Munchies alert !

Whenever I'm on vacation, I lose track of what day it is, as do most of you I'm sure. Time loses all meaning. So as I woke up at one in the afternoon on a Friday, I looked outside and was greeted by quite a gloomy day following perennial rain all night. Luckily for me, one thing that wasn't gloomy at all was my appetite. I was totally famished and realized after raiding my fridge, that this wasn't just ordinary hunger, but one that needed just the right meal to hit the spot. Within an hour, I found myself on the way to Koramangala for my first encounter with Cafe Thulp, a place known to satisfy even the most elaborate and complicated munchies !! I've been meaning to try out this quaint cafe for a while now, and when I told my companion Nikki how hungry I was, Thulp was the instant recommendation. So, did this meal do it? Read on for a bite of insight.

Cafe Thulp at first seems like an unassumingly small cafe, with minimalistic wood furniture where each table contains the basic ketchup, mayo and mustard. It strikes a personal note with customers by providing them with an array of comics and board games (a trend that is becoming increasingly common to cafes across this city). The walls are quite random and seem to just contain paintings or artwork without any particular theme. So we could see a whole wall dedicated to some pretty funky anime posters, some artwork of super heroes, and random pictures of flowers and landscapes. As soon as we sat down and finished looking around, we were handed two menus.

The selection on offer, though leaning toward some really succulent non-vegetarian stuff, has its epic moments of vegetarian glory as well. We started out with the Baba Ghanoush platter (Grilled eggplant and tahini purees served with pita bread), and the Vietnamese Lettuce wrapped, deep-fried spring rolls served with a very high quality soya sauce dip. Here is where I should mention, that Thulp has an absolutely original and innovative menu, with carefully thought out and extremely funny names for their dishes. Our spring rolls, for example, were called Springtime in Saigon. We also noticed things such as "Bug your bunny" (Carrot, raddish and cucumber sticks with dip) and "Bird on a wire" (Chicken Satay) and agreed that the naming conventions definitely deserved some credit. The spring rolls were perfectly fried but were oozing with sauce and oil, but were very very good and went perfectly with the soya sauce dip. The lettuce that they were wrapped in seemed as though it had been sitting out for a while. The Baba Ghanoush was spot-on , with the pita bread being fluffy and the ingredients being as fresh as ever !

As we were sipping on our mint flavoured lemonade which was pleasant, we agreed that we were quite pleased with the start, and we decided to order further. We chose their specialty beef burger with bacon and cheese, called "Moos your daddy", and two hearty sandwiches named "Peta Ka Beta" (Chilly cheese toast grilled with onions and tomatoes) and "The Bellagamba" (Tomato and basil with their home made garlic cream cheese). The Peta Ka Beta was absolutely perfect, and felt as though I had secretly walked into the kitchen and told the chef exactly how to make it. The cheese was perfectly melted and the veggies were fresh, making this the quintessential chilly cheese sandwich. The Bellagamba was very flavourful and wholesome, making it quite a filling sandwich for one person to finish. Quite enjoyable, but didn't match up to the other sandwich. Both sandwiches were served with a side of rosemary flavoured potatoes, which were quite nice.

If there was something that came close to the cheese sandwich, it was "Moos your daddy", rightly called as it really is the daddy of any beef burger I have ever seen. Nikki picked it up with two hands and it covered her whole face !! Moreover, the beef was tender, succulent and perfectly flavoured. We could only finish half of the burger and she had absolutely no qualms about packing it up for a wonderful snack later on.

Our dessert order was of a Chocolate Mudpie, and a slice of Blueberry Cheese Cake. The Mudpie was disappointing because of the quality of chocolate used in the pie, and we decided not to finish it fully. The Cheese Cake was the better dessert out of the two, but still didn't leave us as impressed as we were with the food. Luckily for them, my munchies were long gone after that incredible meal, and no average dessert was going to ruin any of it.

The total cost of the above meal came up to INR 995, which considering the portions, was real value for every buck spent. The service was quite efficient and polite, just as expected.

Isn't it weird how the pangs of hunger are enough to drive anyone to any corner of a city to satiate their appetite ? And when the food is this good, you can enjoy it at any time of the day. So as I journeyed back home after that bountiful meal and a fun game of Taboo, I was left with the memories of mammoth portions, quality ingredients and a homely atmosphere. Thulp not only restored my faith in quenching the most untimely of my gastronomic desires, but also in the belief that there still exists culinary innovation in our country which needs to be tapped and marketed well. A wonderful thought to sign off with, wouldn't you say ?

Thulp is located at 998, 1st Main, 1st Block, Koramangala, Bangalore. They can also be reached at www.thulp.in

Consistency is name of the game.

Apart from a very limited number of times, I'm always totally at home with being a food critic. It's quite an easy job to not risk too much, and almost always be in a better position to pass judgment about the unknown. But there are times, when our opinions are brought to shame because establishments cannot maintain their quality standards long enough for people to take my opinions seriously. It's for this reason, apart from many more, that I constantly stress on consistency as the ONLY secret to running a fulfilling and respected business. Now to a critic, happiness can come from anywhere - even from visiting a tried and tested restaurant the umpteenth time and walking out with the same smiling face as the first time.

So as I woke up on a fateful Sunday morning with the above thoughts, I remembered a week I spent for a nice symposium last year, at the Atria Hotel in Bangalore. Normally being the last one to wake up for anything, I had found myself waking up at six a.m every morning during my stay there to catch the superb breakfast spread. So on this particular Sunday a year later, after dragging a friend along, I found myself staring at the same mammoth buffet spread, which I will describe right now. Read on, for a bite of insight.

The Atria 24-hour coffee shop is called 1498 AD, and is modeled with painted bamboo furniture, both quite inviting and comfortable. I also saw some paintings of the spice trade route and ships era of the 1400-1500s, which seemed quite charming for that environment. But as soon as we walked in, we were too busy staring at the array of sumptuous food on offer. The leftmost table consisted of fresh toasted open face sandwiches including fresh lettuce-tomato, tomato-cheese, bacon and chicken, all of which were absolutely fantastic. They were placed right next to three freezing jugs of creamy sweet lassi, strawberry lassi and just plain cold milk. Moving further on, there were an interesting three juices for the day with carrot, tender coconut, and watermelon. I was quite impressed when I tried all of them.

After the array of liquids, there were some heavenly rava idlis, with sambar and chutney followed by a live appam counter manned by a smiling chef who was whipping up the softest appams with a delicious stew (there was choice of vegetarian or mutton). As I moved along further nearly full, I was instantly hungry again at the aroma of freshly baked croissants, muffins, banana bread and a whole array of baked goodies that took me about fifteen minutes to sample individually. If you thought we were done, we were just getting started. I filled my next plate with cheese chilli toast, spinach croquettes, mushroom quiche, scrambled and boiled eggs, and the most heavenly mashed potatoes cheese. My plate was so full that I had no room for the Channa Bhaturas that followed !! Right next to the cereal was an array of fresh cut fruits and some sweets. The guy standing next to me was piling on a lot of bacon and chicken nuggets from the neighbouring station, so I was assured that he was as much in awe as me, at the quality of food. My companion apart from helping me try all of the above food, also helped himself to a bowl of 3 kinds of cereal that he loaded up on from the other side of the buffet. He started digging in when his special made to order omelet arrived from the omelet station, just the way he wanted it.



As I sat there devouring the awesomeness of the meal before me, I realised the love and values with which my meal had been prepared for me. The Atria wants your breakfast experience to be a lazy and relaxed one. There are people to pour your coffee, bring you the paper, and even de-shell your boiled eggs for you. Talk about understanding the value of a Sunday !

I know most of you reading this have been to elaborate buffets where you are promised an extensive spread that looks and tastes perfect, but in actuality you realise that most edibles on most buffets are just there for show and to add quantity to their repertoire of dishes. The Atria has clearly never subscribed to that trail of thought, as I found that every single thing I ate that morning tasted reasonably good, if not heavenly. What's more, there were some absolutely adorable kids running around and smiling at everyone, which totally made it the quintessential Sunday morning breakfast experience.

Here's where the icing on the cake lies - we paid INR 400 of the total meal. The Atria breakfast buffet experience is priced at just 175 INR (plus taxes) which includes the best coffee that I've had in a long time (outside of the unmatched filter coffee of Tamil Nadu and home). So as I paid up and walked out, I was reinstated of the quality that this place has to offer and of the reason why it's still one of the most respected hotels in town in the era of the Leelas and the ITCs.

Change is the only constant quantity in this universe; a principle that most people don't necessarily agree with with respect to food. I've noticed that the world is often unkind to new talents and new creations. The new needs friends. My urge to establishments today is to first illustrate the ability to maintain consistency and quality before embarking on the quest to innovate. Consistency of quality is easily "Restaurant business 101". All that being said, please head on over to the Atria whenever you can (if not everyday) for an experience that will keep you on a happy high for the rest of the week !

The Atria is located at : No. 1, Palace Road, Bangalore - 01.

Note: the breakfast closes by 10.45, so its a good idea to get there early.

Bay of Bengal (the bay where they should throw the food)

All my blog followers and supporters have been pestering me to write a stink review for some poor restaurant. My constant rebuttal to them is that as a reviewer I have to be totally unbiased when I walk into a restaurant, with a mind as open as a hippie ! So there I was.... walking along Church Street past Java City and Empire, and I see Bay of Bengal, a restaurant that I'd been meaning to try for ages, since the reviews had been reasonably nice to them in the past. I look at my friend Narendra, he complies, and before you knew it we were ordering. Oh the horror of the lunch that followed ! Now I mean this more than ever - read on for a bite of insight.

The setting of Bay of Bengal , is simple, minimalistic and comfortable, quite inviting to say the least. We were seated at the table right next to the AC, which was perfect for this unusually hot weather that we've been having. When we looked at the menu, we were pretty unsure of what to pick from the vast array of dishes for offer. We settled on the Paneer Orley and the Mutton Kabiraji kabab as our starters.

Before I start my plethora of opinions, please bear in mind that this review has no pictures of the food, as I don't feel you're missing anything by not seeing them.

The Paneer Orley was the first to arrive, and it was basically just a plate of 2 medium size, incredibly oily pieces of batter-fried paneer served with cucumber and a smile on the waiter's face (WHO by the way did NOT serve us water until we were there for a half hour !!!). Completely lacking flavour to say the least, and the dominant taste was oil and rubbery-textured paneer. Not the best of starts ! The Mutton Kabiraji kabab arrived next looking like a small mutton tikki SURROUNDED by these little fried-batter balls (that resembled Boondi but tasted nothing like them) and topped off with a wafer thin layer of egg stuck to the tikki. Narendra described it as a weird carnival on his plate ! Unfortunately it didn't TASTE like a carnival. The taste of meat was overshadowed by a whole bunch of pepper and chilli, which was also stuffed inside the tikki. About 6 bites later, we were done.

Hoping that we could be a little easier on the chef while ordering main course, we ordered the Chhanar Kopta (Cubes of fresh paneer cooked in a gravy of onions & nuts) and the Doi Bhindi (Ladies finger cooked in Yoghurt & Khuskhus gravy) with some Lachcha Paranthas. The Doi Bhindi was a really small plate of like 6 bhindis with a boiled onion gravy(or what was left of a gravy) with NO sign of yoghurt in the taste. The Koptas (koftas) were soft but soggy and were too sweet with not enough savoury flavour; but still edible enough to finish. The Lachcha Paranthas looked like the Kerala Coin Paranthas, and were not half bad, but for INR 70 for 2 small pieces took all the fun out of it.

The saving grace of the meal was the beverage that we ordered called the Ampora Sorbet. It was basically raw mango roasted to make into a delicious sorbet and flavoured with jaggery and other spices. Highly refreshing and totally addictive. For 35 bucks, it was easily the favourite of that meal. The total meal cost us about INR 600 and we didn't feel it was even nearly worth it.

Bear in mind, that we didn't order the fish (Maccher Jhol) or the Lucchi Aloo Dum which are nothing short of signatures of Bengali cuisine, but in my opinion a chef should look beyond his signatures and take the entire menu seriously. I have a ton of friends who are Bengali and I've been eating Bengali food ever since my mom's Bengali classmates would invite us home for dinner. It's one of my favourite cuisines in this country and in my opinion it epitomizes the variety that Indian food is so famous for. So after that kind of opinion, it was pretty shattering to eat Bengali food that was this bad and prepared with that little thought.

The best Bengali food that I've ever had in town (apart from at my friend Avik's house) has been at Oh! Calcutta. Bay of Bengal has aeons to go before it can be in the same league. If any of you would like to go to this place anyway and give me a second opinion, I'd be more than open to hearing from you.

Bay of Bengal can be found at : 48/1, St. Marks Road, 1st Floor ( Above K.C. Das)
Bangalore.

Around the world in an hour and a half !

If you're an avid follower of the ritual of trying that new restaurant every week, then you'll agree with me on the following truth - eating out's changed since we were kids. Today its about the authenticity of the meal, the feel of the ambience and the overall dining experience. Does someone wanna tell me when we shifted focus away from the food ??!! It's appalling that mediocrity in flavour can be compromised with trivial things such as fancy china and comfortable chairs. Trying to get rid of this thought and not be too hard on our restaurant for tonight, one of my oldest friends in Bangalore, Uday and I walked into our dinner destination named "Phileas Hogg - Around the world in platey days". How did they do ? Read on for a bite of insight.

Lets start with the ambience. This dedication to the racy Jules Verne novel doesn't fall short in terms of novelty decor. We were greeted with a well-lit, easy going atmosphere adorned with wall paintings of Native America (including a spectacular wall-sized map), railway decor, half a ship , and many other subtle things that would even please the heavy traveler. The high ceilings and the fact that we were on the 4th floor, really helped keep it reasonably cool.

The menu is extensive, and tries to cover all possible popular cuisines including Japanese, Malay, Thai, Chinese, Italian, Mediterranean and also Mexican, American and Indian. I had already walked in with a game-plan. First it was essential to test the chef's ability to keep it simple, and then during the course of the meal, increase complexity and hope to God that he can keep up. We started out with the Hummus and Baba Ghanoush platter (Pastes of chickpea and eggplant served up with fresh Pita bread and olives) , The Veggie Yakitori (vegetarian version of this, ours contained tofu , mushrooms and broccoli) , and the Paneer Zafrani (saffron infused Paneer).

The platter was near perfect ! The hummus and baba ghanoush were seasoned to perfection and the pita was light and fluffy. Much more authentic than expected, it was very pleasing and wholesome and was a wonderful start to our meal. The paneer in the Paneer Zafrani was extremely soft (was probably made from full fat milk) and was seasoned and marinated beautifully. The Yakitori skewers were char-grilled to perfection and the ginger-infused soy sauce served as the ideal accompaniment - a very light appetizer which was high in flavour.

After a first course like that, we leisurely read through the extensive menu to make sure we order perfectly for our next course. As I mentioned earlier, this was the chef's turn to show us his real mettle. We finally settled on the Minestrone Soup, The Chelow Kababs with Saffron Risotto, The Chicken Stroganoff, and the Veggie Pizza Pie.

The Minestrone Soup contained very traditionally Italian vegetables such as tomatoes, onions, carrots and zucchini and was quite soothing.

The Pizza Pie was the absolute biggest disappointment of the evening. For those of you who don't know what a pizza pie is, it is supposed to look and behave like this. We on the other hand had what was basically liquid gooey ingredients sort-of filled into a doughy boat of a container. When we cut it open, it all oozed out and made it impossible to eat ! My talk with the chef about it later informed me that they were trying to make a pizza pie without an oven !!!! Yes you read that right - without an oven !!!!


Next came the Chelow Kababs, a speciality of Iran. This version was basically Paneer and zucchini marinated in what seemed like a kilogram of saffron and salt, served on a bed of - surprise surprise - saffron risotto. The saffron taste , originally supposed to be subtle, turned out to be the more than dominating flavour thereby diminishing all other flavours from the dish. Another very forgettable dish.




The Chicken Stroganoff was pleasant, with a midly flavoured cream sauce served with a quite bland, herbed rice. The chicken was tender and seemed to be marinated in some lime juice. The whole dish was garnished with pickled gherkins which were obviously out of a can - something which I don't always approve of. In any case, fresh or canned, pickled gherkins didn't seem the right garnish for something as light and subtly flavoured as Stroganoff. In any case, not a bad option if one feels like eating without wild experimentation.


To drink we had 2 cocktails, again with the hope of keeping it simple. My Lemon infused martini was dirty as I like it, but committed the criminal mistake of being flavoured with Vodka. For all those think martinis are traditionally flavoured with vodka, wake up and smell the Gin ! its always been Gin and I hope it stays that way ! Uday's Whiskey Sour on the other hand would rank up there with some of the best whiskey sours I've ever had - a truly perfect drink to accompany any meal.

To sum up, Phileas Hogg seemed to have got the basics right, but seemed to falter severely when it came to complex flavours. In retrospect, ordering 4-6 plates of starters and some drinks would still help you experience the diverse menu this new restaurant has to offer. The value for money aspect is so-so, which led to us spending close to INR 1700 for the above mentioned meal. Considering this restaurant is just a couple of months old, I feel that with the encouragement and constructive criticism from true-blue foodies like me, they are well on their way to being a favourite for many. I'd definitely recommend a visit at least once for the well stocked bar and elaborate menu.

They can be found at :
No.90/3,4th Floor, Opp Innovative Multiplex, Sarjapur Outer Ring Road, Marathahalli, Bangalore - 560037

A Terra-fic 7 PM Breakfast

As I was finishing up at work today , I thought to myself – what better way to inaugurate my culinary journey than with a breakfast place? Unfortunately the timing was about 10 hours off! Nonetheless, I signed out and was on my way !!So let me start off by letting you in on a secret - I wasn't originally supposed to go to this place tonight, but rather to another place nearby called "Hole in the wall". As my companion and I journeyed along the bustling, traffic-stricken streets of Koramangala, we reached this place only to notice that they're closed on Mondays!! Irritated and now much hungrier, we started to walk along to our eventual dinner destination - Cafe Terra. Read on for a bite of insight.

First impressions first : it seemed unassuming and laid back, with barely the capacity to seat 20 people. There's a nice shelf up against one wall where there are stacks of all kinds of comics - at first sight I could see Garfield, Calvin and Hobbes, MAD and most of the usual suspects. There's a huge framed award on the wall by a popular food review portal calling it "Lazy and laid back" and I thought to myself - there are certainly no pretences about this place in its homeliness and low-frills. Now all I hoped was that the food would be robust and no-nonsense as well.

The menu is basic, and tries to do the simple things right. There is an array of starters, sides, entrees, omeletes, pastas, sandwiches and muffins - very characteristic of a well stocked breakfast place. We started out with the Lemon Coriander Soup, The aloo tikkis, and the Egg and Cheese sandwich. The soup was the first to arrive. It was a clear soup with a coriander leaf- flavoured broth infused with lemon along with tiny pieces of really soft cottage cheese. All the ingredients came together quite nicely, although I would have liked it a lot thicker thereby giving it more body. I highly recommend this soup for the warm beginning that most people look for in a meal.

The Aloo Tikkis were a pleasant surprise. Most places aren't able to make it as crispy as they're supposed to be, but these guys seem to have nailed it. They were flavoured with coarsely minced, perfectly seasoned potatoes infused with chilli flakes and pan-grilled to crispy perfection.

The Egg and Cheese sandwich was quite forgettable, as it was merely finely chopped up boiled eggs with grilled cheese on bread. I found myself lacking some tangy barbecue sauce in the middle. The sandwich came with potato wafers that weren't quite fresh and left a lot to be desired.

Although reasonably full at this point, we decided to order up some more. Next on the list were the Brussels waffles with vanilla ice cream, The Sri Lankan curry with rice, and grilled potatoes and tomatoes.

Lets start with the waffles. Ideally waffles are supposed to be eaten right out of the waffle iron. These were really fluffy and well done, but were not as hot as I would have liked. However, the melting vanilla ice cream and heavenly maple syrup did perfect justice to it.

The Sri Lankan curry was a pleasant surprise. A very flavourful, spicy, green coloured concoction of mixed veggies served with fresh steamed rice. The veggies were cooked perfectly and complemented the rice perfectly. This curry was very wholesome and seems the ideal choice for 2 people who want to share a quick lunch.

The grilled potatoes and tomatoes arrived at the very end and proved to nicely complement all the food. The potatoes and tomatoes were boiled and then char-grilled and lightly seasoned. Quite the wholesome accompaniment, if I may say so.

To accompany the whole meal, we chose the classic Lemon Ice tea which was quite lovely, and a glass of their Blue Lagoon - highly forgettable and tasted unusually like toothpaste. I guess these guys aren't kidding when they say they provide the true breakfast experience !!

Finally after we couldn't eat another bite, we decided to call it a night and were astounded to see a ridiculously low bill of INR 495 !! A total value for money, robust meal no doubt ! In my opinion, some minor revisions to the menu, and a few more tables could really have this place using up its full potential. Definitely worth a visit at least once, for the low frills, wholesome, high value for money experience.

Lets start with... the finish

Edible, adj. - Good to eat, and wholesome to digest, as a worm to a toad, a toad to a snake, a snake to a pig, a pig to a man, and a man to a worm.

When was the last time you ordered something, and it turned out to look absolutely disgusting when it arrived in front of you ? What about when you learnt from the aforementioned mistake, and ordered something you knew would be eye candy, but still ended up spitting it out of disgust ??!!

Ever since we first craved for that extra piece of candy, ketchup to our sandwiches, chips to beer, or wasabi to our sushi , our taste buds have come alive just praying for a challenge with every bite. They learn from our mistakes, adapt to the changing climate and familiarize themselves with our increasingly experimental wits. Ultimately after you look past the fresh ingredients, the slow cooking, and the perfect temperature, the most important thing about any meal is the finish. If you don't feel like taking another bite, then all the factors mentioned before are inconsequential. If you come across an attempt to mask flavour with deceit such as "dining experience" and "decor", then you know you're being set up. The strongest weapon is any chef's arsenal should be the ability to leave behind the perfect aftertaste, to leave even the strictest eater hungry for more.

I vow from today to look for finish, in a journey to find gastronomical peace within me. The marriage of select ingredients and the creation of a unique flavour is holier than most things.

Waiter , I'd like some perspective please...