Tag: Continental

  • Veekes & Thomas, Koramangala

    So there I was, walking up from Apollo Clinic in Koramangala, towards Forum, and what do I see? A standee with a Veekes and Thomas menu! Having heard so many good things about the JP Nagar outlet, and having been guilty of sheer laziness, I decided to redeem myself by dropping in there the very next weekend. To be noted that I ignored even the rain gods. Veekes and Thomas is on the same road as Oyster Bay, Sultans of Spice etc – the JNC Road, and is opposite Mani’s Biriyani on the first floor. Here’s the map. Two wheelers will find space near Lazeez Express and the more well wheeled ones can try the parking lot near Empire.

    A single flight of stairs and you’re transported to one of the coziest places you can find in Koramangala, spread across two floors and three rooms. It’s quite obviously a house converted into a restaurant, and a job well done. Music has a huge presence, not just frames adorning the wall, but Floyd, Dire Straits etc playing in the background.

    And now that you have leaned back in your chair and are relaxing to the music, we can finally get to the food. In addition to the regular menu, you might also find a couple of specials on the whiteboard. We decided to start with a couple of soups – French Onion and a Sauteed (?) Mushroom soup. They are served in chai glasses and that means we don’t need to do the by-two routine and can actually try out two soups! I liked the Mushroom soup but that’s because of a bias towards creamy soups. D liked the French Onion soup’s flavours too. We also tried a starter – Southern Fried Chicken Strips with a BBQ dip. The dip turned out to be spicy and excellent and complemented the chicken very well.

    For the main course, we had the Cilantro Chicken in White Sauce and a Lemon Butter Chicken Risotto. The former was easily the winner with the spicy chicken, chilli flakes and the creamy soya sauce coming together very well. The lemon flavour in the Risotto was quite underplayed and therefore a bit on the bland side. It also seemed to have some other flavour involved – dill? For dessert, I asked for a Chocolate Brownie and D got herself a Mango Cheese Cake. The brownie was good though I’d have liked some thicker chocolate sauce. The cheese cake was actually better.

    All of the above cost us just over Rs.550. Smaller soup and dessert portions means that we can try more dishes. The main course/starter dishes portions are standard but the prices more reasonable than what I’ve found elsewhere. They have nailed the consumer understanding – “Indians loving Armani at Rs.99” 🙂 We got around to talking with the manager and she wondered whether getting people in during evenings would be tough. I am sure that with the location, they’ll do well so long as they deliver good food, and told her as much. For now, they have an excellent ambiance, superb food and a very friendly service staff. There is somehow a simple elegance in the entire offering. Thanks to that and their stated philosophy, I am quite a fan and will be a repeat customer for sure. 🙂

    I later did a review for Bangalore Mirror and that can be seen here.

    Veekes and Thomas, 5th Block Jyoti Nivas College Road, (opposite Cuppa) Koramangala, Ph: 80959 85000

  • Urban Solace

    This review was first published in Bangalore Mirror, and the busy urban life routine ensured that I was delayed in posting it here. 🙂

    If you don’t know the area well enough, you might end up circling Ulsoor lake a few times before you find solace. It’s between Foto Flash and Tamil Sangam. (map) Parking for 2 wheelers is easy, and the extra wheels can find space in one of the many small roads nearby.

    Despite the space constraints, the ambiance had a vibrant café feel to it. The bookshelf (despite the business books that looked out of place), the music, the posters, and the art all played a part in lending uniqueness to the place’s character. The idea, apparently,  is to create a balance between the ambiance of a café and the dining experience of a regular restaurant. It has quite a ‘house converted to cafe’ feel too, since you can wander into at least a couple more rooms, with a few tables each. Poetry reading sessions are on every Tuesday night.

    Meanwhile, the menu, on paper, looks good enough to guarantee a good meal. Short eats include a selection of sandwiches and burgers. There are quite a few options in starters and soups, and just enough salads, main course dishes and desserts to take it beyond the standard café fare. They also serve an English breakfast on weekends. You can take a look at the menu below – somehow seemed to have missed the main course page!!

    In addition to the chicken soups for the soul – Tom Yum and Cream of Chicken, that were actually spicy enough to affect the palate too, the Spanish soup, based on spinach puree, is also worth trying. Both the starters we tried were disappointing. The Stuffed Mushroom filling turned out to be a bad mushroom–potato combination and the Chicken Gujons were just bland.

    The Veg A’la King, with mushrooms cooked in white sauce, and the Mexican Chicken with a thick brown tomato based sauce, were the best among the main course dishes. The biggest disaster was that many of the items on the menu were not available. That included the entire selection of mocktails, all the special coffees, and almost the entire dessert section. The one dessert that was available – Orange Choc cake didn’t find favour either.

    On the cost front, for Rs.750, you could share a soup, a non veg starter, two main course dishes and a dessert. This seems just about fair enough considering the quality of the food.

    Though the service staff was polite and prompt in terms of delivering the food to the table, placing the order itself was quite a tedious process. Add to this, inconsistent, and sometimes unclean cutlery, and a credit card machine that wasn’t working, and you would be tempted to call it a disservice.

    You could consider dropping in if you’re around Ulsoor and need a quick bite, but the place really needs to do some soul searching. Urban Solace calls itself a ‘cafe for the soul’, and indeed, the poetry reading sessions and something about the ambiance does show potential in this regard, but sadly, amidst the soul proprietorship attempts, the food seems to have been forgotten. Many of the items in the menu were not available, and though we did manage to have a decent meal, we weren’t really sold on it.

    Urban Solace, 32, Annaswamy Mudaliar Road, (between Foto Flash and Tamil Sangam) Bangalore – 42. Tel: 25553656

  • Under the Mango Tree

    This review was first published in Bangalore Mirror (yes, yes, we got our name in the papers n’ all) 😉 Have reworked it to suit the blog’s regular format. 🙂

    Remember Cornucopia in Richmond Town. (map) Its now got a new owner and a new name – Under the Mango Tree. The set up has been modified ever so slightly, the mango tree remains, and the erstwhile elaborate menu changed completely, though it still serves Continental and Italian. Here’s the new menu. Meanwhile, this time, my company consisted of Gautam, Radha, Karthik and Prmod.

    (click to enlarge)

    I started with a Cream of Mushroom and Leek soup, which turned out to be the best among its kind. Karthik’s Cold Melon soup was a bit of a disaster, and Gautam had still not come to terms with the existence of a vegetarian French Onion soup. The Goan sausages made a pretty decent starter.  The Pita and Hummus were only just ok.

    The ‘King Size sausages’ was what I chose for the main course, and again got lucky, because it was quite a good dish, with its caramelised onion sauce. Prmod’s Veg Lasagna also turned out to be tasty enough. The Sea Bass was quite a disappointment  – Karthik was sure it was mackerel, and both the Pepperoni as well as the Mozzarella – Hot Pepper pizzas one were only average.

    On to desserts. The Chocolate Mousse is not something a chocoholic ever complains about, but this one could’ve been better. The Mango mousse cake tried to be the saviour and just about managed to succeed despite some essence extravagance. The chocolate mousse with caramelised banana could’ve been a winner if the mousse had been allowed to be strong enough, it would have worked well with the banana, I thought.

    In essence, some hard work needs to go into the place. The aambiance is pleasant enough, and the owner, Nirmala, helps with the order as well as some amount of customisation. Cost for two people would be about Rs.1000, which would get you a couple of soups, a starter, main course dishes and a dessert. So, drop in, if you’re in the neighbourhood, and give it a shot.

    Under the Mango Tree, # 3, Laurel Lane, Richmond town, Bangalore. Tel: 9686601021

    PS: If you’re in Bangalore, and would like to be featured in a review, drop me a line with your favourite cuisine or new restaurant you’ve noticed – manuscryptsATgmailDOTcom, and we’ll figure something out 🙂

  • Rendezvous

    A rendezvous that took quite some time, though its just a few minutes away from home. Rendezvous Euro Restaurant is on 80ft Road, right before Barista. Here’s a map. Since there are enough side lanes around, parking is not likely to be a big problem.

    Its more a friendly neighbourhood place than anything you’d come halfway across town for. But that also means that whenever I’ve passed by, I’ve seen it completely packed. We reached there a bit early, a little before 7.45. That, and the rains meant that we were among the first to arrive. But by 8.30 it was getting filled fast.

    Rendezvous has a warm dimly lit ambiance, with some good retro music in the background. Nothing elaborate in terms of decor and furniture, but neat and a great place to sip a beer and watch Koramangala life passing by. The menu is mostly Continental, with some Chinese options too. You can take a look here.

    The rain meant that we had to start with a soup. D and I shared a Mexican soup pot and my sis asked for a Cream of Chicken. Our soup, though described as a broth, was quite thick and creamy , and had salami, chicken and boiled vegetable with some cheese, that added a little zing to it.

    We skipped the starters and the Chinese options and got busy trying to choose from a range of steaks, pastas and burgers. I asked for a Chicken Crepes, D ordered a Peppered Chicken Pasta and my sis ordered a ‘Gold and Red’ burger. The Crepes were conspicuous by their absence, but the tangy mushroom sauce, and the spicy mashed potato ensured that I wasn’t left too disappointed.

    The missing component continued in D’s Peppered pasta, so D did a DIY with the pepper on the table, but apparently it still remained bland.So this turned out to be a disappointing choice.

    My sis’ Gold and Red burger turned out to be a mixed bag. The Gold half, which had cheese and salami was apparently good, but the Red half, with a cold chicken salad was given a cold shoulder. She also felt that the salad may have been her age. I was the only one not complaining much. No comments on the lines of ‘you eat anything’ will be tolerated. Hmmph. I was too stuffed for dessert, though there was even a marble cake, and the others weren’t too sure what would land up on the table.

    All of the above cost us just over Rs.700. The service was quite prompt. I think it serves as a good hangout joint, so this goes into a no gain, no pain category.

    Rendezvous, 15/1, 80 ft Road, Koramangala 4th Block Ph: 25631177

    Menu at Zomato

  • Woodstok

    Yes, you see something missing, but no, I haven’t gotten the spelling wrong. Nor is this some wordplay stunt on any famous golfer you might have heard of recently.

    I assume that since the owners would have found it difficult to replicate the original, naming their ‘resto-cafe’ to sound like the iconic event would be their way of paying a tribute. Works for me, and if good ol’ rock’n’roll ain’t good enough for you, the fact that they have a soup laced with chocolate should get your immediate attention and affection. But we’ll come to that it in a while.

    Woosdstok serves continental food, pastries too, and is located on the road that connects the Koramangala-Indiranagar 100 ft road to CMH Road/12th Main etc. When coming from Koramangala, take a left immediately after the flyover, and you’ll find it on your right after about a 100m. You can find a map right here. Parking isn’t too difficult for 2 wheelers, and I’m sure those at a higher tier can find a way.

    We didn’t reserve in advance since we planned to reach early, but we saw that the place was beginning to get crowded by the time we left, so you might want to keep that in mind. Woodstok has seating on two floors and seemed like a house converted into its current function. So instead of coldly functional/symmetric/ordered seating, there are balconies, diner style options, some modas and so on, all lending character to the place, while retaining the functional element. Ok, enough of design, we obviously had other designs for the visit. We chose to sit on the balcony, overlooking a not-so-crowded road, and it added a lot to the the experience.

    The menu can be found online, so bonus points for that!! I’m guessing the kids menu would be popular too. We started with a ‘Cream of chicken with a twist’. The twist is in the form of a chocolate sauce, just a wee bit, but hey, just for once, I’ll say its the thought that counts. The soup was very creamy, and with a little pepper, it worked out very well indeed. Though it did take a little longer than usual to get to us, they kept us occupied with a garlic bread basket. (though I found it odd that they chose to give 3 slices when there were 2 of us – wouldn’t any even number have made more sense? )

    For the main course, we asked for a London House Woodstok Grill (its a sizzler) and a Chicken Marsala. The Grill was all that its descriptor promised it to be, with grilled chicken, a mini steak, cocktail chicken sausages, bacon and ham with a pepper sauce. Yes, there were sauteed vegetables too, but they only got the attention they deserved. The mashed potatoes were good though. The steak was well done and unlike the Mallu joke, I didn’t have to kill it before I ate it. Grilled chicken, bacon, ham, bliss, enough said. The Marsala, we were told when we ordered, would be slightly sweet, but it actually had a strong oregano flavour instead. Along with the mushrooms, mashed potatoes and tender chicken, this has a unique taste worth checking out.

    The flip side is that we were too stuffed for dessert, in spite of the many tempting options. ‘Woodstok Wonder’, we’re destined to meet someday, i promise ya. Meanwhile, they also gave us a complimentary lime sorbet (completely frozen) that served as some consolation for me.

    All of the above came to just over Rs.1050, including a 10% service tax which is well deserved. There is a nice personal touch to their feedback mechanism. The sheet not only asks for feedback on the specific items you have consumed, but also has the name of the ‘crew’ who served you. Neat, and Bijoy, you did a great job, along with the wonderful lady who showed us to our seat and came back to check if everything was fine. This one goes right into my favourite list, food, ambiance and service, and is definitely worth checking out if you have a relaxed evening in mind.

    Woodstok, Near Firepro, #3777, Domlur Service Road, HAL 2nd Stage, Indiranagar, Ph: 080-42115042/+91 9686191998

    Menu and Photos at Zomato