Tag: desserts

  • Mother Cluckers

    12th Main Indiranagar now rivals Koramangala in terms of cuisine diversity! Mother Cluckers belongs to the Plan B family and pretty much rules the roost in terms of popularity in the area. (map) I was told that finding a table among the dozen options available would be near impossible. But we were early cluckers and got a spot, near the ‘hippie entrance’. In about half an hour, the place was packed. Not surprising, since it’s not a really large space. In case you don’t get lucky, take your drink and spend some time in the smoking zone beside the entrance. They have made the most of the space – rustic brick walls adorned with plaques and posters that sum up the commitment to clucking good food. The glasses, tissues and even the menu show the lineage quite clearly – Plan B. The dim lighting (though they have done a fantastic job of ensuring tables are well lit) and a general informal ambiance and decor make it a perfect spot to unwind in the evening. That’s despite the mildly uncomfortable wooden park bench seating. The music went everywhere from ‘Walk of Life’ to ‘Summertime Sadness’, and the decibel levels don’t really encourage a lot of clucking.

    One gigantic menu, one side of which is occupied by solids, and the other by liquids. The focus is clearly on bites that can go with drinks, which does make eminent sense given the place’ intent. We decided to test out the standard stuff before the specials. The Long Island, despite not skimping in alcohol, fell rather flat. The Caipirovska didn’t have as many illustrious ingredients, but was a much better drink – smooth and refreshing. The obvious choice for me, from the house specials, was Chutney Mary – a mix of vodka, guava juice, and spices. I suspect the ‘spices’ were chaat masala, but the drink is fantastic, if you’re the kind who doesn’t mind the drink being ‘hot’. Also, it does set the tone for the food. From “The Clucker’s Arsenal”, we asked for the Fiery Clucker, boneless chicken, grilled and marinated. Tasty enough, but surprisingly, despite the name, it turned out to be relatively less spicy than the other starters we tried. The Chilli Fried Pork, on the other hand, did live up to its name, and is only for those who can handle the heat! The Beef Chili Cheese Fries occupied the middle ground, with the cheese tempering the spiciness of the beef. The bacon with sausage, was exactly like all things that have bacon – great! The crunchy prawns were true to the name, and though the batter was bland, the mildly pungent dip made up for it. It was also a good respite from the spice assault! This is not really the best place for herbivores, but the Stuffed Mushrooms are totally worth a try, thanks to the delicious cheese and spinach stuffing.

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    The mains options consist of burgers and a reasonable selection of other dishes. We started with the Pandi Burger, probably the most unique one in the list. Instead of the patty, there’s spicy Coorg pork, with a zesty tang to it. They have a crab burger as well, in case you prefer a sea adventure. The Smoked Spare Ribs is another dish that stands out from among the spice crowd! The marinade is sweet and only mildly spicy, with well cooked meat. Yet again, there was a pleasant veg surprise, this time in the form of Baked Eggplant, with a healthy dose of cheese and a tasty sauce.

    The menu doesn’t display desserts, so we had given up hope, until one of us noticed the board outside with four options! We chose the Banoffee pie and a Chocolate cheesecake. It’s counterintuitive to go to a pub for desserts, but you’d be forgiven in this case. Spectacular stuff and a sweet mother clucking end to a meal!

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    A meal for two would cost around Rs.1500 (Inclusive of taxes and service charge) – a couple of cocktails, a non veg starter, a main course dish and a dessert. There are only two things that can bring tears to your eyes – your preference for veg dishes (if any), and the spice levels in pretty much all the dishes. If you’re fine with that, and a hoarse voice that comes from shouting over the music, you’ll completely enjoy the place. The place is built for carnivores who enjoy their drinks. The rest of the world would unfortunately have to go cluck itself.

    Mother Cluckers Bar, 957, 12th Main, HAL 2nd Stage, Indiranagar Ph: 9886092625

  • The Mirage

    First appeared in Bangalore Mirror

    I came upon The Mirage quite by chance on the web, and for a few moments, when I was hunting for its precise location in Koramangala, I did wonder about the name of the restaurant and whether it was literally that! Situated on the fourth floor of a building, it’s pretty easy to miss unless you’re specifically looking for it. At an eye level, look for the new Corner House. (map – though it has shifted to the other side of the same road) Parking on the street. When we visited, the place was relatively unknown because it’d been less than a month since it opened, and they hadn’t done much in terms of publicity. That probably explains why we were the only group there. Thankfully, the cliché of the service staff attacking as a swarm did not happen. In fact they actually seemed a little intimidated, especially when we ordered wine – they had difficulty finding it, and seemed confused on how to serve it! For now they are serving only wines, (though they plan to make it a full fledged alcohol menu soon) so it might be a good idea to train the staff on it. But once the initial fear of strangers passed, they turned out to be quite helpful and attentive! The décor is functional aiming towards lounge and there’s lots of ‘greenery’ – in the form of lighting, graphics and cushion covers. Marilyn Monroe seems to be quite an influence, appearing in various avatars, the most interesting of which is her quote “I don’t want to make money. I just want to be wonderful.”

    The menu is a mix of many cuisines – Thai, Chinese, Mexican, Italian and even a smattering of Vietnamese. From the more than a dozen options available, we began with a Sesame Potato Bites in Chili Sauce. On hindsight, we needn’t have ordered this since everything else came with potatoes anyway! There was something funny about the oil in this dish, and it wasn’t the kind that would make you look forward to the rest of the meal. The Fried Calamari served with Garlic Aioli and chips was up next. The squid was well cooked, the dip complemented it well and if you can ignore the general greasiness, it’s not a bad dish. The Highnoons Special Fried Chicken was the last to arrive, and was served with the mandatory chips and a ‘Mayo-Tard’ sauce. The chicken itself was decent, except for a couple of undercooked bits, but the sauce, which was already a cause of much mirth thanks to our juvenile vowel movement jokes, actually had a funny taste, most likely thanks to a mustard overdose.

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    In addition to the standard menu, there’s also a ‘daily specials’ display. Since the idea was to pig out, we decided to try the BBQ Pork from this set. It came with.. Ok, this is getting boring, so imagine potatoes as bodyguards and that no dish arrives on the table without them accompanying it in some form! But the pork dish actually turned out to be the first of the fantastic dishes – a superb mix of spice, tang and splendidly cooked meat. To even out things a bit, we then tried the Veg Dumplings in Hot & Sour Gravy which was served with Butter Rice. This was not in the league of the earlier dish, but the hot and sour flavours were complemented well by the mildly flavoured rice. The Cajun Spiced Grilled Fish with Dill Butter Sauce was up next. The fish was cooked well enough, but it was probably our least favourite, mostly thanks to a strange pungency. The Chicken Roulade turned out to be the dish of the day, with an awesome spinach filling, a mildly spicy herb sauce and butter rice to complete the package. From the half a dozen pizza options, we chose the Pepperoni & Bacon. They weren’t stingy with the meat and the caramelised shallots added a nice touch to the thin crust pizza.

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    There were plenty of interesting options but we were pointed to the Brownie Caramel Fudge and the New York Style Blueberry Cheesecake, and thus we had a new benchmark of how meals should end! The brownie was just the right texture and consistency – neither too dry nor moist- and had some wonderful dark chocolate! Good chocolate dishes are always a tough act to follow, and the fact that the baked cheesecake almost beat it is testament to its quality. I wondered whether we should have started with desserts!

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    For about Rs.1350, you could share a couple of non veg starters, two  non veg main course dishes and a dessert. (Inclusive of taxes and service charge) The Mirage actually lives up to its name in the sense that the restaurant’s appearance doesn’t do full justice to the quality of some of the dishes. Considering the Koramangala location, it manages to deliver value for money as well. A little more attention to the overall packaging, including some good music (instead of piping Radio Indigo) and it could be wonderful and make money!

    The Mirage, #61, 4th Floor, Above Corner House, 7th Block, Koramangala, Ph: 080 65333533/633

  • 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

  • Spiga

    …is back, at a new location, and since the old version on Vittal Mallya Road was a favourite, we had to check out version 2 too. The new Spiga is on St.Marks Road, on the 4th Floor of the Halcyon Complex, that erm, funny white building right before you turn into Vittal Mallya Road. Two wheeler parking can be found a couple of buildings before this one, and for those with a couple of extra wheels, there’s valet parking.

    Spiga is a rooftop restaurant, semi-outdoor, with different sections. Some of the tables give a nice view of the cityscape. I’d describe the ambience as fine dining meets lounge. Dim lighting and candles with techno/house pulsing in the background. I personally preferred the coziness of  the home-converted-into-restaurant earlier version. This is cool too, in the white cushion mediterranean kind of way (which I think is the idea) and quite a neat place for a romantic dinner, but it lacks the character/uniqueness of the old place. Maybe that’ll happen over time, and the halcyon days will be back. 🙂

    We got in by around 7.30, and got a table without reserving in advance, but by 8, the place was quite crowded. They seem to have a well stocked bar, and the liquor menu is quite extensive, with what looked like a decent collection of mocktails, shooters, and aperitifs in addition to the usual alcohol options. I couldn’t spot a KF beer, my regular benchmark, though there were other brands.

    There are only two soup options – one veg (roasted pumpkin) and the other non-veg, at Rs.120. So, we had the Chunky Chicken and Veg soup, which would have been great if it had been a tad thicker and creamier. It was good though, with the promise of chunky chicken pieces met. It comes with garlic bread, and an additional portion of garlic bread is  complimentary. To be noted that there isn’t a by-two option, but the table was small enough, and the bowl big enough for us to create the option. 🙂

    In case you’re the salad kind, there are four kinds available – Caesar, Neo Classical Greek, Oriental and Pear & Walnut. All have veg and chicken options, and are priced at Rs.150-180 and Rs.180-210 respectively. And if you prefer starters, there are quite a few options there too, in veg (including a paneer dish), fish, prawn, lamb and from thai, mexican and mediterranean cuisines. Priced at Rs.100-180 for the veg, and Rs.200-250 for the non veg.

    Pasta options consist of alfredo and pesto, with veg and chicken options. (Rs.200/250) There’s also a fettuccine with bacon and prawns. (Rs.280). The main course has about half a dozen veg options, a little more in chicken, and a few interesting options in fish, prawn and lamb. There are a few Thai dishes in this mix too. D chose an Olive Fish, “Grilled fish, white wine mint sauce, olives, sprinkling of pine nuts, spinach rice, hasselback potatoes, with feta and onions. I chose a Mediterranean Chicken, “Seared chicken, red peppers, feta, mashed potato and pasta”. D’s fish dish was a bit on the bland side, with (strangely) a lemon flavor. She liked my chicken dish better. Unfortunately for her, I did too. I’d definitely recommend it. I want to try out the bacon wrapped fish sometime though.

    There are half a dozen dessert options, some of which you may not find anywhere else like the lemon ricotta pie, the ginger orange cheese cake, or the oreo cookie cheese cake. No, we didn’t have any, and yes, I find it difficult to face myself in the mirror, especially when I think of the rich chocolate fudge cake.

    The meal cost us just 0ver Rs.700. Loved the logo, and the black and siver business card. The service could’ve been better. We asked for water at room temperature, and got ice cold water, though they replaced it. We were asked if the main course could be served, while we were still having the soup, and in spite of asking them to wait, they served it almost immediately. Thankfully, we had just about finished the soup. Also, a word of caution. The main course portions are only just about sufficient, and if you’re going in hungry, a starter is recommended. Drop in for a pretty neat ambience, good food and yes, the desserts!!

    Spiga, No:9, St.Marks Road, ‘Halcyon Complex’, 4th Floor. Ph: 42110469/70

    Menu and Photos 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