Opus. Christmas Special.

Last night a bunch of us went to Opus for the Christmas edition of their weekly Booze & Brains quiz. Didn't eat much apart from some all too fishy fish fingers and potato wedges.

Mark Rego managed to get atleast one question wrong, or so I firmly believe. Where is Tabasco sauce made? His answer was Mexico. Mine was the USA. He claims it's made only in Mexico and bottled in many countries, India included. I'm pretty sure he's wrong. On both counts.

A few pictures below of the special Christmas food counter Opus has set up with grilled chicken, turkey, duck and quail; roast leg of lamb and pork; baked pork rolls and glazed legs of ham, prawns and live crabs. All looks very good and maybe someone who's tried it can let me know if it's any good?

And for the record, we came third.

Pricey Dining

Forbes has a story on India's Most Expensive Restaurants. Take a look at the slideshow and pick your jaw up off the floor.

Bangalore features twice, once with this gem from "gourmet writer Ajit Saldanha" who remarks on the rise of these expensive dining haunts thus:

"I call it trophy dining. If you've got it and don't flaunt it, well, what's the point?"

Is he the best they could do when they claim to have based their list on "...recommendations from the country's top food critics, who insist the pricy menus are worth every rupee"? Which brings me to my second sore point, their sole choice for Bangalore is Zen at the Leela, which was recently visited and trashed. Resoundlingly so. So much for the food actually mattering.

Empire. 3.50/5.00

Given the furore that the Imperial vs. Empire debate has caused on this blog and given that the kebab question has now been answered (49% prefer Imperial chicken kebabs to the Empire ones. I can't disgaree!) I was finally able to visit Empire. This review is of the Central Street branch. My quick take: Empire has enough, kebabs apart, to want to dine there.

Our evening began at Windsor Pub where the beer was accompanied by the usual 'snackes' followed by a short detour to, ummm, build appetite as it were.

For six of us, we ordered a lot. And I mean a lot. One grilled leg of mutton (raan), one grilled chicken, one and a half kebabs, one ginger chicken, two brain fry, 12 coin parotas, 2 kerala parotas, 2 ghee rice and sulemani to round it all of. I do believe it's the first time I've ever paid a bill of over Rs. 1000 at either Empire or Imperial. And yes, we finished it all.

Honestly, I can see myself going back soon. Not for the kebabs, they weren't a patch on the ones at Imperial. Not by a long shot. But, the grilled chicken was superb. Far better than the stuff you get at Imperial or Siddiques. The raan is also excellent, I'd be happier if the crisped the outside a bit, and such good value for money but it does have far less meat than you'd expert. Oh, the grilled chicken and the raan are best with roomalis not the KP/CP stuff. The brain was very different from the pepper fry at Imperial and it wasn't necessarily worse and is worth trying. The ginger chicken, as Chinese as it sounds, seems to be a burial ground for leftover tandoori chicken which isn't necessarily as bad as it sounds. In fact, I liked it. Enough to want to go back and try it again. Personally, I prefer the parotas at Imperial but hey, don't let that cloud your judgment. There's not much between the two. However, the ghee rice/gravy and the sulemani, are far better at Imperial.

So there, my review. Finally. Feel free to disagree/agree/comment below. I'd love to hear from you. As an aside, what's with the bombastic names? Imperial? Empire? Paramount?

More Food Reviews

Came by a new Restaurant Blog that has some good reviews on Tai Tai, Shiok and such places.

If you do come across blogs that review food in Bangalore, send me a mail won't you?

Richies. 3.75/5.00

It's tough rating a place like Richies. It really is. Not because the food isn't good, it is. But mainly because that's all that's good about it. The food. You really wouldn't go there for the ambiance, it's all fake wood, dim lighting from gaudy chandeliers and a, well ummm, an assorted crowd of diners. Much like other restaurants in the area.

But then, it's only about the food. And good God, it's incredible with one disclaimer, you need to be a carnivore, failing which, a poultry-vore.

There are only so many things one orders. Their mutton and chicken biryani cannot be beat. Not in this town anyway. And the stand-out feature is that the two are different, they don't take the easy way out. Their dal fry needs to be tried to be believed. It's good enough to make me order it, along with hot tandoori rotis. (Tip: Squeeze the oil out of the sauteed round red chilly that they add. Delicious!) The lamb in the biryani is tender, so very flavourful and never over cooked. It's brilliant. So too are their sheekh kebabs. On good days, you'll get deep fried teethar, which is similarly excellent. I like the fact that their raitha doesn't have cucumber and that you get a little portion of some very good kheer along with each order of biryani.

Their other food, the usual suspects of chicken and mutton hyderabadi/kholapuri/do pyaza etc., are also worth a shot but not in the same league as their biryani/roti/dal and sheekh kebab. Oh, and they'll also sell you the biryani, on order, by the kilogram. It's such a hit at parties.

Richies is on MM Road, about half way down. Hard to miss. But do go.

Le Rock Cafe

It's been a while since we've had a guest reviewer. MadMan paid a visit to Le Rock Cafe and reports in with this review:

-x-o-x-

Landed up at this place at 10:20 last night.

(Why? Well, a couple of my friends said they'd buy me birthday drinks at Geoffrey's last night. Was there from 8:30 to 9:40. Got serious sticker shock - Rs. 450 for Long Island Iced Tea - and watered down cocktails, and then my friends dropped a "we have to work tomorrow so we have to leave now" bomb. So had to quickly phone around to see who was available. Only one dude, who happened to be at Le Rock.)

Right, so drove to Le Rock and met my friend. Decided to go upstairs and have a drink or two. Ordered a Black Russian and later a Banana Martini. Both arrived in 90 ml liqueur martini-shaped glasses, which was odd. (In other words, not a lot of booze in there.) Cost was about Rs. 250 each.

For starters, ordered a "seafood basket" for Rs. 200, and while the prawns had a bit too much batter, the dish as a whole was surprisingly good. It came with a lot of fries and potato wedges too, which my vegetarian friend happily ate. Everything was well-seasoned and not greasy, which made me happy. The waiter seemed awfully keen to push the "tandoor" items on us, so I'm guessing it didn't sell too well that day.

Alas, at 10:40, the waiter bloke came and told us "last order", which surprised both of us (but I know the cop action in that area is harsh, which probably explains it.)

I wanted to order some main course, and was told that much of the main course section was unavailable, and once again was persuaded to try the "tandoor" dishes, and he finally recommended the "grill chicken", which turned out to be a chicken tikka redesigned. Except that it was hideous. I could taste little except for raw chilli.

The lights came on at 11 PM and 10 minutes after that, everyone was rushed to finish up. Our waiter even told us that he'd pack my friend's beer in a takeaway container if he wanted (there was half a bottle left.)

The place had emptied out at 11:25 PM.

Total cost - Rs. 1211 - for:

3 Beers
2 Mini-cocktails
1 Mixed seafood basket
1 Chicken tikka aka grilled chicken

(There is a 5% service charge added to bills.)

I like the big plasma screens and the sound quality is definitely good, though the music was a tad too loud (personal bias disclosure: I'm not a fan of loud music.)

And hey, I didn't have to shell out Rs. 325 per chicken dish like at Geoffrey's. (3 drinks and 3 starters there were about Rs. 2200.)

Zen. 2.75/5.00

Went to Zen with MadMan and a couple of his friends for their seafood buffet last night.

If you want to stop reading here, then here's my take: Don't go. Not for the food, not for the ambiance and certainly not for the value for money proposition. Worthy and far superior alternatives are, T'chi for Chinese, Harima for Japanese and Shiok for Thai.

Their insipid and uninspiring salad bar was a motley collection of soggy vegetables in the same bloody dressing. The beef salad was good, insofar as the beef was good, but they overdid the celery. Everything else was best left alone.

The sushi and sashimi bar was, well at best it was bright. A boring selection of fish of which the best that could be said that it was fresh. Ish. The ubiquitous tuna (no toro), salmon, octopus , mackerel (which was better than I imagined it would be) and some very good jellyfish. But there was no chef in attendance nor were there any name-tags to identify the food. Shoddy service really. I don't really like sushi, tried some, wasn't bad. But certainly not good.

The trouble with buffets is this. Heat lamps and induction stoves. They keep things warm but food also ends up over cooked, dry and pretty damn unappetizing. Their main course options were an unimaginative rice/noodle/beef in oyster sauce (again, good beef mediocre sauce)/chicken with cashew (ooh! Indian Chinese)/stir fried veggies (that collapsed into goo)/prawn green curry (hideous)/fish in sweet soy sauce (Yaaay! So exciting!) and crab in black pepper (taken out of the shell. No fun.)

They had this counter where you could choose your raw fish and it would be grilled and served, the only choices being "Spicy, sir or medium-spicey?". They had pomfret, red snapper, lady fish, tiger prawn, lobster, salmon, scampi and a few other local varieties. Safe to say it was middlingly ordinary. Piddlingly so.

They also had a few satay starters. Pity they all tasted the same, burnt to a bloody crisp.

Dessert encompassed the usual suspects. The fresh fruit was the best option along with a Chocolate Mille Feuille. The chocolate fountain had, what could be best described as, Amul chocolate in it.

This is no gustatory pleasure. The focus is not on the food, quality or appearance. It's more an experiment in excesses. I 'll give it a pass in future and would recommend you do the same.

MadMan adds:

Well... I ate a lot, but overall, a bit of a "meh" feeling. I might have paid Rs. 1000 + tax on it, but 1750 is too much for *that*.

In order of eating:

• Satays: Burnt meat, no unique flavour. Total let-down. They need to hire better chefs for this.
• Dim Sum: very nice, fresh. That's why I ate the entire first batch. ;)
• Tempura: Too much batter on the teeny-weeny prawns. Made it a lighter version of some Chungs-style batter-fried prawns. Larger prawns would have made them tastier. (But I've never thought that much of tempura anyway.)
• Sushi: Darn, I ate a lot of that, didn't I? Dunno why. I was drawn heavily to the soft-shell crab roll. Anyway, I liked a good chunk of it. That definitely was the surprise of the evening.
• Salads: the beef and the mixed seafood salad is all I had, both of which were good, apart from the celery.
• Grilled Seafood: One of my lobsters was ok, the other was mush. Scampi was tasty. Prawn (too small) was so-so. Fish barely registered on the tongue.
• Hot food: Green curry, fried rice, etc. - not at all what I expected. Not worth mentioning.
• Desserts: *loud yaaaaawn* Fake mango dessert, fresh fruit, and lychee in coriander syrup? Plus that un-chocolately chocolate fountain. Except for the millefeuille, nothing worth writing about.

First Take. T'chi. Tchi.

After much, and familiar, familial bickering, we decided to try T'chi (or is it Tchi?), a new South East Asian restaurant on Edwards Road (which is off Queens Road, the last turn to the right before the Indian Express Junction, Ph: 41473131)

They have styled themselves on the lines of a Pan Asian restaurant, but they are far more focused on Chinese cuisine than the others. The menu does have a smattering of Thai and Vietnamese but they only distract from the fabulous Chinese food they have on offer. I'm told they have a chef from Hong Kong and that's also where they import most of their ingredients from.

We had some very simple, yet phenomenal food. A crab meat and shark fin soup, some dim sum (they're starting a Hong Kong style dim-sum service soon), fabulously tender and flavorful squid, a seafood fried rice, kon pau prawn, an outstandingly simple, yet satisfying, beef with onion and the best Peking duck you can have in India. They also have abalone on the menu (@ Rs. 1400 a pop!) but it wasn't available yesterday. Interestingly, they also serve everything in half portions at 60% of the price. It's also that rare place that devotes one page of the menu to each member of the trinity.

It's hard to compare it to an existing Chinese restaurant. The Shanghai Club is good, and on their days may be ahead by only a nose, Shiok has a menu that's far more inclusive and Silver Wok, is, well it's good, but not in the same league.

I’ll try it again, very soon, and have a full report. In the meanwhile, pleased to be visiting and enjoying.

Cafe Max

..is now open. It did 4 weeks ago, apparently.

So Corporate Whore and I were belting the pani puri at MK Retail and we had more time to kill before meeting the boys at Shahi, when we decided to enquire about the cafe at Max Mueller Bhavan across the road. Asked the security guard downstairs and he said it was open. So took the elevator upstairs we did.

Views of only CMH Road and the cross road but charming nevertheless. And far more spacious than the old place.
Coffee, tea and apple pie.

Other stuff they had.

And look - Unisex Loo!

DalFryDay

I've been following this blog over the last few months and it looks like the project is fast approaching fruition. It's a new restaurant, Dalfryday, that's opening near IIM-B and is slated for soft-launch on the 10th of September. I wish them all the best and hope to visit soon.

Bangalore, Coffee, Restaurantbiz and Everything else

McDonald's Cares.

Last night Chamique and I decided to grab a quick bite at McD. We had a Fillet-O-Fish and a small chocolate shake each. What was priceless was this, printed on their tray mats.

Mmmmm, is good for you! With 23 grams of fat!

I like their version of the food pyramid...

Karavalli. 3.65/5.00

Family was in town and being NRI's they were craving some good ol' fashioned, southern Mallu food. So where do we go? (No, not Coconut Grove, not Windsor Pub even…) Karavalli, of course!

Karavalli is a restaurant that used to be good. Outstandingly good. Especially in its first few years, the fish was fresher and the appams were always crisper. Unfortunately, the years took their toll and the food became tired and pretty uninspiring. Which was when I stopped going there. They now have all these very impressive looking certificates up against the wall but those don’t count for much. Especially not the ToI ones. Let your tongue and your stomach be your judge. So dinner last night was the first time in over two years that I had eaten there. To cut to the chase, I left happy but not as happy as I have been before.

We didn’t order starters, simply because we’d all had rather heavy lunches, Eden Park for some, Tiger Bay @ Garuda for the others and decided to jump right in. We ordered Mutton Stew, Kane Masala Fry, Fried Crispy Bhindi, Green Mango-Drumstick-Prawn Curry, Mutton Roast, Pepper Prawns, Appams, Egg Appams, Neer Dosas, Partahas and Curd Rice.

The Mutton Stew was good but too watery. They’ve skimped by using the first and the second and perhaps a watery third pressing of coconut. And a more generous bagaar would be welcome. And also, I'd rather they cut the potato into thick quarters and not dainty slices. But it tastes close to what it should. The Mutton Roast was too wet, they should’ve fried it more. I liked the masala but if they’d used more onions and fried it longer the result would have been far better. Oh, and when they say mutton they mean full bodied, overpowering mutton, not dainty delicate lamb. Be forewarned.

The Kane Masala Fry needed help. Perhaps in the form of some feeding before it was fished. Rather anemic looking they were and I find that they are better rava fried, as found at Anupam’s Coastaal Express or Fishland.

The Bhindi was nice but hardly Mallu, or coastal at that. The Green Mango-Drumstick-Prawn Curry was the highlight of the evening. Outstanding. Not some overly large rubbery prawns, but juicy little morsels. The tang from the mango wasn’t overwhelming but just right. Went superbly with the Neer Dosas which were wonderfully soft and sheer. The Pepper Prawns were pretty disappointing as the seasoning overpowered the succulent taste and the overcooking did the same to the texture.

The Appams were very good, crisp and brown and lacy and soft in the center as was the Egg Appams. The Parathas were good but Empire and Imperial are better. I liked the Curd Rice, slightly acidic and cold. Pity it didn’t have pomegranate in it.

We skipped dessert. Not surprising really… A few pictures, in no order below and one of what I believe is there attempt at authenticity as regards the kitchen!

Drive By Eating.

Dilettante and I went to Arabian Savoury for dinner. On the way back, we were astounded by the sheer number and variety of restaurants on MM Road. So, with you dear blog reader in mind, we went back and put together a couple of brief video clips showing the variety available.



In order:

1. Some place whose name eludes me. Right by the pharmacy. They make the best Kheema-Anda-Pav for breakfast.
2. Taj Biryani. Pass.
3. Mughal Chef. Awesome Bombay style biryani.
4. Aiwas Broast Chicken. 'nuff said.
5. Random bakery.
6. Barwachi. Good biryani.
7. Richies. The best biryani, mutton chops, tandoori roti and dal fry this side of town.
8. Passable bakeries and booze shops.
9. The tea-shop at the end of the road is worth a stop.
10. On the other side of the road, by the mosque, is Bombay Chowpatty Kulfi. Bloody good stuff.
11. Before that, Wang's Kitchen, hardcore Indian Chinese, and Namdari's. Good vegetables, fruits and salads. Best place in town for fresh herbs.

Then we decided, why not show you some of the other restaurants in the area, Mosque Road and Wheeler Road. We've left St. John's Church Road for next time.

Once again, in order:

1. Tea stall. Not bad but no sulemani.
2. Arabian Savoury. Great food. See our previous post.
3. Old, hole-in-the-wall biryani place. Pass.
4. Casio Gift Shop and Caiso Supermarket. Not houses of dining but you just know they're run by Mallus don't you!
5. Rendezvous. Great bread-pudding. Food isn't too bad either.
6. There is a Beijing Bites diagonally across from Rendezvous. And a Walls ice-cream parlour. BB is pretty damn good for Chinese and Thai, even if it is a tad expensive.
7. Albert Bakery. The best damn mutton and vegetable samosa in Bangalore. Bar none. Get there by 4 PM, it sells out by 5 PM. Their Khoya Naan is a sight for clogged arteries too.
8. Now we're on Wheeler Road cross, or something like that. Decent Darshini.
9. Lusitania Cold Store. Best place in town for fresh meats and pre-cooked and ready-to-cook meat. Shezan has better fresh, aged beef though. Yes, that Shezan. The one on Cunningham Road.
10. Mezban used to be my default place in the area. Haven't been there in a while so can't couch for it in its new avatar.
11. The place on the corner, Keerthi Sagar, in an earlier incarnation used to be the de facto hanut for Chaat junkies. Dunno now.
12. Mangalore Pearl. Coastal food. Haven't been there. Used to be Golden Harvest. Our “treat” when we were kids and the grandparents were in town.
13. Kowloon, at the front of the same building, used to have Chinese Chopsuey worth travelling for.
14. KC Das. 'nuff said.
15. Sherlock Holmes. 'nuff said. Again.
16. Juice shop. What can I say, it's a juice shop. No better, no worse.
17. Taipan, for when you crave Punjabi Chinese!
18. Bar. Dingy. Pass. Go to Dewar's instead. You don't know where that is? I'm not telling...
19. Shahi Kebab Centre. Better than Fanoos. Yes, it is. Try it but go early for the Boti. Ask for extra lime and onion. Mmmmm! Good! More!
    
20. Zak's. Gah!
21. Anonymous Shanti Sagar. Same old, same old.
22. Nandhini. Good prawn curry rice. Better meals at RR and much better biryani and chicken “items” at Nagarjuna.
23. There is a new joint called Burger Place or Palace on the road that intersects. It's attached to a gaming cafe called The Edge. Not worth visiting, in particular, but if you're in the area, drop by.
24. Red Lantern. Anonymous Chinese.

And now, if you'll excuse me, I'm hungry again. Wonder if Dilettante is, maybe we'll do St. John's Church Road. As always, comments/rants/raves in the comments below please. Where else!

Have a good week.

Update:

To answer the "Where is MM Road?" question, here's a picture to help you out. View it full size.

Windsor Pub 3.85/5.00

Chamique, Paz, Jenx, Nicki, Aleph, Dilettante and I went to Windsor Pub for dinner on Saturday. (Sorry, no pictures!)

It's one of my favourite places to eat. The food is strangely comforting, with curry leaf and coconut. Their prawns, the Masala Fried version, is to die for.(Madjos, Aleph and I one ate a good twenty plates of it.) We loved their Chilly Cheese Toast and the Spicy Chicken Sausages in Hot Garlic Sauce. Their Coorgi Pandhi Curry and Mallu Erachi Olatheuthe are signature dishes. As is their Seafood Soup.

Aleph favours the Kingfish steak, Chamique the Prawn Curry and Appams, Dilettante the Kerala Chilly Chicken and Dosas, Paz the Fish and Chips. The seafood is really very good. Other must trys are the Egg and Kheema Parota and the Kothu Parota. Did I say I like the food? And the other thing is, the beer is fresh and strong, well as strong as draught beer can be. And a glass is free with every entree.

Music is a little loud at times, the crowd is always fun but the ventilation can get stuffy at times. Oh, and make sure you have the Tosca Cake with Ice Cream for dessert. You'll find it nowhere else and it is worth it. WP treats old customers like old friends and make me go back again and again.

Oh, and if you're in the mood for Waffles and other Continental cuisine, try Cafe De Lekkerbek. Seems like a good place to visit and I love waffles.

Opus. Sucks.

It does indeed.

Or so the dudes at Bangalore Torpedo say. And they have posted a follow-up to the comments received at the original post. Bloody hilarious it is.

By the way, it's also an awesome blog...

Opus have a blog of their own. And this post is stomach crunchingly funny. They even have a blog for their trademark Karaoke Nights.

Must do a full review soon. Even if Dilettante and Chamique are partial to the place...

Fat Duck

Lunch at the world's best restaurant

via Rediff and The Fat Duck

fiorano ristorante

After a series of comments exchanged on this post, BB and I met Cheesemaker at fiorano for coffee. Then we saw the new menu and improved prices.

Decided to eat dinner there.

The food was excellent. The service was pleasant, notwithstanding the fact we were with the restaurant's cheesemaker and one of it's (the restaurant, not the cheesemaker) partners. And the dessert was outbloodystanding!

Former Chef Max Orlati managed to build a bit of a brand for himself but sadly also some "house rules" which annoyed many people; I'm still working on Mr. D to go back there.

The new chef is Bijendra Rawat, formerly of The Park.hotel's itALIA and Delhi's The Imperial Hotel's San Gimignano; so the pedigree is all in place.

Cheesemaker had a Penne something, BB a Carbonara (spellcheck done) and I a Pizza. I was extremely happy with my pizza and BB was too with his carbonara. The tiramisu was great and the mango cheescake, I repeat myself, outstanding.

Pictures and real review when we go there the next time.

Oh, dinner for 3 people without wine was Rs. 1100. Good, yes?

Chinese Chef

Yang Jiayu. Remember that name the next time you dine at the Shanghai Club. It was an honour to have him cook for us. And it was impossible to review dinner while in a state of rapture. Suffice to say, I'm going back as soon as I can muster enough to pay for the next meal.

Update:

I've been asked to, at the least, include the menu. So here goes:

1. Stir fried lotus stem with honey and chilly.
2. Dim sum filled with bay scallops and baby ginger.
3. Crab meat and tofu soup.
4. Prawn wonton soup.
5. Scampi steamed with garlic.
6. Tossed crab meat with ginger and spring onion.
7. Double cooked pork with Sichuan peppers.
8. Stir fried chinese greens with black and shitake mushroom.
   
9. Cantonese noodles with 100 year old soy sauce and assorted seafood.
10. Chef's special rice with butter and cheese.
    

Without any doubt, this was the finest meal I have ever eaten in Bangalore. Aleph, you need to go and if you call in advance he will even do a special Peking Duck.

Bush's Dinner At Rashrapati Bhavan

A little creativity wouldn't have hurt the menu.

India Coffee House. 3.60/5.00

Dilettante and I went to India Coffee House for breakfast this morning. Given that it’s as much an institution as Koshy’s and Imperial, this is a review where I will tread softly.

We started with a glass of limejuice each, lime, sugar, salt and water, seeds and all. Certainly was refreshing, even if it is pretty basic. Please do note the completely retro 70’s glasses. Then Dilettante had an omelet with buttered toast. Truthfully, the toast is more fried in butter than toasted and buttered. I had their famous scrambled eggs (two portions to a plate.), the secret of which I only recently learned. These are absolutely fabulous, as I have previously stated. We shared a masala dosa, it’s mandatory to have at least one, and it isn’t like any other masala dosa you’ll have anywhere else. It isn’t served with sambar, you are expected to eat it with a fork and knife and has a peculiar appeal. This being ICH, no tea was available to satiate Dilettante’s fetish and I enjoyed a cup of great coffee.