Category: North/West Bangalore

  • Dam’s Kitchen

    I hope to see Kammanahalli (Kalyan Nagar) given an honorary status as a Korean suburb in my lifetime, for its contribution to popularising the cuisine in Bangalore. But then again, that would make the place a candidate for multiple citizenships! We were in the mood for Korean and this one came up when we did some Seoul searching. #oksorry

    Dam’s Kitchen is off the main road, on two floors, is non pretentious, and manages to use the typical partitioning in Korean restaurants to create small cosy spaces, complete with your very own gas cylinder for the barbecues!

    Dam's Kitchen

    We ordered the Yukgaejang (right) and Dwaeji Meori Gukbab (middle) first. The first is described as the spiciest soup available, and is made with beef strips and vegetables stir fried and boiled in brothy soup. It wasn’t too spicy, and the rice anyway tempered it. We loved it, but on a relative note the Gukbab was the winner. It has pork, soy sauce, miso, rice wine, sesame oil, bone broth and all this made for a fantastic hearty soup. Really chicken soup for the soul (see, I resisted the urge). While the stomach was full, we wanted something to nibble on and ordered Chilli Chicken (without the rice and condiments) Deep fried, chilli sauce and chopped chillis. Great taste, and texture, just the way it should be. We ate half and packed the remaining for dinner. 😌

    Dam's Kitchen

    We felt lighter by just a little below Rs.2500, which included some kombucha. They only had Soju, not Makgeolli. The service is quite friendly and prompt, and the overall ambience is quite peaceful. Lovely place for a lazy Sunday lunch.

    Dam’s Kitchen, 301, 5th D Main Road, HRBR Layout 2nd Block Kalyan Nagar Ph: 9148553661

  • Float

    Kalyan Nagar is a favoured food hangout and Float got into our list when we had made the trek that side for Wanderers. While that place didn’t curry any favour with us thanks to its obsession with curry leaves, we live on hop and cannot resist a microbrewery!

    Float is spread across some four floors, each of which seemed to have multiple sections! How do these places break even, and when?! We sat on the first floor, next to pretty windows that overlooked the road. High seats, which bordered on uncomfortable.

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  • Wanderers

    Not all who wander have lists, but we do. It was Oktoberfest and we had decided to visit as many breweries as we could. So off we went to Kalyan Nagar, which as I’ve said before, is a place we enjoy visiting. This time, we also got to witness the famous (or infamous) “white topping”, because 7th Main, where Wanderers is located, was being subjected to it!

    We found the ground floor a little too closed, despite the landscape drapes! The next floor was not yet open, and so we sat on the rooftop, which we quite liked, despite me being underdressed for surgical strikes. A pedestal fan and mosquito coils helped.

    We began with Cauvery’s Bliss and Erica. The first is a Pilsner style Lager. Crisp and slightly bitter, it was medium hop and went down smoothly. But we liked the latter more – Kölsch style ale, again medium hop. From what seemed an elaborate menu then, we asked for Assam’s Ghost Chili Balls. The filling was chicken spiced with chili beans and tossed in soy sauce. This was a very good beer companion though it took a while getting to the table.

    Zomato had a 2+2 offer on drinks, so we ordered another Erica and a Wanderer’s Weizen, which was essentially a Hefeweizen.  The Jamaican Pulled Pork Sliders weren’t available, so we tried a Liver Peppers. That’s when we first encountered the curry leaves fetish. At first, it didn’t bother us. But it hit us hard in the Coorgi Pork, which was a replacement for Australia’s Meat Pie, another dish that existed only on paper. Check out the images below, those two dishes are practically twins!

    For an artisan cafe, the desserts were pretty standard, so we skipped. After all, we have our own artisanal fare at Bloomsbury near home! The bill came to a little less than Rs.1550. The service was quite friendly, though a warning on the twins would have been nice.

    Wanderers, 7th Main, 1st Block, HRBR Layout, Kalyan Nagar Ph: 25455225

  • Arirang

    Korean has been a favourite cuisine for a while now, especially after the Apgujeong experience in Hong Kong. Kammanahalli’s cuisine range has been proven to us these last few months thanks to a couple of visits, which include a lot of “Oh, we should try this one” on our way to our destination! Therefore Korean in Kammanahalli was only a matter of time. Arirang won over Thran this time, and off we went on a balmy Saturday evening. We reached there by 6, but it was already nearly full. We could only get the normal tables and not the floor seating. 🙁

    Banchan arrived even before we placed the order, and we munched on those. We asked whether they had makgeolli but they didn’t, so Soju it was. (does anyone know where one can get the former in Bangalore?)

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  • Byg Brewski Brewing Company

    The first Brewsky that happened to me was the one in JP Nagar, a long while ago. That was a review for Bangalore Mirror and I never really managed to taste the brew. The second was on Sarjapur Road where I did manage to taste the brew(s) but left with a what’s-this-place feeling. Mostly because I couldn’t accommodate grandparents, kids running around, and a dirty pool with fishes – all within a microbrewery – in my mind! I also remember them claiming the place was full only to find entire sections being empty once I got inside! I am happy to report that in the world of Brewsky, there is some consistency. Oh wait, the spelling! Numerology apart, I remember one of the owners correcting my pronunciation to brew + sky during the first visit. Going by that logic, this one could be about water skiing – the waterbody is fairly large. I didn’t see snow, but the place is huge enough for me to have missed it.

    In fact, it reminded me of Hoot and MTV Grind. But much, much larger. I would have said much, much lager but the brewery isn’t running yet. But since we had traveled to Hennur, we decided to endure. The standard procedure was followed – we were told that the place was full (at 5.45 PM on a Saturday) and asked to wait at the bar. The place was crowded but we could see entire sections empty. In less than half an hour we were told that a table was available but we were fairly comfortable where we were, and didn’t want to risk getting wet in case it rained. It was also a great place to watch the crowd – mostly posh locals, no kids. Other than the ones who are probably still in college, of that kind there were many.

    To be fair, the place is overall quite pretty, especially so when sunlight is out of the scene.

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    Most of the fancy drinks weren’t available, so we finally settled on an Old Fashioned and a Binky Burrow. A good time to mention that it took a long frustrating while to get the initial attention from the service staff, but once we got going, it was much better! The Old Fashioned was stronger than my usual, and the sweetness was between subtle and nothing, but I enjoyed it. D’s drink had strawberry and carrot flavours added to a Bacardi Carta Blanca and “topped with bubbles”. That last part wasn’t visible but did come out in terms of taste. D didn’t much care for the flavours though I thought they weren’t bad.

    The Calcutta Club Chicken Cutlets managed the textures well and had really soft chicken. The kasundi mustard sauce was the perfect complement. Cheap wafers could have been better though! The stir-fried beef chili lived up to the spice promise, and would be a perfect beef companion.

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    In contrast, the Naga Pork Baos were absolutely mild. The pork itself was fine, but the Naga chili zing was completely missing. Not to be outdone, we decided to try a Pigs in a Blanket pizza, which promised more pork with onions and quail eggs. It would have been a good dish if only they had managed the salt consistency better. And finally, the most interesting dessert we found was the Kaveri Mud Cake – mud cake, mousse and a custard topping. This was really delicious.

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    The card was damaged to the extent of around Rs.2750. We aren’t going back, not even for the brew. But that’s mostly because of the distance. This is probably worth at least one trip if only to see how large the place is!

    Byg Brewski Brewing Company, 22/123, Byrathi Village, Bidarahalli Hobli, Hennur, Ph: 080 39514766