Zaitoon, Bangalore

It has been ages since I wrote a restaurant review, mostly due to work pressure and domestic bliss. I think I will cover some of the restaurants I have discovered in the past year in the next few posts.

Zaitoon has been a regular for me for last few weeks. Primarily a indo-arabic restaurant, the specialties there include all sorts of kababs and kheema based dishes. And I have to admit they have one of the best dishes there.

The restaurant is on Old Airport Road, opposite the Leela Kempinski, with a good open parking lot right next to it. Most of the time I have been there, we needed to wait a few minutes to get a table (especially during the Ramadan season). But the service is good, and the waiters are friendly and accommodating of any reasonable request that you make. The tables are close to each other, with not that much leg space, but not uncomfortably cramped. I recommend the Mutton Lal Mass, which consists of well cooked pieces of Mutton in a spicy minced meat base, for those inclined towards red meat. They also have a Chicken Guldasta, which consists of chicken minced and cubes in different colored gravies, for the non red meat lovers. Vegetarians are mostly out of luck here. :-) The shawarma and falafels are better than those served at the Empires and Imperials. I tried ordering Haleem during Ramadan, but they had Hareesa instead (sans the spices), which was not as tasty as I would have liked. They keep running out of it, as fast as they make it!

The price is quite reasonable as well. Three people having a real go at stuffing themselves, set us back by around 1200. And we really did try! At this point, it is at the top of my list for indo-arab cuisine. Special thanks to my wife for making me try it the first time!

Phobidden Fruit, Bangalore

Back here after a long time. Let me start of again with another exotic restaurant that I came across.

Phobidden Fruit is a Vietnamese restaurant that I have been frequenting for some time now. It is on 12th Main, Indiranagar. This area is fast becoming a hot favorite for specialty restaurants with many new ones opening up every other week.

The restaurant itself is small, with two levels and a seating capacity of probably around 40-50 at a time, which means that you might be in for a wait on busy weekends. The ambiance is decent, with an open air feel (probably because of the two levels and the use of indoor plants AND the lack of AC?) and a dash of oriental decor. The sparse wooden seating adds to a feel of Far East street food. The lower level is a bit crowded, with lesser number of tables. The upper level accessed via a winding staircase that is somewhat small for a tall guy. There are a couple of sunken booths here for a party seating, which offers some privacy for a group.

As the name indicates, Pho (Noodle Soup) is a specialty there. Apart from that the cuisine meanders from Vietnamese to the typical oriental fare that is found elsewhere and even some that are more European than Oriental. We sampled a starter that contained sauteed chicken and vegetables in a cabbage wrap. While the dish was delicious, it does not really stick to the oriental side of things. From a less puritanical view, they do have an interesting assortment of disher in the rice and noodles category. They also have a good starter called banh cuo, which is a Vietnamese version of momo's to put it simply (The fillings are different though the preparation is similar). One of my favorites was the Bun Bao soup that is a spicy, fiery, noodle soup, with beef. Though I have not really seen it featured in the other Vietnamese restaurants that I have visited so far, it is a good one to try out especially when you have a cold. It clears up your head pretty quickly, literally bringing tears to your eyes. Most of the soup noodles/ rice dishes are available in vegetable/chicken/beef, though Bun Bao is only available in beef. The Pho is above average (especially for that price) and the servings are generous. The additional plate of seasonings should be put into good use too. Unfortunately I never had the chance to have dessert there for two reasons - the selection doesn't look that inspiring and Corner House is a couple of minutes walk from there. :-)

Price-wise dinner for two could set you back around 1000, which is pretty decent for a specialty restaurant. You certainly won't have any complaints on the quantity and quality. Service is fast and they do let you customize your dish a bit if you ask them.

China Pearl, Bangalore India

It has been a long time since I actually posted any restaurant review on this blog. I am thinking of reviving this blog now. So I am kicking it off (again) with a review of one of my favorite chinese restaurants in Bangalore.

China Pearl is located in the 5th cross, 6th block, Koramangala. I have been a regular here since the last 3 years. Though with the missus not much of a fan of Chinese food, the frequency has gone down somewhat. The ambiance is really good with interesting oriental decorations. Be warned though. You will have to wait around 10-15 minutes to get a seat on the weekend and sometimes on weekdays, if you don't have a reservation.

Now onto the food. The cuisine is oriental, with Indo-chinese, Japanese, Malysian, Thai and Singaporean dishes. My absolute favorite has to be Chicken grilled in Teriyaki sauce, a Japanese dish. The teriyaki sauce is a sweet toy based sauce which gives the chicken a glazed look. A similar dish is also provided with fish. Other must tries include the Drunken chicken (Chicken cooked in rice wine) and the pad thai (Thai street food style flat noodles with a tangy taste) or malaysian flat noodles (fried flat noodles with peanuts and chopped veggies). Staple fried rice dishes are also available. Noodle soups are also available for those who like the wet noodles. It is quite filling! Other attraction includes the Hakka style noodles. The momos are also good. Though I prefer the steamed ones over the fried. The menu content is heavily loaded with non-vegetarian fare. The pure vegetarians would have a slightly difficult time here. The tofu dishes are good though. And so is the vegetarian fried rice dish cooked hakka style. In the dessert section, go for the honey fried datsun in vanilla ice cream or the sizzling chocolate brownie with ice cream. Both are equally rewarding!

The service is fast once we get a table and very friendly. The pricing is affordable, dinner for two would set you back around Rs. 1000. The portions are generous. A starter, chicken dish and a noodles with dessert were quite enough for me and my missus.

Happy New Year!

Wishing Everyone a HAPPY NEW YEAR! I guess this will be my last post this year. I am taking a new year resolution to be more regular next year. Hope to see y'all more frequently.... Seeyaa.. Have a great time and stay good...

Malabar Inn Restaurant Bangalore India

I have been a regular here for the last two years since the time I found out about it during one of my jaunts. It was earlier set up behind the MK Retail on CMH Road (Near the Max Mueller Bhavan). They have now shifted into a bigger and better place at the other end of CMH Road near lakshmipuram on the first floor of a building near the Bata showroom there. The ground floor of the building has a furniture shop (Oak ’n Oak).

Enough about the location, let me jump to the food part, which is where it scores. My favourite dishes here are mainly, the chicken kabab (more of a fry actually but the taste is awesome), the chicken curry (truly malabar), and the seer fish fry. All of them are good value for money. Other than that they also have chicken/ mutton stews which are awesome and a great combination with the appams. Staple kerala parotta is also available, as well as dosa. For the regular lunch people they have a fish meals and a veg meals. The only drawback in both of them are that rice is limited, unlike other small kerala restaurants around the city. You also get a tasty payasam along with them in weekends. Also, during weekends, they have started kerala sadhya, which is a must-have if you are a hardcore mallu food fan. Also they have special dishes during festival seasons, like onam, ramzan, christmas etc...

The service is also quite friendly, the owner and his relatives are there most of the time, which kind of gives it a family atmosphere. The service is also fast. And it is quite spacious. Best place to visit when having a good time with friends for really good value for money. A real stomach full for four people will set you back about 450.

Mainland China, Bangalore , India

This is my first review here. Hope you like it. Here goes....

Me and my friends were planning to go out last weekend and were searching for a good place to tickle our taste buds. Mainland China had recently started a new restaurant in Indiranagar. I had gone to their restaurant in Bombay and knew that I could look forward to a good time
there. There is one more on Church Street, but I had heard that it was not that good. Anyway, this one was quite near to my place, by the side of the Airport road fly over towards Indiranagar, bang opposite Barbeque Nation. It was a short matter convincing my friends about the place, since they generally accept my advice on restaurants.

We were there at the restaurant sharp at 1:30. There is a lounge as soon as we enter, presumably for people to wait for table. Thankfully it was not overcrowded and we managed to get a table for ourselves. The decor was tasteful and the overall ambience was quite good. I think there were two more floors on the top where they serve. The service was
also quite fast.

We started off with dumplings and soup. Both were extremely good. My friends, who had not gone to authentic chinese till then, were quite impressed with the taste. The main course consisted of chicken noodles and rice, a plate each of general tso’s chicken and a seafood
preparation, was quite filling. By the time we finished off with a dessert all three of us were too full to sit up.

The total added up to somewhere around 1.8 K . It was slightly above what we expected. But with such delecious food, who are we to complain. Over all, an experience I could repeat many times!

They have basement parking and valet parking. Reservation might be a good idea. It wasn’t that crowded when we had gone in. But it got more crowded after around 15-20 minutes and there were people still waiting at the lounge when we left.