AMAZING DINING EXPERIENCE | GREEN THEORY

Ello All! I have been travelling in past few days due to which I was unable to share my food porn with you guys, sorry for the delay, but now m back with lots and lots of food porn. This is my 3^rd post of the day! Phew! Writing reviews are not an easy task and writing 3 post’s in one day is next to impossible although I am trying. I will be off for my new year vacation tomorrow and will be back only next year to talk to you guys. So before I leave I thought of completing my food journey for this year in this year and start fresh from next year.

Statistics show that every 4.2 hrs a new eatery opens in Bangalore. Okay, maybe that’s an exaggeration, but the neighborhood has been sprouting up new nom-spots at lightning speed and I have been trying my damned hardest to eat at them all at a similar pace, knocking quite a few in past few months.

A couple of weeks back I found myself at Green Theory to enjoy a meal with my sister. We were in Residency Road planning to shop at Central. I was quite famished because of my lousy breakfast and thus we decided to lunch and then shop. My sister happened to tumble upon this place “Green Theory” as it is very near to her office. Although I was a little skeptic about this joint initially, my sister seemed quite confident and the ratings shown on Zomato was good too. So I kept aside my cynicism and walked in here to plunge into some lip smacking yummy food; and I am glad I did! This place was indeed a haven for food.

The ambience of this place defines the name of the restaurant. 360 angle greenery, splurged with Christmas decoration, parasols with chairs and tables, black board with the daily specials written, overall a peaceful environment. Although I would recommend a eco-friendly chairs and tables that could compliment the décor rather than the plastic ones.

After ordering for a couple of Lychi and Ginger lemonade, we started to peruse the menu. The menu consisted of Continental & Italian spanning from Burgers to Sandwiches to Pizzas to pastas to Sizzlers. We settled for a Irish Potato Soup, Irish Vegetables Boxty and Veg Lasagna.

Irish Potato Soup: A creamy soup rich in potato onions and celery blended in vegetable broth blended in milk. This soup was little sweet, but was very rich in creaminess and yummy when eaten hot. This soup was served with bread crumbs.

Irish Vegetable Boxty: This dish was under the today’s special menu and hence we thought of giving it a try, although I had no clue what would be the outcome of this dish whatsoever. Apparently this dish is supposed to be potato pan cake rolled with vegetables topped with mushrooms, pepper sauce served with bread, mashed potato and buttered vegetables. An amazing entrée, a must try! A love at first site feel, with the potato pan cake dripping in the creamy mushroom sauce oozing vegetables.

Boxty is more like a crepe and so it is perfect for stuffing!! This version is filled with sauteed onions, leeks and mushrooms and finished with a little cream , but boxty’s are flexible. They can be stuffed with any vegetables you want or for that matter even with beef or chicken. The possibilities are only limited by your imagination. 

Veg Lasagna:  By now you know what a fan I am of lasagna. But this time it was my sister who wanted to give this a try. Again a splendid job on this front. Lasagna topped with creamy sauce and olives side with potato wedges which a slight change from my normal lasagnas and marinated vegetables. Again a must try!

Chocolate Fondue: Although both of us were full I couldn’t miss an opportunity to try on the fondue. This particular dessert is usually available only in certain handful places so I couldn’t miss it. So inspite being full we ordered for a choco fondue. One this dessert made it to our table we were uber excited. Pineapples, strawberry, Marshmallow, Banana and apple served with melted chocolate. The best among all were the marshmallow and the rest all were ok-ok!

Overall an amazing superb uber experience. I recommend! Although there service is quite slow and poor. To get there attention one has to wave atleast for 5 min. But the food is def amazing.

If you are on residency road please do visit. They also have an amazing collection of cup-cakes, bummer i couldnt try! But if you guys go please doooooo!!!

GREEN THEORY:
Address: 15, Convent Road, Residency Road

Phone no: 080 41663836, +91 8861435956

A SO-SO PLACE | INDIAN TADKA

A couple of months back I along with my family dinned here after a tiresome shopping at SS :p 

Since my bro in law is no onion no garlic person, our options of dining reduces considerably. 

After scanning through all the kiosk we decided to dine at Indian Tadka as it offers Jain food. We ordered for chole bature: normal and palak, pav bhaji, Maharaja Thali , bread pokada and lassi :mango, strawberry.

Maharaja Thali and chole bature were good and so was mango lassi. 

Pav Bhaji, pakode and strawberry lassi were epic failure!

Overall a so-so place. I would go here only under worst case scenario.

INDIAN TADKA:
Address: 1st Floor, Inorbit Mall, Whitefield
Phone no: +91 9307511111 

NOMMING MY WAY THROUGH MUMBAI

Like I have mentioned a million times before, 2014 has been a great year so far bringing in lots and lots of food with some sporadic travel mixed in. Ringing in the Christmas on the other side of the country, I spent my whole last week of December visiting my family in Mumbai, unlike my last visit which just lasted for a day and a half. This time I spent 5 days there, relaxing, and taking in a lot more of the cities varying neighborhoods, the food it has to offer, the Vitamin D from the ever shining sun.

I had made a list of things I wanted to do, while I visited this place. It included 10 items I wanted to do which also included a lot of eating especially the authentic Maharashtrian food and offcourse the obvious ones like pani puri and pav bhaji, nothing beats the Mumbai pani puri and pav bhaji ;)

Food Junction: Our first food stop bought us to this small kiosk located on the 2^nd floor of Dattani Mall, Vasai, serving South, Indian, Chinese and Fast food. After enjoying a 150 min PK, we made it to this place round 10 at night since we dint have much options available. While there we noshed on, Veg Manchow Soup and Schezwan Fried Rice. If I was rating this place in Bangalore I would have straight away given a 2/5, but since I was in a new town and getting to know the place and people and learning there way of eating, I would give them a 2.5/5. In my opinion, veg manchow soup was similar to hot and sour soup with a difference that they did serve the crispy noodles along with this. One thing I have noticed is, many places fails to provide the exact manchow soup which it is supposed to be; the dish they serve is Hot and sour soup with fried noodles, and this keeps happening at a lot of places in Bangalore too. Although,the soup food junction served had tons and tons of garlic and ginger, which definitely did provide my throat a relief.

I could have passed on the fried rice, given the amount of oil dripping out of the dish. It looked totally unhealthy and everytime I took a spoonful of it into my mouth my heart ached with discomfort.

Elephanta Caves: Located on an island near the Gateway of India, elephant caves are one of the important tourist spots. It’s a one hour journey from Gateway via ferry and once u reach the island, one needs to walk around a couple of km to reach the caves. While strolling our way to the caves, we came across this small restaurant at the entrance of the caves. Since all of us were famished, we made our way to this food hole and ordered for 2 meals and fried rice. Since it’s a tourist spot the place was crowded. We went on a slow day, and services were not on point. We were constantly flagging down our service for silverware, water, condiments, you name it; whatever we needed was never on our table. However the food was tasty. The meals were perfect. 2 chapathi’s, potato bhaji, rice with dal, papad, achar and gobi curry, made their way to our table. A simple yet filling meal that gave our taste buds a swirl of comfort. The fried rice was quite alright.

Kubera: This joint has a strong foothold in Vasai for many years, and as far as I remember, this was my dad’s favorite joint when we stayed in Vasai, which means this place was there 25 yrs back or may be more. Although each one of us was full till brim and we had plans on skipping dinner, we had to buy Pav Bhaji from this joint. Why? It’s a tradition my uncle follows for many years and after hearing it I felt its kinda cute and dint have the heart to skip it. So the tradition goes something like this: If my uncle visits Bombay for any reason with his family, and comes back home late night around 9 or 10, they usually buy pav bhaji with lots of extra pav’s , goes home, freshens up, heat the food, spread it on the table and eat; and this is always followed by a lip smacking dessert. The Pav bhaji was perfect, nothing like what we get in Bangalore. A must try!

Dalini Fine Dine: A new restaurant opened near my uncle’s house, we thought of giving it a try. They serve Mughlai, Chinese, Continental, and Gujarati/Rajasthani thali. Since my uncle had already tried Mughlai, we went for Chinese this time. Our order went something like this, Veg Manchow soup, Potato ginger garlic, Steamed rice with Thai green curry, hakka fried rice with Manchurian. Manchow soup as usual resembled hot and sour soup, but def did help my throat. Potato Ginger garlic was so-so. Thai Green curry has to improvised a lot to meet the usual standards, fried rice again was quite alright, Manchurian was a little different than my usual Manchurians I order, so I loved the presentation and shape of this dish, although this dish ended up having lots of salt, which was a spoiler king.

Onam: A kerala restaurant in Mumbai, one of the saviors for Malayali’s in case there wife’s are not home to cook. This place is frequented by my appan (mother’s sister’s husband) when his wife is out of town. They serve authentic Kerala food that includes, all types of fish, chicken, beef, Kerala Paratha and meals. We ordered for one meal and parathas and beef curry and veg kurma. My appan had this enormous meal that includes red rice, sambar, rasam, moru curry, pickle, papadam, uperi and payasam. He seems to be enjoying his meal lavishly. Mom, I and chitta went for kerala paratha and veg kurma, which was quite good and very reasonable. My brother was gulping in parathas and beef curry which seems to be nice too.

Dhuri: This place opened a year back near Vasai Railway Station. On the 5^th day after a tiresome yet mesmerizing visit from Haji Ali and Chowpatty, we made our stop at this joint to fulfill our pav bhaji tradition, and parceled out 3 pav bhajis and extra pav to eat at home. This place wasn’t as good as Kubera but it was quite alright I suppose.

Chowpatty: A walk from Marine drives to Chowpatty is the best way to enjoy an evening in Mumbai. Since we were all tired to walk, we caught a taxi to Chowpatty and made our way to the food stalls. Tanda pani puri, garam pani puri, gilla bhel, sev puri, gola, pav bhaji, these were our companions for the night. The best among all of it was pani puri, nothing like what we eat in Bangalore. Apart from this even the gola was awesome. These 2 are must try!

Prakash: A very famous place in Dadar, serving the authentic Maharastrian food. A place i had been meaning to stop all week, I finally made my way there on our last day. Conviniently enough, it was a small joint famous among lots of mumbaikar who specifically come here to enjoy a maharastrian meal. Sabudhana vada, kotmeer bade, batata poha, usal, puri bhaji and piyush were the items we ordered. Piyush is a must try here, its an amazing drink! I would pass over the batata poha, but puri bhaji, sabudhana vada and kotmeer bade was exceptional. If you happen to be in Dadar, then make sure to visit this place.

    

Most of the places i visited, are missing photo's. Either I forgot to click pics or I was too impatient to do so. There wasnt a single meal i wouldnt eat again or a restaurant i wouldnt recommend. Hopefully some of you have been to these places, heard of these places or plan on going in future.

A DHABA EXPERIENCE | CHULHA CHAUKI KA DHABA

My mother, she is this small little baby of mine whom I should baby-sit every weekend after my sister got married, apparently she hates sitting being alone. Sometimes it gets annoying but most of times its cute. So my usual routine for every weekend goes something like this: one day with friends/movies/treks and another day reserved for my mom, I take her out for shopping and then we dine out, this keeps her happy and it is also a change from her regular mundane life of home maker.

This past weekend we found ourselves at Chulha Chauki Ka Dhaba. I have been here a couple of times with friends for lunch and it seems to be a good place to enjoy a north meal.  I googled’map this place and ZOOM, in a couple of minutes I was parking my bike at their parking lot. Since we walked in pretty early around 12.30ish the place was empty and I could go in atleast once without being seated in there waiting room. 

They seemed to have done a pretty decent job on the décor front. Parasol with wooden chairs and tables arranged in a courtyard filled with white stones trying to create a dhaba atmosphere!

Once we were seated comfortably, I jogged through the menu. I ordered Malai Paneer to begin with, followed by Kulcha’s and rotis along with Paneer Kofta. On the drinks front I ordered for a thanda lassi which is one of their specialties. They serve chilled Lassi in aluminium tumbler that retains its chillness.

Malai Paneer:  6 pieces of paneer fried, topped with capsicums, onions and tomatoes and sided with green chutney. Uncontrollably oozing malai over the sides of the paneer like hot lava and sitting in the middle is a giant pot of green chutney, if there was ever an ad for clogged arteries this may be it. And while any self-respecting human being can’t eat like this on a daily basis, sometimes it just feels good to be bad. Don’t you agree?

Kulcha/Roti & Paneer Kofta: Since I had asked the staff to recommend something on the spicier side, he took it a little too seriously and made sure my kulcha and Kofta had tones and tones of sliced green chilli added to it. Did it work? Nah! I was picking out each chilli and throwing it away and it turned out to be a hassel to me. Kulcha’s and roti’s were good minus the chillis but I was disappointed with the Paneer Kofta and to be frank I am always disappointed with any koftas I order; no one seems to get it right. But the problem with the curry was not only the kofta’s, even the gravy was too strong of garlic paste and cloves which further spoilt its taste.

Lassi: To be frank I am not a lassi person. But I still love to try it from here. I will elaborate my first experience on lassi experience something like this:  

Well, ummm, yeah, this is what arrived shortly after placing our order. I’ll admit, I stared at it for about 60 seconds before picking it up. I didn’t really know what to think. Interesting presentation? It is chilled? Looks nice! After a few sip, there was a lot of forehead scratching and confused gazes. I started saying things like “I think I like it.” “Yeah, I mean I don’t hate it.” “I think I just drank lassi.” The whole thing was a bit of a mind f*ck to say the least. The flavors were kind of good, the texture was kind of milky white, and I still can’t decide if I liked it or not. But I did feel strangely captivated by it? I, I just don’t know. I think I like it, maybe!

CHULHA CHAUKI KA DHABA:

Address: 13, 7th Cross, 2nd Phase, JP Nagar

Contact no: 080 3232 7799

NOMMING MY WAY THROUGH THAI CURRY | HUNAN

So far 2014 has been bringing me a lot of fun and food, with some sporadic travel mixed in. With huge plans for the New Year ’s Eve which I cannot wait to arrive; I write these blogs to bring in some food porn into my life which is otherwise quite filled with impatience and anxiety. While I wait impatiently for these everlasting days to pass by as quickly as possible so that I could welcome my new year with a wide smile and with a slight hope that it would bring in a lot of happiness, a lot more adventures and lots and lots of food porn’s in the coming year.

So, on a Friday afternoon, after an exhaust full morning, I make my way to Hunan for some food noms. As I strolled alone on the streets of the food heaven of Bangalore, weighing my options in a 2km radius which I can make it on my foot. Although there are many places I haven’t been yet, I still choose Hunan, 1. I have been here a couple of times and I did like this place, 2. They serve good food and 3. They serve my favorite Thai food unlike popsies and chung wah.

It’s been a while I haven’t tasted Thai curry as most of my frequent food folks are not a fan of this one. So this time when I got a chance to enjoy a meal of Thai curry I took it. **wide smile**  What was the outcome? Check it out yourself.

 As if there were words that could do this mini montage justice, these in-your-face, over-indulgent, coconut milk-drenched dish come courtesy of the Hunan. In the meantime, here’s a little taste. Only after looking at the photos from that meal did I realize that Hunan was subconsciously trying to seduce me with it’s excessive use of amazing vegetables soaked in a gravy of coconut milk. I may have been having a great meal, but apparently my taste buds was having an even better one — bubbling over the top of my jasmine rice, rounding out the flavors and textures of my uber-rich veggies.

The sauce is creamy with coconut milk, and gently spicy with the curry paste, is flavorful yet soothing. The vegetables, which are simply dropped into the sauce, and gently simmered for few minutes, was  tender, not soggy. The vegetables blended slightly, but when you bite into the mushrooms, or the sweet red pepper, the vegetable — and its identity — are intact. 

To wash it all this I have ordered a lychee shake which was supposed to be a blend of vanilla ice cream and lychee. It was a terrible choice and one think I realized is, anything ordered with a vanilla shake turns out to taste like milk, lesson learnt - I would avoid this combination always.

Hunan

Address: 123, 1st Floor, KHB Colony, Opposite California Pizza Kitchen, 5th Block, Koramangala

Phone no: 080 2552 0154, 080 2341 3337, +91 97391 20000

LUNCH DATE | CAFE NOIR

Café Noir has been on my list from the very beginning, although I don’t know how I haven’t given up on it yet. You’d think I would have learned my lesson by now; I don’t even have enough fingers and toes to count how many times my master plan to devour this place on a Saturday afternoon has blown up in my face. But finally fate had its way and I ended up at Café Noir on a Saturday afternoon for a lunch date.

What a cute little French restaurant! Dark, intimate medieval tavern feel. Curly cue silverware pewter. We went for an early lunch so there was plenty of seating. I asked to be seated in their far end corner at the back, to enjoy the comfort of the couch, which was nice and cool! I love the avant garde style decor. Kind of old 1920's Paris meets new Louis Vuitton. The interior is very quaint and intimate. It's not by any means a large space but what space it has is utilized very well.  The decor, like the cuisine, is French with a modern twist. Benches and chairs are set against wood floors and blackboards with chalk drawings providing a quirky yet romantic ambiance. The menu is simple, but delectable. From breakfast items such as crepes and waffles; to lunch items including pastas and lasagnas and the amazing spread of deserts.

We ordered for a Mushroom Veloute Soup followed by A Mushroom deep fried with cheese. For entrée we ordered Pesto Cream and Prawns. To wash it all down we ended up ordering the Blue Fizz passion and Four Season.

Blue Fizz Passion: Frankly speaking I would have gone for a glass of red wine or a sangaria. But the last time I had one of those and tried riding my bike the outcome was scary. So this made me opt for a mocktail. Coming back to blue fizz passion, I think I have started growing a thing for this particular mocktail and now that I actually think about it, this is my safe drink I place at every eatery joint if I am not in mood for trying something new. As usual an amazing drink! 

Four Season: A blend of mango, pineapple, kiwi and strawberry crush, this drink seemed nice and my date seems to be enjoying it thoroughly.

Mushroom Veloute Soup: It was delicious and creamy. Apt thickness and this soup really bring out the taste of the mushroom. Loved it!

Mushroom deep fried with cheese: Although I don’t remember the exact name of this dish, this is somewhat similar. It’s supposed to be mushroom deep fried with cheese as the stuffing. I like mushrooms baked but here they boiled the mushrooms and then coated it with batter and deep fried. Avoid!

Prawns: Prawns with penne pasta in a creamy tarragon and tomato sauce. I dint taste this dish but my date seemed to be very happy with his prawns and if I was supposed to quote “the best prawns I had after fresska” which look to me as a compliment.

Pesto Cream: Penne pasta with pesto basil sauce. This dish tasted quite good althought I was disappointed by the amount of olive oil this dish contained. I do understand that olive oils are good for heart but anything consumed in excess is bad. By the time I was done eating, making sure all that excess of oil is left on my platter; in the end I actually discovered a 1cm layer of olive oil as left over.

This was one of those nights I really didn’t have room for dessert. I know it’s rare, but it happens on occasion. I took a peak at the menu and found myself eyeing the tart, the ganache, the sundaes, and the éclairs. Even the crepes and waffles were calling my name, mhmmmm. But alas, my stomach would have never forgiven me and so I had to pass. At least now I have more than a few reasons to return, and this time just for the desserts **wink wink**

Cafe Noir:

Address: Food Court, Orion Mall, Brigade Gateway, Dr. Rajkumar Road, Near Yeshwantpur, Malleshwaram

Phone no: 080 22682140, +91 9620347095