New brewery in the neighbourHoodi village meant that at some point we had to visit – ABV – Artisanal Bier Village. It was delayed because for some reason, I thought it was just The Pallet rebranded. As with every other microbrewery, this one too is expansive, with multiple floors and the mandatory large television screens. We sat on what was like a mini terrace on the first floor.
In one of the rare cases of the mountain making the trip to Mohammed, Kuuraku, which first opened on Brigade Road, manifested in Nexus Shantiniketan, Whitefield. I think this was where Smokehouse Deli used to be.
We loved the ambience – cosy, but somehow managing to fit in lovely nooks, outdoor seating, long tables for large groups, and kitchen-facing seats too.
Old Mill Brewing Co. popped up when we were looking for new places around our hometown – Whitefield. But we were thwarted two weeks in a row, courtesy rains! The third time wasn’t really the charm, as the 6km drive took 45 minutes! But things turned around when we finally reached there.
Since we got there relatively early in the evening, it was near empty, and we were glad to see a brewery without dirty waterbodies, loud music, and underaged kids shooting for reels! Refreshing change of scene. The place is quite huge with seating options across multiple floors.
We fell in love with home-delivered food to the extent that we had to visit the Whitefield version of Bologna. The good news is that for a change, meeting one’s heroes was not a disappointment. And therefore no more home deliveries, dine-in is the way to go when it comes to Bologna. The first time we visited, we chose the balcony seating with a view of the road. Perfect lunch spot for the December weather. The second visit was more recent, introducing the place to friends, and the cosy indoor seating was perfect.
We began with a White wine sangria pitcher which made its way into glasses before I could take out the phone for a pic! I missed the Zuppa di Bologna as well because I was famished. 🤦 But for want of a better word, the Italian herb-infused chicken broth with Mascarpone & Parmesan cheese was soothing. A great start.
Speaking of start, we tried a couple of starters – Pollo Ripieno di Formaggio in fillo and the Crostini di Bologna. The first is a filo roll stuffed with herb and pesto-infused chicken, and had a mix of great textures. The Crostini tastes just as it looks – a burst of flavours from the chicken, bacon, mushrooms and Mozzarella complemented by that excellent bread.
We loved both the pizzas we tried. The Pepperoni with a delicious tomato sauce, and the Ai Funghi e Salsicce which had a bunch of ingredients – chicken sausage, bacon, olives, mushroom and mozzarella, all of which worked together beautifully.
The Spaghetti Aglio Olio would never be my first choice anywhere, but this one was flavourful enough for me to not complain. The Cappellacci (means ‘little hats’, and named after the hats from where it originated) Di Bologna, I’d gladly recommend any time. Great sauce.
There were four and a half people sharing all this, which meant that we had space for desserts! The Bomba di Cioccolato is just a fancy name for the humble lava cake, which is great for kids. But you should go for probably the best Tiramisu in Bangalore.
A meal for two with a couple of glasses of wine, a starter and a couple of main course dishes would land you in the Rs.3000 range, but it is easily worth the money and the ambience. The staff is pleasant, prompt and helpful. We’ll be regular visitors for sure.
Bologna, No:921, Belathur Village, Kadugodi Post
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)