Category: Restaurant Reviews

  • Uno Chicago Bar & Grill

    Some movies exist only so that a few good songs can be released into the universe. That’s roughly the way malls and eateries work for me too. Sometimes. Whitefield’s latest mall is thus host to Uno Chicago Bar & Grill. We visited twice – the first when the bar wasn’t functional, and then later, when we also decided to try out the Cinepolis that has opened at the mall. Uno is sandwiched between Punjab Grill and You Mee on the ground floor of Forum Shantiniketan.

    It has three sections – one facing the mall atrium, another indoor, and a third that is a bit more open and faces the apartments behind the mall. The first section has diner-like seating, albeit more plush. The second is a mix of that and standard chairs, and the third has bar stools as well, with some cobblestone flooring too.

    The white wine sangria they served us on the second visit was reasonably disastrous. Chunks of fruits meant that we kept wondering whether a fruit salad had been mixed with wine! Far from our Toscano benchmark for the sangria pitcher. The Chicken & Jalapeno Chowder though, is worth a try, though for the best experience, you might want to wait till winter. Thick, creamy, chicken soup with jalapeños and tortilla strips for some nice texture.

    We tried two pizzas. The Windy City Works was a thin crust pizza with pepperoni, pork sausage, chicken meatballs and bacon bits. They were generous with all the toppings and the crust was excellent too. But the outlet is known for its deep dish pizza, and that’s why we had to try the Chicago Meat Market pizza with lamb mince, chicken pepperoni, grilled chicken, chicken chorizo and parmesan. The small size proved quite sufficient for our appetites. No arguing the flavours here and the “double decker” levels of flavours is indeed quite unique.

    The welcoming committee does its job well, but the service takes some persuasion. The wallet will be left considerably lighter. We got close to Rs.1200 with just a soup and a pizza the first time, and a little over Rs.2700 the second time thanks to the Sangria pitcher.

    Uno Chicago Bar & Grill, Upper Ground Floor, Forum Shantiniketan, Whitefield, Ph: +91 9667540036

  • The Bier Library

    It’s not very often that we land up in Koramangala, but when we do, we manage to visit a microbrewery too! Every alternate building in Koramangala is anyway an eatery now, and microbreweries are now reaching the penetration level hitherto achieved only by CCDs, Goli Vada Pav and Cult. So, finding one we haven’t visited isn’t too difficult.

    The place is massive, spread across three floors. It even has that dirty green water body that has been institutionalised by the Brewsky folks. We got a table on the ground floor, only a little away from the DJ, who was trying his best to make sure that Indiranagar didn’t feel left out! Conversations are for losers, after all.

    We immediately got around to the business at hand – craft beer! D made a Very Weiss choice – German wheat that was very fresh. Fortunately, the Wittle-Wit I wanted wasn’t available. Fortunately, because the Further – Lager I ordered turned out to be very good. For a change, even better than D’s drink.

    The menu has generous sprinklings of gluten-free and artisanal, but avocado didn’t get the representation it deserves! In terms of actual food, the Pork Belly Chili Roast was excellent, though we thought the Bhut Jolokia description was probably an exaggeration. Jacob Uncle’s Chicken Cutlet is apparently a recipe that has “handed over by generations of chefs”, but it does seem like some Chinese whispers have happened – it was quite bland. The trend continued with the Balsamic Mixed Greens, which got the last two words right, but missed out on the first!

    The Pork Vindaloo & egg pizza was very tempting, but since we’d just had pork, we decided to go with a Mutton keema & Egg slice instead. It’s difficult to get mince, tomato sauce and egg wrong, and thankfully they didn’t. In fact, it was quite delicious. But it was topped by the Mushroom Risotto – arborio and truffle oil magic.

    Three of us voted for the Serra Dura, for dessert. Portuguese with a Macau origin, its literal translation is sawdust. The taste though, is far from that – the combination of whipped cream, crushed cookies and dulce de leche was fantastic! One Chhena Jalebi sneakily made its way to our table courtesy the fourth person, and was largely ignored. 😀

    The service was courteous and considering the packed premises, fairly prompt. The DJ, as I had mentioned earlier, was trying to beat some sound record. The bill came to a little under Rs.6000 for four people.

  • Biergarten (Koramangala)

    The original version, in our hometown Whitefield, has, over a period of time, endeared itself to us, and is now one of our frequently visited hangouts. I still haven’t forgiven them for taking the Deconstructed Black Forest cake out of the menu, but that’s a small peeve.

    So when we learned that they had opened in Koramangala, we chose the earliest opportunity to check out the place. The place is massive, easily larger than the one on Whitefield. One problem though is that it is close to a garbage dump, and some parts of the building – lifts, loos – feel the stench. Thankfully, the dining area is spared this. It is spread over two floors, and after some haggling, got ourselves a comfortable lounge seating on the top floor, which also hosts a dance floor! There’s a lot of greenery around – this is the third place I am seeing this! HQ was the first, and from outside, the new Toscano in Whitefield looks the same!

    Meanwhile, I got myself a Bacon Old Fashioned, something I hadn’t seen since the magnificent one at Toast & Tonic. The drink was quite good, and thanks to Zomato Gold, I got a 1+1.

    The starters section offered quite a few choices. We chose a Bheja Fry, Lal Maas Tacos, and finally, a Methi Paneer Samosa for a friend who has gone rogue and become  a vegetarian! The Bheja fry was served with bread and a tzatziki dip, and was quite tasty. But the Lal Maas was easily better, and the burnt garlic cream provided an excellent contrast in flavour. The samosas were flavourful too, thanks to the honey glaze and sesame, and also gave us a texture mix.

    But all this, and a quick rundown of the desserts section meant that we had to skip mains. The Chocolate Kahlua Mousse and the Jaggery Mousse Cake made it well worth it! The first was served with marshmallows and KitKat and was delicious, though the base made it seem more like a cheesecake. The Jaggery Mousse cake had banana cake and coconut ice cream as well, and was polished off in a few minutes!

    The service is friendly enough, and the music had enough of a retro tinge to make us comfortable. The bill came to a little over Rs.3100, and that included a few other starters and drinks as well. For a Koramangala outlet, not a bad price at all. Overall, well worth a visit.

    Biergarten, 4th B Cross, 5th Block, Koramangala Ph: 49653208 (map)

  • One for the Road

    We’re now in the midst of the not-so-gradual transformation of Seegehalli. After such hits as Aroi and Red Rhino, we were pretty excited when we heard that One for the Road had opened in the neighbourhood. On a Saturday evening, we decided to give it a try.

    The place is reasonably large, and we took a small tour before we decided on a table. The first floor only had a small section open since there was a private party.

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    But the ground floor gave us a lot to choose from. There are closed and alfresco sections, with some enclosed spots, and a choice of seating as well – lounge, high stools and bar.

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    Early January provides a little chill in the air during late evenings – perfect for a Cream of Chicken soup. Creamy and quite delicious, it was a good start to proceedings. Chill or no chill, cocktails had to be consumed. There was only one rum based cocktail and it did sound funny – What the Fag It is Fig. Fig and dark rum sounded like a good combination on paper, but ended up rather insipid. D tried another signature drink – The Tangerino, vodka based, but that was a disappointment too – the orange flavour was overwhelming.

    The silver lining was that they managed to deliver the Malabar Beef Fry intact. For mains, we tried the Bacon wrapped stuffed chicken with pepper diane. The dish wasn’t bad in terms of flavours, but the chicken was a bit undercooked.

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    We’d have liked some dessert, but most items on the menu weren’t available. The bill came to a little over Rs.2000. The service was decent, the ambiance was not bad either, but the food was a mixed bag. Not really a place we’d repeat.

    One for the Road, 87/2A, 35, Seegehalli, Whitefield Ph: 49652780 (map)

  • The Old Fashioned Bar

    I have now figured out the right time to travel cross-country in Bangalore – long weekends. So when it was clear that shopping would take us to Koramangala – shopping the good old fashioned way that is – we decided to mix it with our other favourite pastime – eating (and drinking) out. Choosing a place in Koramangala, especially when the number of restaurants in the neighbourhood is inching closer to the number of people living there, wasn’t an easy task. But I liked the name ‘Old Fashioned” and a quick look at the food menu gave me enough choices to suggest it to D.

    It was only on the way that she informed me that they had more than a dozen kinds of Old Fashioned – my favourite drink! She also had her eye on a special Christmas menu they had. They have a typical old-school pub set up – plush seating, dim lights – and unfortunately, a hat tip to current times in the form of a giant screen. I know, I sound old! 😐

    The place has two floors but the upper one would only open at 9, we were told. Towards the end of our visit, we did go upstairs to use the restroom. A few tables were occupied, and it was hardly 7.30! We did get a nice, small table overlooking the road though. Meanwhile, D was miffed because the staff seemed unaware of the Christmas menu (which was on Zomato!) Thankfully, the menu had enough options for us to still make a good meal out of it.

    After much deliberation, I chose the 1881 Old Fashioned. D’s original choice – Buttercups – wasn’t available, so she went into Hulk mode and asked for a Gin Basil Smash. D had told me that the 1881 was the strongest Old Fashioned they had, but my first drink was fairly mild. The second one (thanks to a Zomato Gold 2+2 on drinks) however was strong. D’s drink had lime juice in addition to the obvious ingredients and packed a punch.

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