{"id":9719,"date":"2015-03-01T10:34:26","date_gmt":"2015-03-01T05:04:26","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/manuscrypts.com\/test\/?p=9719"},"modified":"2020-12-31T15:52:10","modified_gmt":"2020-12-31T10:22:10","slug":"happy-brew","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/manuscrypts.com\/test\/2015\/03\/01\/happy-brew\/","title":{"rendered":"Happy Brew"},"content":{"rendered":"

First published in Bangalore Mirror<\/a>\u00a0. Happens to be my 50th for the publication.<\/em><\/p>\n

There\u2019s always something brewing in Koramangala and the latest addition is a Gastro Caf\u00e9 named Happy Brew. This is the place that was once occupied by Soul Courtyard. (map<\/a>) Yes, they have valet parking! From the name, we did expect a microbrewery, but soon learned that the happiness was limited to Kingfisher, which gets branding space all over the place. Thankfully, the pricing and the ambiance ensured that we could adhere to Bangalore\u2019s famous \u2018Grin and beer\u2019 philosophy. The place resembles a courtyard more than anything else, with the bar at the centre and \u2018good times\u2019 caricature adorning the wall. A flight of stairs leads you to an area which won\u2019t let you get too high, mostly thanks to the really low ceiling! The walls here are made of wooden panels with some lovely black and white photos of smiling people. While it seemed like an excellent area to lounge on a weekend afternoon, the heat became quite unbearable in a while! The playlist was a nostalgia attack \u2013 we heard everything from Modern Talking\u2019s \u201cBrother Louie\u201d to Geri Halliwell\u2019s \u201cIt\u2019s Raining Men\u201d, and \u201cThat Thing You Do\u201d \u2013 songs which the younger members in our group didn\u2019t even recognise. But between the songs, the brew and the food, we were all kept reasonably happy!<\/p>\n

The drinks menu consists of beer, \u2018beer tails\u2019, mocktails, coffee and a few milkshakes. Conveying our order turned out to be tougher than a Mars mission, since it took three attempts before the person who took our order convinced us he had it right! The only \u2018beer tail\u2019 that worked was Diesel. (lager with cola) The Beer Mojito and Kiwi\u2019s Paradise (beer with Kiwi) sounded promising but fell flat on taste. The Blue Lagoon, tagged a mocktail, featured Blue Curacao and scored on looks, but that was it. It also didn\u2019t help that a couple of drinks we asked for (including a Brownie shake) weren\u2019t available. When there\u2019s cheap beer, perhaps one shouldn\u2019t hope for a lot more!<\/p>\n

\"collage1\"<\/p>\n

The poor form continued in the form of the Chicken Chowder soup, which, far from its thick, creamy avatar, was only a few steps away from a clear soup! Hope began in the form of the Coorg Pork Fry. The freshness of the pork was a contentious topic at the table, but I quite liked the well cooked meat and the mildly spicy masala. The Bacon wrapped Shrimp was a hit with perfectly grilled prawns that were succulent and mildly spicy, though the bacon was a tad extra salty. The vegetarian representation – Adrak ki Dingri<\/i> \u2013 was splendid as well with batter fried mushrooms in a spicy, tangy sauce! The Barbequed Chicken (Spicy Sholay<\/i>) absolutely lived up to its name and is only recommended if you can handle spice!<\/p>\n

\"collage2\" \"collage3\"<\/p>\n

In addition to the Burgers and Pizzas, there is also quite an attempt at pasta fusion. The names were such that we had to try a couple of them out. This time we managed to place the order in our second attempt \u2013 the person refused to write it down the first time, even after I asked him if he wanted to. The Penne Makhanwala<\/i> was quite a disaster and the huge carrot slices itself were enough to kill an appetite. The Spaghetti Chettinad<\/i>, with mince meat in a spicy sauce that also had coconut milk, was much better. The \u2018Pigs in a Thermal Blanket\u2019 burger was quite good too \u2013 well-cooked patty and a mildly sweet\u2019n\u2019spicy, tangy sauce. The fries that came with it deserve a special mention! The Rathnagiri<\/i> Mutton, which as per the menu was cooked with special Malwani<\/i> spices, was another dish we all liked. The Veg Thai Curry was a disappointment with the promise of Thai chilly paste and coconut cream remaining just that! To add a symbolic touch, we ended the meal with the Goan fish curry (with rice) that turned out to be a splendid concoction of coconut cream, kokum and red chillies!<\/p>\n

\"collage4\" \"collage6\"<\/p>\n

The tent card gave us exactly five options for desserts, and we tried three. We also managed to place the order in our first attempt. Sweet! The Blueberry Cheesecake had a bed of Graham crackers which made it slightly softer than the regular ones. Not bad, but not that great either. The White Chocolate Brownie was more cake than brownie but it really worked with the sticky gooey white chocolate that topped it. But the Classic Mud Pie was the best, baked to perfection and filled with delicious chocolate ganache!<\/p>\n

\"collage5\"<\/p>\n

A meal for two would cost around Rs.1100 (Inclusive of taxes) \u2013 a couple of beer tails, a non veg starter, a couple of main course dishes and a dessert.\u00a0Except for a couple of hiccups, we really enjoyed the food. The cheap beer and the location should work just right for the college kids who frequent the neighbourhood. The bonus is that they might learn a few old songs as well! Speaking of learning, the staff need to learn the use of pen and paper for the happiness to be complete.<\/p>\n

Happy Brew,\u00a0#40, 4th<\/sup> B Cross,\u00a05th<\/sup> Block Koramangala,\u00a0Ph: 080 40937001<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

First published in Bangalore Mirror\u00a0. Happens to be my 50th for the publication. There\u2019s always something brewing in Koramangala and the latest addition is a Gastro Caf\u00e9 named Happy Brew. This is the place that was once occupied by Soul Courtyard. (map) Yes, they have valet parking! From the name, we did expect a microbrewery, […]<\/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":[4632,4631,341],"class_list":["post-9719","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-bangalore-mirror","category-koramangala-restaurant-reviews","category-restaurant-reviews","tag-gastro-cafe","tag-happy-brew","tag-multi-cuisine"],"aioseo_notices":[],"post_mailing_queue_ids":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/manuscrypts.com\/test\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/9719","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=9719"}],"version-history":[{"count":4,"href":"https:\/\/manuscrypts.com\/test\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/9719\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":14946,"href":"https:\/\/manuscrypts.com\/test\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/9719\/revisions\/14946"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/manuscrypts.com\/test\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=9719"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/manuscrypts.com\/test\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=9719"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/manuscrypts.com\/test\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=9719"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}