Category: Restaurant Reviews

  • Shezan

    I was introduced to Shezan a few years back, thanks to it being located close to my ex-place of work. It was quite a wallet friendly place then, thankfully still is. They’ve also added more floor space on the ground floor quite recently.

    Though the place is quite well known for the steaks, we usually have the North Indian fare, because thats quite good too. But having said that, we usually start with the Chicken & Mushroom soup. 🙂 Though we’ve always ordered that, we’ve never had the soup tasting the same across visits, but there never has been a reason to complain either, so far. This time, though, was a big let down, because it seemed to be a hastily prepared concoction with the mushrooms looking like they had been chopped and put in somewhere on the way between the kitchen and the table.

    For the main course, we had onion kulchas, fish biriyani, murg patiala and fish hyderabadi (yes, we are an equal opportunity consumer). The chicken was very good, and so was the biriyani, and the quantity was just right for two people, and just enough space for dessert. We usually skip dessert here, and hop across to Corner House for the must-have dose of ‘Death by Chocolate’

    A meal for two costs about Rs.450 (not including dessert).

    What brings us back to Shezan is the lovely seating on the terrace where we can watch the world go by on Lavelle Road. So, yes, we’ll be back, bad soup notwithstanding.

    Update: Shifted

  • Bangalore Bistro

    When we first came to Bangalore, we’d heard about the Bangalore Bistro somewhere near Cunningham Road, but since that area wasn’t our regular haunt, we never managed to visit. Thankfully, they shifted location  to Brigade Road, and have ever since, made us quite regular visitors.

    Except for the first time, we’ve never reserved, because there’re only a couple of tables occupied when we reach there (around 7.45  -8 pm), but if you’re planning to go later, it would be better to reserve in advance. Although they have some wonderful seating outside, a sort of terrace with stone benches, I’ve never seen people sitting there. Maybe will try it out during summer. There’s a lovely view of a church and the city skyline, which adds to the entire Gothic+Euro theme.

    The owners have a tremendous sense of humour judging by the copy in the menu card. One of the best ones as the verse on how you’d have to pay if you broke the hookah.

    Meanwhile, we asked for a cream of chicken soup (they don’t have soups on the menu card, all they say is ask for a soup and we’ll make it for you), and a Honey Chilly Roast Chicken and Chicken Cannelloni for the main course. The soup was excellent, as is usually the case. Generous helpings with soft, fluffy garlic bread.

    Both the dishes we ordered for the main course were not lacking in quantity. While the Cannelloni I ordered was leaning towards bland, D’s dish was quite spicy, but both were awesome. The place also has some Lebanese, Turkish stuff, and some good choices in sea food. The desserts are a bit costly, but this time it wasn’t that which stopped us. We were stuffed after the main course, so for the second week in a row, no Desserts 🙁

    Bistro remains one of our top 3 restaurants in Bangalore for its quiet, soothing ambience and the sheer quality of the food.

    You can get all the details on their website.

  • Cafe Masala

    Cafe Masala is brought to you by the BJN group, and has ‘Aromas of China’ and ‘Vaayu’ for neighbours on the top floor of Eva Mall, Brigade Road.

    We made reservations in advance, and i think a wait of about 15 minutes would’ve happened if not for that. We were given a reasonably good table, with comfortable seating, though some poor staff were dealt with sternly by my wife when they tried to pull one of our chairs for an adjoining table. She treats the results of our shopping expeditions with a great deal of adoration, you see, and so, those covers on the floor would be sacrilege.

    While the menu does have some continental stuff, a lot of it is meant for the evening snacks category, and not dinner. But we did manage to get some corn soup, which was quite good. And like good mix and matchers, we ordered mutton pepper chops, murgh bhartha, kulcha and butter naan for the main course.  The mutton chops gravy was awesome, though not recommended for people with low spice tolerance. The chicken was also good, but for once, was overshadowed by the above. And yes, special mention for the fact that they gave us a Lachcha Paratha instead of the Butter Naan, and when we pointed it out, we were told that this was how Butter Naan was made here, but it could be replaced. We’re yet to figure that out.

    You’ll notice from later reviews that we are no novices when it comes to desserts, but this time, we were too stuffed, although the menu listed some decent options. 🙁

    The pricing is as per the regular BJN standards, and all the above came upto about Rs.650.

    The ambience is pretty good, somewhere between the rgular noisy neighbourhood cafe, but with an effort to make it look more organised. We noticed a lot of large groups there. And yes, there’s even a one-man-band, who plays requests. Heard him play MLTR and Bollywood numbers, so metal guys can consider that a warning.

    Overall, it was quite a pleasant experience, and definitely makes it to the ‘please visit again’ list.

    Address: No.60, 5th Floor, Eva Mall, Brigade Road, Bangalore
    Phone 41113388, 41118477, 41118466, 41118422

    Photos at Zomato