Tag: Richmond Town

  • Soul Kadhi

    First published in Bangalore Mirror.

    “A recipe has no soul. You, as the cook, must bring soul to the recipe.” Thus goes the quote, and it should apply to any dish. But with the advantage of hindsight, I think we should have started with the Murgh Hussaini Shorba or at least tried the Kadhi Pakora later – the former for chicken soup’s bestselling association with the soul, and the latter for the restaurant’s name. They probably contained the soul connection that we missed in our entire meal. In fact, such was the standard of the fare that, several times during the meal, an (almost) homonym flashed through my mind – kadi. It means ‘bite’ in Tamil and Malayalam and also has a genre of jokes named after it. The next few paragraphs should provide ample explanation of why this thought crossed my mind!

    Soul Kadhi is housed in the same building as ‘Under the Mango Tree‘. (link has a location map)  It’s a small lane but you should find a place to park without much difficulty. Valet parking exists too. The decor is friendly enough, and those winnows on the ceiling are a nice touch. The music was all 90s Bollywood evoking bouts of nostalgia. Just loud enough to be heard clearly, but subtle enough to allow conversation.

    Though there were soups in the menu, and some chaats as well, the starters sounded more promising and provided more options. So we began with the Banarasi Seekh Kabab. Soul – holy city – auspicious start, you know. Though presented well, they turned out to be like cutlets in taste, and some parts were burnt as well. The overall crumbliness didn’t help either. The Tangari Kabab had a marinade that wasn’t really bad, but its interiors hadn’t been introduced to the masala. In fact the interiors didn’t seem to have been introduced to cooking in general. The Murgh Gilafi Seekh was particularly bland and the mint chutney didn’t seem interested enough to save it either. By this time, we were ready for a fight, and the Pind Baluchi Tikka proved a worthy opponent. It put up a solid battle against our collective ravaging canines and proved to be a tough opponent! Despite its faults, the Mahi Tikka Ajvaini stayed true to its origins. The fish was salty enough for us to believe that sea water had actually seeped into its very soul. (more…)

  • 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 🙂

  • Khazana

    ..is relatively difficult to locate. As is obvious, the name really doesn’t help when one asks for directions. The first guy giggled, the second guy actually asked ‘Kitne ka hai?’ But like all good treasures its awesome when you’ve located it. So, Khazana is this little, but apparently very popular food joint in Richmond Town, that you must go to, when beef is the order of the day. The directions are actually pretty simple. When coming from the Koramangala direction on Hosur Road, take a left at the junction just before you hit Richmond Road. (i.e. the Fanoos junction). On this road, take the first left. After you’ve turned left and gone for about 50m, this road curves towards the left (there’s an electrical shop at the corner), but there is a tiny road that goes towards the right. Enter the road on the right, and you’ll find Khazana on the left. Yep, you guessed it, there was no signboard. 🙂

    Parking for two-wheelers is easy. Four wheelers can perhaps find a spot not-so-nearby. Definitely not on the same street, its way too narrow. Yo fancy car may not even enter it. 😀 The place has just over half a dozen tables, with functional furniture. This is not a fancy joint, you come here for the awesome food. Remember that. Okay.

    CIMG1202 Each table has a menu card pasted on the wall right next to it.(click for a larger image)

    We wanted to try out as many items as possible. The portion sizes helped. We thought it’d be better if we gave them a fair warning that we were on a mission, so we ordered everything at one go. We were warned that everything was ready, but we didn’t heed it. so in about 5 minutes, everything we asked for was on the table. The ‘delay’ must’ve been for the Kerala Paratha, which were freshly made.

    Confession: I took the camera to get a few pics – therestlessquill has been suggesting it for quite a while now). However the first five minutes after the food appeared went by in a blur. I remembered the camera only then, and it was too late. What remained wasn’t a pretty sight. 😀

    We started with the Button Kabab, which also turned out to be our favourite item. Beef kababs, perfectly pop-into-your-mouth sized. Good masala, slightly spicy, goes very well with erm, Coke. 🙂 We then moved on the Kerala Paratha, with Chicken Kali Mirchi and Phal (beef chops). The chicken dish was quite peppery, as the name suggested, and went well with the paratha. The phal meat was very good, didn’t require a chewing marathon at all, but I didn’t like the peppery dark green masala much. We then moved on the signature dish – the beef biriyani, with mince (Kheema) for company. The biriyani is relatively non-oily and once you’ve tried it, you’ll know why people visit the place just for this. Sacrilege, but I’d have liked it even better if the beef piece had some masala too. The rice did make up for it, and with the kheema (beef), made an excellent combination.  Both the items fall in the ‘must-have’ category. Note that we only ordered one plate of each, and shared. We wanted to try an Irani Roti too, but once we’d polished off the second plate of Button Kabab, it was an impossible task.

    The menu, you’ll notice, says “Almighty gave us exquisite things to eat. The least we do is prepare them well and serve them to you.” Now that’s a mission statement that has been followed thoroughly. All of the above cost us Rs.270. So make sure you skip a meal and drop in here, to meat your destiny!

    Khazana Food Paradise, #16, Aga Abdulla Street, Richmond Town, Bangalore – 560025

  • Cornucopia

    Cornucopia is part of a ‘cricket homestay’ called ‘The Bat and Ball Inn’, supposedly owned by Sreesanth, Uthappa, Charu Sharma and one other partner. No, you won’t find appams here, the place serves Continental and Italian fare. 😀

    Here’s a map that will show you how to get there. While you can access it from Hosur Road, its easier to get there via Richmond Road. On Richmond Road, take a left turn immediately after TNT (opposite Citibank) and then take the first right. You’ll see the place on the right. It also hosts a cafe called ‘Silly Point’, and a boutique (which I think is) called ‘Dressing Room’. (It was about to rain, so my focus was on getting inside, especially since we had lost much time in trying to figure out the location, and had a movie to catch) From what we saw there, you don’t really need to reserve.

    There are two seatng options, one a regular restaurant closed setting, and the other behind this, which is a bit more open. On the way to the latter, you have a passageway lined with framed caricatures of cricketers. I half expected to see staff in cricket gear, but they haven’t gone that far with the theme. 🙂

    The menu has a lot of options, both veg and non veg – Continental and some Italian too. You can take a look at the entire menu here. There are soups, starters and salads, in addition to the main course options and desserts. We started with a ‘Spiced chicken and corn soup with lemon grass’  (cream of chicken and corn kernels with spring onion, coriander, chilly and lime). The soup was extremely good, probably the best we’ve had in a long time. It was moderately spicy and on a chilly Bangalore night, was a perfect start. If you’re planning a long leisurely meal, you might want to check out the starters too.

    For the main course, we ordered a Stuffed Chicken Breast Nanterre (chicken breast stuffed with minced pate and mushroom grilled and served with a red wine, green chilly and cheese sauce) and a Poached Chicken Breast Clemenceau (chicken cooked in wine and mushroom, finished with cream, herbs and crushed peppercorn). You have to order mashed potato separately, though they didn’t bill us for the bread and flavoured butter. Both the dishes were extremely good, with distinct flavours that I could detect even with my taste buds being retired hurt (thanks to a bad cold). The chicken was done well, and not undercooked (like in many places that serve Continental stuff) and the sauces were simply superb. Both dishes highly recommended.

    We were too stuffed for dessert, so that’s been left for the next time we drop in. Thankfully, the end of the meal also brought a mini shot of chocolate and coffee, in a semi liquid state, with chocolate just managing to edge out the coffee flavor. Coffee takes revenge by not allowing the mix to get too sweet. I refuse to intercede because I’m busy convincing myself  that its dessert. 🙂

    All of the above cost us just below Rs.800. With desserts and starters, it would be around Rs.1000. The service deserves special mention because it was extremely prompt. You should drop in for a relaxed ambience, extremely good food and if I have to judge from that mini-shot, awesome desserts. 🙂

    Cornucopia, 3, Laurel lane, Richmond Town Ph: 41149495