Rotikaa, Whitefield, Bangalore

This one of three restaurants in the Sathya Sai Hospital, Vydehi Hospital belt. The place is air-conditioned and can seat around 100 pax. Some of the seating is quite uncomfortable in that there short plastic cubes for seats with short tables to match. The other two are Beijing Bites and the canteen of Vydehi Hospital.

The Wednesday afternoon when we went, there was a lunch buffet for INR 150/-. However, we decided to order ala' carte. While the restaurant started off as a North Indian non-vegetarian restaurant, they have now started serving Chinese fare after Beijing Bites set shop above Rotikaa.

The two Chinese dishes we ordered - Crispy fried vegetables and hot and sour veg soup were quite bad. The veggies were not crispy fried and comprised mainly of cabbage. The soup was not very spicy - more like hot and thick tamarind water - and again had a few strands of thinly chopped cabbage and carrots.

The rotis and naan (Indian flat bread made with unrefined and refined wheat flour, respectively) were good, but the rotis were pretty small (approx - 6 inch diameter). The mushroom masala, the dal makani (black gram slow cooked with spices and butter) and the cauliflower masala were not bad and went well with the bread that we had ordered.

Special mention about the quality of service - do not expect much. It is slow and tardy.

In all, the bill for the four of us came to around INR 540/- (we had 2 soups, 3 naan and 5 rotis).

Reco - Not bad - stick to the North Indian fare

Annamalaiyar Chettinadu Restaurant, NH-4, Chennai

Traveling from Bangalore to Chennai, the three of us wanted to eat biryani @ Ambur in Star Biryani. But the biriyani was sold out by the time we reached (7.40pm). We then decided to try out this place.

This place is located on NH-4, at the junction where the road splits towards Tirupati. This restaurant is located behind the 'Krishna Sweets' part of Motel Highway.

Considering the number of cars and buses parked outside we expected this place to serve a good fare.

They had only a few items. There was not biriyani and the only rice item they had was a 'Veg or a Chicken Fried Rice'. Unlike was was suggested by its name this place serves both Chettinad and Indian Chinese cuisine.

The chicken masala was a pepper based gravy with small pieces of chicken and was quite good. But when we ordered the item a second time, we got a toned down version (diluted with water). The parota (pan fried Indian flat bread made from processed wheat) was not fresh and was one that was ready - but reheated.

The paya (mutton hoppers) was just not tasty - had a smoky taste. The dosa (thin rice pancake) was fresh but the idiyappam (a rice flour based noodlesque preparation) or string hoppers was again not fresh.

The place is air conditioned and seats around 70 pax. Nothing to mention about the quality of service. The aforementioned items (2 portions of parota and a bottle of water) cost us INR 340/-. Money 'badly' spent.

Reco - Avoid - Just drive away from here!

Pizza Hut, Bangalore

I have not mentioned any location as it was a delivery order that I had requested for. Even as the order was placed I was told the pizzas would be delivered in 50 minutes. It was quite early in the evening and I did not mind the waiting. However, 50 minutes to deliver a pizza is way above what is expected.

I was told the Pizza Hut in India had stopped the preparation of pizzas with classic Italian base - a shame. You have the choice of either cheese filled base or the regular pan base or the cheesy bites base.

I ordered a couple medium sized ones with their regular pan base. However, I noticed that the base was 'fried'. Either they had lined the baking dish with too much oil or with cheese. The base was pretty awful to say the least and when you consider they take 50 minutes to deliver the pizza - I can only say - stay away from ordering pizzas @ Pizza Hut. I am not even getting into what Pizza I ordered or how much it cost.

Reco - STAY AWAY! STAY AWAY!

Biriyani County, Langford Road, Bangalore

The place has 4-5 tables and a few chairs and can seat around 20 pax. It is non air-conditioned and nothing in it to mention about the interiors. Although the board says it is a family restaurant it is more of a takeaway and hence the few chairs and tables - basically to seat the people who are waiting to pick up their orders.

Again, despite being called Biriyani (flavoured and spicy aromatic rice generally cooked with mutton or chicken and made with Basmati - long grained - rice. It is cooked in different ways across the length and breadth of India) County, the place serves both North Indian and Chinese cuisine. There are only chicken and egg biriyani on the menu. The place serves some vegetarian and some egg and chicken based dishes. All other types of meat are out of the menu.

The biriyani costs INR 70/- for a plate and has at least one leg, a portion of breast and a portion of chicken wing - quite a bit. The rice was not aromatic to say the least. It was more of a yellowish rice in which the chicken was also cooked. It was unlike any biriyani I had ever had. Apart from the healthy serving of chicken, the only good thing about this biriyani was that it was not oily.

I had ordered a chicken pepper fry but ended up being given a chili chicken - costing INR 80/-. Nothing special about this dish too. The service was quite cordial.

Reco - Avoidable - except when you need to pick up some food in a hurry.

Bayang, Clarke Quay, Singapore

It was yet another balmy afternoon in Singapore and we decided to try out a slightly different Asian cuisine. We ventured to Bayang, an Indonesian restaurant. The place can seat less than 100 pax, is air-conditioned, has dim lighting and is situated in block 'A' of the Quay.

On that Saturday afternoon we were the only guests at the restaurant. We landed in the restaurant at around 12.45 pm and were immediately told to place the orders by 2pm and that the place would close around 3 pm. Not the most pleasant way to be welcomed, I must say!

The appetizers platter was mixed meat skewers and some fried meat. Some prawns, chicken and beef - since some of the folks who came with me did not eat beef, we had extra servings of chicken. Was not too bad - was fried meat with dabbed in some sweetened sauce.

The Ikan Bakar Bali - a whole fish char fried was quite good - fresh and juicy fish - can not recall which fish it was. The Tum Ayam - steamed chicken in banana leaf - was quite different, quite bland and not very spicy. The Nasi goreng - Indonesian fried rice served with chicken skewers was again nothing extra ordinary although it was good.

The service was quite poor and we literally had to shout out to catch the attention of the waiters. This despite our being the only guests. And we were constantly reminded to place the last orders before the cut off time. Some fried prawn crackers that were served on the house were pretty bad in that they were tasting quite bitter.

The aforementioned items + a soup (Ayam Bambu Matah - lemongrass based chicken soup - quite tasty) + 2 Singapore Slings (cocktail) + a couple of pints of beer cost us in excess of SGD130/-. Quite expensive - in line with other restaurants in the Clarke Quay area - but the appetite of the four of us was not quite satiated!

Reco - not a good experience - can enter if other restaurants around are full - beware of the service, again!

Fanoos, Hosur Road, Bangalore

Fanoos is primarily a takeaway joint serving different types of kebabs (charcoal grilled meat), katti rolls (pan fried bread stuffed with meat, rather the kebabs/ vegetable stuffing) and shawrma (shaved grilled meat and pickled vegetables stuffed in pita bread.) While the bread used for normal katti rolls is covered in egg batter, the ones served here are plain paratha based. Likewise the pita bread (pan fried flat bread made with fermented wheat and should be eaten fresh) the ones available here are the off the shelf - not the best of pita.

Food tastes good and is very reasonable. Food for two would cost around INR 120/- max. the specialty dish is the beef sheek kebab (kebab made with minced beef and flavoured primarily with green chili). One is not to expect cleanliness in this place. It is more like a street food stall and is quite popular since it is located adjacent to a couple of mosques at a busy intersection. The joint is quite packed in the evenings, especially on Fridays.

Reco - Worth a shot - beware of the stomach bug!

Mirch Restaurant, Whitefield, Bangalore

Located close to ITPL, it may be quite a popular joint - especially during lunch - as Whitefield is bereft of a choice of restaurants to go to. It is a typical lower end multi cuisine restaurant serving Chinese and North Indian cuisine.

It is primarily a garden restaurant that can seat around 100 pax in a covered section and another 100 odd pax in an open section. There is not much of a garden - just a drying up lawn and the seating is not on this either. The menus are food stained and the seating comprised primarily of plastic chairs around a 'quickly' assembled wooden table.

Service was not bad, but the waiters clothes too matched the menu in that they were pretty stained.

My companion did the mistake of requesting the waiter to make the mushroom pepper fry extra spicy - one could hardly taste the mushroom. It was pepper, more pepper and some chili. The hot and sour veg and chicken soups too were more 'hot' than sour and were not particularly flavourful.

The stuffed kulcha (milled wheat pan fried bread stuffed with vegetables - we had gobi kulcha or one stuffed with cauliflower) was dipping with oil that we had to dab some out using paper napkins. The mushroom masala was a green chili based mushroom semi gravy dish. We necessarily needed to down the food with sweetened fresh lime juice, lest we have burning back sides the next day. In fact one of my companions also needed to have a lassi (sweetened yogurt shake) in addition to the fresh lime.

The aforementioned dishes (3 portions of fresh lime and kulcha, 1 veg and 1 chicken soup)+ a dal (lentils) cost us INR 635/ -. Quite expensive for this place.

Reco - Avoidable

Go Thai, Great World City Mall, Singapore

This was part of a chain of restaurants in Singapore that serves Thai cuisine as the name suggests.

Located at the top floor of the mall, the place was quite popular, one of the reasons being it is placed very close to the entrance of the multiplex in the mall.

The riverfront area does not have any large shopping arcade or mall other than the GWCM. We had been to Go Thai for dinner, We had a noodle soup made of sliced beef and vegetables. This dish was quite nice. The beef was well cooked and thinly sliced and the portions were quite large. The tom yum noodle soup although tasty was certainly not authentic.

This place in the mall could accommodate around 40 pax. The service was great, food was good but not authentic Thai.

The aforementioned items alone cost SGD 21/-, probably a tad expensive.

There are a host of other specialty restaurants in the mall including Indonesian, Japanese, Chinese and Italian apart from the standard Singapore food - court.

Reco - Maybe worth a visit before or after the movie!

KuraNoNaka Japanese Restaurant, Clarke Quay, Singapore

After a busy day (shopping with women) Clarke Quay is a nice place to unwind in the evening. We sat in the outdoor section which could seat around 50+ pax and overlooking the quay.

A platter of mixed sashimi (raw meat - usually sea food served with wasabi and soya sauce) and mixed sushi (vinegar rice and raw meat and at times vegetables, sometimes wrapped in seaweed and served with wasabi and soya sauce) disappeared in no time along with the warm Sake'. Each of the platter had 2 pieces of tuna, eel, shrimp, salmon, and some extra salmon as they had ran out of yellow tail and some caviar. The sushi included a few pieces of vegetarian varieties too.

The evening was quite pleasant and the batter fried soft shelled crabs that followed disappeared too - only that it was a tad oily (maybe the yin and yang balanced was achieved due to the raw and fried food that we had).

3 pint equivalent of the sake' + the above dishes cost around SGD 105/-. A tad expensive, but worth it. The service was very good.

Reco - Good place for Japanese food!

TGIF, HAL Airport Road, Bangalore

Thank God it is any day before 8pm. Yes it is happy hours time till 8pm and you get one drink on the house for every one that you order. And this is the best time to visit the place.

Seating in the air-conditioned area can seat around 150 + pax and outside it can seat around 50 more. The interiors are in line with their decor anywhere else in the world. There are a few large plasma screens beaming either sports channels or MTV. The music is a bit loud and plays retro pop and rock. Since the music's loud, the people speak louder to be heard - all in all - a pretty noisy place.

The snacks are again from their international menu and are generally pretty rich and not for one who's watching the waist line. There are only a few vegetarian items on the menu. Portions are quite large but for the starters (again nothing to complain about). The pita bread we ordered came with a humus dip and a salsa dip - both went well with the bread. The mushroom pizza too was quite good - thin crust and had quite a bit of mushroom topping. I had to stick to a veg menu as my companion was a vegetarian.

These items + a couple of bottles of beer + 2 large RC whiskey + a couple of pints + 1 large Bacardi cost us around INR 2200/- - certainly worth it. The service is quite good - can say it's a bit better than HRC Bangalore.

Reco - Good place for a drink - whether it is Friday or not!

Arasappar, Nandanam, Mount Road, Chennai

This is a restaurant, which can seat around 75 pax is air-conditioned and serves Chettinad cuisine.

Chettinad cuisine is primarily non-vegetarian (although there are a number of vegetarian items that are normally do not find the menus of these Chettinad restaurants) and consists of spicy (green chili, red chili or peper based) food which could either be dry or a gravy.

A plate of Aapam (a pancake made with fermented rice flour and without oil), parotta (pan fried milled wheat bread), a paya (lamb shanks in a mildly spicy gravy) and chicken Chettinadu (an onion, tomato, garlic and red chili based gravy) cost around INR 300/-.

The food was excellent and the quantity was more than adequate, especially considering the price. The only problem with the place was the dim lighting which was way too dim.

Reco - do visit for good, value for money, Chettinad food

Adyar Ananda Bhavan, NH-7, Krishnagiri

This is a vegetarian restaurant attached to a BP petrol bunk. This part of the Chennai based chain that goes by the same name and serves South Indian veg tiffin items and meals (for lunch) apart from the sweets and savouries the group is famous for.

The service is quite poor and the place has both a self service area that seats around 50 pax and a area where you are served which is indoors and seats around the same number of pax. There is no air-conditioning. Ample parking is available.

The joint is quite popular as there is no other restaurant that belongs to a bigger chain or a 'popular' chain.

While the food is quite good, the place is infested with flies, which one has to put up with. Idly(steamed rice flour dumplings) and dosai (rice four batter pancake) are available through the day and for lunch one can buy some South Indian meals which is quite good.

The cost of a couple of plates of idly and masala dosai (dosai served with a potato and onion based filling) would cost around INR 150/-.

Reco - Not the best of restaurants, but probably one of the better ones on this highway.

Cafe Coffee Day, NH - 7, Krishnagiri

Wow, finally a cafe on this highway. For a person who drives often on this road, especially at nights, there was no cafe' wherein one could have some steaming espresso for that caffeine kick.

The outlet is part of a petrol bunk complex and has recently opened.

Apart from the usual stuff such as samosa, pastries, sandwiches and so on, one can also catch some idli (steamed rice dumplings) or dosai (rice flour pancakes) or some paratha (milled wheat pan fried bread - generally stuffed with some vegetable(s)).

The place is air conditioned and can seat around 60 pax. There are a few sofas to stretch yourself and although the place professes to be a 'self service' one, the bearers willingly serve you at your table.

An espresso, a hot chocolate and a plate of veg samosas (savory filled, covered in a layer of milled wheat flour (maida), shaped triangularly and fried) cost around INR 160/-.

Reco - A good pit stop on NH-7

Barista Cafe, Garuda Mall, Bangalore

Nothing different about this Barista from any of their other mid sized outlets. It can seat around 100 pax with a few couches and a lot more chairs placed around tables.

The air conditioning is not good - probably a problem with the mall.

The service is quite bad considering the place is bustling as it is one of the better places to catch a cuppa in that area. (Certainly better than what is available in Shoppers Stop, Lifestyle or Bangalore Central.)

They have some items for those who want to look after their waist - microwaved fries without oil - was not bad at all @ around INR 80/-.

A couple of coffees + a doughnut + the fries came to around INR 300/- , probably a tad expensive.

Reco - best coffee in that area, you have to put up with the Air conditioning and the poor service.

Chill, Radha Hometel, Whitefield

One of the few hotels in Whitefield wherein one can catch a drink after work. Being on a prime road (Opp SAP Labs) in Whitefield, it was expected to be one of the better ones, especially considering it is part of the Hometel group.

However, I was quite disappointed.

The music being played was some retro English songs - probably some CD bought off the rack. There were only 2 bearers for a place that seats close to 100 on a Friday evening. (This was probably because most of the other guests already knew how bad this place was.)

You have some potato wafers served at the table and that is about the only snacks they have (at least till 7pm when the kitchen opens). We left after our first drink.

With a bottle of Kingfisher beer costing INR 225/- and a large RC whiskey costing INR 400/-, I am sure the other hotels in the area would be a better bet for a drink or two.

Reco - Avoid

Samarkand, Infantry Road, Bangalore

For starters, this restaurant seems to be quite popular in that getting a seat on a Wednesday night was not as easy as I thought it would be.

The seating is quite bad - quite low and small - they have tried to create a 'Dhaba' style seating. I am taller than the Indian average @ 6ft, but it was inconvenient even for my companion who measures 5'4". The lighting too is quite dark and could have been a bit brighter.

The Kameeri ki roti is one made with marinated dough and was quite fluffy and different. The Lagan Ka Murgh was very good and so was the mutton biryani. The biryani was a bit low on salt but the flavours and the succulence of the meat was simply superb.

Service is good but could have been better considering there is a 10% service charge in the bill.

Liquor is pretty costly with a bottle of beer coming to around INR 200/- and a small of RC whiskey costing INR 175/-.

The total bill for the aforementioned food + 1 large whiskey + a bottle of water came to around INR 1450/-

Reco - mind the seating - but a must visit for the biryani.