Category: Restaurant Reviews

  • Cilantro

    Cilantro is the Spanish word for coriander leaves, say some on the www. (D was sure, i had to check. Makes sense – she cooks, I eat)  It’s a restaurant in Koramangala, say Bangaloreans, and as it happens many a time, everyone’s right. To get there – at the Sony World junction on the Intermediate Ring Road (Koramangala – Indiranagar), take a left turn towards Koramangala 1st Block (when coming from Indiranagar), and keep going till the next signal (thats where the Maharaja restaurant is – map), take a left at the signal, keep going straight, and where the road takes a natural right turn, you’ll see the Halcyon complex, inside which is Cilantro. Two wheelers can be parked right outside, and there are enough bylanes around for four wheeler parking.

    Cilantro is promoted as a ‘sunrise to sunrise cafe’, serves North Indian and Continental, and is spread over a semi outdoor and indoor space. We hadn’t reserved in advance, and if you’re going before 8, you can just walk in. We chose to sit outside, and realised that the unspoken part was that the mosquitoes joined anyone else who came after sunset, for their dinner. 😐

    They introduce you to their salad, pasta, and barbecue counters, which you can go for, in case the regular menu doesnt appeal to you. We thoroughly ignored the salad counter, gave a cursory glance to the pasta counter, where there was a choice of 3 pastas, and deliberated over the barbecue counter, where there was fish, chicken, lamb, pork, calamari, prawns before settling for items in the menu. The chef is quite eager to help you around.

    The menu has sandwiches – both veg and non veg, with prices ranging from Rs.125 – 230, burgers, priced between Rs.130-155, both of which are classified under ‘any time’.

    During regular meal hours, you have a choice of half a dozen soups, including veg and non veg, appetisers – including a couple of prawn and calamari options, and kebabs. For the main course, you could choose from the continental options – veg/prawn/ beef/ pork/ fish/ chicken or the Indian section which offers decent choices in veg and non veg, with rotis and rice to go along with them.

    We started with a Chunky farm style chicken veloute soup. Though there is a creamy flavour to it, it’s actually made from stock (not milk) and has chunks of chicken. A very good soup, and they bring you a bread basket from which you could take white/brown bread, bread sticks or croissants.

    For the main course, D ordered a “Red Wine Chicken Breast”, (chicken simmered in red wine, glazed and served with home made pasta) which was recommended by the staff, and i went for a Char grilled pork chops with bbq sauce, (served with cous cous and buttered tossed vegetables) which was recommended by the web reviews. The chicken dish was very good, from what little i tasted of it, and was served with sphagetti. The pork chops were well amde and the gravy was fantastic. The cous cous complemented it well. There were ‘strange’ vegetables, which I didn’t bother figuring out, since I had meatier things to consider. 😉

    There were the regular Indian and Continental dessert options – gulab jamun, chocolate mousse and the like, the only one that stood out was a coconut caramel custard, but we decided to skip. They also serve liquor. Our bill came to just over Rs.750. After the meal, have a few polite smiles ready, since the chef and at least two more members of the staff ask you if you had a pleasant experience, and also inform you about a Sunday brunch. You could check out the place – pleasant and relaxing ambience, with loads of greenery, and decent food.

    Cilantro, PB 4708, No: 9, Drafadila Layout, 4th Block, Koramangala. Ph: 41102200

    Photos at Zomato

  • Coastaal Express

    Hmm, while you could be pardoned for thinking about a special coastal train with piped music, its actually a restaurant and judging from the piped music, I don’t think a love for music had anything to do with that being the name. I’m guessing numerology.Don’t even think Ekkspress, evil soul!! :p

    So, this place is a bit away from  our regular haunts but since we had to go to that part of town for some other purpose, we thought we might as well drop in at Shivananda Circle, especially since my previous experience there was wonderfully fishy 🙂 . Here’s the map, and if that is confusing, lets make it simple. MG Road- Raj Bhavan Road-Race Course Road (Taj West End), take a right when you see Petals on your right, as soon as you turn, you’ll see the Solitaire Hotel on your left. Keep going straight and you’ll hit Shivananda Circle (its the next traffic signal) and see Coastaal Express on your left, but the other side of the road. So, don’t take a left turn at the junction, just go straight and turn left at the next bylane and another left, where you can park. Then just walk up the road, and you’ll have the place on the left. (Why do I get this feeling that these directions turned out more confusing, just like the erm, Left?) The first floor has the a/c section, and that’s where we went.

    The ambience is quite good – they have this quaint display of old cooking utensils as soon as you enter, and the  seating is quite comfortable. We reached there around 8.15 and quite surprisingly, found only one table occupied, though by the time we feft an hour later, most of the tables were full. The menu starts with coastal food, but I also found an extensive Chinese section, complete with about 8 veg and non veg soups each, and a huge selection of starters and main course dishes. Ditto for the North Indian section (without the soups though) While you might wonder about the intelligence of this, i have seen enough people eating chow mein and dal makhani at such places for its presence to be justified. No, not that combination, thank God.

    In the sea food section, there are different versions of squid, prawn and crab, even chinese and tandoor versions. Choices of fish too – anjal, kane, pomfret, silverfish, bangda. Mussels are not available, you could try a marvai sukka though. And to go with that – kori roti, moode, appam, pundi (rice balls) or if you’re a larger group, a coastal basket which has all these. And there are quite a few veg dishes too. There are thali options for lunch – veg, fish and chicken at Rs. 55, 80, 85 respectively.

    We started with an anjal (king fish) masala fry – a single piece, we thought would be enough, a half portion of chicken ghee roast, and to go along with that, a plate each of moode and appam (2). Serving time will be at least 30 mins, the menu says. Bingo, and when the food got to us – we asked for it to be brought together, we realised that we would need one more plate of appam and also ordered a kane rava fry. The anjal fry would’ve been great if not for the all pervasiveness of salt, ditto for the chicken, in which you have six pieces with a pasty ‘gravy’. It went well enough with the appam and moode. The kane rava fry was excellent though – crisp and crunchy. The appam was made very well, and so was the moode. Moode tastes similar to sannas, but is  smaller and more cylindrical.

    One word of caution here – the kane and anjal are priced according to size, so you might want to ask the price beforehand. We actually didn’t bother, and realised that one anjal piece cost us Rs.180, which was really not worth it. The kane rava fry (2 pieces) cost us Rs.160, over priced, we felt, but was at least worth it.

    The dessert section had the usual suspects, from fruit sald and ice cream to gajar ka halwa and gulab jamun and caramel custard. For those who are wondering, they serve liquor too.

    The total bill came to just over Rs.700. I’d say Something Fishy is a much better bet.

    Coastaal Express, 6/4, Shivananda Complex, Sivananda Circle, Ph: 22355094/95

    Menu at Zomato

  • The Esplanade

    Koramangala meets Calcutta at  The Esplanade, a restaurant serving Bengali (traditional and Anglo Indian contributions) and Continental cuisine. This lies between China Pearl and Vicky’s, on the one way connecting Inner Ring Road with the road from Forum to National Games Village. (refer either of the two links for a detailed route) You’ll find it on the right, a few buildings after the Unilet showroom. Parking shouldn’t be too difficult to find. Don’t be misled by the dark, vacant ground floor, the restaurant is on the first floor, and the entrance is through a small door that you might miss at first glance. Check out some great posters of the Calcutta that was, on your way up.

    We reached at half past seven and easily managed to get a cosy table, that gave a nice road view, but you might want to reserve if you’re planning to go after 8.30.

    “Tomatoes and oregano make it Italian; wine and tarragon make it French; sour cream makes it Russian; lemon and cinnamon make it Greek; soy sauce makes it Chinese; love and divinity make it Bengali.” so said Pandit Ravi Shankar, according to the menu. Also as per the menu, The Esplanade tries to amalgamate the indigenous Bengali cuisine with the European influence that was acquired during the pre independence days. A modest tribute to famous restaurants, like Peliti’s and Firpo’s, that dotted the original Esplanade.

    The place doesn’t serve alcohol but has quite a few mocktail choices, including a Regent Rave, their version of an aampora sharbat. But the chilly Bangalore weather made us skip that. We’d have liked a soup but there seemed to be only a couple of options (veg, non veg soups of the day) so we decided to go for a starter – Paddo Pataye Kasundi Murgi, which is “a perfect mixture of chicken and raw mango mustard steamed in a lotus leaf parcel” Unless you have a huge problem with the mustard flavor, you’ll love this spicy, tangy mix. A plate has six portions, perfect for a group of 2-3. The Chicken Kabiraji, meanwhile, is in my watchlist. There are quite a few veg options and even some salad options. They give you papads while you’re waiting.

    For the main course, you could choose from a range of Continental stuff, with plenty of veg and non veg options – chicken, lamb and sea food. We, however, decided to explore the Bengali dishes. The beginning of that section rivals the Bay of Bengal in terms of the aquatic life represented – at least about 25 sea food dishes!! From this humongous set of options, we chose the Elish Machher Roast , “boneless hilsa roasted in grill topped with spicy tomato gravy and served with steamed rice” From the relatively small selection of chicken and mutton dishes (4 each) we selected the Esplanade chicken curry, “a contribution by the Anglo Indian community to Bengali cuisine”  Thanks men 😉 Ok, before you grass eaters mutter, you have over a dozen choices too.

    To go along with that, you could choose rice (steamed or two veg options or the elish pulao, which I have earmarked for later use) or bread options. We ordered a basket of loochi (poori for our limited consumption purposes 🙂 ) which had 3 of them, so we also ordered a Tinkona Paratha, “whole wheat bread roasted in ghee”. You could also try a hinger kachori or a hathh roti.

    We began with the loochi, the chicken curry was quite good, but the fish stole the show, its combination with the steamed rice is finga lickin good. Yes, I did do that. If you’re calorie conscious, leave your consciousness at home, that fish dish had an entire container of ghee devoted to it. If I hadn’t seen the desserts beforehand, I might have placed a repeat order. They also gave us amshotwer(sweet mango) chutney, which offset the effects of the chillies i had munched.

    And thus we reach the last (but never the least important) page in the menu. In addition to the regular Bengali desserts – rasgulla, rasmalai and mishti doi, there’s also chhanar jilipi, fried natun gruer ice cream, tia maria mousse (though the last two weren’t available) and Mishti Chaanar Paturi, “sweetened and flavoured homemade cheese roasted in grill”, which I ordered. D ordered a Baked Rashogolla, “tiny rasgullas baked with thickened milk and topped with dry fruits”. It actually turned out to be one big rasgulla. Unfortunately, though the desserts weren’t too bad, they didn’t live up to our expectations, especially after our experience in Koramangala’s other bengali restaurant – Kolkata.

    All of the above cost us just over Rs.1000. I’d recommend a trip to the place, preferably after skipping a meal, since you’d be tempted to eat a lot. You could also try the weekday lunch buffet priced at Rs.215, and get a valid excuse for sleeping in office. 🙂

    The Esplanade, #151, KHB Colony, 1st Floor, Koramangala 5th Block. Ph: 40927878/7888

    Menu and Photos at Zomato

  • Wild Spice

    Relax. Its the name of a restaurant. 🙂

    We heard about the place sometime back from Balu, and since it was just past the swine flu season, thought it a good time to check out some Coorgi stuff (read pork). The restaurant is located on Residency Road right after the Museum Road junction. (map) There isn’t any parking facility for four wheelers, maybe you can use the paid parking on the Brigade Road extension, 2 wheelers can park in front of Imperial. Its quite  a little hole-in-the-wall and you’re likely to miss it if you aren’t looking for it.

    The ambience just about passes muster and the place obviously caters to a regular crowd that really doesn’t mind the peeling wall paint and broken tiles. Its quite dimly lit and there is no air conditioning. But hey, we came for the pork, so let’s get to that fast.

    The single page menu begins with a quote attributed to Conficius (sic) ” A family that dines together grows sideways together”. We were obviously in the mood to be living examples. You could choose from roti/chapati, rice – hot snow balls/ rice noodles (though they didn’t have the latter when we asked for it), veg dishes  – dal, beans, rajma, sprouts, pumpkin and even a rasam, ghee rice and its combos (veg/ pork/ mutton/ chicken) whose costs range from Rs.45-85, or the plain rice versions of the same, or even chapati meal combos (Rs.50-75). The menu ends with a few juice options and another quote “For a healthy life, choose your restaurant like you would choose your spouse”.

    We ordered a couple of rice rotis, a ghee rice – mutton curry combo, a Coorgi pepper chicken dry and a Coorgi pork dry. I would’ve liked to try a fried fish too, but wasn’t sure if it’d be too much. Hot fluffy rotis, though they took a while, and such awesome pork that D, who isn’t a erm, natural pork eater like me, ended up eating the pig, like a ….. you get the idea. In fact, though the chicken was quite good, it was completely eclipsed by the pork. The ghee rice was the other highlight, reminded me of the stuff I used to hog during college days. Excellent. I didn’t fancy the mutton curry much, though it was coconut based, but D liked it. we had to order a couple of chapatis more and again, it took a while.

    All of that, including a mineral water – Rs.15 :D, cost us just over Rs.250. If you’re looking for a fine dining experience, stay away, but when in the mood for some good pork, in a college/PG hangout ambience, complete with ABBA music in the background, do check it out.

    Wild Spice, #1, Cariappa Bhavan, Field Marshall Cariappa Road (thats Residency Road for those who didn’t know), Ph: 09880381009

  • Daddy’s Deli

    This rendezvous with Parsi food has been long pending. Daddy’s Deli is a restaurant in Indiranagar that serves Parsi cuisine, and is open only 3 days a week-  lunch and dinner on Friday and Saturday and only lunch on Sunday. Its on 12 th Main Indiranagar, when coming from the Koramangala side, take a left at the 12th Main – 100ft Road junction and go straight till you see the Executive Inn on the left. Its in the same building on the first floor.

    We reserved in advance and though a couple of tables were occupied by 8pm, we could still find a good place. The ambience is excellent, with comfortable seating and cosy corners. Book shelves lined with old Readers Digest issues, and the ancient green soda bottle lend a nice touch.

    Since the place serves (almost) exclusively Parsi food, the menu is quite small, but there are still enough choices for all sorts of -vores. Munching on the complimentary sarias (Parsi rice chips), we decided to start with a plate of brain cutlets, and also wanted a Chicken Liver on Toast, but the latter wasn’t available. So we had to live with that lack of cholesterol, but the crispy on the outside, smooth inside brain cutlet made up for the disappointment. There’s no need to brainstorm on this one, have it!! There are also other starter options like cocktail kababs and Farcha (fried chicken) for the non vegetarians and at least half a dozen veg options.

    For the main course, you could either have dishes like Sali Murghi/Boti/Kheema accompanied with rotli (4 for Rs.30) or go for rice dishes. Thanks to our greed, we ended up ordering a Patra ni Machhi, “fish coated with green chutney and steamed in a banana leaf” and Sali Murghi, “chicken in brown gravy topped with potato crisps” from this set, but decided to skip the rotlis. Instead we ordered a Dhansak, “the all time favourite. A parsi speciality – masala dal with mutton, served with brown rice”. The descriptions were quite disappointing, they really don’t do justice to the food. 😀

    The fish was soft, almost boneless and served with a mint-coconut based chutney. D had to be stopped from finishing the banana leaf too for the chutney particles that stuck on. I loved the chicken dish, and thankfully, it went quite well with the dhan. The mutton-dal combination of the saak was new to us and so we took some time warming up to each other, but we parted as friends. Now before the vegetarians close the page, there were at least 4 options I counted in the rice dishes.

    And thus we come to what we call the main course, and the more ignorant ones call desserts. After much deliberation, we chose a lagan nu custard, ” a Parsi favourite, steamed and baked brown”. Soft, and topped with crisp nuts, this just melted in the mouth and was over very very soon. And then we realised what marital understanding was all about. With no words spoken, except of course, for placing the order,  a Chocolate mousse made its way to the table. Daddy’s Deli – Double Dessert – Parsi for the course!! 🙂

    All of the above cost us Rs.950. Drop in for a homely ambience, very helpful service, and some great food, don’t be parsimonious for once. 😀

    Daddy’s Deli, The Executive Inn, #3289, 12th Main, HAL 2nd Stage, Indiranagar. Ph: 41154372-75