Team-BHP - A Guide: Eating out in Bangalore

This is the review of my visit to couple of places last month.

First off, it was Anthra Veg at Hotel White Rock on the ORR. This is the first building on your left as you descend the Devegowda flyover towards Kamakhya theatre side.

Limited parking available at the place with Valet service. The security is a good gentleman who assists senior citizens and children safely.

We had the normal fare of masala papad, manchow and Tom yum soup, tandoori shabnam (Mushroom), pahadi paneer, kulcha, veg fried rice and chopsuey. Don't recollect the name of the veg gravies. Food was good with nothing to complain about.

The service is a miss here as one part of the order was delayed. The explanation of the order not getting transferred to kitchen from tab could not be digested as other items ordered along was prepared and given.

Other than the above, it was good outing for the family.

The second visit was to Satkriti Satvik in Jayanagar. This is a no onion no garlic menu restaurant. Parking is on kerbside.

This restaurant is in desperate need of manpower. There is one guy who takes care of orders, one for serving, one to clean. We were the early birds and did get the worm efficiently. Later it was choas all around. Also the air conditioner was under breakdown and the couple of fans did not cool us down.

The masala papad had a distinct taste than other places. Soups were a bit tangy. The starters were great, paneer tikka tasted good with the chutney while the gola Manchurian was the standout. Stuffed kulcha with Butta paneer and Aloo parantha tasted good while the Hariyali biryani was the lone medium spicy dish we tried here.

If you want to give a try, be there around 1200 and enjoy.

Been to CTR today morning after a while. Had the Masala dosa and coffee. Though I am not a fan of their dosa, my wife is and so had to relent (did I have a choice :coldsweat). Loved the coffee though so much so that I had a second one too. Since we were there on a Monday and around 10:30 was easy to get the table and served quickly.

Only grouse is they do not give a bill nor do they accept UPI payments. When that happens I always have a nagging doubt that I contributed a drop to the black money ocean. :disappointed

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Originally Posted by TorqueyTechie (Post 5565243)

Only grouse is they do not give a bill nor do they accept UPI payments. When that happens I always have a nagging doubt that I contributed a drop to the black money ocean. :disappointed

Out of topic but can't resist asking here. Other than the reason you mentioned, what can be the reason for strong denial on online payments from many such established places? During my recent travel, we found many places denying on CC payments (to avoid surcharge) and UPIs.

Thanks,
Pradip.

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Originally Posted by TorqueyTechie (Post 5565243)

Only grouse is they do not give a bill nor do they accept UPI payments. When that happens I always have a nagging doubt that I contributed a drop to the black money ocean. :disappointed

They do give a bill, I received one when we had been there couple of months back. I took the bill to the cashiers counter and then paid by card. They accept cash and card (debit and credit). The reason why he mentioned no UPI is the network issues they seem to face. Not sure if that is really the case though.

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Originally Posted by TorqueyTechie (Post 5565243)

Only grouse is they do not give a bill nor do they accept UPI payments. When that happens I always have a nagging doubt that I contributed a drop to the black money ocean. :disappointed

I too was there, albeit at the opening. My son lost out a few opportunities to visit along with his friends and so i took him.

I was presented the bill and paid by cash. There is a notice saying UPI payment is not accepted. A couple of people enquired about that and paid by cash and left.

As you mentioned, the dosa is not that great when I compare it with a few establishments which I frequent in my backyard. The uppittu or khara bhath was less on salt while the kesari bhath was too sweet. However the kaapi was excellent and made upon the earlier misfortune.

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Originally Posted by pradipk (Post 5565253)

I have no idea. When I ask about it I get different reasons like network, issue with upi account etc.. Some establishments (like RE) directly mention that they pass on the surcharge to the customer if we make payment through Credit card.

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Originally Posted by dass (Post 5565267)

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Originally Posted by unk9ja (Post 5565283)

Ah ok then maybe some other reason for not providing the bill. And it was not just me, my other table mates (yes shared table with strangers) and people from other tables were also not provided the bill. So not sure if I can give the benefit of doubt as well.

For both of you, was it a paper bill (amount written on a piece of paper) or was it a printed bill? I remember last time I was there amount was written on a piece of paper and handed over. Maybe the network issue is genuine but I take it with a pinch of salt. People were uploading pics to Instagram sitting inside. lol:

Anyways, as unk9ja mentioned the coffee more than makes up for these things. :)

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Originally Posted by TorqueyTechie (Post 5565243)

Been to CTR today morning after a while. Had the Masala dosa and coffee.

I thought I'd posted here about my last visit to CTR about 2-3 months ago. On checking my previous posts I didn't find it, but I realised that at least one post of mine is present in most of last few pages of this thread, now that is making me feel guilty and conscious about my eating out frequently :crying

Back to the topic, it was a Saturday morning visit to CTR and their Idly, Vada, Dosa and chutney were underwhelming, for the first time I felt they did not taste good. I was there with a friend who validated what I felt by mentioning the exact same thing. He was so unhappy with the breakfast that once we stepped out, he walked straight in to the hotel on the opposite side (used to be By 2 coffee, now has a new name?) and ordered a masala dosa rl: Oh, and that was really good, we wished we'd known earlier and avoided CTR.

Need some advice from fellow members. I moved out of B'lore some 24 years back, and when I visit I mostly visit my old nostalgic hangouts. Next month I will be there with my adult kids - 21 & 19 (boy and a girl). They are very independent in the US, and they have been planning to do things in B'lore on their own. I find that I have lost my bearing to be able to advice them.

1. What is the legal drinking age? Are there ID checks, and any issues if the 19yr old decides to drink? I am not asking them to drink, but I know what kids these days do, I just don't want them to get into any trouble.
2. What are some lively places where youngsters hang out with veg/non-veg food, and good music. Live acoustic music would be great too.
3. What are some safe happening areas where I can send them on their own, either in a Metro or Uber. I am an avid Metro user. We live near Pump House in J.P. Nagar, we like to walk to the JP Nagar Metro station on Kanakapura road.
4. Any restaurants/malls with table tennis, billiards, or an arcade? Basketball hoops, bowling etc
5. Lastly, for family outings around B'lore I have heard there are places with food served in a village setting. Any recommendations here?

I am thinking I will take them out once on the Metro to a generic place like Prestige Falcon City, to let them get a feel of things. If they handle things well, let them venture out on their own - outside the safety of a mall.

They can understand kannada very well, they speak it too - rather shamelessly. But its written on their foreheads that they are American, the accent is obvious. I will have a car that I drive, and can handle south Blore traffic (Not Silk board or whitefield traffic). If you can also suggest the preferred transport to the eatery, that would be awesome. A walk of a couple kms from any Metro station is fine.

Here goes.

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