{"id":12328,"date":"2017-04-30T10:26:24","date_gmt":"2017-04-30T04:56:24","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/manuscrypts.com\/test\/?p=12328"},"modified":"2017-03-26T10:47:17","modified_gmt":"2017-03-26T05:17:17","slug":"rural-blues","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/manuscrypts.com\/test\/2017\/04\/30\/rural-blues\/","title":{"rendered":"Rural Blues"},"content":{"rendered":"

First published in Bangalore Mirror<\/a><\/em><\/p>\n

For a few seconds after you\u2019ve entered Rural Blues, you might get the notion that you\u2019re in Santorini, and not Sarjapur Road. While some uncharitable souls might claim it\u2019s because of the distance you\u2019ve had to travel to get there, (map<\/a>) it\u2019s actually more an effect of the Mediterranean colour palette that has been used very well. The open courtyard section with the little waterway, and smart use of mirrors make for a very relaxing ambiance, even as a stage for live music gives it a dash of verve. The seating inside is more standard fine dining in comparison, with lounge chairs, sofas and functional furniture. The lighting adds to the elegance, and the only thing that sticks out literally and metaphorically in the scheme of blue and complementary colours is the red cola fridge in the bar area. Speaking of sticking out, I did wonder whether the spelling of some words in the menu – noodels, carribian to name a couple – gave it an unintentional rural touch! \u2018Herbes\u2019, in particular, could be a sore spot for a restaurant that\u2019s meant to be fine dining! <\/span><\/p>\n

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I am now beginning to think there\u2019s some deep conspiracy that involves the state of menus in newly opened restaurants. This one practically came apart in my hands! While on conspiracies, the one we did discover later in the meal was that the place served cocktails. No, it\u2019s not on the menu, but when asked, we were given a range to choose from – mostly vodka and rum based! By then, it was too late – we were well into our second beer. I briefly contemplated singing <\/span>Kaisi teri khudgarzi<\/span><\/i> – a song featuring Ranbir and the beer brand we were consuming, but refrained when I realised the risk of being berated for it. Flat beer joke, I know! <\/span><\/p>\n

Meanwhile, there\u2019s plenty to choose from in the starters section, and a lot of it is fusion. We began safe with the Grainy Champignon soup – creamy, simple, and a good start! The Charred Malai Cheese Broccoli seemed interesting, and looked the part too. Cheddar, cream and a hint of mustard together made it a reasonably good, if not spectacular dish. The best part about the Satay Ayam Madura was the dip – on the lines of a red curry – that made the chicken seem less bland. The Cheese Blast Gosht Sheikh (oh yes, they did!) Kebab had no such help, and so, though it scored on the texture, the dish itself was rather dull. In comparison, the Cantonese Chilli Beef had some flavours. The beef was cooked just right, and if you prefer beef only to be mildly spicy, this does the job. I\u2019d say that a spice high is warranted when the dish is named Dynamite Shrimps and its description states tangy, spicy sauce. The reality was different though – well cooked shrimp, but fairly muted flavours. <\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

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The mains section too offers a lot of choice – pizzas, pasta, burgers and a range of dishes spanning from desi fare like Chicken Tikka Masala and standard dishes such as Californian Fish & Chips to the more adventurous Sambar Crusted Fish. We deemed sambar and sear a bit too audacious for our taste, but did try the Heavy Dhall Tadka pasta. Despite the name, we needed no shielding from this dish. The combination of dal and penne was not bad at all, very surprisingly. In fact, the former added a nice little texture too. We expected much out of the quirky sounding Ants Climbing The Tree. A classic Sichuan dish with spiced pork and beef mince, it would have been fantastic if only they hadn\u2019t dumped a salt cellar into it! The pizza we tried – Charcutier Delight with sausage, bacon and salami – was quite good with a more than healthy quantity of excellent cheese! <\/span><\/p>\n

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The Red Velvet Cake looked lovely and scored on the taste too. Moist, fluffy and with a smooth texture, this one was a winner! The Butterscotch Mousse got the texture mix right, with the praline playing its part well, but we thought the Butterscotch flavour itself was too mild. <\/span><\/p>\n

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A meal for two, with drinks would cost around Rs.2000. Rural Blues does a good job with the ambiance, and the live music in concept is a good touch. Judging by the crowd we saw, it seems to be working. However, on one hand, you have spelling errors that take away from the premiumness, and on the other hand, the pricing is high enough to give you the blues. <\/span><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

First published in Bangalore Mirror For a few seconds after you\u2019ve entered Rural Blues, you might get the notion that you\u2019re in Santorini, and not Sarjapur Road. While some uncharitable souls might claim it\u2019s because of the distance you\u2019ve had to travel to get there, (map) it\u2019s actually more an effect of the Mediterranean colour […]<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_monsterinsights_skip_tracking":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_active":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_note":"","_monsterinsights_sitenote_category":0,"footnotes":""},"categories":[1981,386,374],"tags":[5296,4291],"class_list":["post-12328","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-bangalore-mirror","category-koramangala-restaurant-reviews","category-restaurant-reviews","tag-rural-blues","tag-sarjapur-road"],"aioseo_notices":[],"post_mailing_queue_ids":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/manuscrypts.com\/test\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/12328","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/manuscrypts.com\/test\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/manuscrypts.com\/test\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/manuscrypts.com\/test\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/manuscrypts.com\/test\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=12328"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/manuscrypts.com\/test\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/12328\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":12347,"href":"https:\/\/manuscrypts.com\/test\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/12328\/revisions\/12347"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/manuscrypts.com\/test\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=12328"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/manuscrypts.com\/test\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=12328"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/manuscrypts.com\/test\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=12328"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}