Category: South Bangalore

  • High Brew

    High Brew is quite far from our standard hunting grounds, and we landed here because of a whimsical ‘staycation’. We needed a Schengen Visa and didn’t want to endure the long distance journey from Whitefield to VFS, JP Nagar with the threat of being late for the appointment. So we decided to make the journey the evening before, stay overnight nearby and walk over in the morning. While searching for a place to dine at, we came across High Brew, and it won out because of one interesting thing.

    The place itself is pretty vast, with three floors of seating. If you reach early on weekend evenings, you might get a view with greenery. I was told we could even see peacocks sometimes, but I am not sure whether that is true, or simply a testament to the quality and/or quantity of beer consumed. We were too late to get those seats, but found ones with the road view that was good enough.

    High Brew

    The interesting thing that got the vote was the High Tide Palm toddy. It was decent, but we didn’t think we wanted 500 ml of it. We also tried the High Cool Cucumber Salt Lager, and made the same verdict. High Smoke (not what you think) was smoky German, and not our kind either. We finally settled for the High Cloud (Hefeweizen) and it was surprisingly good. I think the live music helped too!

    High Brew

    The food menu is pretty standard. The Chetti Omelette sounded intriguing and was tasty enough, but didn’t go far beyond a masala omelette. The Kurpalli chicken was described as fiery but didn’t really get to that level of spice. The Kalpasi pepper Fry also was just passable.

    High Brew

    The bill, thanks to a DineOut discount came to just under Rs.1600 and that’s probably the most I’d pay for the overall experience. Barring the Hef and the live music, High Brew was reasonably meh. Unless you stay in the ‘hood and this is your comfort hangout, I’d give this a pass.

    High Brew, 3rd Main Rd, Dollars Colony, Sahyadri Layout, J. P. Nagar

  • Khmer Kitchen

    While the current story is about Khmer Kitchen in JP Nagar, the backstory took place in 2011, when we visited Cambodia. That was when, at Temple Club Balcony, which lured me in with an Apsara show, D discovered her favourite dish – Fish Amok.

    Back to the present, when D decided that her birthday treat would be her favourite dish. That’s what took us on a road trip across Bangalore, during which I wondered whether going to Cambodia might have been easier! An hour and a half later, we finally landed up at (what was formerly) Girish Karnad’s residence. Since he never invited me, I can’t make a comparison, but now, the place is BEAUTIFUL! Trees, mini waterfalls, a koi pond, Khmer sculptures, all help in transporting you out of the mad rush that’s only a few feet away. Add to it a library, wicker furniture, and an exquisite terrace seating, and you’ll fall in Instalove with Khmer Kitchen.

    Khmer Kitchen

    It’s no wonder that the place starts getting full at 7PM. Thankfully, we had made a reservation. The current menu seems like an abridged version of the one on Zomato. And thus went out my Siem Sunset plans. I settled on a Thom Storm, which was essentially a version of Whiskey Sour, with the Souchong tea adding a bit of a variation to the standard. As is usually the case, D’s drink – Wat de Ampil was easily better! Tequila, tamarind, peppercorns and jaggery might sound like a curry recipe, but it looked and tasted great.

    The Chicken Tom Yum Xiao Long lived up to its artisanal categorisation by taking its own sweet time to arrive. I studied the little plate, tipped it to the side a bit and finally said that I felt cheated out of the promised soup. D (with an eye roll) pointed out that the soup was inside the dimsum. Subtle flavours in the filling, and a slightly chewy wrapper made this a just-so dish. The Cambodian Chicken skewers, on the other hand, arrived fast, and with the Sriracha mayonnaise, was bursting with flavours. And finally, what we had made the journey for – Fish Amok. tl;dr – Khmeh. While the presentation was fine, the coconut milk seemed a little off as did the colour, and the texture of the dish was different from what D remembered. Oh well, we had to try.

    Khmer Kitchen

    The food was a mixed bag. The service was friendly even if not exceptional. The wallet lost about Rs.2600 but for this ambience, happy to pay! The place looks fabulous, and probably warrants a visit only for that.

    Khmer Kitchen, 697, 15th Cross, 100 Feet Ring Road, 2nd Phase, JP Nagar, Ph: 7337808157

  • Stories – The Brew Chapter

    Back in 2014, when I told friends that I had visited a microbrewery in JP Nagar, they thought I had a hangover. It took a review to prove it. 6 years later, such is the level of gentrification that it’s become a multiple-choice question! Even if I exclude that abomination called The Yellow Submarine, and the meh Uru. Bangalore traffic has scarred us to the extent that it is less scarier than a potentially fatal virus. That’s how we landed at Stories in BTM.

    (This is interesting, because the post will be published only two months later. Would the virus scare be far enough in the rear view mirror?)

    As with most microbreweries, the place is fairly large, with multiple floors and sections. Lots of greenery, and not just the standard vertical version. Thanks to the ill-communicated “lockdown”, it was not overcrowded, though there was a fair crowd.

    A for Apple Cider for D, and B for Belgian Wit for me is how we started. The Wit seemed fresh and had a mild zing to it, an easy drink. I found the Cider a little too sweet for my liking, though D was fine with it. From the starters, we tried a Chowringhee Chilli Chicken, which was basic chilli chicken, and actually quite mild despite the name. The Chicken Suya Kebab was a much better dish and that was largely thanks to the gun powder coating.

    Though I wanted to try the Hefeweizen, I finally went with the Rauchbier. I had liked the version at XOOX, though that was an ale. This one was a lager, and milder as well, though the smokiness was very much around. The Fiery Chick pizza seemed like a good companion for the drinks, and with a combination of spicy chicken, chilli flakes, green chilli and mozzarella, it did that job just fine. An experiment followed – a Chicken Cannelloni that had a tandoori masala. Surprisingly, this was quite good!

    For desserts, there was an interesting-sounding Nutella Baklava, but we decided on a Decadent Mousse. This was brandy infused rich chocolate with some nice texture thanks to crumbs and sugar coated nuts.

    The bill came to around Rs.2500, which seemed par for the course. The service was prompt and friendly, though they did make a mistake with the bill. The playlist gave the place a lounge feel that matched the overall decor and ambiance.

    Stories – The Brew Chapter, 29th Main Road, Mahadeshwara Nagar, Stage 2, BTM 2nd Stage Ph: +918046809326

  • The Yellow Submarine

    Beatles, beer of the craft kind, and a 4.4 rating on Zomato. What’s not to like, we thought, and the long Dussehra weekend gave us the courage that one must have in the face of Bangalore traffic, especially when we have to get to the other half of the planet – Bannerghatta Road.

    We reached there by around 5.30, and got our first warning – the building has Big Bazaar on the ground floor. We were reminded of 3 Monkeys, Bangalore’s worst microbrewery in our experience. Even the Sarjapur ones couldn’t beat that one. The trip to the fourth floor, where the brewery is located, wasn’t really an uplifting experience either. The elevator had a capacity of 4, and was already full. So we took the stairs, and that was an olfactory assault that we barely survived.

    After the entrance hatch, things get a little better. The rooftop itself has two levels, and we chose the lower one. It has bar stools and regular seating, and probably thanks to the greenery across the road (IIM campus), there is a fair amount of wind. Later in the evening, when the yellow lights are switched on, the place does look pretty.

    From the beer menu, I asked for a Kölsch, partly because I had liked the version at Wanderers. D chose a safe Hefeweizen. When the waiter said “select starters”, I began doing just that. But it turned out that only select starters were available till 6.30 – fries, masala peanuts and the like. Thankfully, pizzas were available, so we ordered a BBQ chicken pizza. After a while, we began wondering whether he had meant that service in general would happen only after 6.30! We consoled ourselves that perhaps he didn’t want us getting the beer without anything to eat. Around then, we saw a pizza making its way from the kitchen to a serving table nearby. After an appropriate cooling time, it was allowed passage to our table. We casually enquired about the beer, and got a “really?” look in return. The beer mugs had obviously not seen cleaning for a while and we had to clean them ourselves. My beer, on the other hand, seemed like soap water! The Hefeweizen was a consolation. The pizza wasn’t bad, and they were nice enough to ask, after we had finished most of it, whether we needed any sauce! Aww.

    Only because there was a 2+2 on Zomato Gold, I asked for a Belgian Witbier. This one seemed to be from the initial batch – around the time they had started the place! 😐

    D merely repeated her drink! In the meanwhile, we were told that pasta also made the cut in the ‘select’ dishes available. The tri colour lasagna seemed like a patriotic must-do. The yellow lights had been switched on, so every picture took on a jaundice filter! The pasta was so-so, and by then it was 6.30. We chickened out of the Ghee Roast and ordered a Housemade (sic) Snicker Bar. This thankfully, wasn’t very bad.

    The bill came to around Rs.1350, mostly thanks to the 2+2 beers.  The service, from what we experienced, considers this a glorified bar. Masala peanuts is their go-to suggestion. They also have a very rule book led south Bangalore approach – only tiffin until 6.30! The music is classic rock, and that helped drown the sorrow of having traveled more than 20 km one way! It barely beat 3 Monkeys, so I wouldn’t recommend a visit.

    The Yellow Submarine, 4th Floor,SRK Towers (Big Bazaar building), Bannerghatta Road, Ph: 8722147555 (map)

  • Napoli Bistro

    First published in Bangalore Mirror

    After the World Cup, a bite of Italian could mean a lot of things, but in HSR Layout, there aren’t really a lot many options. That probably explains the crowd on a Saturday night at Napoli Bistro. ( Having said that, HSR continues to surprise me each time with its growth spurts!) Street parking and a flight of stairs take you to a well-lit floor with views to the busy 27th Main road. (map) The faux brick wall, the framed art and the functional, elegant furniture all add a semblance of character to the place. We got there just in time before the place filled up. The menu is all Italian and seemingly extensive.

    There is no dearth of starter options – soup, appetisers and a host of salads – though there is a clear skew towards vegetarian. On a chilly Bangalore night, a soup is a great way to begin a meal, and that’s exactly what we did. The description doesn’t offer a lot of explanation and simply states ‘Non Veg’. The risk turned out to be worth it and we got a delicious, creamy yellow soup (pumpkin was the guess, but turned out to be carrot) with chicken sausage slices. The Napoli Pesto was a tasty dish too – toasted bread with a tasteful signature pesto. The Chicken Quesadilla – standard tortillas stuffed with diced chicken – wasn’t really the best we have had. Quite savourless and a bit too greasy.

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