If looks don't bother you then you can go and have a hearty meal at Wild Spice
If you have a fetish for luxury with a taste for the genteel way of life, this place is not meant for you. But if you are not finicky about where exactly you are sitting down to eat, as long as the food tastes good, then you can walk into Wild Spice on Residency Road.
At first glance, the place looks downright shady. After peering for a while in the dark interiors you will notice the coir mat carpets have gathered dust of years, the paint is peeling off, the walls have become a bit greasy. The nonchalance of the waiters will greet you as they thump glasses of water on the table and thrust the plastic-coated menu cards into your hands.
But the chairs and tables are clean enough for you to settle down comfortably. There are three things that will work up your appetite -- smells wafting from the kitchen, the list of dishes on the menu, and, best of all, the pricing. Combinations like the really spicy Coorg pork curry with sinfully fattening ghee rice, or the akki roti-egg-Coorg pork curry plate come within a price slab of Rs 80 to Rs 100.
There are many varieties in fish, chicken and pork here and they are all quite mouth-watering. You can also have a meal with roti, a vegetable, two Coorgi sambhars, a meat dish of your choice and a sweet. Wash it all down with a ginger lemon soda or some other juice at a price point of about Rs 20. This place is more than just affordable where two people can be well-fed with Rs 200.
Showing posts with label Food. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Food. Show all posts
5 February 2010
7 January 2010
Thai delights
Food review
A bit of bamboo work on the ceiling, vessels of cane weave on the walls, traditional Thai music and motifs, and soft, enticing lights -- Mugen, which means dreams and fantasies in Japanese, is a restaurant that can seduce you into the indolent, hedonistic lives of the 'Lotos Eaters'.
This Thai-Indonesian-Chinese restaurant on 100 Ft Road, Indiranagar works its magic as much with the food as with the ambience. The restaurant is hosting a 'Thai Food Festival' to treat you to some rare and authentic Thai dishes. Maqbool Ahmed, restaurant manager, said, "We have selected the best and uncommon dishes for the festival. The recipes have mostly been picked from the Penang and Chiang Mai regions of Thailand."
His claims about authentic but unique preparations are borne out by the choices you have -- a curry favoured with betel leaves (hot spices set off with a dash of the mild coconut milk) or a dessert made of moong bean with chilled coconut milk (a light refreshing drink you can't miss). But what is special about the festive offerings is the great start. When the beginning is so delicious, the meal experience is heightened naturally.
One has to visit Mugen for their starters and even if you have no room for more after them, do not regret it. The succulent, chilli pe naam tok yaang (grilled lamb patties) whose musty meatiness is offset bythe dulcet tones of basil, sprouts and lemon on the non-vegetarian side and the featherweight grathong thong (dices of vegetables in pastry shells) that disappear the moment you pop them on the vegetarian side are irrestible. You should not leave out the corn mince and sesame toast with the hint of fresh turmeric or the fried prawns and wontons. Thai wontons are already tossed in various sauces before being served.
The main course, which can be rated nice, goes well with jasmine steamed rice or fried rice with shrimp paste. Seasonal vegetables in a tangy sauce or chicken with water chestnut and celery are good options. And if you are a group of six or more, just advance book the Chef's Table to be royally treated with a simiulation of Thai floor-seating and Benjarong crockery. for bookings call 080-41481414.
Published in The New Indian Express on January 8, 2010
A bit of bamboo work on the ceiling, vessels of cane weave on the walls, traditional Thai music and motifs, and soft, enticing lights -- Mugen, which means dreams and fantasies in Japanese, is a restaurant that can seduce you into the indolent, hedonistic lives of the 'Lotos Eaters'.
This Thai-Indonesian-Chinese restaurant on 100 Ft Road, Indiranagar works its magic as much with the food as with the ambience. The restaurant is hosting a 'Thai Food Festival' to treat you to some rare and authentic Thai dishes. Maqbool Ahmed, restaurant manager, said, "We have selected the best and uncommon dishes for the festival. The recipes have mostly been picked from the Penang and Chiang Mai regions of Thailand."
His claims about authentic but unique preparations are borne out by the choices you have -- a curry favoured with betel leaves (hot spices set off with a dash of the mild coconut milk) or a dessert made of moong bean with chilled coconut milk (a light refreshing drink you can't miss). But what is special about the festive offerings is the great start. When the beginning is so delicious, the meal experience is heightened naturally.
One has to visit Mugen for their starters and even if you have no room for more after them, do not regret it. The succulent, chilli pe naam tok yaang (grilled lamb patties) whose musty meatiness is offset bythe dulcet tones of basil, sprouts and lemon on the non-vegetarian side and the featherweight grathong thong (dices of vegetables in pastry shells) that disappear the moment you pop them on the vegetarian side are irrestible. You should not leave out the corn mince and sesame toast with the hint of fresh turmeric or the fried prawns and wontons. Thai wontons are already tossed in various sauces before being served.
The main course, which can be rated nice, goes well with jasmine steamed rice or fried rice with shrimp paste. Seasonal vegetables in a tangy sauce or chicken with water chestnut and celery are good options. And if you are a group of six or more, just advance book the Chef's Table to be royally treated with a simiulation of Thai floor-seating and Benjarong crockery. for bookings call 080-41481414.
Published in The New Indian Express on January 8, 2010
20 November 2009
The original steak holders
From an experiment that started as an attempt to make the Peace Corps feel more comfortable in the city, The Only Place has grown to become a culture with Bangaloreans
Bangalore was a quiet city then, content in itself, where life ambled along in its sluggish pace. Those were the days when two-way traffic was allowed on Brigade Road, and yet, one could cross the street unhurried, un-harried. Those were the days when Haji Sulaiman Ebrahim Sait sat in his cosy little shop at the Mota Arcade site, sewing impeccable suits for the airforce and armed forces with his sons.
Back then, tourists were a rare sight here, but the Peace Corps would troop into the city, and Ebrahim Sait's son, Haji Haroon Sulaiman Sait, would sit and watch them from their textiles shop. Haroon could understand that it was a bit of a struggle for the foreigners to get accustomed to the food and lodging here. For sometime, he had been feeling that the father's shop did not need so many hands, and with the Peace Corps and other foreigners (Danes, Swedes, Germans, Americans) often seen in the city, he had an idea. Haroon converted a bungalow they had on Brigade Road into a guest house, offering decent accommodation and simple English food -- omelette and toast for breakfast, stews and baked dishes for lunch and dinner -- to them.
Those are the beginnings of The Only Place, the steak house that is much loved and has become a habit with city dwellers, now nestled on Museum Road. Shoaib, Haroon's son, who heads the business now, said, "It was 1965. The guest house started and my grandmother, who was a great cook, would prepare the food for the foreigners."
Eating at the place was a communal affair, with the guests coming together for meals, and so became the cooking. Haroon would ask them about the kind of food they ate and preferred, fetch the ingredients from the market himself and often, the boarders would cook their native dishes while Haroon stood and watched. As his expertise grew, so did his menu. Shoaib said, "Iraqui soldiers also came in. They got their suits stitched at my grandfather's and had their meals at my father's. Thus, even Middle Eastern influences crept into our cooking." Steaks, pasta, spaghetti, pizzas, burgers -- names that sounded exotic and enticing were in Haroon's kitchen within a few years and in early 1970s there were cooks he was training, and city dwellers who also wanted to be a part of this new food movement.
Haroon threw his doors open to all. Shoaib, an electronics engineer by profession who has been a part of the computer revolution, also joined him in the business. "We would run on losses because my father would give food for free. Saturdays used to be barbeque days. He would roast a whole calf or sheep and feed everyone on the house. It used to be a social gathering more than anything else."
This restaurant, tucked away in a corner at the back of where now stands Mota Arcade, became a place where people would come to escape from the world, to meet and socialise. "So many love stories have begun here," said Shoaib, with a nostalgic look in his eyes. "In fact, guess who we used to see at the very beginning of his career. Prasad Bidappa would sit at the steps right in front and get the models ready with make-up there."
But on Christmas, 1987, they had to walk out of the premises -- 161, Brigade Road. The place was demolished with Mota Arcade coming up there. And suddenly, the original steak house of the city, the meeting place of people, was lost. But the many for whom The Only Place was exactly what it's name suggests, would not have it that way.
And back it came, on Museum Road yes, but with the old benches and tables (which used to be black and white because "paint was too expensive to afford) and tiled roof for that old world charm.
They still hand roll their pasta and pizza like in the olden days. Shoaib still has the pizza bases he had to get made from scratch from sheet aluminium, and the menu still has old favourites like steak and eggs (from Haroon's kitchen) and Shoaib's touches like the Whopper. In fact, they still have their forty-year-old menu card too, except that it is no longer Rs 5 for a steak.
We lost Haroon recently, but his legacy lives on, in Shoaib, in the great food and in the tradition he has left the city with.
[This was one of my articles for the space we call 'Down Memory Lane' in Expresso, The New Indian Express, Bangalore]
Bangalore was a quiet city then, content in itself, where life ambled along in its sluggish pace. Those were the days when two-way traffic was allowed on Brigade Road, and yet, one could cross the street unhurried, un-harried. Those were the days when Haji Sulaiman Ebrahim Sait sat in his cosy little shop at the Mota Arcade site, sewing impeccable suits for the airforce and armed forces with his sons.
Back then, tourists were a rare sight here, but the Peace Corps would troop into the city, and Ebrahim Sait's son, Haji Haroon Sulaiman Sait, would sit and watch them from their textiles shop. Haroon could understand that it was a bit of a struggle for the foreigners to get accustomed to the food and lodging here. For sometime, he had been feeling that the father's shop did not need so many hands, and with the Peace Corps and other foreigners (Danes, Swedes, Germans, Americans) often seen in the city, he had an idea. Haroon converted a bungalow they had on Brigade Road into a guest house, offering decent accommodation and simple English food -- omelette and toast for breakfast, stews and baked dishes for lunch and dinner -- to them.
Those are the beginnings of The Only Place, the steak house that is much loved and has become a habit with city dwellers, now nestled on Museum Road. Shoaib, Haroon's son, who heads the business now, said, "It was 1965. The guest house started and my grandmother, who was a great cook, would prepare the food for the foreigners."
Eating at the place was a communal affair, with the guests coming together for meals, and so became the cooking. Haroon would ask them about the kind of food they ate and preferred, fetch the ingredients from the market himself and often, the boarders would cook their native dishes while Haroon stood and watched. As his expertise grew, so did his menu. Shoaib said, "Iraqui soldiers also came in. They got their suits stitched at my grandfather's and had their meals at my father's. Thus, even Middle Eastern influences crept into our cooking." Steaks, pasta, spaghetti, pizzas, burgers -- names that sounded exotic and enticing were in Haroon's kitchen within a few years and in early 1970s there were cooks he was training, and city dwellers who also wanted to be a part of this new food movement.
Haroon threw his doors open to all. Shoaib, an electronics engineer by profession who has been a part of the computer revolution, also joined him in the business. "We would run on losses because my father would give food for free. Saturdays used to be barbeque days. He would roast a whole calf or sheep and feed everyone on the house. It used to be a social gathering more than anything else."
This restaurant, tucked away in a corner at the back of where now stands Mota Arcade, became a place where people would come to escape from the world, to meet and socialise. "So many love stories have begun here," said Shoaib, with a nostalgic look in his eyes. "In fact, guess who we used to see at the very beginning of his career. Prasad Bidappa would sit at the steps right in front and get the models ready with make-up there."
But on Christmas, 1987, they had to walk out of the premises -- 161, Brigade Road. The place was demolished with Mota Arcade coming up there. And suddenly, the original steak house of the city, the meeting place of people, was lost. But the many for whom The Only Place was exactly what it's name suggests, would not have it that way.
And back it came, on Museum Road yes, but with the old benches and tables (which used to be black and white because "paint was too expensive to afford) and tiled roof for that old world charm.
They still hand roll their pasta and pizza like in the olden days. Shoaib still has the pizza bases he had to get made from scratch from sheet aluminium, and the menu still has old favourites like steak and eggs (from Haroon's kitchen) and Shoaib's touches like the Whopper. In fact, they still have their forty-year-old menu card too, except that it is no longer Rs 5 for a steak.
We lost Haroon recently, but his legacy lives on, in Shoaib, in the great food and in the tradition he has left the city with.
[This was one of my articles for the space we call 'Down Memory Lane' in Expresso, The New Indian Express, Bangalore]
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