Category: Others

  • Kampot

    We came across Kampot when we visited Mannheim. The name itself was alluring, since Cambodia is one of our earliest and most cherished travels, and home to one of D’s all-time favourite dishes – Fish Amok. Given the constraints on the things you can do inside Ecoworld, they have done a fair job with the ambience. The menu turned out to be a lot more Asian, which I am guessing is a smarter choice if the idea is to get a crowd.

    Kampot

    We started with a Tom Kha Head Soup. The flavours and texture were totally off with this one, which we might have guessed anyway given the colour. Closer to the other Tom – yum that is, than what we expected. Next up was the Holy Basil Sambal Chicken, and again, the memories of sambal in Indonesia are strong enough for me to recognise non-sambal. That fiery bite was completely missing in the dish. The soup actually was spicier!

    Kampot

    For mains, D went with the Miso Ramen with Soba Noodles and Chicken, and I thought going Vietnamese might be a good idea after Thailand and Indonesia had failed. Of the two, D’s Miso was easily better in terms of flavour but definitely not the best we have had. The Pho was a disaster, and I didn’t even bother to finish it.

    Kampot

    On hindsight, this was stupid given everything that had transpired, but we decided to try a Kampot Coffee. Since this is their own concoction, I don’t really have a benchmark to compare against. So all I’ll say is that I regretted it soon as I took the first sip.

    Kampot

    We paid close to Rs.2700 for this mistake. The service was pleasant but tardy. After having sampled multiple eateries in The Bay, Ecoworld, I think the building has found a way to decrease the quality of dining experience. For instance, Irish House and Punjab Grill. I’ll soon be able to update with Mannheim too. For now, I’d avoid.

    Kampot, The Bay @ Ecoworld, ORR Ph: 9606025113

  • Mannheim Craft Brewery Ecoworld

    Turns out, if one uses a specific time window, ORR is not too bad to negotiate on a Saturday evening. That’s how I was tempted to Mannheim Craft Brewery at The Bay Food Court in RMZ Ecoworld. Craft beer obviously sweetened the deal. You’ll have to walk right till the end, but the good news is that it is closer to the loo!

    Mannheim is quite elegant with multiple kinds of seating for different-sized groups. If you’re in early enough, you obviously get to pick seats. We choose high stools (with back support, yay!) that gave us a nice vantage point to observe modern humanity in one of their preferred ecosystems – food courts.

    P.S. I think that mural belongs to Irish House but whatever.

    Mannheim Craft Brewery Ecoworld

    Not all the beers were available, something I observed during a second visit as well, so do beyond the menu and ask what else they have. We tried the Mead, the Ambrosia and the Amber Ale (samplers are priced quite high) and finally went with the Helles Lager and the Hefeweizen. Both Bavarian, but the former is a light, crisp lager that is not too bitter, and the latter is fresh and fruity.

    Mannheim Craft Brewery Ecoworld

    We tried the Kozhi Vepudu – fried chicken in buttermilk sauce , which did offer some spice. But the Murgh Malai Kandhari (sic) Chicken despite the promise of bird’s eye chilli was rather bland. Or rather, inconsistently spicy, depending on whether your piece had a chilli in it or not.

    Mannheim Craft Brewery Ecoworld

    When there is Korean cream cheese bun, one must have it. Unfortunately, our high bar on this is the one at Roxie. This one isn’t close. Mains was Spaghetti Mamma Rosa. Closer to browna than rosa, but not bad in terms of taste.

    Mannheim Craft Brewery Ecoworld

    The thing about the menu at Mannheim is that though it seemingly provides options, it is pretty limited especially when it comes to mains. Probably because the beer-only crowd prefers only starters.

    The service is quite pleasant and prompt, and we felt lighter by around Rs.3000. The beer isn’t bad, but you don’t have to travel for it. Only drop in if you’re in the vicinity.

    Mannheim Craft Brewery, The Bay, Ecoworld Bellandur Ph: 096633 95482

  • Hortus

    We’re shifting geography a bit – to the Queen of the Arabian Sea – Cochin. Hortus is located on the third floor of The Avenue Center Hotel in Panampilly Nagar. Think of the area as Cochin’s version of a love child of Indiranagar (which has a past, and still tries to fight commercial infiltration), and Koramangala (which is increasingly looking like the future). Houses and fancy eateries continue to coexist in a tense standoff. But let’s digress a bit more before we think of digest.

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  • The Grand

    It’d been quite a while since I’d visited The Grand, so on this trip home – Cochin, I’d decided to give it a try, especially since the food there has always gotten rave reviews, and it was about time I made my own judgment. It is located on MG Road, since 1963,  so its a landmark for most auto/taxi guys.

    We reserved a table for 8pm, and were told that they wouldn’t hold it beyond 8.10. Fair. The crowd actually started coming in after 8.30. The menu is exhaustive with separate sections for Indian, Kerala, Far East, Continental, Chinese and so on.

    We ordered a velvet chicken and corn soup (2/3) and a Talomein Soup. Pappadams on the house while you wait. 🙂  The former is a chinese preparation – chicken broth flavoured with dry sherry, and the latter is a combination of shredded chicken, carrot and celery garnished with spring onion. The (velvet chicken) soup was quite good, thicker than I expected, and quite sufficient in terms of quantity. For the main course, we decided to go all Kerala.. ‘when in kerala….’ , and so ordered a Malabar Kozhi cury, an Erachi Varattiyathu, a Meen pollichathu, and a Tharavu Mappaz. Thats four kinds of living beings – chicken, beef, fish and duck respectively.  🙂

    So, the Malabar Kozhi Curry is a spicy North kerala dish, which turned out to be only moderately spicy, that was a disappointment. The Erachi Varattiyathu is cooked beef,  with onions, but with enough flavours to keep it from being bland. Better. The Meen pollichathu (you have a choice of seer or pearlspot) is fish with (usually) a very spicy paste around it. Its actually the paste that gives this dish its character. However, this time it was just some sort of onion preparation and ended up very average. The saving grace was the Tharavu Mappaz (they have a ‘duck’ festival happening here) which was duck cooked in coconut milk. This one was yummy, and the ‘chatti’ (earthenware) that they brought it in did add to the effect, I think. We ordered appams to go along with all, and though I was tempted to have a Kerala porotta, the appams were tasty enough to discourage any steps in that direction.

    But more than the food, which was reasonably good, though not the spectacular I had hoped for, it was the service that disappointed. They took such a long time bringing the main course that I had to ask them if I should be back the next morning to collect the order. (Yeah, I seem to be a bad service magnet these days) But they were pretty good in a very mercurial way, refilling glasses on time, bringing appams alongwith the additional order (not earlier and letting them get cold) and so on.

    All of the above cost us Rs.1200, which was reasonable that 4 people were quite well fed. When in Cochin, its worth checking out for some authentic Kerala food.