• Tilt

    If Koramangala needed one more addition to its eateries to tilt the balance in its favour, it’s done! Tilt is a gastropub on the same road as Truffles Ice & Spice. There is no valet parking so if you have a four wheeler, you’re probably better off parking in that lot next to Empire, and walking it up. Plenty of space for 2 wheelers though. Tilt bills itself as Bangalore’s first destination gastropub. I know a certain Monkey who might pick a joust over that, but since Koramangala IS Bangalore for a lot of people, we’ll let that pass. When we’d dropped in at Tilt a couple of months back, we had the luxury of choosing our seating at 8PM on a Saturday, but the second time – a few months later, people who walked in at that time didn’t even have a choice of where to stand. The place was packed – the ground floor, the mezzanine seating, and the outdoor option! I get the feeling that a certain Dj TT had a hand in it, but even otherwise, judging from our experience – the food and the general vibe – the place deserved it.

    Tilt has outdoor seating and in the indoors section, has a ground and mezzanine floors on two sides. There’s also the mandatory giant TV screen. The interiors include hat tips to music in the form of posters all over, but we wondered whether the grunge look had gone a bit overboard. However, the rest of the experience easily takes over before you start paying attention to the details. ‘Familiar’ is the word that Tilt uses to describe the music it plays, and it was exactly that. A sea change from the 2010-hangover music we heard the first time. It was still a bit loud, but everyone seemed to be having a blast, and that brought the painful realisation that age was not really tilting in my favour!

    The drinks menu was under construction the first time with print outs being given to us, but things had changed since then. The first time, we asked for a Sangria and a ‘Crazy Mango’. The sangria was reasonably good and had brandy in it, though measly in terms of quantity but the mango drink (aam panna based) was awesome, and highly recommended. The latter wasn’t available the second time though. The Tilt Kiss (mocktail version) was not bad either, but the Cosmopolitan turned out to be too sweet.

    The main menu is an eclectic mix of various cuisines, with many fusion twists. In addition to the regular menu, there’s also a bar snacks menu. The first time, we tried Oriental stir fried pork sausages. The sausages had lemon grass and soy glaze, giving it an excellent hot and sweet flavour. The second time, a rainy night menu meant that we had to try a soup. The Broth of leeks and charred Za’atar flavoured chicken got a few points just for the unique presentation, and the mildly spicy soup didn’t disappoint on taste either. We missed the German snail sausages in the dish, but the Pork Cocktail sausages and the superb sauerkraut seasoning quite made up for it. Billions of Blue Blistering Barnacles was up next – grilled seafood, mushroom ceviche, crisp Basil chiffonade chicken with chlorophyll mayo and Peruvian bread. We found squid, prawn, and fish; the mayo deserves a special mention for the flavour it lent to the dish. The Old Monk Chicken crispy chilli hot wings has been a favourite and continued to be everything it promised.

    Technically, the mini wharf burgers are part of the bar snacks menu, but given we were a few drinks down, we tilted it towards the main course! I was warned that their appearance was deceiving and they’d be quite filling. I think there is some tasty truth in it. The Fusilli in creamy pesto with mushrooms was thick and creamy but might have felt a little ignored in the company of meatier dishes. Capriscisico calebresse was our pizza of choice, mostly thanks to its name dropping among ingredients – ham and bacon, to be specific. But the thin pizza was only average, though quite filling! For those interested, there is also a Man vs Burger championship that’s always on! The Penne Chicken & Mushroom Alfredo was quite creamy and tasty. The quantity was also decent. The ‘Interpretation of Kozhi Porichathu’ took some more time and the presentation was quite fantastic. The dish itself was only average. The chicken could have done with a little more cooking, and the Beurre blanc seemed to be made of coconut milk powder and that took away a little bit. 

     

    For dessert, we asked for a Gianduja hot chocolate souffle which had fried chocolate biscuits and a chocolate vanilla creamy ‘soup’. That took an inordinate amount of time. Apparently the chef had forgotten about it! Thankfully it was worth it. The two chocolate components beautifully complemented each other in terms of texture and flavour. During the second visit, we chose the Chilled strawberry bisque and the Crème Brule. (sic) The former also had pistachio quenelles and ricotta cream, which complemented the strawberry flavour but couldn’t really elevate the dish. The Crème Brulee was crunchy and custardy, but the custard was a little too hard.

     

    For about Rs.1500, you could share a drink, a non veg starter, a couple of main course dishes and a dessert. (Inclusive of taxes and service charge) Tilt has a lot of things going for it – good food, energetic vibes and from a few experiences, superb music! What it can work on are the details eg. dog-eared menu cards, and probably some character – something that for instance, Monkey has oodles of. If they do, there’s nothing that stops the establishment from going ahead full tilt, even amidst the gastronomic abundance that’s Koramangala.

    Tilt Gastropub, 99, Ground Floor, 4th B Cross, 5th Block, 1st Main Road, Koramangala Ph: 25530520

    The second visit has been chronicled on Bangalore Mirror.

  • Frazer Town Feeding Frenzy

    On hindsight, it seems unpardonable that we lived in Cox Town for over a couple of years and didn’t really explore the Mosque Road – MM Road area, especially during Ramadan. But that story is more than half a dozen years old and the entire experience is way more mainstream now. In fact, such was the hype this year, that I became more or less convinced that TOI would do a brand takeover next year! Before time ran out, we had to visit, even if it meant traveling from Koramangala on a week day.

    Due diligence was done across the web for must-eat items.  We reached there by around 8 and found two organised ‘food courts’ in addition to the various stalls on the roadside. First on the list was Patthar ka Ghost, which had its share of chewy pieces but otherwise turned out to be quite splendid. While they were getting us plates, we managed to eat kheema samosas, which turned out to be delicious! Both of these were from the eatery smack between the food courts. Another item on the list of must-try items was the Bheja Puff, which we tried inside the first ‘food court’. This was only average, specially because it wasn’t really hot. So we quickly focused attention on the ‘camel meat’, arguably the biggest star in the list. This turned out to be more like mutton in terms of texture, and we wondered…..

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    Given that most of the items on the list had been checked, we decided to switch to crazy consumption mode. The rolls in the first food court turned out to be just average, but that “chick on a stick” (first image below) was fantastic. (and reasonably heavy) It has a layer of egg and a tangy masala within, and I’d rate it among the best dishes I had there. All of this was washed down with Arabian grape juice. We then moved on to the second food court, (moving in the direction towards MM road) which was slightly larger, but with a similar set of options. More mutton and beef was consumed, the former in the form of kababs and the latter in muti coloured versions! 🙂 Before we proceeded to the final course, the haleem had to be sampled, and the centre stall in the second food court actually had quite a decent version.

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    Desserts are slightly non-intuitive in this context, and we had actually consumed a Khova Naan much earlier in the game. Unfortunately, not the famous Albert Bakery version, and was only just about ok. We went back to the stall between the food courts because we’d spotted quite a few options there. The Shahi Tukda was up first, and though reasonably good, was totally beaten by the fantastic Phirni, and the superb Banoffee Pie. Actually the ‘pie’ was replaced by a plastic cup, but it still tasted great!

    collage1

    We more or less crawled towards our respective cars, and this was not just because of the crowd! We were a group of 8, and at about Rs.350 per head had a feast that would have us burping well into the next day. This is obviously not fine dining and you have to earn (nudge – push – get irritated and shove) your way through equally fanatic carnivores to the food you want to consume, but it is oh-so worth it. You have 2 more days, go for it! 🙂

  • Six Suspects

    Vikas Swarup

    The second novel by Vikas Swarup, after Q&A, the book that now has a life of its own. Six Suspects worked essentially as a superb suspense thriller for me, but it is also a commentary on everything that happens in India – from militancy and racism to reality TV and call centres. Through six of the most stereotyped characters that you could ever find (okay, five), the author manages not only to create a gripping tale that shakes up the mix every time you think you have cracked the mystery in your head, but also manages to share a perspective on many of the things that makes news and even the probable behind-the-scenes machinations. All delivered not in a preachy tone that one would expect when such topics are involved, but the most amazing wit and sense of humour I have read in recent times.

    Right from the time the author shares a brief history of Vicky Rai, the ‘victim’, and in three paragraphs narrates the deeds that brought India’s sense of justice into the spotlight, I was hooked. He then proceeds to set up the suspects – the bureaucrat who is yet to get over his loss of power, the actress who tries hard to maintain her image and reputation and not mention Nietzsche in conversations, the tribal who seemed to be the only non-stereotype and displays a sense of deep rooted compassion and understanding that humanity seems to have lost, the mobile thief who lives out the Bollywood cliche, the politician who will go to any lengths for power, and the American, whose tale – right from his name, Larry Page – is such a bizarre laugh riot that it deserves a sequel!

    The story lines develop independently, but with clear connections that add to the intrigue. The politician’s spiritual advisor, the actress’ man Friday, the underworld’s ransom kidnaps, the honest cop, the Bhopal gas tragedy and its victims, Pakistani militants, naked sadhus in Prayag, and even the Indian American university grad, all cliches that add volumes to the narrative. But the real craft and genius is in how the stories and backstories are connected, and all the details are tallied. From the motive to the execution, every character, primary and secondary, and his/her action is accounted for, all while making us believe, for instance, that Gandhi’s spirit has entered a corrupt official!

    After all of this, the author takes us through the night itself and just as I thought that the climax itself was an anti, it turned out to be the setup for a riveting series of events that provides a deserving end to a fantastically written work of fiction. Must read.

  • The questions in Big Data

    In my last post that touched upon Big Data, I had mentioned how the seeming intent of Big Data is to synthesise actionable insights from processed and unprocessed information at touch points related or unrelated to the enterprise, and then use it to target consumers better. While this is probably true for the short-medium term, I read a wonderful perspective at GigaOm by Beau Cronin on its true potential – the path to building the equivalent of global-scale nervous systems. As I tweeted after I read it, it reminded me of something I’d written a couple of years back before I’d heard of #BigData – if we could actually use data to go beyond that to answer life’s profound questions. Before we go into the subject, here’s a nice video by OgilvyOne titled “Big Data for smarter customer experiences” (via) though it’s skewed more towards the experience rather than the data.

    Beau Cronin has mentioned several possibilities this would give rise to, and the post made me think if something like the hive mind concept would mesh into it as well – a sort of hybrid neural network. He has also pointed out the hurdles we would face while we get there – gathering, processing and conversion into actionable insights, and how phenomena such as priming,expectations, and framing matter so much in how we perceive our physical and social environments. In essence, a fascinating read.

    I was particularly intrigued by framing, and began thinking about it in the context of the unstructured data – tweets, posts, mails, videos – that is a major component of Big Data. The fundamental question being – is it unstructured because we’re framing it ‘wrong’? Based on the enterprise’ intent and not the users’? Ironically, I couldn’t frame the questions right until I met the ever-brilliant S, who has always maintained that the answer is easy to find once the question has been framed right. He has developed (Tulpa -to build or construct in Tibetan – is the concept he enlightened me on while we were discussing semantics) something that at a rough level mashes the MECE principle with Frame Semantics and the entity-relationship model. There’s IPR involved, so no more beans shall be spilled, but as always, I learned much from the conversation.

    In essence, structure can definitely be derived from what we currently call unstructured data, provided we frame the queries right. I can intuitively begin to understand that in the era of data abundance, the only way we can make sense of all of it is by focusing on an intent that is derived from a common purpose, so that the sources of data (users) will be more open to help solve the challenges of data collection. The processing and inferences that follow would yield the best results when the right questions are asked. I have a feeling that the questions asked by a business in an earlier era might not cut it.

    until next time, role models

  • Windmills Craftworks

    We’ve been hearing good things about Windmills Craftworks for a while now – that though we might be considered tourists given the distance between Koramangala and Whitefield, it was worth dropping in. We had tried once earlier, but they had an event and all the seats were taken. This time, though, we agreed to meet, and an OlaCabs booking was promptly made! That was a massive risk, given that they had left us high and dry only the previous night, but I persisted. When I didn’t get the cab details half an hour prior to the planned departure, I called up OlaCabs and they said I’d get the details in 5 minutes. True to word, I did get a call in 5 minutes, to tell me that there had been a mistake, and I would not be getting a cab! An auto, a Volvo and another auto later, we managed to reach on time! This accurate map really helped!

    The ground floor itself is business-like, and has nothing to offer in terms of directions. Your first task is to find the lift, then all will be clear. The floor which houses the establishment is a better representative of Total Environment Hospitality though. Once inside, there are bookshelves and comfortable seating options indoors and a smaller space outside from where you can see the IT parks that surround the building. Despite all that concrete, the latter is still a wonderful setting, and we chose to sit there.

    The menu is available on an interactive tablet that gives more scope for the appealing food visuals and you can order on it as well. The staff will also confirm the order with you. Though I was tempted to try the samplers, we went ahead with half pints (Rs.195) of Golden Ale, Hefeweizen, a pint (Rs.295) of Dunkelweizen and later a half pint (Rs.225) of the India Pale Ale as well. The Hefe, with its low bitterness, was the most popular, though I liked its darker cousin Dunkel too! The Golden Ale, which is probably the lightest around, was also quite good, and the Pale Ale, true to its name, paled in neglect at our table. Chicken in Pigs Blanket was our first starter, and though in itself it was quite good and not stingy on the bacon either, they could’ve given us a better dip. We then tried the Chicken and Smoked Bacon salad, which had some amazing flavours on the veg leaves that I otherwise ignore! But the pick of the starters was the Beef Picante, which will give any of my favourite Kerala preparations a run for its money. Superbly hot and sweet with very well cooked meat, highly recommended!

    This was about the time that we decided to skip the main course, since we couldn’t have done justice to it. So D decided to test out an Indian starter – Dill Chicken Kebab. It wasn’t bad, but by then the beef had set the bar really high! Given the dessert options, we jumped right in and asked for a Chocolate Pudding, Shahi Tukda, and an Orange Bread and Butter Pudding. The Chocolate was really dark and a little too bitter, though the strawberry helped a bit. The other pudding was fantastic, as was the Shahi Tukda.

    The service was prompt and helpful, and all of the above cost us, including charges and taxes, over Rs.3800. (3 people) Costly? Yes, but then the experience is quite worth it. Like a friend said, you probably can’t go there regularly, but for special occasions or to try the place out once, most definitely.

    Windmills Craftworks, #331, Road No:5B, EPIP Zone, Whitefield. Ph: 26592012