Tag: Sarjapur Road

  • Roxie

    We’ve been hearing about Roxie for a while now, and everything we had heard had been good. So, in what is now becoming a little tradition, we set out for Sarjapur Road on the Diwali weekend, when we hoped that most of Bangalore would either be at home, or visiting their hometown. That indeed seemed to be the case, as our journeys both ways took us just about half an hour. Yes, that is a very big deal in Bangalore.

    Roxie

    I think the biggest thing going for Roxie is how pretty it is! We didn’t get an opportunity to go upstairs, but the interior as well as the al fresco space somehow exudes an old world charm while still providing a contemporary comfort (furniture). High ceilings and those lamp posts outside accentuate all this. It was, as the meme goes, “looking like a wow”. ‘Roxie’ is whom the theme is based on – a traveler who picks up favourite recipes from different journeys. Yes, she is about as real as the tooth fairy. That explains Korean, North Indian, and Italian on the same (digital) page. (the menu we actually found there was slightly different)

    Meanwhile, D said she has been here when it was some other restaurant. Any idea?

    Roxie

    I was boring and chose my regular Old Fashioned. In many recent experiments, the cocktails have failed. This was one was par for the course, nothing extraordinary. D was more optimistic, and chose ‘The Solution’. I think that was some hint aimed at me. This tequila-based drink apparently has an origin story from Roxie’s hometown – Amalfi, where her friend Max used to run a Speakeasy. With Jalapeno, orange, passion fruit, thyme and lime juice, and a fancy garnish that included chilli flakes, was very good. D couldn’t resist a smirk.

    Roxie

    If you’re going to Roxie, this is the one dish I will highly recommend. Korean Garlic Bread. Super soft bun filled with Philadelphia Cream Cheese and garlic butter, this one is really the melt-in-your-mouth kind. To the extent that we were tempted to pack one up for the next day!

    Roxie

    This is the Chateaubriand Royale: Rosemary Wine Elegance. This apparently pays homage to a Parisian dish. Grilled Chateaubriand beef in Rosemary Wine jus , accompanied by mashed potatoes and Hollandaise sauce. The beef was very well cooked, and the sauce complemented it very well.

    Roxie

    We debated pizza vs pasta, and finally went for the Siciliana. Smoked Turkey was the attraction, and it also had pesto, Jalapeno, Mozzarella, Parmesan Cheese, Confit Tomatoes, and Arugula. This was quite a disappointing dish. First of all, that smoked turkey only made a guest appearance, and secondly, there was some very inconsistent saltiness that made ‘shock’ appearances that really took away from anything the dish might have accomplished. I also felt the amount of pesto could have been reduced quite a bit. It was overwhelming.

    If you’re visiting, probably a good idea to reserve, since, even on Diwali eve, the place began filling up after 8. The service is friendly, and my request for keeping the sugar low in the cocktail was carried out reasonably well. The music was retro, and I loved it. The wallet was lighter by about Rs. 3100, but thanks to Dineout and Infinia, we paid a little over Rs.2550. Not bad at all, given the location. Despite the pizza, I have to say the place has pizzazz. I’d definitely recommend a visit, especially if you’re going to Sarjapur Road, whose breweries I am anyway not a fan of. (except maybe Aurum)

    Roxie, 26, Haralur Main Rd, near HP Petrol Station, Amblipura, PWD Quarters, Ambalipura, HSR Layout Ph: 074062 75551

  • La Casa Brewery & Kitchen

    Our intense contempt for Sarjapur Road’s microbreweries is well documented – Vapour and Hoot being the catalysts. Aurum pulled it back a little, and that’s why, despite my instincts, we decided to make our way to La Casa Brewery & Kitchen. Actually, a little more than instincts. Around 8 years ago, I’d visited the place with my colleagues. Some of us, who loved Khow Suey, persuaded a colleague to try it. Unfortunately, La Casa massacred the dish. Said colleague, to his credit, continues to be a good friend, or is maybe planning a cold revenge.

    The signs were ominous. Google Maps showed us an early turn to get off Sarjapur Road, to save 5 mins. That turned out to be literally an off-roading experience along unpaved roads that had garbage and pigs featuring prominently in the landscape.  La Casa Brewery & Kitchen is reasonably well done, and somehow manages to keep out the chaos of the road. Since only a few tables were occupied when we arrived and we were told we could sit wherever we wanted, we chose a 4-seater in the corner. Along with the menu, we also got a request to shift to a 2 seater “because Saturday night”. Unnecessary, we felt because there were no less than seven 4-seaters vacant. We pointed that out to him with the promise that we would shift if those got occupied. As predicted, didn’t happen.

    La Casa Brewery & Kitchen

    Craft beer was the sole reason for the trip. From the five that were available, we chose the Saison and the Belgian Wit. Completely lacking in spirit (not literally), they offered a perfect prelude to the meh that followed. In fact, the original plan was to use Zomato Gold for a 1+1 on drinks, but such was the quality of beer that we skipped that. Imagine!

    Bamboo pork was the first dish we asked for, and were told that it would be spicy. Predictably, it wasn’t. Spicy Dunken partially lived up to its name – the preparation was basic Chinese fare. We had lost the appetite we came with, and hoped to salvage some of it with a Kerala Style Irachi fry. On hindsight, a dumb decision. Whoever made it clearly hadn’t tasted the dish before.

    Dessert was fun. The only interesting dish seemed to be a Chocolate Opera. We casually asked what it was, and panic seemed to set in. In the third attempt, we figured out that it was a pastry. Since we’d had enough drama, we skipped.

    La Casa Brewery & Kitchen

    The bill came to a little over Rs.1400. I shall leave it there with no more comments.

    La Casa Brewery & Kitchen, 15, Amrita Engineering College Road, Kasavanahalli, Sarjapur Road Ph: 30456363

  • Aurum Brew Works

    After the horror story that was Vapour, we had sworn off Sarjapur Road. But a peaceful Saturday evening, combined with a reasonably good experience at Sarjapur Social a few weeks ago, and favourable reviews of the new microbrewery, got us back to the area and specifically Aurum Brew Works.

    The dingy access lift got us panicking a bit on whether we had gotten it wrong, but we were fine once we were in. We chose to sit outside – the weather was pleasant and there was a skyline view to be enjoyed.

    Not all the craft beers were available. We tried the Amber Lager, Witbier and the Cider. The last one was seasonal and was just ok. The Lager was the best of the lot and the Witbier was quite good too.

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  • Vapour Brewpub and Diner (Sarjapur Road)

    A microbrewery is compulsion enough for me to travel to any part of Bangalore, even Sarjapur Road. Some people are not completely in control of their faculties after a few beers, craft beer works for me the other way. That probably explains why I forgot that two of my least favourite microbreweries outside of that hideousness called 3 Monkeys exist on Sarjapur Road. In my defense, our visit to Vapour in Indiranagar, despite the negative reactions we had heard, wasn’t bad at all.

    So one fine cloudy Sunday, we chose to travel to Vapour. The place is huge, and while we were there, the alfresco section was kept closed. Predictably, they tried to squeeze everybody into the areas they had kept open. We got ourselves a table on the upper floor. The decor is very lively, despite the distraction of a giant TV. They had a DJ as well. There was a buffet available, but we chose a la carte.

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  • Hoot

    It absolutely was, and it had nothing to do with the food, service or anything that you’d normally judge a restaurant/pub on. Normally, nothing would get me to visit Sarjapur Road, but hey, microbrewery. That, and its photos on Zomato making it look like the sets of MTV Grind! (who remembers?)

    Truth be told, the ambiance was quite good. Poolside would have been perfect, but we were told that the section wasn’t open because there was a rain forecast. We’ll get back to this. We got ourselves a table near the bar. The crowd was extremely mixed – fresh-out-of-engineering-college gawking kids, middle aged families, Sarjapur’s Page 3 equivalent, living ads of  Malabar Gold, probably businessmen, and so on. Hoot 1 – crowd. Not enough children though, so I didn’t have anyone to make faces at.

    As we waited for our friends, we decided to get ourselves some beer. Out of the five craft brews, only two were available. D ordered a Saint Martin Abbey Triple, which was described as “liquid gold served to perfection”. After we tasted it, the only thing I was left wondering was whose liquid gold? Ugh! I had asked for the other available beer – Saint Martin Abbey Dark, which was described as “an uplifting experience”. This one delivered on the promise, only because it is easy to uplift anyone who has tasted that Morarji Desai prescription known as Abbey Triple! Our friends arrived by then, and after tasting both, decided to order wine an cocktails. No Rose wines were available, and no Bira, so the poor souls settled on Tuborg and a Blood Orange & Mint cocktail. My friend described the latter as Rasna with a hint of Vodka. The rest of us missed the hint.  (more…)