Category: Restaurant Reviews

  • Khansama

    Khansama – The Royal India Master Chef is a BJN Group endeavour at UB City Mall. The theme is royalty, and it serves a mix of cusines, though skewed towards North indian dishes.

    The mall also hosts Shiro (Lounge), Oakroom (multi cusine), Ecstasy (desserts/cafe), The Tasty Tangles (Oriental), Rajdhani (that thali has been on the pending list for a while now!!) ..quite an elaborate food court…  So, maybe you could go a bit early and figure out what gastronomic mood you’re in. We, however, reserved in advance, and were quite surprised to see a few tables occupied by 7.30. Maybe they all wanted to get back in time for Juno. 🙂

    The ambience is quite befitting the royal theme the restaurant has. Massive portraits, swords, assorted mounted animal heads :D, and a few guns thrown in too on the walls. The lighting has been done well too, not too dimly lit, and not too bright either, enhancing the effects of the entire setting.

    We started with a ‘Dhuanr Murgh Tikka’ starter. That’s “succulent and creamy pieces of chicken infused with italian smoked mozzarella”. It was quite good, and went well with the chilly sauce. D liked the mint sauce though she rated it a bit lower than the one in Copper Chimney. There are quite a few options in veg and non veg, the seafood starters are costly though. If you’re the soup kind, there are quite a few choices on that front too.

    For the main course, we ordered a Kofta Zartaari (“paneer, potato dumplings done the zartaari style), a Murgh Darbari (“an affable combo of spring chicken and eggs in a silky smooth gravy”), and to go with that a portion of Punjabi Zaituni Naan (“traditional flour bread – baked in the tandoor with black and stuffed green olives, basted with light spanish olive oil” – its not boneless). We were told that the chicken dish would be a bit sweet, but the kofta would provide the spice. It turned out almost the opposite, with the Kofta gravy being a tad sweet (but the Kofta itself a bit spicy) and the chicken dish  being mildly spicy. The bread was quite awesome, one portion has two naans, but quite small, so we ordered a Lal Mirch paratha too. Good stuff, which (thankfully?) didn’t reach the levels of our hari mirch adventure at Heera Panna. The menu offers quite a lot of choices, some even from South Indian cuisine, since the theme is more royalty than any geographic area. (though the menu has only sher shah suri and the Mughals) 🙂

    There were a few dessert options, but we were too stuffed to try any, but quite likely the next time. The service is quite good, and the wet towel was really refreshing. Except for perhaps one odd occasion, the BJN restaurants have always delivered on the food quality, though I keep making digs at their snobbery efforts 🙂

    The cutlery is also a bit unique and I loved the goblet though it was a bit heavy. By the time we left – around 8.30, the place was quite crowded. And uncharacteristically, they even gave us some good meetha paan in the end. (have seen only the paid version in other BJN group restautants). All of the above cost us just over Rs.1150 (inclusive of a 10% service charge and taxes). Great food and a good ambience, I’d recommend checking it out.

    Khansama, 2nd Floor, UB City Mall, #24, Vittal Mallya Road. Tel 41114499

    Photos at Zomato

  • Shiok

    Shiok is a restaurant that serves Far-eastern cuisine. And it’s moved. No, not the cuisine, just the location. Though we’d heard about it a lot when it was on CMH Road, (online mostly, but we’ll get to that later) we never managed to visit. So, when we saw the signboard on the Inner Ring Road (before the flyover, on the right, when coming from Koramangala), we decided now was as good a time as any to try it out.

    We skipped the reservation part but were lucky enough to get a table. I liked the ambience – elegant, pleasant to the eye, and cosy. There’s also a cocktail lounge – ‘Moss’ on the first floor.

    We started with a “Minced chicken and celery soup” (kaeng jued) , a Thai soup, “a tasty yet light soup with bits of minced chicken, celery, chinese cabbage and black mushroom”. Though it was a thin soup, I quite liked its flavour.

    We skipped starters and for the main course ordered a Beef with ginger, chilli, basil and crushed peanuts, described further as ” tender beef with several assertive flavours that nevertheless blend nicely together. The peanuts provide a crunch and a mild contrast to the other seasonings”, an Indonesian green chilli chicken (ayam cabai hijau), which is “chicken cubes simmered with green chillies, lemongrass,  ginger and tomatoes” It also says that this is for real chilli lovers and may be fatal in large doses. (yes, they also mention they’re kidding, so don’t worry). To go with these two, a Chi hor fun, a Malaysian noodle dish, “browned braised chicken cooked with flat rice noodles and savoury sauce using ginger, sesame oil, soy sauce and chicken stock”. I felt the beef could’ve been a little more evenly cooked (some pieces were a bit rare) but I still liked it enough to slurp the gravy!! The crunchy peanuts did bring in a nice contrast. The chicken dish, though it displayed a few chillies, is less scarier in real life than is made out to be in the menu. I quite liked this too. In both cases, there’s not much of gravy, but since our noodles  had a bit of its own (hmm “squishier” than the Malaysian noodles I’ve had elsewhere), it worked out fine. And that’s why I was impressed with the service, because our original choice of chicken dish was vetoed by the person in  charge of our table, who suggested this one since it would go better with our noodles.

    Though i couldn’t find it in the menu, they did offer us some desserts, including a chocolate mousse, but unfortunately I was stuffed enough to pass 🙁 All of the above, including a service tax of 10%, cost us just over Rs.800.

    Shiok belongs to a MadMan (he’s one those really ancient bloggers, about 8 years, makes me feel young!!  :D) , though judging from the food, I’d wager that there is definitely a method. 🙂 You can get the exact location, have a look at the menu card, check out a few recipes and even reserve a table right here. Good food (quite a lot of choices for vegetarians and non vegetarians), nice ambience, excellent service, do give it a try.

    Shiok, #96, Amarjyothi Layout, Intermediate Ring Road. Ph: 65715555/6666. www.shiokfood.com

    Update: Closed

  • ClayPot

    The Thippasandra version of this restaurant has been around for sometime now. But we’ve never managed to go there. So, when we saw an ad that announced the opening of a Thavarekere version, we didn’t waste much time in checking it out.

    When coming from Dairy Circle, take a right turn on to Thavarekere Main Road (this is the road opposite Prestige Acropolis -Dairy Circle side/diagonally opposite the Dairy Circle entrance of Forum/right next to the SKC outlet). Keep going down this road, soon you’ll find Prestige St.John’s Woods on your left, and after about 200 m, you’ll find a fork in the road. Take the one towards the left, and then take the first left turn, and you’ll find Claypot on the left. Yes, like a lot of Mallu things, this one is quite left oriented. 🙂

    ClayPot is the typical ‘no frills’ Mallu neighbourhood restaurant, though it serves North Indian, Chinese and Kerala cuisine. The first two are what we call Mallu versions of these cuisines, which would include things like Dall fry, Shreaded chicken with capscum, baiging chicken (sic sic sic), but then if you’re looking for perfection in such matters, you shouldn’t be here. This is the place to be when you want to gorge on Mallu stuff.

    We ordered a Malabar style Chicken Fry, a ClayPot special chicken curry, a Karimeen Pollichathu and to go with all of that, an appam, a couple of mutta appams (egg appams), and a Kerala Porotta. The Malabar chicken fry is cooked in the best cooking oil in the world (for us mallus) – yep, coconut oil, and comes adorned with crisply fried onion. There are three pieces in one portion and is quite non spicy, that, I’m guessing is a rarity here, though to be fair, they do mark the spicy stuff with a chilli icon. The ClayPot special chicken curry is a white gravy with boneless chicken in a coconut milk base and is garnished with a full boiled egg. It looks harmless but is quite spicy, and the portion is more than sufficient for two people. Karimeen (Pearl Spot) Pollichathu is fried fish with a thick masala coating which is tomato and onion based with a strong Kokum (Kodum Puli) flavor. This one is delicious, but super spicy. The appams as well as the porotta turned out good too. We wanted to try some mussel dishes, but they’d run out of the stuff.  They did have some quail dishes, but I’m sure that if we tried to squeeze that in too, it’d be our stomachs which would be quailing!!

    All of the above cost us just over Rs.350. That would tell you the story. You come here to have some excellent Mallu food without burning a hole in your pocket. While they have some North indian/Chinese veg options, I’d recommend this place only to hard core non veggies who can handle spicy stuff. There are many many more options that they offer in the Mallu cuisine part, and we’ll definitely go back for more.

    ClayPot, #1/1, 1st Cross, Thavarekere, BTM Layout. Ph: 42190344/55, 9632227355

    Update: Heard this one’s now closed

  • The Legend of Sikandar

    Sikandar is the Hindustani name of Alexander the Great, and that’s the theme of this restaurant in Garuda Mall. Theme, only in terms of the food, not the decor, though they do have a few glass paintings that depict this. The place is usually crowded on Saturdays, so we reserved, got there by about 7.45, and got one of the window seats I have a liking for. Surprisingly, it didn’t have full occupancy at any point during our dinner. Blame it on you-know-what. I wonder if that’s the same thing I should blame for them using a fan instead of the air conditioning!!

    We decided to try a non chicken starter this time, and settled on the Adana Seek, described as “Turkey’s single greatest contribution to the world of street food. Lamb mince skewered on a sword, typically spiced and enlivened with paprika flakes and made the way it has been for eons in the Turkish town of Adana”. Judging by the taste, and the awesome flavoring, it definitely is a great contribution. Highly recommended, the only disappointment being that I expected to see the sword..and didn’t. The mint chutney provided with it wasn’t great though, so skip it.

    For the main course, we ordered a Murgh Siyali Kalimirch. The description in the menu reads ” Housewives in Siyalkot, Pakistan, take fierce pride in preparing their own versions of this dish of tender chicken cooked in sealed clay pots with lashings of freshly ground peppercorn”. We also ordered a Kadaiwala Machchi, “the best example of robust food made from simple earthy ingredients that’s the essence of Punjab’s cuisine. Fish tossed with fresh tomatoes, peppers and pounded spices”.  To go along with it, we ordered an Ulta Tawa ka Paratha – “the copper mahi tawa lends its special flavour ro these griddle roasted saffron flavoured parathas” , a Paneer aur Pudina Bharwan Kulcha, and when that proved insufficient, a roti too. What hasn’t been mentioned in the menu is that the chicken dish is a white gravy one, but that really didn’t matter. Its one of the best chicken dishes I’ve tasted in a long time. Whatever version this one is, I think they should stick to it!! The fish was good, but not in the same league as the other. The paratha was good too, and the only thing that was disappointing was the bharwan kulcha ( I think that has something to do with it not having a descriptor line..hmm)

    D felt that the choice of dishes has been reduced. I am not sure, but yes, there are about 4 chicken gravy dishes only now, so she could be right. The portions are quite large and more than sufficient for two people. They also serve liquor. The service this time was quite tardy though, in spite of the cold looks we gave the staff when they delayed in serving/refilling the water/bringing the bill. All of the above cost us just less than Rs.900. If you haven’t tried the place, you should, at least once. We chose this place specifically for this weekend because its one of our favourite places in Bangalore, and deserved to be the 50th Bangalore restaurant to be reviewed on this blog. 🙂

    The Legend of Sikandar, 4th Floor, Garuda Mall, Magrath Road. Ph: 41252333

    Menu and Photos at Zomato

  • Kaayal

    Kaayal has been on our radar for some time now. And when they announced a Malabar Biriyani festival from Feb 26th – Mar 1st, we decided there couldn’t be a better time.

    When coming from Koramangala take a right turn at the 12th main junction, at the every end, take a right and then, a left at the next junction. (where you see a ‘Fresh’ outlet) You’ll see Kayal on the right after about a 100 metres. Its opposite Miranda High School, and on the second floor. Parking is a lil bit of a bother.

    Kaayal, which means ‘backwaters’  is the quintessential Mallu restaurant, with a few props thrown in for good measure. While you get all the regular Kerala dishes here, the Biriyanis were the highlight. So we ordered a Chicken Biriyani and a Fish Biriyani and a sambhaaram (buttermilk) while we waited. The sambhaaram was about as spicy as it could get, but good.

    The Chicken biriyani was very much like the ones we Mallus get in restaurants at home, complete with the egg, thats conspicuously missing in the versions usually found in Bangalore. D was quite miffed that her fish biriyani didn’t have one, but I guess it did make sense – limiting eggs to chicken biriyanis 😀 The problem with both was that the masala hasdn’t really seeped into the chicken/fish pieces. We also ordered a Beef fry, which we had been warned about earlier – that it usually was a bit rubbery. Unfortunately for us, it was quite a correct warning. All the stuff could’ve been better. :|Might go back some other time for checking out the regular Mallu stuff.

    All of the above cost us a bit over Rs.250. Value-for-money as most Mallu restaurants go. (no we don’t consider Coconut Grove mallu on that parameter)

    Kaayal, 1647/1 , 2nd Floor, Jeevan Bhima Nagar. Ph: 25205578