Category: Restaurant Reviews

  • Something Fishy

    Actually a lot of things. But before your imagination runs wild, its only the name of a restaurant in Langford Town. Its actually a 2.0 version, since they’d been closed for sometime, for renovation, and the new avatar looks markedly different from the older one – more spread out, some props, and a distinct increase in price, but thankfully, the food remains fabulous. When coming from the Koramangala side, take a left towards Langford Town, keep going until you see Divyasree Chambers, and soon after that, you’ll have Something Fishy on the right.

    The place offers coastal cuisine – Mangalorean, Goan, Kerala. It does have some Tandoor and Chinese stuff, but I’d say, ignore that. We also decided to ignore the soups, and go for an Anjal Masala Fry as a starter. Thats King Fish, with one of the tastiest masala you’ll ever find. One portion gives you a couple of pieces. You could also try the Pomfret version.

    For the main course, we ordered a Chicken Ghee Roast ( Chicken cooked in fine ground masala and home made ghee), butter dosas, sannas and a fish biriyani. The Chicken Ghee Roast is just spectacular, but you should be tolerant to spicy food to enjoy it. Its a very thick gravy (actually a paste) and is of enough quantity to last through all the other items. They also give you some gravy, so you dont really have to order anything extra. The butter dosas are the kal dosa (thick) types, so if you prefer the thin version, go for neer dosas. The sannas were the only disappointment – quite flaky. In fact, we haven’t had good sannas in a while now – the last being at Kubay‘s first avatar. The fish biriyani was also quite good. The end result was that we were stuffed.

    Now, since we’d returned from our Kerala trip only a few days back, we didn’t try any of our Mallu dishes, but you should definitely try them. There are prawns, Chicken stew, squid and so on, though I thought the Malabar Porotta was a bit steeply priced at Rs.25. Meanwhile, our meal cost us just over Rs.600 – the best dinner we’ve had in quite a while. 🙂

    Something Fishy, #1, Cornwell Street, Langford Road, Langford Town. Ph: 41245505, 42114007

    Menu at Zomato.

  • Flame of Tandoor

    That name and the description – ‘a contemporary cuisine restaurant’, in a paper insert that said “Get greeted by an Italian host, experience western ambience, place your order for a continental dish with a chinese attendat (sic) to be cooked by a flame chef” meant that I really had to take a look myself, even though (for some strange reason) I had the same feeling I did when i bought tickets for Himesh’s Karzzz, this, despite it being a part of the Azad Group (the same that owns Tandoor)

    To get there, (when coming from the Indiranagar side), after the Sony World junction, take a right turn on to the road that has William Penn, Barista etc, and then a left towards Jyoti Nivas college. The place is after the Apollo clinic, and before the Qwiky’s outlet.(both roads are one ways)

    I’d begin with saying that whoever decided the name should take a long hard look at the menu card. My professional experience (brand) tells me that higher powers must have insisted on having ‘Tandoor’ in the name for some strange synergy only they can perceive. The menu is a mix of continental, oriental and a few north indian items. The issue is that there is very limited ‘depth’ in each category, with the continental part being slightly better off. For me, the very fact that a restuarant with such a name has Tabasco and HP sauce on the table jarred. Though the seating is quite comfortable, the ambience is also like the menu – lacks any specific theme. They play “9x music”. 😐

    Anyway, considering that there were only a couple of choices in chicken gravies, and we’d rather go to a specialised Oriental cuisine place if we wanted that, we decided to go Continental, and started with a Mushroom Cappuccino soup, which is “white wine and thyme flavoured cream of mushroom”. D asked for chicken in it too, and got it. Must admit that the soup was pretty good. They also gave us some bread with some special butter, which seemed to be mustard based.

    For the main course, we ordered a Flame’s mix grill – “a combination of chicken, lamb, fried egg served with potato roesti and grilled tomato”, and Lasagna alla pollo – “baked layer of pasta with chicken bolognaise, parmesan and cheese sauce”. The mixed grill was strictly okay, i really have had better stuff – in terms of quality and quantity(at Indijoe, for example). The Lasagna was definitely better though the garlic flavor was a bit too much, but the quantity was quite sufficient.There were a few dessert options, including a rice kheer+strawberry ice cream combination, but we really didn’t feel adventurous enough.

    Wallet wise, it set us back by a little less than Rs.700. The service is pretty decent, though  after every course, two people ask you how the food was.That gets irritating after a point. The pricing means that the target crowd is definitely not the JNC kids, who have way too many options around anyway. I really wish they’d concentrate on one kind of cuisine though, this spread really didn’t appeal to me.

    Flame of Tandoor, #63, Near Jyothi Nivas College, Koramangala Industrial Layout. Ph: 41104337

    PS. Okay, I admit, maybe I was just disappointed that the chef didn’t turn out to be one of the Fantastic 4. In my defence, ‘Flame chef’ is very misleading. The Italian host was missing too. Okay, I’ll stop nitpicking!!

    Menu at Zomato

  • Boca Grande

    ..which means ‘The Big Mouth’ in Spanish. It belongs to the same group that owns Java City, and describes itself as the reality version of something like Facebook. In terms of ambience and attitude, it definitely works (although the demographics would mean that we were the oldies crowd 🙂 )

    Boca Grande is located on 80 ft Road, Koramangala, the road that goes from National Games Village to Forum. When coming from MG Road side, take a left after Forum, and you’ll have it on the left, after Mocha, opposite the Indian Heritage Academy. Deez, my chocoblog pal, had mentioned it first quite sometime back, and we managed a few dessert visits before this one. We got in by around 7.45, and the first floor was almost full, which meant that we didn’t get any of those window seats we were hoping for, but the crowd thinned by around 9, when we left. The place serves continental, but what makes it special is the humongous choice of desserts, and ice cream concoctions.

    We started with a broccoli, corn and chicken soup, which was made even more tasty by the nippy Bangalore weather. I’d have liked it a bit thicker though. Before I forget, needs to be mentioned that there is enough choice for ‘herbivores’ too. Yes, I would be classified as Omnivore too, according to the menu card 🙂

    Next, we ordered a Chicken Cordon Bleu with in-house BG sauce – that’s “chicken breast stuffed with chicken sausage and italian mozzarella cheese, grilled, accompanied with herbed mashed potato”. That description sets some high expectations, and boy, does it deliver!!  The sauce deserves a special mention since that’s what takes this perfectly grilled dish to a much higher plane. We then had a Grande’s pizza, which has “smoked chicken, chicken ham, chicken tikka, chicken salami, lamb pepperoni, lots of herbs n lots of cheese.” It did have all of that, but it didn’t quite reach the stellar status that the previous dish had. I felt that it wasn’t really value for money, but with the ingredients, the price is perhaps justified. I’d suggest that you skip the pizzas.

    And now for the main course – desserts 😀 My respiratory system troubles meant that I couldn’t afford anything cold, so I ordered a crepes – Choco Banana Cocoa Extravaganza – “a tempting mix that literally melts in your mouth”, and that was exactly what it did – those large crepes with chocolate flowing all around. There’s a Belgian chocolate dish that takes half an hour to make, that’s what I’ll go for next time. D ordered a chocolate ice cream sandwich, turned out that it wasn’t available, so she settled for a Chok Late – “choco roco, chocolate chips and vanilla ice cream blended with black forest pastry, chocolate crispies, hot and cold chocolate and nuts”. Well, settled for would be a wrong term, because she really settled into it, and wanted to be carried home after she was through with it. 🙂

    All of the above, including a service charge cost us just over Rs.750. The service, though a bit tardy to start with, got better. It must’ve been the crowd or the general mood of the place – hang out and chill.

    Boca Grande, 8th Block, 80ft road, Koramangala. Ph:41105183/41110889

    Menu and Photos at Zomato

  • Samarkand

    For those into history, Samarkand, in Uzbekistan, is the birthplace of Babur, the founder of the Mughal dynasty in India. For those into immediate concerns, like ‘where do we go for dinner tonight’, its also a restaurant on Infantry Road, part of the BJN Group. Infantry Road is a one-way, so don’t try to get in from the Safina Plaza direction.

    We called on Friday to reserve a table (the day you get a table without reservation, you might as well make life changing decisions too, you’re in luck) We were told that both the two seaters were already reserved, so we asked for a 4 seater, and then our 2 friends who were supposed to join us, failed to turn up. 😀

    Samarkand specialises in the cuisine of the place its named after. The menu card is a nice curio, and is in the form of a newspaper, and gives a small peek into the culture and cooking habits of the area.

    We’d decided to try out a kabab this time, so from the choices available, we selected a Murgh Gilafee Seekh, which is ‘made from chicken mince flavored with cardamom, and wrapped with finely chopped pepper’. Not a bad choice, and tasted good, especially with some of the sauces they provide. A bit of ‘anti snobbery’ desreves mention, as we were asked to eat the dish without the aid of cutlery. 🙂

    That, and the bread sticks, made us go for a single gravy for the main course. So, we ordered the Murgh Peshawari, which is ‘chicken in a rich and invigorating blend of spices, brown gravy, roasted garlic and fresh red chillies’. To go with it, an onion kulcha and a paneer kulcha. Boneless chicken, and a very tasty gravy, goes well with the kulchas too. The red chillies weren’t spicy though. The quantity is sufficient for two people.

    We were stuffed, so we skipped desserts, but there are a few good options, for about Rs.150. The service was very good, though unlike the last time we were here, there was no advice given on the menu.

    All of the above, including a bottle of mineral water (Rs.70 again)!! :O, and a service charge of 10%, came upto just over Rs.1000. In terms of wallet friendliness, its less affectionate than say, a Sahib Sind. So, a good place to go, if you plan to splurge.

    Samarkand, #66, Gem Plaza, Infantry Road, Bangalore. Ph: 41113366

    Menu and Photos at Zomato

  • Moti Mahal Delux

    After being told by a lovely voice to contact Airtel customer care, since the numbers i dialled could not be found, we still reserved after having got through to the mobile number. Moti Mahal is in Lido Mall, on Old Madras Road, and serves Indian and Mughlai cusine. We realised after we got there, that a reservation really wasn’t necessary, since there were exactly 3 groups during the time we spent there. It perhaps has to do with the fact that they weren’t accepting any credit cards, except for Amex (only for the day). Before I really get stuck in a Sholay kind of scene (Jai and Mausi for Viru’s rishta with Basanti), let me proceed.

    So, after checking our wallets’ cash component, and ensuring that we wouldn’t be washing vessels later, we started with a Moti Mahal Almond and Mushroom soup. It was quite spicy, thanls to the contribution from the open green chilly. Its served in glasses, not exactly the style I prefer. There were tiny slivers of almond, and we hoped that the mushroom was somehow built in. I think you should try some kababs, since there are lots of options, though all the non veg options are priced over Rs.295

    For the main course, we ordered a ‘Murg Korma from Old Delhi’, a ‘Brain Masala’ and to go with it, an onion kulcha and a lal mirchi ka paratha.  The chicken curry was just about okay, though the quantity was more than sufficient. D says the tomato flavour that it had was a bit overboard (I wonder why i never have these gustatory perceptions 😐 ) The brain masala was quite good, and perhaps the redeeming factor, though at Rs.295, it happens to be the costliest brain I’ve had. (comic references to MY brain will not be tolerated..hmmph) They also give a small paratha as part of the brain dish. The Kulcha was big enough not to warrant a second one, and was quite good. The lal mirch paratha didn’t go overboard in spiciness.The dessert options are the regular North indian cuisine suspects, except for Mawa Chocolate, but we were too stuffed to try.

    The ambience is not great, quite bare. I also thought that the two seater tables could be a bit bigger, especially since their roti containers are quite large. The service was quite pleasant, except for the part where we were asked whether we were ready for the main course, when we’d just started with the soup. All of the above and a mineral water cost us a rupee and fifty paise short of Rs.1000, that’s inclusive of a service charge of 10%.

    Moti Mahal Delux, Lido Mall, 1/4 Swami Vivekanand Road, Near Trinity Circle, Ulsoor, Bangalore Ph: 080 42127112/3, 9741886985

    Menu at Zomato