[TorqueyTechie]

Originally Posted by NPV

Any recommendations for a good place to meet up with NRI friends visiting ? Looking for places near BTM/Jayanagar/JP Nagar that have veg and non veg options. Also, want to avoid the noisy places and those playing loud music that prevents people from having a conversation at the table

You can visit Once upon a Rooftop (Jayanagar), Hakuna Matata (JP Nagar), Levels ( JP Nagar), Pumphouse ( JP Nagar). First two options are not loud while the last 2 can be a bit loud.

[Simha.k]

Not sure if this has been shared here yet.

Our current EAM Dr Jaishankar was given a tour of Bengaluru's most famous chaat street by food vlogger Kripal Amanna.

You can watch the video here.

Must appreciative the minister's down to earth and humble behavior.

https://youtu.be/Ph2dJAxU-WA

[iamitp]

Was recently at the Bangalore Airport, and it must the best airport to eat and especially, drink, well in India. Helped myself to Bira's craft beers while being awed by the sheer number of awesome food & beverage outlets. This is what every airport in India ought be!

[Acharya]

Originally Posted by iamitp

Was recently at the Bangalore Airport, and it must the best airport to eat and especially, drink, well in India. Helped myself to Bira's craft beers while being awed by the sheer number of awesome food & beverage outlets. This is what every airport in India ought be!

Bangalore certainly has much more to offer, once you look beyond traffic and roads!

[TorqueyTechie]

After a long time, today we had went to SN refreshments. Had idly vada and masala dose. Everything was good except the chutney served with dose. It was for some reason very sweet. I am more of a chutney person than Sambar but I couldnt eat it at all. Also the coffee was meh! Don’t know if it was a one off case or it is the same everyday.

Earlier this month, had been to Taproom by Sherlocks at Jp Nagar. We took a table outside (smoking area) though we don’t smoke. Liked the food and the ambience. Since we had went around 7, we could choose the table. It was full by 8:30.

[TorqueyTechie]

I had went to Citibank ATM at Gandhi Bazaar today morning and being a coffee addict happened to chance less crowd at Roti Ghar and went it. Took idli vada and coffee. Idli's here at cup shaped (made in cups) and was very soft. Sambar was the spicy version and liked it. Vada(oily) and coffee (runny) were letdowns though.

At our office, we have the franchise of the famous SGS Gundu Pulav, originators of the donne biryani (debated). Now my manager and other colleagues always used to rave about the quality and taste of it and were pushing me to try. Last week when I went to office, I thought to give it a try. Being a vegetarian opted for their veg pulav. Taste was really good (close to how my mom makes pulav). Also liked that they had used Jeera rice instead of Basmati. You get raita along with that but it was no good atleast at our office location. There are multiple locations across Bangalore and available for home delivery through Swiggy/Zomato.

[adi_gt]

If I may add my two cents on the food scene in BLR.

1. South Indian -KA Style - "Aarogya Aahara" HSR layout (in addition to all the CTR,VB,Brahmins,MTRs of this world). Quite Crowded in the morning during weekend. People from Whitefield may have to swim around Bellandur to reach here during these days (or immerse yourself in the Blackhole of Varthur-Gunjur-Dommasandra). Chutney is awesome.
2. North Indian - "Treat" -100 ft road Indira Nagar (just in front of Toit). Kadhai Paneer still tastes the same as I first tasted it in 2007.
3. Pub - Bier Garten - Beer is always great, veg food is good. Goat Cheese pizza is good.
4. Chhole Bhature - Authentic Delhi style (Biggest relief for North Indian taste buds) - Natraj Chhole Bhature - Brookfield,Indira Nagar, Jay Nagar.
5. Chaats - None.
6. Ghee Jalebi - Anand Sweets Whitefield / Shubh Sweets HSR is decent.

[PrideRed]

Recently was at Banaswadi Toyota and had missed my breakfast at home. Things got delayed and I ventured out to find something to eat. There was only a condiment shop nearby and was planning to finish off breakfast with a butter bun and coffee. Surprisingly found a tiny Udupi hotel bang opposite. Place didn't have good lighting and was a home converted to a makeshift hotel. Entered inside and kitchen appeared ok-ok, would have preferred bit more cleaner one. Nonetheless, was super hungry and ordered a masala dose, was pleasantly surprised by the taste of Dosa/bhaaji and chutney, reminded me of popular restaurants at Mangalore/Udupi. Had a vada, though cold, was crunchy and was made well. In contrast, had visited few of the popular restaurants over weekend, the Vada was a bit sour(Konark, though the masala dose was evergreen), dose wasn't porous or crispy(Raj Mahal)! I like these tiny surprises as much as some of the popular places, icing on the cake is these are easy on pocket, 55RS for a Masala Dose and Vada which tasted good is fantastic.

[ninjatalli]

We had been looking out for enjoying (Onam) Sadhya this week/weekend; considering it would be one after nearly 3 years. Bookings for the coming weekend was turning out to be a pain with many Kerala restaurant(s) refusing pre-bookings or stating they are already booked.

So today a friend suggested we head to Salt Mango Tree at Indiranagar. Even on a weekday before the proper 'sadhya timelines' (8th - 11th), there was a huge rush and we had ~25 mins waiting. SMT's marketing boast to the audience was a 28/29 item meal that consisted of multiple delicious items on the menu; plus one could choose to go for al-carte items too (for example non-veg dishes).


Note - the banana leaves above have only half of the 28 items - still more to come

After 30 mins of binging, I came out a bit un-satisfied. Nothing was bad in the food - every item was good on it own, no complaints. But the vast variety to offer was a complete let-down. For instance, they had 3 payasam (/sweet) that they were extremely proud off (we were even told the details of each without asking). But I (and my friends) ended up not really enjoying all three - we would have preferred to enjoy one and have a second or even third round of the same payasam to satisfy our greed. Same goes for the other food items.

And there seems to be a competition across the city on this. Kappa Chakka Kandhari, another popular Keralan restaurant is boasting of 25+ item Sadhya, similar to the 28 item meal we just had. Quite possibly the other Keralan restaurants across the city are doing similar ads for their own. And all are then able to justify the nearly ~1k INR price per plate.


Honestly, I (and many of my friends) would have been good with just 10 items and enjoyed it much better. I asked a few of my Keralite friends and they voiced similar feedback. They prefer to ignore these restaurants during this period (and have been doing so for the last few years).

[Caffeinated]

Originally Posted by PrideRed

Recently was at Banaswadi Toyota and had missed my breakfast at home. Things got delayed and I ventured out to find something to eat. There was only a condiment shop nearby and was planning to finish off breakfast with a butter bun and coffee. Surprisingly found a tiny Udupi hotel bang opposite. Place didn't have good lighting and was a home converted to a makeshift hotel. Entered inside and kitchen appeared ok-ok, would have preferred bit more cleaner one. Nonetheless, was super hungry and ordered a masala dose, was pleasantly surprised by the taste of Dosa/bhaaji and chutney, reminded me of popular restaurants at Mangalore/Udupi. Had a vada, though cold, was crunchy and was made well. In contrast, had visited few of the popular restaurants over weekend, the Vada was a bit sour(Konark, though the masala dose was evergreen), dose wasn't porous or crispy(Raj Mahal)! I like these tiny surprises as much as some of the popular places, icing on the cake is these are easy on pocket, 55RS for a Masala Dose and Vada which tasted good is fantastic.

I live nearby this place and have sampled eateries around. Next time you come here, see if you can try Kumbakonam Coffee @Ramamurthynagar signal, or Pooja Dosa camp @KasturiNagar.

[TorqueyTechie]

Yesterday four of us from office went to Aioli Bbq & grill restaurant at Kalyan Nagar for lunch. We ordered peach iced tea, pita bread and baba ghanoush (starter), Hot red chicken & Bbq Zatar Vegetables (main course) and Brownie with Vanilla ice cream to round it off.

Place itself is small but beautiful with lots of greenery. Believe it would look nice during the evenings. Liked the iced tea and the starter but didn't like the main course (veg) one. Rice was bland and the lettuce in the salad was not cleaned properly (we got few small stones and also was muddy to taste). Bbq'ed veggies were good though. Heard from others that the chicken and salad was tasty.

1. Bbq Zatar veg


2. Red hot chicken


Overall : 3.5/5

[NPV]

A rare weekday morning breakfast with friends. We met at VV Puram as it was a good, central location and some of them being the local experts, decided we'll just park our two wheelers and walk around.

First stop was at Janatha Hotel (on Diagonal road). We had their Khali Dosa which was excellent. I didn't know that there was a branch of Janatha here, interiors right from colour of the wall paint was same as their branch in Malleswaram!

Next, we walked across the road to Suprabhatha Veg, a small shop/eatery. Had Idly, Vada and then the veg palav there, all were excellent. I was told that all their rice items including Bisi Bele Baath and Pongal are good, nice find, should try other items on another visit.

Next, we thought of having coffee at NMH, but then decided against it and had it from Suprabhatha itself which was quite good.

Edit: anyone tried Cafe Amudham on Siddapura road near Lalbagh/Hosur road ? I heard it's good.

[Jaguar]

Originally Posted by ninjatalli

So today a friend suggested we head to Salt Mango Tree at Indiranagar.

Honestly, I (and many of my friends) would have been good with just 10 items and enjoyed it much better. I asked a few of my Keralite friends and they voiced similar feedback. They prefer to ignore these restaurants during this period (and have been doing so for the last few years).

Thanks for the review.

One question did you observe if the staff were Malayalees or not? I had called SMT a few days back the moment the person said he can speak only English or Hindi, I had my apprehensions about the taste.

Many restaurants are trying to cash in on the Onam business but unfortunately, most have staff who are not from Kerala and not able to reproduce the authentic taste. Have had bad experiences at a couple of places pre covid. South Indies even turned the Onam sadya into a self service buffet

[ninjatalli]

Originally Posted by Jaguar

Thanks for the review.

One question did you observe if the staff were Malayalees or not? I had called SMT a few days back the moment the person said he can speak only English or Hindi, I had my apprehensions about the taste.

The serving staff weren't all Malyalees but the senior guys at the counter were. But I'm sure the cooking staff are; and that's where it matters, in my view. At this place, the food was Kerala based although it felt a mix of southern cuisines - I didn't see some of the default items and the level of coconut across the dishes was pretty low. Felt I was eating a marriage lunch somewhere in Chennai more than Kerala (if you get what I mean).

[NPV]

Originally Posted by adithya.kp

South ruchis square which is about 500 meters from here, is a high quality place. Very good ambience and hygienic. They have north indian cuisine too.

Thanks for this feedback! We tried the place last weekend for breakfast and it was excellent. I was getting mixed reviews about their other branches from friends, but we decided to try this one out. Turns out we were too early when we got there at 7:30 am and realised they open only at 8 We took a stroll around the surrounding Madhavanagar area and got back around 8:10 when they'd opened and few tables were occupied. Since we were a group of 4, we could try out a few items and all were excellent - Idly, Vada, Millet Pongal, Bisi Bele Baath and special mention is the Coffee

They claim to use certified organic vegetables (and ghee instead of oil). They also sell their cold pressed oils, and even sweets. Overall, this was a good experience and great find.