{"id":4793,"date":"2010-11-13T15:24:12","date_gmt":"2010-11-13T09:54:12","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/manuscrypts.com\/test\/?p=4793"},"modified":"2011-08-26T10:00:52","modified_gmt":"2011-08-26T04:30:52","slug":"o-ustaad","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/manuscrypts.com\/test\/2010\/11\/13\/o-ustaad\/","title":{"rendered":"O! Ustaad"},"content":{"rendered":"

This review was first published in Bangalore Mirror<\/a>. This is a much modified account.<\/p>\n

Thanks to the Gateway Hotel, you could end your gastronomic journey on Residency Road with \u2018Arre huzoor, wah Taj boliye<\/em>\u2019. But in case you were wondering how to begin, you now have hope, in the form of O! Ustaad, at the other end. This is right after the St.Marks Road\/Residency Road junction and placed under a certain Purple Haze, literally. Here’s a map<\/a>. (the arrow mark is the right location) Parking should not be too difficult, since you have Hayes Road\/ Convent Road also nearby.<\/p>\n

O! Ustaad claims to be an \u2018asli<\/em> Indian restaurant\u2019, serving you the best fare from Lucknow to Mumbai and Delhi to Konkan with nazakat<\/em> and nafasat<\/em>, but we journeyed from the delight of Wah<\/em>! Ustaad to the despair of Waah! Ustaad.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a>This is one of the places where you shouldn\u2019t go by outside appearances, because though the frontage might seem a tad dingy, the interior is bright and peppy. O! Ustaad definitely serves up an attitude and has a penchant for wordplay, judging from \u2018Facebhook\u2019 and \u2018LaLoo\u2019. The photographs of street food, and an eclectic mix of music from Junoon to classic rock, all add up to a unique character. So much for the mahaaul, now for the real haul.<\/p>\n

The menu may not be spread over a lot of pages, but it covers much ground in terms of geography. Kebabs from Lucknow, fish dishes from Goa and Bengal, vegetarian fare from Himachal and Punjab, and Old Delhi specialities, together ensure that both vegetarians and meat eaters are kept happy. Add to this the uniqueness of many of the items and the day\u2019s special dishes and you\u2019ll find that there\u2019s no dearth of choice. Take a look. (click for larger image)<\/p>\n

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From the 3 starters we tried, the Mutton Kulfi<\/em> (one of the Day\u2019s specials) was easily the best. The combination of melt-in-the-mouth mutton and a green chilly laden coating made it a unanimous favourite. The two starters we ordered from the regular menu were disappointing. The Pondicherry Bullet Paneer had no proof about the bullet or Pondicherry, and one of my friends had to be pacified as she felt she\u2019d been conned into buying a Paneer Pakoda<\/em>! The accompanying honey-lime dip didn\u2019t make a good combination either. The \u2018famous\u2019 Chicken Salli Kebab<\/em> was more potato than chicken.<\/p>\n

\"Himachali<\/a> \"Lucknowi<\/a> \"Prawn<\/a> \"Anda<\/a><\/p>\n

In the main course, the ones that impressed were the Murgh Khatte Pyaaz<\/em>, with its unique gravy of vinegar soaked onions, pepper and yogurt, and the Himachali Dhingri Dhulma<\/em>, with mushroom, capsicum and paneer in a slightly spicy gravy. The Lucknowi Gosht Korma<\/em>, though decent, was lost in the bargain. The Anda Paratha<\/em> is definitely worth a try too, and though the Gobi Paratha<\/em> had an extra helping of chillies, it was still reasonably good, as was the Aloo Paratha<\/em>. The Prawn Malai<\/em> curry Bengali style had an excellent creamy gravy which was ruined by the overcooked, rubbery prawns. The Chicken Nasi biriyani, which was another Day\u2019s special, was, as one of my friends put it, Tomato rice with chicken. Somewhere in the kitchen, a cooking oil well has been discovered, judging by the liberal usage. Though the menu lists 4 desserts, which we were eager to try, we were told that they weren\u2019t available. The apple and chocolate pies we were offered instead were both quite avoidable.<\/p>\n

The service was quite prompt, and Jitesh, who looks after the Bangalore outlet, did a good job of helping us choose the dishes, especially since the day\u2019s specials didn\u2019t have explanations. O!Ustaad is worth a visit when you\u2019re in that part of town.\u00a0 A meal for two would cost about Rs.800. Though some of the dishes fell short of expectations, the uniqueness of the menu and a cheerful ambiance should make up for the shortfall. They also have lunch buffets which seemed reasonably priced.<\/p>\n

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O! Ustaad, Below Purple Haze, 17\/1, Residency Road, Bangalore \u2013 560025 Ph: 080 41518147<\/p>\n

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This review was first published in Bangalore Mirror. This is a much modified account. Thanks to the Gateway Hotel, you could end your gastronomic journey on Residency Road with \u2018Arre huzoor, wah Taj boliye\u2019. But in case you were wondering how to begin, you now have hope, in the form of O! Ustaad, at the […]<\/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":[1981,375,374],"tags":[597,326,1331,336,1660,1661,349,678],"class_list":["post-4793","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-bangalore-mirror","category-central-bangalore","category-restaurant-reviews","tag-bengali","tag-goan","tag-indian","tag-lucknowi","tag-o-ustaad","tag-old-delhi","tag-punjabi","tag-residency-road"],"aioseo_notices":[],"post_mailing_queue_ids":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/manuscrypts.com\/test\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4793","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=4793"}],"version-history":[{"count":10,"href":"https:\/\/manuscrypts.com\/test\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4793\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":4814,"href":"https:\/\/manuscrypts.com\/test\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4793\/revisions\/4814"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/manuscrypts.com\/test\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=4793"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/manuscrypts.com\/test\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=4793"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/manuscrypts.com\/test\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=4793"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}