Indijoe’s!

One word – FullFilling!!! 😀

Sunday afternoon, 7 hungry people, breakfast obviously did not happen for them! Only one answer – The Indijoe’s buffet! Starts with soup and ends with dessert and in between lies so so much that jus tasting everything fills you up! It’s a continental buffet… and it’s goooooooooooddd!!!!! 😀 The don’t misses include: cheese slices, chicken salami, seafood salad (where there was almost a fight for the squid!), chicken winglets, veg stir fry and all of the desserts! The soups are a-ok! So if you aren’t a big fan don’t fill urself unnecessarily.

Accompaniments – Beer! 🙂 Also loads o flowers and butterflies that she got as bday gifts surrounded her table!

The ambiance – orange walls (orange by the way is a colour that is supposed to induce hunger!) :), old world artefacts – an old coke poster, an antiquated miniature golf set and lost of such stuff! Music to match! A hungry hungry hungry person will do the palate the justice it deserves! 🙂

All in all…. I would go there again! If not for the usherer’s rudeness, it’s a place with good food, beer and a host of other stuff along with good music! What else do you think a girl wants on her bday rite?!

Details:

1, Carlton Towers,

Airport Road,

Bangalore 560017.

Tel : 91 – 80 – 41113636

(PS – no reservation on sundays and its generally half an hour waiting! but it’s worth it!!!) 🙂 

The Only Place

If steaks is what you want then this is definitely THE ONLY PLACE! And if burgers are on your mind then this is THE ONLY ONLY PLACE!

A nice yellow lap lit place…. checked table cloths…. loads of chatter around you… and the best food in town! (no jokes!)

Beer is the only liquor that gets served… so the max you end up doing is mixing it wit cinnamon, lime or sprite! (ONLY and ONLY if you wish to!) 😀

The food has a taste that makes you hungrier till you are halfway through and then slowly begins to satisfy you and fill you up! In other words… its PURRRRFECT!

🙂 Awwwsum food, interesting people, and a conversationalist ambiance! This is definitely THE ONLY PLACE! Miss this and you’ll miss Bangalore! (best is it’s easy on the pocket as well!)

Details:

The Only Place

Museum Road

Next to Raheja Arcade

Phone: 080 – 32718989

Jukebox

A lazy day gave way to a laziee evening as 3 souls found their way to Jukebox. Antiquated li’l place with the name shining bright in red neon lights! It makes you wanna go in and explore almost instantly.

But instantly was not to be… the place is jam packed on a saturday evening and the proprietors face looks like he’s been having a busily hard time! Well, they got place after a good 45 mins and their faces said it all….. ‘beer!’ And so beer it was! The starters were corn tikki and mutton pepper! And each was better than the other. Even if you are a sworn non-veggie you hafta try the corn tikkis! They were beyond awwwsum!

Recommended: The shepherd’s pie! It’s authentic and it’s made brilliantly well! The blend of salt in the potatoes alongwith the flavour of the beef is just so right! We also had the chicken stroganoff and the spaghetti bolognese. 🙂 Needless to say amazing food!

Grandpa’s been there more than once… actually thrice in three weeks… and he swears by the good 60’s music playing and the food! 🙂 The walls are done up in a lot of 60’s stuff as well…

It’s an experience! And it’s amazing! Good food, good music, good company, nice place to chit chat and chill out! 🙂 (They serve desi and parsi food as well!)

Details:

Jukebox

359, 1st Main, 7th Block,

Koramangala-560095

Phone: 022-25710032

Independence day!

It started of as an early early morning where I was making cheese toast at the formidable hour of 630 am on a holiday! 😀 I can be a good sister… ! Dear darling sis had a flight at that insane hour to Mumbai and was quite low about leaving Namma Bengaluru and going to Amchi Mumbai sort of permanently! Nothin like a nice warm cheesy cheeze toast to lift spirits rite?! 🙂

That done, and a short nap later i found myself pittering and pottering in the kitchen. The menu was same as last time, but the people were definitely hungrier!!! 😀 Also this time, the chicken curry used good breast pieces instead of a lot of bones and the difference in taste was noticeable immediately! The Mex Paneer also saw a load of capsicums and green chillies being hoarded into it! 🙂 The gulabjamuns stayed the same… were just a lot more in number and so there was a lot more cardamom! 🙂 Practice maketh a woman!

The afternoon started of  with a lovely lovely bottle of South African wine! 5 lazy lumps were chilling totally in a surprising Bangalore sun and getting to know each other a wee bit more! The wine bearer decided to wait for glasses to get empty before puring out a second round! Glasses! There was a steel mug, a glass mug, and 3 old world glasses! (naani naani k zamaane k types!) Yep, those were our wine glasses! 😀

Hunger began to beckon and thus was laid a sumptuous palate (in the words of the eaters! 🙂 )  It’s always nice to cook for people with a healthy appetite! It gives an inner satisfaction to see food you cook, whisked away in minutes!

The chef was duly appreciated and took a bow! Some of the foodies decided to doze off and others said it’s a waste to doze off after eating such good food! 🙂 (The chef was completely glowing on the insides by now!) Idle chatter filled a quiet, lazy afternoon and music in respective ipods was being explored! A mug with coffee being beaten…. nice, creamy, sumptuous coffee being beaten with a lot of patience! 🙂 Trick: add 2-3 drops of water once it gets unbeatably stuck and thick… It’ll set moving again! Keep doin it till all those weeny lil sugar crystals dissolve and the result is a nice whitish creamy mix of coffee just waiting to be served! Some even went on to say, chuck the milk… lets get ice-cream and pour a dollop of the coffee mix over it and freak out! (yup! it gets that creamy!!) The task of getting the packets of milk had been assigned to Khandka aka Bade Bhaiya and he very thoughtfully got full cream milk and announced that it makes better coffee! Yup! He’s right!!! 😀 1 cup water and 4 cups o milk! (Same story as the wine glasses for the cups!) :D… Lo n behold.. nice creamy thick coffee was served and the asleep were woken up the wonderful aroma of freshly beaten, hot coffee!

As all 5 of them went on to describe it… it was a perfect afternoon! Coffee and Pink Floyd! Some bits of linkin park and Chris Daughtry as well!

Starts with the wine, ends with the coffee and has lots of good food and good conversation going in between! 🙂

A perfect Independence Day! An Independence from the worries of the world, from the vicious circle of a life caught up in weekday and weekend and an Independence from the crashing and burning of the soul caged in! 🙂 Happy 60 years to India!

Koshy’s!

There are and will be a number of reviews of the place on the net… and I for one cannot do justice to that place with just one visit! yes i’ve been there… and yes it’s a class apart! It’s one of it’s kind and it’s amazing! It’s like as you sip over your beer in a tall clear glass and look outside through the blinds… traffic seems to slow down and a certain peace descends inspite of the noise and chatter inside!

Bare bones, basic and classic! Rustic! Old faded table cloths.. old fashioned clear glasses with borewell water… typically typically irani! A few fans scattered over the ceiling… lots of smoke from cigarettes… but it was a nice cozy warm n not stifling inside! There’s a seperation of the Smoking and Non-Smoking areas to the extent that the non-smoking is called the jewel box, has an A/c and i’ve heard prices are steep there! And yes, the use of laptops is not allowed inside the jewel box! (Mystery… any answers people? ) 🙂 But true koshy’s is smokin koshy’s with it’s claim to fame as even Pt Jawaharlal Nehru dined over there! Also.. there’s a gigantic Iron (Press) with MTV Style awards kept there.. so it had us wondering for a few moments! 🙂

Women in saris who smoke, women in capris and short skirts who smoke, women with 2 pigtails.. women who don’t smoke.. men with beards and long hair, men in casual shirts… men with arms around their girlfriends… all kinds of smokin and non smokin people… groups of women chattering away… groups of men enjoying their beer! It’s a come as you are, do what you want place and everybody… EVERYBODY is totally comfortable in their skin! Even the blackish-brownish lizard on the speaker rite above our heads was quite comfortable and dint move an inch! 😀

This is a place where I had kheema curry rice haath se! 😀 Home tweet home rite?! 🙂

So if you wanna take a break.. let go of your masks.. enjoy good food/coffee/beer… let your hair down and head straight for this beautiful experience! It is indeed an experience! The house special is ‘appam with mutton stew’ but that’s only and only a sunday breakfast item! So the day you find it in your bones to wake up on a sunday morning before 9… you wash your face and brush your teeth and head straight for koshy’s! 🙂 And yes… it sells like hot cakes so it’s best to be there before 930!!!!!! (I’ll tell you the day I manage it!)

Details:

9, St. Mark’s Road.

Bangalore.

Timings: 9 am to 11:30 pm.

Phone: 2221-3793/2221-5030.

Take 5!

Lots has happened as usual.. it has been a wonderful weekend inspite of the padhaii i’ve been doing off and on! (got a certification eggjam today!!!!)

Friday night… office is now far away from home so needed something on that general route.. 🙂 Found! Take 5! Jazz music, blow ups of local jazz artists… and a pitcher of cocktails! 😀 yeah yeah yeah.. biiiiig grin! Only till the pitcher came… twas a baby pitcher.. (but twas still a bonus once you calculated price and quantity so smile returned!)

The place is a li’l too chattery for some and the music too soft, but the waiter does oblige you with an increase in volume if you do request for it! The head waiter himself is not too friendly.. his paunch comes in the way of a lot of conversations and he keeps a very beady eye over all the guests!

The minute you enter and turn to your right you see reflected in a beautiful glass window the little little candles that light up the room… and over the branches of the tree outside, that reflection catches your breath for a minute! The sofas that you plunge yourself into thereafter are instant bliss after an ergonomic disaster called the office chair! 🙂 The candle on the table is enticing enough to continuously play with it! (no pun intended you dirty minds!)

The starter that shouldn’t get a miss is the meatballs with barbecue sauce! The best thing drink with it of course is beer! 🙂 Yes it gets followed up by the cocktail pitcher and then a nice li’l something more! If you’re non-veggie the place serves one of the best steaks and then a friend swears by the pork chops in this place! Veggie stuff is also good and has enough variety for you to pick and choose… read between the lines! When they say chilli.. they mean CHILLI!! 😀 (order the mexican fixes only if you really want something totally HOTT!!)

A nice change from the regular rock stuff… Their USP is definitely the food and not the drinks! Decor is interesting too.. 🙂 I fell for the lampshades and the bartender when mixing a cocktail makes enough noise for you to turn around and notice and lo and behold you have betrayed yourself!

So when you’re there… grab a table by the window, call for a pitcher and let the delights of food and jazz over take your senses as time floats by! 🙂 (And as a friend said… take 5 at take 5) 😀

Details:

54, MSK Plaza,

100 ft Road.

Above Coffee Day

Indiranagar

Timings: 11 am to 5 pm 7 pm to 11 pm.

Phone: 5530-0645/2521-7191

Of Rajma and KFC!

The evening found me back from office at a disgusting hour of 8pm after travelling for 1 and a half hours through the city, into the traffic and etc etc!

I hadn’t lost hope… I was cooking rajma, rice and ‘ande ki bhurji’ (scrambled eggs) for a bunch of people who love to eat and it’s awwsum to see the food polished off after they’re done! 🙂 Yes, I had not soaked the rajma before hand and yes I had a flask handy.. so lo and behold, fill the flask with hot water and add the rajma (after washing and cleaning) to it! Immediately close and leave standing for half an hour! Till then what you would ask? Till then go downstairs, buy the veggies… wash em up and cute em all up to make for easy confusion free cooking!

Another tip here: After that sacred half hour is over, pressure cook the rajma alongwith the onions and give it a few extra whistles! It helps to make a nice, aromatic, thick gravy! And then of course the key to good rajma is loads n loads n loads o tomatoes, dhania powder and garam masala! 🙂 And yes… cook on slow fire for all the masalas to get into every pore of each lil bean!

The ande ki bhurji was punjabi dhaba ishtyle with tomatoes, onions, green chillies and coriander! And the rice was cooked in 2 shifts in the tiny cooker that I have!  There was a cucumber lying around so it made for salad and all of it was served nice and hot and was polished off in a matter of minutes! 🙂

And no I don’t get into such elaborate cooking everyday! Yesterday found me at KFC! And you will not judge me if I tell you that all of the undersaid was for one person only:

1. Zinger burger with cheese

2. Pepsi

3. 1 humongous piece of chicken

4. Chicken strips with salsa sauce

😀 I was high on food! And mercifully I decided to walk back the 2 kilometres to home! But unmercifully was a cute Baskin Robins’ Cafe and and yes my li’l feet decided to turn me in there and straight to the counter! A chocolate almond praline! Ahhhh! Bliss! (yes.. a cone and a double scoop!) shhhh….!

I munched along happily on the walk back… earlier I was high.. now I was positively drunk!  I wasn’t walking straight, I had a silly grin plastered all over my face and I was singing the songs that my pod was belting out! 🙂 PS – I reached home safe and sound and curled into bed with the newly purchased ‘Kingfisher Food Guide’ for Namma Bengaluru! It’s a must have! Seriously!!!

Home Cooked Meal!

It started off with yours truly in the kitchen experimenting with a packet of MTR gulabjamuns so a frantic all first went to Mommy dearest askin how much is 400gms of sugar?! (Yeah yeah laugh! Only a mother understands uch questions) and her answer was, ‘jo tere ghar me steel ki katori hai usse bas thoda sa zyada’!!

Doubts cleared… she set off kneading the dough… which ended up looking all sticky and funny.. but the packet did say leave for 5 minutes. Tip: leave standing till it begins to look smooth and creamy and then roll a tiny lil bit in your fingers… the stickiness will be just enough to make nice tiny balls. Go ahead the.. make the tiny balls…! After having done that start on the sugar syrup… equal amounts of sugar and water.. as the sugar begins to melt add a lot of elaichis… not whole, jus the black danaas inside.. gives a yum aroma and flavour! Let the syrup boil away for about 10 minutes after the sugar melts and then take it off the gas! Now deep fry those li’l balls till they’re nice and dark brown.. warning.. fry and not roast! they shouldn’t turn into rocks. They need to be a li’l soft and then plonk them all into the sugar syrup!

Forget the whole thing for 2 hours at least! Which is very difficult given that they begin to nice and yummy after the first half hour but then they need to absorb the flavour!  They’ll grow in size and entice u towards them but hang on!!! 😛

Next up was a chicken curry which is a mommy’s special recipe! The secret here is to use a lot of freshly cut tomatoes and go hands free on the garam masla and green chillies!! If u like a thick gravy add the littlest bit of cornflour but cook the chicken on slow fire so that it absorbs all the flavour of the curry!

Veggies are not neglected in my humble abode… Mexican Paneer was it! Sounds exotic but really again… It’s again a lot of tomatoes and capsicum this time! (Recipe only if you want it! This was handed down to me by my GodMother!) 🙂

Then a dear friend decide to treat us all to some yummy stuffed methi and pyaaz parathas and then masala parathas!

9 hungry women… and an abundance of food that vanished in no time! The gulabjamuns received a lot of compliments! A smiling chef and a happy abundance! 🙂

Purple Haze

And here’s this one about Purple Haze! Now this one’s special ‘coz I’d had an awful night nad then spent the entire day running to and fro from office and had this insane urge to study for an egg-jam (read exam) that I hafta give next monday and had a head ache and avoided coffee like the plague and then landed up here with a very dear friend! 😀

Apart from all of that… If you live in a perfect world and have the perfect day you’ll still like Purple Haze! It’s a Haze alright! As you enter you get engulfed in darkness and it takes a few iddy biddy seconds for the eyes to be able to see again… Nice comfy seats… stretch your legs and enjoy! But only the side seats allow you that luxury… the others did look kinda small! (ya so it’s not a perfect world!) If you’re in it for the music, that starts at 730 pm! We were the first in and last out! 😛 Music’s good!

They serve fish fingers and theirs is the kind of mayonnaise that’s hard to find! High on the eggs! 🙂 So it’s nice! And no i will not divulge here how much I ate and drank for want of it being a weekday! Kuch to sharam mujh me ab b hi baaki hai! 😛

Pitchers and fish and muzik… and float! become a part of the haze and you will have a wonderful time! My headache vanished, I slept well, I felt human again and life looked like it can be given another try!

If you’re not particular about rock try the top floor.. it’s got a nice cozy lil seat by the balcony railing where you can look down at the world and all the little people and feel happy about being where you are at that time! 😀 It’s nice and outdoorsy!

So take your pic and beer away… the fish fingers happens to be the best thing on their menu! The cocktails are all nice.. reasonable enough and made quite nicely!

Cheers to the haze!

Details:

Purple Haze

Near Jyothi Nivas College,

Opposite Udipi Krishna Bhavan,

Koramangala 5th Block

(Directions… take the road right next to hyderabad house and it’ll miraculously appear on your left)

Contact: 080-080 4110 4747

Infinitea!

It’s been a crazy week… but yes i’ve been eating well and partying hard! 🙂 And so will follow a lot of posts that couldn’t happen as the dear darling laptop that gets my thoughts out on its keyboard decided to crash… 😀 Back in action now!

The evening finds 5 chattery women at a nice glass table with the words ‘Find yourself a cup of tea… now tell me about hundreds of things!’ reflecting from beneath it! Now did we need more inspiration?! 😀 Add to that very comfortable chairs and sofas and some amazingly cuddly cushions! So there we were…. masala chai, kahwa (a kashmiri tea brewed over slow fire and served with almonds… they added kesar as well so twas a lilting flavour… the authentic yes is without kesar.) and a large mug of kiwi flavored iced tea (not too bitter, not too sweet… swirl it around in your mouth before you take it in and voila! heaven on earth!). The one mishap was the cinnamon flavored cold tea (it was essentially cinnamon bole to dal cheeni and cold milk blended together… ). It was essentially a very raw flavour that did nothing for the soul!Chatty Hungry women! 😀 A greek salad and momos served in a wonderful steel palate with a delicately flavoured chilli-garlic sauce paved the way for a delicious hearty dinner! The dinner had us ordering the Rissotto, the spinach-cheese something (which i’ve forgotten the name of but was damn good!), the chicken with dried tomatoes (served with rice), the sicilian chicken (only if you like the sweet flavored white sauce!) and the stuffed chicken! The stuffed chicken was on my plate and was in one word ‘Jannat!’ Tender chicken breasts stuffed with mushrooms, corriander, a few herbs and cheese! Also topped with loads n loads of cheese and served with mildly flavored pasta in white sauce. The expression of sheer and complete bliss on her face said it all!

Women and tea it is oft said are inseparable. So we decided to be just that and ordered a steaming pot of ‘lemon grass’ tea. This tea relaxes you totally! Mind, body and soul! It’s supposed to induce sleep! (and yes it did!) 😀 It comes as a pot of hot water to which lemon grass is added and the hour glass turned so that it brews just right! Just as the sands of time slither away… the tea gets done and is poured into some very well shaped cups… Each kind of tea comes with different kinds of cups.. they help you absorb the heat in your hands and play around with the taste and aroma! 🙂

A meal but is incomplete without dessert! Thus came a single ‘semi-fredo’ with 5 spoons diving into it. It was tiny for dessert but the taste was beyond brilliant! You have to try it to believe it!

Add to all of this a set of nice, smiling, ready-to-serve waiters and paper coasters with the most wonderful quotations about tea written on them and the result was 5 women brimming with satisfaction as sereniTEA became theirs while listening to Bohemian RaphsoTEA, and Jame’s Blunt’s You are BeauTEAful! (from a poster on the walls) 🙂

All in all a very relaxing experience!

Warning: The portions are enough for just one person and are anyways served individually on plates… so order away! (It’s okay on the pocket as well… we ended up spending 300 per head)

Details:

InfiTea

2 Shah Sultan Complex

Cunningham Road

Opposite Reliance Web World.

Contact: 080-41148428, 080-30941516