Eden Park (near Indian Express)

This place is known for its Andhra Meals and we had gone there for lunch. 

Food - Ghee, gonkura, a pickle, salt and podi are all available on the table.  There is a rasam, a sambar, curds and a watery butter milk served in cups (you can get extras of these except curds).  The rasam and sambar were good.  The gonkura chutney was fresh and hot (spicy).  The podi was also good.

Yellow dal, a spicy masala based gravy and a veg dry accompaniment are served at the table.  The dal was a bit too bland.  The gravy was great and had pieces of vadai (fried lentil balls) - it was spiced with cinnamon and saunf.  The veg accompaniment - a ladies finger (okra) and black channa dal (chic pea) based one fried with onions and topped with shreded coconut - a tad oily, was good.

The rice was grainy and hot.

The meals is served on plantain leaves.  They serve non vegetarian dishes as well, but we had not ordered any.

Ambiance - There is a garden alfresco area that is open in the evenings.  Lunch is in an old building.  No air conditioning was in place, however the weather was pleasant and we did not find this an inconvenience.  The interiors are basic with tables and chairs.

Parking should not be a problem with the restaurant folks illegally cordoning off a portion of public space outside their restaurant for parking.

Service - a bit slow.

Cost - Rs.100/- per meal.

Experience - Food - good, Ambiance - do not go there expecting one, Cost - worth it, Service - needs improvement - but may never improve.

Reco - I'll go there every once in a while.

Terms - Podi - refers to parupu podi (Tamil) dried pulses with red chili and other spices either finely or coarsely ground

           - gonkura - a sour leafy vegetable - used predominantly to make a chutney with dried red chili

Angeethi, Museum Inn

The restaurant is attached to Museum Inn on Museum Road and is quite a popular one.  It is a roof top alfresco restaurant.  It serves predominantly North Indian cuisine and is part of the BJN group of restaurants.  I had gone there for a Friday lunch buffet.

Food - There were a host of items, including a chat counter - which I avoided as I was there for lunch.  There were a host of vegetarian and non-veg dishes.  The spinach soup was served at the table and was great a slightly creamy soup.  The veg biriyani and the mutton biriyani were really good.  The meat in the mutton biriyani was cooked to perfection.  It was the typical layered North Indian style of biriyani and not the South Indian or Hyderabadi style. 

The prawn gravy a curry type dish was not bad - but nothing to write home about.  There were a host of veg gravies that I did not end up tasting.  A veg sheek kebab and the chicken tikka were good. 

A variety of Indian breads (tandoor cooked) were served at the table. 

There were a host of salads - nothing great - and curd rice on offer at the buffet.

The carrot halwa was good and the rasa malai was awesome - fresh and not too sweet.

There was a counter that dished out gola (shaved ice with a choice of syrups) - something that you usually do not find in restaurants - I loved it.  There was also a choice of ice creams.

There is a paan counter - you could order your pan and pay for it.

Ambiance - The place was packed and additional tables seemed to have been added to make the most of the popularity of the place on a Friday afternoon.  There was hardly any place to walk.  The tandoor was spewing smoke on a third of the tables. 

Valet parking is available (its a short walk from the MG Road metro station).

Service - We were seated promptly since we had booked a table.  But service was unable to keep up with the crowd - serving the soups and bread at the tables and filling the fast emptying food counters.  It was slow.

Cost - @ 400 per person it seemed worth it for the food if not anything else....the paan in the paan counter are expensive.

Summary - Food - great; Ambiance - poor; Service - poor; Cost - acceptable.

Reco - I would like to go there, perhaps not on a Friday when I expect it to be a little less crowded.

Italia, 100 Ft Road

Located in one of the prime top end business centers in Bangalore there were hardly anybody around.  This place is supposed to dish out Italian Vegetarian food.  We had gone for a friend's (vegetarian) birthday treat on a Monday morning - this place had a reputation and we went there expecting a good experience.

Food - The starters consisted of a couple of a stir fried vegetable and deep fried battered baby corn, though not Italian, were both good.  The corn and cheese balls - again fried, were also good.  The bruschetta was good but the garlic bread was a bit dry.  The cream of veg soup with some basil thrown in was quite good, though we had to send it back to be re-heated as it was luke warm.

The main course consisted of 3 pizzas - artichoke and olives; tomato onion and a green capsicum (bell pepper) based one.  All the pizzas were good, thin crusted.  There was also a couple of  varieties of pasta - lasagna and spaghetti in both white and tomato based sauce - not bad.

There was also a veg fried rice - (the Indonesian or Malaysian nasi goreng type) and a veg noodles - no Chinese gravy to accompany.  I had a bit of the rice which was not bad - but how on earth did these dishes find a place on an Italian buffet menu?

The desserts were a big let down - a blue berry cheese cake - did not look too good to risk a tasting and fruits on jelly - more jelly than fruits.  I ended up ordering a tiramisu - again a let down - not much of a coffee flavor.

Now the kicker - Most of the items - the soup, starters and main course were served at the table.  If you did dare to go to the counter to help yourself, most of the counters were either half empty or totally empty!!

Service - pretty laid back.

Ambiance - Simple interiors but quite good with a sub ground level, a ground level and a mezzanine level. Can not comment on the parking as I went by auto.

Cost - Rs.375/- per plate - pretty expensive given the experience (service and lack of food in the counters and lack of desserts).

Summary - Average food, nice location and setting, poor service, bad experience.

Reco - I will not go there again.

Terminology - Lasagna - Long ribbon shaped pasta

Mainland China

I went for the lunch buffet on a Saturday.  I have been here over weekends and have found it difficult to find a place...now it was not that difficult..perhaps the quality had come down or there were more options or perhaps, people just were not spending.  Cuisine is, of course, Chinese.
Food - Starters and soup are served at the table.  The chicken clear soup had a funny smell and no taste.  There were two veg and two non veg starters.  There was veg dumplings and fried veg wontons and there was a stir fried veg and chicken and chicken dumplings. Both the dumplings were good, especially with the accompaniment of the spinach based sauce.  The stir fried veg and chicken was more veg than chicken and the dough was undercooked and raw.
The main course had a prawn fried rice which was good and a sichuan chicken noodles that hardly had chicken, but was tasty all the same.  The crab gravy was good but difficult to eat as it was only the halved bodies of the crabs without the proper implements to eat them with.  The prawn / basil gravy was good, though a tad salty.
I did not try the fish or chicken gravies on offer.  The veg fried rice was not bad but the veg hakka noodles was too bland.  The stir fried vegetables in a brown gravy was repulsive.  I did not try a couple of other veg dishes.
The salad counter had a five salads including a non-veg one and all were quite good.  The dessert counter had a mousse, a couple of cakes and a brownie (which was good) and a choice of cut fruits (good once again) and a choice of 4 ice creams with hot chocolate sauce, nuts and butter scotch to top.
You get a welcome drink or a pint of fosters with the buffet.
Chinese green tea is served at the table for no additional cost.
Service - Was prompt.
Ambiance - Pleasant, air conditioned, spacious.  They have valet parking.
Price - Rs.696.50/- per person.  Costly!!
Summary - Average food; satisfactory service; good ambiance; expensive!
Reco - May not go there in the near future.

Nandhini Deluxe

This is the one on ESI Hospital Road and not the one next to the Domlur Flyover.

For starters, the restaurant has shifted to the next building and the building in which this restaurant was located now strangely has Bhagini (another multi cuisine Andhra restaurant).

Food - I had a full meals and some guntur chicken.  The rice was hot and there was ghee on offer.  You have 'gonkura chutney', 'avvakai mango pickle', salt and the lentil mix at the table.  There was a chutney (onion based) which was very sour.  The sambar was sour and did not stand out.  There was yellow dal - which was also slightly sour.  I did not risk trying the rasam as I felt that would be an explosion of sourness too. 

The vegetable sides was a potato dish that had some onion and was pepper based.  It was actually a nothing dish.

The meals also had the usual curds and butter milk.  Fried salted dry chili (Mor Molaga in Tamil) was served at the table - which was good.

The guntur chicken was a semi dry preparation that was wonderfully spicy and aromatic - not too hot, the sad part was the chicken was under cooked.

The carrot 65 was a batter fried sliced carrot - also sour - was again a nothing dish.

Service - very poor...had to wait for the rice, they almost forgot the carrot 65....had to ask at least thrice before the second rounds of the lentils, the chutney and the vegetables.

Ambiance - basic, air conditioned - but was probably switched off as I felt it was warmer inside the restaurant than outside.

Damages - Full Meals - Rs.96/-, Guntur Chicken - Rs.135/-, Mutton Biriyani - Rs.130/-, Veg Biriyani - Rs.95/-, Carrot 65 - Rs.90/-. (I have commented on only those items that I tasted).

Summary - Food - Ordinary, Service - Poor, Ambiance - Nothing, Cost - Reasonable (matches quality of food / service / ambiance).

Reco - I will not go there again in the near future!!

Terminology - Yellow Dal (lentil - Tur dal - pigeon pea)

AM BACK

Sorry folks...for the long absence...just did not get to blogging...guess it was the facebook effect...now that FB effct is wearing down...u should see new posts regularly!