s basement parking, so you aren’t troubled much on that account.

    The ‘factory’ makes an appearance only in the name, and there is no specific theme to the restaurant. The kid area, not always found in Bangalore restaurants, is worth a mention. The interiors manage to exude warmth though, and  you could enjoy a view of the busy 80 feet Road below. There’s Buddha painting too, in case you need to feel even more elevated. 🙂

    The menu begins with a veg shorba and fresh fruits, and quickly moves into a collection of kababs – five each in veg and non veg. We began well with the Cream of Tomato soup, mildly spicy and flavourful. The boneless Fish Tikka, though not Zaffrani as indicated in the menu, was cooked to perfection, and the group’s favourite starter. The Mutton Seekh, again not part of the day’s menu, but seemingly a replacement for the Boti Kabab, was a close second. The Shikampuri kababs lacked the slightly crispy exterior, though the mutton version was slightly better than its veg counterpart. The Murg Tikkas were also not the best we’ve had. The obvious indicator of the kababs’ quality was that, despite the unlimited offering, only the fish tikka and the mutton seekh made it to the second round of kabab consumption. Chaas is served throughout the meal and before we enter the main course, there is a Honey Paratha interlude. The Honey Paratha was appreciated for a well managed sweet-salt combination.

    The main course consists of rotis, a selection of veg curries and a non veg curry and a choice of veg/chicken biriyani. Neither the Aloo Mutter nor the Dal Tadka showed any inclination to enliven the meal. The Biriyani was totally ignored as it was quite dry and lacking in masala too. The finale was a collection of three desserts and Badam Milk. Thankfully, though commonly found fare, the Gulab Jamun, Semiya Kheer and even the Badam Milk ensured that the desserts section was well represented. The meal ended well with slices of mango presented, for a change, in a cocktail glass and an excellent maghai paan.

    Friendly staff, but they were quite clueless about what they were serving. They also needed a couple of reminders for getting us a kabab refill. The owner was around though, and he could be seen going to every table and courteously soliciting feedback.

    The prix fixe (set menu) has the vegetarian version priced at Rs. 399 and the non vegetarian at Rs. 499, both inclusive of tax, and introductory. Alcohol is available only in the form of wine. The selection of kababs varies on a daily basis. While this might seem value-for-money and Barbeque Factory does have a few things going for it, the location has no dearth of gastronomic choices. The restaurant should probably focus a bit more on the food if they want to ensure that people baar baar barbeque.

    Barbeque Factory, Lotus 612/1, 80 feet Road, 4th Block, Koramangala, Bangalore 560034, 41505325

  • Yana Sizzlers

    The post title is going to get me a lot of traffic! If you’re among those who are hoping to see the “actress’” videos, really sorry. This is about a restaurant in Koramangala. Hot stuff, but of the food kind, though my tee was a hat tip to the actress. 😀 For those who are here for other drooling reasons, Yana Sizzlers is a chain based in Pune. Yana means ‘come again’ and you can stop sniggering! The Bangalore version is on 60 ft Road Koramangala, just after G K Vale – the same road as ‘Flambe‘, China Pearl, Vicky’s Tava Lounge, Oye Amritsar, The Esplanade etc. Parking for 4 wheelers may not be very easy, but there are a few side lanes around. (map)

    The restaurant has seating on two floors. The upper level seemed a little less crowded in terms of space and people, so we chose that. The seating is comfortable and they have puzzle tablemats that will help you while away time in case you are tongue tied.

    You can take a look at the menu on Zomato, though the Continental cuisine was completely missing in the menu we were given. We decided to start with the Scotch Broth. The guy who took the order seemed confused about it, and brought back another person who seemed to easily know more about the menu. We were told it would be creamy. It turned out thick but not creamy with barley, potato, pieces of mutton, and garnished with fried bread crumbs. Quite tasty if you add a dash of pepper to it.

    For the main course, I chose the Spicy Chicken Square and D opted for the Chicken Kebab Masala. You might want to try out the Barbeque sizzlers, which are a specialty of theirs. I somehow missed the ‘spicy’ in my dish and asked for the hot chilly sauce. The second guy (from earlier) then turned up to point it out and I shifted to the BBQ sauce. D chose the Garlic Pepper Sauce. The Spicy Chicken Square indeed lived up to its name, with prominent pepper flavour, and juicy boneless chicken. An excellent dish if you can be patient and wait for it to cool a bit. D’s kebabs turned out to be more like manchurian though. Not a bad dish, but just wasn’t what we expected. But it wasn’t very spicy, and D was sober, so she didn’t complain and therefore escaped unhurt. This is a good time to mention that the usual cabbage leaf base is missing. I’m not sure if that somehow contributes to the increased cooling time. However, despite that absence, there wasn’t much of burnt food thankfully.

    The service is quite prompt, though some of them do seem a little out of sorts. The meal cost was just less than Rs.900. Our favorite remains Tangerine in Indiranagar, and Kobe is around on a parallel road in Koramangala, but this is worth a visit too.

    Yana Sizzlers, #145, 60ft. Road, 5th Block, Koramangala Ph: 25505538

  • Turquoise – The Indian

    It does sound a little like a movie dubbed into Bollywood, but hey, it’s a restaurant and the name matters only so much. The review first appeared in Bangalore Mirror, and I’ve had enough of ‘blue’ wordplay. 😀

    This is located above Mom&Me on the road leading from Intermediate Ring Road to JNC (map) and is one of the twin Turquoise restaurants. The European is on the floor below, and you can find my micro review on 4sq. 🙂 Valet parking is available.

    The turquoise theme is prominent in the decor and the chandeliers creating the shape of a musical note makes for an elegant picture. For seating, you could lounge on the comfortable sofas or choose the more functional, yet tastefully done regular furniture. The gigantic dragonfly near the bar is an attention grabber. Bollywood remixes playing in the background and a TV screen offer ‘entertainment’.

    The menu begins with a few standard shorba options, and then offers a decent range of kababs. Thereafter, in addition to some standard and some not-so-standard main course Indian fare, there is also a page devoted to Parsi favourites. For once, there seems to be a balance between vegetarian and non-vegetarian options. The rotis section manages to offer a few unique options, but the desserts section is limited and sticks to the regular favourites. The Indian is a resto-lounge, and seems to have a well stocked bar and a collection of mocktails. The Turquoise Smoothie we tried turned out just fine.

    The Galawati Kabab, a patty of tava fried lamb mince marinated in spices and served on a mini paratha, didn’t quite get to the ‘melt in your mouth’ level but managed to live up to its billing of a signature dish. But the Baida Roti with kheema and eggs stuffed in a pancake and tava fried proved to be the unanimous favourite.You really must try this. The Aatish e Aloo – stuffed potatoes – managed to start a spicy Bollywood conversation, but the dish itself was quite bland. The Mahi Afghani Tikka, Calcutta Betki chunks with coriander, yoghurt and cream, too went into the same category.

    In the main course, the Zardari Kofta in a nut-based gravy was the pick, followed by the Murgh Makhani. The Hyderabadi Lagan ka Murgh with the cashew nut gravy had sounded right, but fell short of expectations. The efforts of the Dum Pukht Aloo’s gravy, to salvage the dish’s reputation proved futile.The Naan Baluchistan with a minced meat stuffing, and the Khameeri Roti were both excellent, the Gosht ki Dum Biriyani was reasonably good, and the flavourful Jeera Rice was appreciated too. The Qubani ka Meetha didn’t do much to sweeten the dessert deal though. The biggest disappointment was when we were told that most Parsi dishes required advance notice. Even in the other sections, we missed out the ones we really wanted to try – the Naan Changeezi, the Turkish Baklava, to name a few.

    The service was courteous to begin with, but began to display an overboard version of ‘maa ka pyar’ while the food was being served. They insisted on disproportionately filling up our plates. The billing took us almost half an hour. On the cost front, a non-veg starter, a main course with a veg and non-veg dish along with a few rotis, and a dessert would set you back by `1,200. Considering the options available in the vicinity, this is on the higher side.

    Turquoise’s Indian version has its share of tasty fare, but given its location –  where a stone thrown would most likely land on a restaurant – they need to better their act. The non availability of dishes and a torturous wait for the bill left us blue, like that Akshay Kumar movie.

    Turquoise, 2nd & 3rd Floor, (Above Mom & Me), Shop #9, 5th Block Koramangala, Bangalore 560095, Ph: 65776588

  • The Great Kabab Factory

    The last time I was in the vicinity of Mantri Mall, I had some awesome food thanks to Partha Jha. The place we visited – Chandu’s Military hotel also sends lots of traffic to the other blog, thanks to a totally (food) unrelated post I wrote then. 🙂

    This time, the visit was to an eatery inside the mall, for a Bangalore Mirror review. Parking at the mall is much better than in the initial days! Our destination – The Great Kabab Factory was a franchise that has operations in many parts of India and the Middle East, including the third floor of Mantri Mall.

    The space has been utilised well, though the decor is pretty functional. The cutlery tries to lend a grand touch. The colours are also restrained except for the bright blue shades in the form of lighting, but these don’t help remove a general dimness. Interestingly, though the staff wear overalls to go with the factory idea, the theme ends there.

    On to the menu. The dinner and weekend menu offers a selection of six kababs, followed by a biriyani main course and four desserts. The weekday menu is priced lower because a couple of kababs and desserts are taken out. The combination of kababs change  daily, and you stand a chance of getting the same combination only once a fortnight. But the signature dishes are available daily and after a round of all the kababs, you get to repeat your favourites. Ditto for the desserts. They also have a a well stocked bar, and given the price of the Fresh Lime Soda, you’re definitely better off guzzling beer. The prix fixe (set menu) weekday lunch is priced at Rs 449 plus taxes and weekends and dinners are at Rs 599 plus taxes. The price is the same for veg and non veg versions. Considering the options available, this is rather steep. (check comments for update)

    Among the non vegetarian fare, the Galouti Kabab was the winner with its finely minced meat that puts it in the ‘melt in the mouth’ category. Roll it up in an ulta tawa paratha and you’re sure to ask for a repeat. The Taj Kabab with bell pepper and coriander was excellent too. The Shoolay Murgh Tikka, a mildly spicy kabab,  and the Shammi Kabab were also favourites. However, the signature Barrah Kabab was missing, and the Machhi Amritsari and the Lasooni Chooza were disappointing. The Phaldhari Chaat, roasted apple with chaat masala, was the redeeming dish in the veg menu. But charging the same rate for the veg fare seemed unfair. Especially since they were not great. The Paneer Tikka Kalimirch was bland and the Peshawari Aloo did nothing to impress either.

    The Murgh Dum Biriyani was greasy and the Murgh Qurma accompanying it couldn’t do much to salvage it. Its veg counterpart, Vadi Pulao, wasn’t great either. The Shahi Tukda was the pick among the desserts though the Gulab Jamun had some competition to offer.  The Doodhi ka Halwa, made from bottle gourd, sounded promising, but didn’t actually work out.

    The staff is well-trained and as each dish is brought to the table, give you a rapidfire tutorial on how it is to be consumed. The service is prompt and ensure you don’t feel too bad about the 10 per cent service charge.

    The Great Kabab Factory does live up to its name and manages to produce quite a few delectable kababs but unfortunately, they don’t really come at Factory Outlet prices. So, unless you have just completed a bhook hartal or are gifted with phenomenal maas consumption abilities, the price of the kababs might make you go ‘Sheesh’!

    The Great Kabab Factory, T-40, 3rd Floor, Mantri Square, #1 Sampige Road, Malleswaram, Bangalore 560003, Ph: 22667360