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.