Category: Restaurant Reviews

  • Tangerine

    The disclaimer is that this is by far our favourite sizzler joint in bangalore, and while the review might be dripping with this enthusiasm and affection, most of it is justified. 🙂

    Its located on 100 ft road In Indiranagar towards its Old Madras Road end, the place where the metro construction is happening. When coming from the CMH road side, you’ll find it on the left, after Domino’s Pizza, and in the same building as Cafe Beanstalk. Parking of 4 wheelers might be a small problem, you might have to walk a bit, but 2 wheeler parking can be found right in front.

    Its not usually very crowded till about 8.30, so you can choose to reserve accordingly. The windy outside we came in from prompted us to go for a soup rather than a starter, though there are enough options for the latter too. We ordered a Spicy Chicken and Corriander soup, and that’s how I now have a new favourite soup. Its a thick soup, and as the name goes, it is spicy and has chicken and corriander, but what brings in the real flavour are the green chillies and the coconut cream. Its absolutely scrumptious and highly recommended.

    The extensive menu spoils us for choice, as far as the main course goes. After rounds of discussion, we finally settled on a Chicken Torreon and a Sliced Chicken Citronelle. It has to be mentioned that there are some excellent options in fish, lamb and beef as well. The Chicken Torreon is diced chicken, done in a mexican style and served on a bed of rice. As with everything else I have eaten here, it has a unique flavour, this one, a tangy, spicy mix. The Sliced Chicken Citronelle is chicken in an unusual lemon, chilly and coconut milk sauce, and served on a bed of rice. This one would’ve been bland but the excellent sauce gives it an absolutely awesome flavor. Another absolute must have.

    The unfortunate part is that all of the above left us no room for dessert, for which again, there are lots of options. From an earlier visit, I’d recommend the beer mousse. Its not something I’ve seen anywhere else, and is worth a try.

    All of the above cost us about Rs.650, and its a no brainer that we’ll continue to be regular visitors here. 🙂

    Menu at Zomato

  • Vicky’s Tava Lounge

    I had seen it on my way to China Pearl and had bookmarked it then for a visit. For those not well versed with the Koramangala eatery landscape, here’s how to get there. When coming from the MG Road side, take a left from Forum, continue straight till you see a temple and a park right after it. Take a right (one way), if you don’t see a Samsung showroom on your left in the first 50 metres, you’re lost, repeat the entire process. If you do, proceed until you see a Unilet showroom and a ‘Cottons by Century’ on your right. Vicky’s is opposite the latter.

    The Tava lounge is on the second floor, and they also have a Continental cuisine joint on the floor above. Since we felt like having desi stuff, we decided to stop at the second floor. We were quite early, so we easily managed to get seats. Since there are many options on the same road, I think you can afford not to make reservations, the phone number is anyway not working 🙂

    Vicky’s has been in the restaurant business since 1935 in kolkata and Bangalore (Church Street and Hennur road, funny, never noticed the former), says the menu card. Meanwhile, the interiors have been done very well, with some Fab India seating also thrown in, for the Indian touch. In essence, the work lends the place a soothing cosy ambience. Three of the tables also offer a good view of the road below (always love to eat, watching life pass by) 🙂

    Since it was another rainy night, we decided to go for a Shorba, against the common practice of starters in desi dine outs. They have about 3 options, including one veg, we chose the Murgh Badami. It was extremely good, with some unique flavor, in addition to the almond. Even with a ‘by two’, the quantity was quite sufficient. They also offered us some complimentary munchies while we were waiting.

    The menu does not offer a range of choices for animal lovers, they have around 3 options for sea food, 4 for poultry and other meat each, but significantly more for the other kind of animal lovers – vegetarians. For the main course, we decided to try the Murg tava Pyaz, which seemed to be the chef’s special mix of spices, pickled onion and boneless chicken. Since we were told that it would be a thick gravy, we also ordered a Machi masala. To go with it, we ordered an onion kulcha and an aloo kulcha, followed later by a Naan. The food is simply amazing, with both the dishes competing for attention and share of gut. Although it looked like the quantities might only be just right, it turned out to be very filling in the end. The Murg has a very distinctive taste, and is a definite must-have. Meanwhile, they were also nice enough to get us some Chaas, on the house. The only snag was that, all this didn’t leave us enough space for dessert, though they have a fairly good mix of Indian as well as Continental stuff.

    All of the abvove cost us about Rs.650. This is definitely a good place to visit for some tasty North indian food in a pleasant, cosy setting.

  • 3 Storys

    I used to visit the place quite regularly when my workplace was around the area, but those were for the executive lunch. Its located off Lavelle road – when coming from MG Road, take the left on to Lavelle Road, and take the right just before the turning towards Airlines Hotel/Corner House.

    3 Storys offers three stories of seating options and specilaises in Goan/Mangalorean/Coorgi/Kerala cuisine. The best thing about this place is that its almost ‘Empirical’ in terms of being able to hog multiple dishes, thanks to the adequate portions and value for money.

    The top floor is a good option if its not raining, but since it was, we opted for the second floor. The seating is very comfortable on all the floors and has options for largish groups as well as cosy couples 🙂

    We started with a Caldo Verde soup, perhaps the only veg soup I don’t mind having. They make it quite well here and the by-two portion is almost as large as a normal full portion. We wanted to have the Sear Peri Peri but unfortunately, they didn’t have any fish available. That also meant no Kana Rava fry. Inspite of that, there were still plenty of starter options, so we finally settled for a Coorg Fried Chicken, and I’ve bookmarked the Goan Sausages for next time. The Coorgi chicken was delicious and had a distinctive flavor. Now I’m no expert on Coorgi cuisine so i dont know if it was a Coorgi flavor, but whatever it was, it was awesome.

    For the main course, we ordered Malabar Erachi Chops and Brown Chicken Stew and to go with it one plate of Idiappam and one plate of Appam. There are lots of options for seafood lovers. even if you aren’t (like me), phikar not, because the options available, that too from multiple cusines will make you wish you had a larger appetite. We also ordered one Malabar Porotta (yup, we spell it that way there 🙂 ) and a plate of Sannas. We’ve always liked the brown stew here, but this time, the Eratchi chops was just leagues ahead. Except for the Sannas (which were a little harder than usual) everything else was just great. I would also recommend the Mutta Porotta (thats Kerala porotta with an egg bullseye on top). There aren’t too many dessert options available though you could try the Bibinca, if you haven’t tasted it before. Anyways, there’s Corner House nearby, and now Mocha too.

    Meanwhile, 3 Storys is the place to come to, when you’re in the mood for a different, but value-for -money food experience. All of the above cost us about Rs.600, and thus ends this story. 🙂

  • Sahib Sindh Sultan

    Our first tryst with these guys was documented in my other blog, and you’ll notice that the relationship didn’t begin well. We’ve had mixed experiences with these guys, and I think its one of the most snobbish places as far as the BJN group’s restaurants go. We’ve had occasions where they didn’t take reservations, and then asked us if we had a reservation when we reached. But something that’s been consistently good is the food, and since that’s one the most important parameters of judging a restaurant, we manage to go back. But as far as the service goes, go there if you’re into masochism.

    This time we were told that no reservations would be taken after 7.45 pm, so we asked for a table at 7.45. We got two calls to confirm that, one in the afternoon, and one at about 7.43 pm. I fully agree with a restaurant calling me if I don’t arrive on time, but this irritated me. Unfortunately, the location at Forum Mall makes sure that they get patrons inspite of themselves, and because of the food.

    The theme of the restaurant is the first train in india, and that’s what its named after. the restaurant consists of two sections –  the ‘platform’ and the ‘compartment’. As you’d have guessed, the former is an open kind of area with flexible seating arrangements (large groups, couples etc) and the latter is a more cosy 4 seaters affair. The platform has graffiti that resembles an actual platform, including the old station master gong that sounds once almost every hour. The inside also does the theme justice, with overhead storage space that hold some old English style lady hats and handbags, and you can also see the kind of fans you see in trains. (don’t worry, its not for the function, the entire restaurant is air conditioned 🙂 )

    We ordered a Royal Velvet Chicken Shorba, which judging from the way it was consumed, was extremely good. We’d also asked for a starter to be brought along with the shorba, but of course, they really don’t listen to you. So three of us watched one person drinking the shorba, while munching breadsticks. Speaking of breadsticks go for the cheese and cumin sauce, the other two are miles behind. Meanwhile exactly 5 minutes after the soup was finished, we got the starter – Laupathgamini Bhatti ka Tikka (that first name coule have a spelling error, though it would roughly match 🙂 ). Thankfully, it was extremely tasty, and was just right in quantity for 3-4 people.

    For the main course, we ordered a Makhmali Murgh Tikka Masala and a Vulcan Foundry Murgh Badam. We’d gone there expecting to get a Havelock’s Fish Musullum, but for the first time, it was not available. But I’d definitely recommend it especially if you’re agroup of 3-4. Anyway, we ordered a Tandoori Roti, a Butter Naan, an Aloo Anardana Kulcha, and a Paneer & Peas Kulcha. True to character, they ended up forgetting the Aloo Kulcha and gave us 2 Paneer Kulchas, and expected us to believe that it was indeed Aloo, though it tasted like Paneer.

    The quantity was not sufficient, and since i was voted down when i suggested the Dak Bungalow Roast, and the Makhmali Murg was extremely tasty, we ended ordering one more of that and an Aloo Kulcha. We got lucky the second time since we actually got it. The Vulcan Foundry Murg is good especially if you’re the white gravy kind. But I still prefer the Dak Bungalow Roast (brown gravy), though it’s not boneless. The rotis and kulchas were also good enough. The sad part was that all this did not leave enough room for dessert.

    All of the above cost us about Rs.1500, and to top it, they didn’t get us any saunf etc after dinner. I assume it wasn’t just us, since i saw quite a crowd at the exit, picking it up from a table that had all the stuff. In essence, some of the best food you can find in bangalore, and possibly the worst service would sum up Sahib Sind Sultan.

    Menu and Photos at Zomato

  • Tandoor – Koramangala

    Yes, really, i say. At the Oasis complex on the Intermediate Ring Road, the building which has Lifestyle and Spar. Tandoor is on the same floor as Polynation, Fire Wok, Sanjeev Kapoor’s Yellow Chillies, Cream & Fudge Factory, Bull & Bush and so on. So you won’t go hungry there even if you don’t get a place in Tandoor. But since we went with a single minded purpose, we reserved in advance and after many weeks, found some kindred souls who believed in the concept of reservation. (no not the controversial type, the normal table booking kind). For those who want to go there to watch IPL (as their ad says), there are about 4 tables which could offer you a view, so let the objective be food.

    They gave us a ‘table in the centre of the room’ for two, which wasn’t quite appealing, especially since the group at a nearby table gave us looks that could be read as being snobbish. So we bullied the staff to give us a better one.

    The menu, though looks better than the MG Road one as far as aesthetics go, is much lesser on content. And they don’t serve liquor, I think the MG Road one does. I especially missed the Patiala on the menu, the Murg kind. So, while there were around 3 shorbas and a few starters to choose from, we skipped them, since the Tandoor quantities are usually large.

    We ordered a Shahi Fish Tikka (served on a sizzler), a half Kadai Chicken, a butter naan and an onion kulcha. The fish came first, and the fowl didn’t follow as quickly as we’d have expected, especially since we had explicitly asked for it to be brought with the main course. So it wasn’t in as hot a state as it should have been eaten in, and that perhaps was the reason it tasted so bland. The kulcha was a very young one, it hadn’t been allowed to grow to its full potential. But the naan was. Dont expect the same quantities as the Tandoor on MG Road, the chicken was just about enough for two, though it tasted quite good.

    The service was good, except for the late delivery, for which they apologised. The ambience could’ve been better, and they could’ve avoided the flies, especially since they were on the house, er, houseflies ;). Bad ambience, bad PJs !!! All of the above cost us (hold your breath) just below Rs.950. (It took us a while to get our breath back, you? )That, plus the options weren’t enough to convince us on dessert.

    Tandoor: 4th Floor, Oasis Mall, Koramangala Ph: 41747008/9/10

    Map at Zomato