Category: Restaurant Reviews

  • HongKong Hustle

    That’s the retaurant formerly known as Saigon. In fact, when you approach it from Brigade Road the signage with the new name is difficult to miss, but the front signage is still that of Saigon. This is on the 2nd Floor of the building that houses Oye Shaava, Oye Amritsar and Ruby Tuesday. They have valet parking too, and for those wondering, no, I didn’t try it out for my two wheeler. :p

    As you go up, do check out the posters of Oye Amritsar, good stuff. On the second floor, we were greeted with a nunchaku doorknob. Wonderfully creative start. In fact the entire place, I realised was a creative trip. I didn’t take photos and hoped someone had, and my faith in the www was reinforced when I came across this site.

    We had reserved a table, but if you’re going early (before 8pm ) that may not be required. There are some great 2 seaters that give you a view of Church Street, and options for larger groups too. I love those ‘watch the world go by’ views, as regular readers would know. The welcome mat greeted me warmly and told me that they were not too sticky about formalities, and that I should look around, enjoy myself, but asked me to save space for dessert.

    The person in charge of our table asked us if were familiar with the dining style they followed. I’d only read one review so he explained the concept of Mongolian Barbecue. Daniel, as he introduced himself, did a great job of explaining it, and said that we would be served soups and starters before we got on with that part. The staff uniform is the Karate Gi gear. Daniel wore a red belt which means he’s a captain. Stewards wear yellow belts.

    We had a choice of Burnt Garlic veg soup and a Sweet Corn Chicken soup. I asked for half a bowl of the latter and was only disappointed that I couldn’t get D to try it out, though I kept telling her it was very good. The solid attack  started with 5 veg and 5 non veg starters. We had Chinese green dim sum (mushroom and corn), crisp potato, cauliflower in spicy ginger sauce, grilled vegetables in tangy sauce, and veg dim sum, I evinced only passing interest though the cauliflower starter was exceptional and the others were good too. The non veg starters – Fish in chinese parsley sauce, chicken wings, lamb in BBQ sauce, chicken dim sum and prawn papaya spring rolls, were obviously given more attention. (except for the last one since prawns are allergic to me 😉 )   All of them great,  and I loved the chicken wings, awesome stuff. If you like something, feel free to ask for a second or even third helping. But remember there’s the main course and deserts to follow.

    The main course is the Mongolian barbecue. You get your bowl and select from over a dozen kinds of sliced vegetables – mushroom, bamboo shoots, capsicum, cabbage, broccoli and so on, arranged in a buffet. You are then asked to choose your sauce from a display board and the meat/s you would like to add, and they stir fry it for you. To go along with it, you can choose steamed rice, fried rice or noodles with veg and non veg (lamb, fish, chicken) options. I ordered my stir fry with lamb and a pepper & onion sauce, and chicken noodles to go along. D ordered her stir fry with chicken and spicy chinese wine sauce and veg fried rice (@#$%, Veg? asked I !! and was rewarded with a Buddha smile) to go along with it. The other sauce choices for the day were Sweet and Sour,  Golden Garlic, Hunan, Oyster/Chilli Oyster, Hot Garlic, Chilli Plum and Sapo. The stir fried stuff and your rice/noodles are brought to your table, in less than 10 minutes. Awesome. You could order another round if you’re upto it, maybe with a different sauce. I remembered the desserts and didn’t.

    The dessert options were Sago Float, Fried Mango, Cut Fruit, Ice Cream Date Pancake and Chocolate Mousse. We tried all, and you can guess what I asked for a second helping of. I was also tempted by the Sago Float – coconut flavoured with jelly like Sago ( D says sago is sabudana), but chocolate always wins.

    All of this – soups, starters, main course, desserts work like a buffet –  charged Rs.349 + tax for dinner (works out to Rs.785 for two) and Rs.249 + tax for lunch (fewer items, I suspect). They also serve a la carte based on your preferences, there’s no menu card. They do have a liquor menu though, thats extra. I am not trying to hustle you, but you do need to give this place a try at least once, for the unique dining experience it offers. I’ll be your fortune cookie and say “Go on an empty stomach. Serve you well, it will” 🙂

    Hongkong Hustle, 2nd Floor, Asha Enclave, #20, Church street, Ph: 41122855

  • Gramin

    Gramin will go down in archives as the first veg restaurant to written about on this blog. Before going further, let me reassure readers that I’m too chicken to go veg, this is just an aberration caused by super villainess D, who, with a malicious smile, ignored her bitter half ,  and chose the weekend’s dining spot.

    Gramin is located in Raheja Arcade. This is on the road that goes from Forum to National Games Village. When coming from the MG Road direction, it’d be best to take a left after the Tata Indicom office, and then, at the very end get on the road leading towards Forum. Raheja Arcade will then fall on the left, just before the Forum junction, and you can find parking on the service lane right after the building.

    Gramin gets quite crowded after about 7.45, so unless you want to wait, its best to get there before that. It has two floors – ground and mezzanine, and the decor matches the ‘gramin’ theme of the place. Compact seating arrangements, I prefer the mezz floor.

    We started with a Banjara Paneer Tikka starter. There were only two soup options, but that was compensated by lots of starter options. The tikka was not too spicy and came with an amazing chutney. We also had a masala butter milk and a sweet lassi. I had wanted a kala khatta but they had run out of it. The lassi was very sweet and thick, thoroughly enjoyable. The buttermilk was quite spicy, but if spice is what you want, then I’d recommend the Hari mirch soda, its quite awesome.

    The starter had about 6 pieces and so we only ordered a single dish for the main course. That was the paneer onion chatka and it was a reasonably good choice, though i liked the bhurji we’ve had earlier, better. To go with that, we ordered a butter methi roti, and a stuffed kulcha. The kulcha was a bit burnt, but the methi roti was quite good, with quite a large quantity of butter.

    And thus ended the sabzi outing. It cost us just over Rs.300. Gramin is a must try for all veggie Bangaloreans, they serve some excellent food. Its okay for the non veggies to give in once in a while too. We shall meat again soon! 😉

    Gramin, 20-21, Raheja Arcade, Koramangala 7th Block. Ph: 41104104

    Menu and Photos at Zomato

  • Khansama

    Khansama – The Royal India Master Chef is a BJN Group endeavour at UB City Mall. The theme is royalty, and it serves a mix of cusines, though skewed towards North indian dishes.

    The mall also hosts Shiro (Lounge), Oakroom (multi cusine), Ecstasy (desserts/cafe), The Tasty Tangles (Oriental), Rajdhani (that thali has been on the pending list for a while now!!) ..quite an elaborate food court…  So, maybe you could go a bit early and figure out what gastronomic mood you’re in. We, however, reserved in advance, and were quite surprised to see a few tables occupied by 7.30. Maybe they all wanted to get back in time for Juno. 🙂

    The ambience is quite befitting the royal theme the restaurant has. Massive portraits, swords, assorted mounted animal heads :D, and a few guns thrown in too on the walls. The lighting has been done well too, not too dimly lit, and not too bright either, enhancing the effects of the entire setting.

    We started with a ‘Dhuanr Murgh Tikka’ starter. That’s “succulent and creamy pieces of chicken infused with italian smoked mozzarella”. It was quite good, and went well with the chilly sauce. D liked the mint sauce though she rated it a bit lower than the one in Copper Chimney. There are quite a few options in veg and non veg, the seafood starters are costly though. If you’re the soup kind, there are quite a few choices on that front too.

    For the main course, we ordered a Kofta Zartaari (“paneer, potato dumplings done the zartaari style), a Murgh Darbari (“an affable combo of spring chicken and eggs in a silky smooth gravy”), and to go with that a portion of Punjabi Zaituni Naan (“traditional flour bread – baked in the tandoor with black and stuffed green olives, basted with light spanish olive oil” – its not boneless). We were told that the chicken dish would be a bit sweet, but the kofta would provide the spice. It turned out almost the opposite, with the Kofta gravy being a tad sweet (but the Kofta itself a bit spicy) and the chicken dish  being mildly spicy. The bread was quite awesome, one portion has two naans, but quite small, so we ordered a Lal Mirch paratha too. Good stuff, which (thankfully?) didn’t reach the levels of our hari mirch adventure at Heera Panna. The menu offers quite a lot of choices, some even from South Indian cuisine, since the theme is more royalty than any geographic area. (though the menu has only sher shah suri and the Mughals) 🙂

    There were a few dessert options, but we were too stuffed to try any, but quite likely the next time. The service is quite good, and the wet towel was really refreshing. Except for perhaps one odd occasion, the BJN restaurants have always delivered on the food quality, though I keep making digs at their snobbery efforts 🙂

    The cutlery is also a bit unique and I loved the goblet though it was a bit heavy. By the time we left – around 8.30, the place was quite crowded. And uncharacteristically, they even gave us some good meetha paan in the end. (have seen only the paid version in other BJN group restautants). All of the above cost us just over Rs.1150 (inclusive of a 10% service charge and taxes). Great food and a good ambience, I’d recommend checking it out.

    Khansama, 2nd Floor, UB City Mall, #24, Vittal Mallya Road. Tel 41114499

    Photos at Zomato

  • Shiok

    Shiok is a restaurant that serves Far-eastern cuisine. And it’s moved. No, not the cuisine, just the location. Though we’d heard about it a lot when it was on CMH Road, (online mostly, but we’ll get to that later) we never managed to visit. So, when we saw the signboard on the Inner Ring Road (before the flyover, on the right, when coming from Koramangala), we decided now was as good a time as any to try it out.

    We skipped the reservation part but were lucky enough to get a table. I liked the ambience – elegant, pleasant to the eye, and cosy. There’s also a cocktail lounge – ‘Moss’ on the first floor.

    We started with a “Minced chicken and celery soup” (kaeng jued) , a Thai soup, “a tasty yet light soup with bits of minced chicken, celery, chinese cabbage and black mushroom”. Though it was a thin soup, I quite liked its flavour.

    We skipped starters and for the main course ordered a Beef with ginger, chilli, basil and crushed peanuts, described further as ” tender beef with several assertive flavours that nevertheless blend nicely together. The peanuts provide a crunch and a mild contrast to the other seasonings”, an Indonesian green chilli chicken (ayam cabai hijau), which is “chicken cubes simmered with green chillies, lemongrass,  ginger and tomatoes” It also says that this is for real chilli lovers and may be fatal in large doses. (yes, they also mention they’re kidding, so don’t worry). To go with these two, a Chi hor fun, a Malaysian noodle dish, “browned braised chicken cooked with flat rice noodles and savoury sauce using ginger, sesame oil, soy sauce and chicken stock”. I felt the beef could’ve been a little more evenly cooked (some pieces were a bit rare) but I still liked it enough to slurp the gravy!! The crunchy peanuts did bring in a nice contrast. The chicken dish, though it displayed a few chillies, is less scarier in real life than is made out to be in the menu. I quite liked this too. In both cases, there’s not much of gravy, but since our noodles  had a bit of its own (hmm “squishier” than the Malaysian noodles I’ve had elsewhere), it worked out fine. And that’s why I was impressed with the service, because our original choice of chicken dish was vetoed by the person in  charge of our table, who suggested this one since it would go better with our noodles.

    Though i couldn’t find it in the menu, they did offer us some desserts, including a chocolate mousse, but unfortunately I was stuffed enough to pass 🙁 All of the above, including a service tax of 10%, cost us just over Rs.800.

    Shiok belongs to a MadMan (he’s one those really ancient bloggers, about 8 years, makes me feel young!!  :D) , though judging from the food, I’d wager that there is definitely a method. 🙂 You can get the exact location, have a look at the menu card, check out a few recipes and even reserve a table right here. Good food (quite a lot of choices for vegetarians and non vegetarians), nice ambience, excellent service, do give it a try.

    Shiok, #96, Amarjyothi Layout, Intermediate Ring Road. Ph: 65715555/6666. www.shiokfood.com

    Update: Closed

  • ClayPot

    The Thippasandra version of this restaurant has been around for sometime now. But we’ve never managed to go there. So, when we saw an ad that announced the opening of a Thavarekere version, we didn’t waste much time in checking it out.

    When coming from Dairy Circle, take a right turn on to Thavarekere Main Road (this is the road opposite Prestige Acropolis -Dairy Circle side/diagonally opposite the Dairy Circle entrance of Forum/right next to the SKC outlet). Keep going down this road, soon you’ll find Prestige St.John’s Woods on your left, and after about 200 m, you’ll find a fork in the road. Take the one towards the left, and then take the first left turn, and you’ll find Claypot on the left. Yes, like a lot of Mallu things, this one is quite left oriented. 🙂

    ClayPot is the typical ‘no frills’ Mallu neighbourhood restaurant, though it serves North Indian, Chinese and Kerala cuisine. The first two are what we call Mallu versions of these cuisines, which would include things like Dall fry, Shreaded chicken with capscum, baiging chicken (sic sic sic), but then if you’re looking for perfection in such matters, you shouldn’t be here. This is the place to be when you want to gorge on Mallu stuff.

    We ordered a Malabar style Chicken Fry, a ClayPot special chicken curry, a Karimeen Pollichathu and to go with all of that, an appam, a couple of mutta appams (egg appams), and a Kerala Porotta. The Malabar chicken fry is cooked in the best cooking oil in the world (for us mallus) – yep, coconut oil, and comes adorned with crisply fried onion. There are three pieces in one portion and is quite non spicy, that, I’m guessing is a rarity here, though to be fair, they do mark the spicy stuff with a chilli icon. The ClayPot special chicken curry is a white gravy with boneless chicken in a coconut milk base and is garnished with a full boiled egg. It looks harmless but is quite spicy, and the portion is more than sufficient for two people. Karimeen (Pearl Spot) Pollichathu is fried fish with a thick masala coating which is tomato and onion based with a strong Kokum (Kodum Puli) flavor. This one is delicious, but super spicy. The appams as well as the porotta turned out good too. We wanted to try some mussel dishes, but they’d run out of the stuff.  They did have some quail dishes, but I’m sure that if we tried to squeeze that in too, it’d be our stomachs which would be quailing!!

    All of the above cost us just over Rs.350. That would tell you the story. You come here to have some excellent Mallu food without burning a hole in your pocket. While they have some North indian/Chinese veg options, I’d recommend this place only to hard core non veggies who can handle spicy stuff. There are many many more options that they offer in the Mallu cuisine part, and we’ll definitely go back for more.

    ClayPot, #1/1, 1st Cross, Thavarekere, BTM Layout. Ph: 42190344/55, 9632227355

    Update: Heard this one’s now closed