A beau"Tea"ful Experience | Tea Trails Cafe | Koramangala | Bangalore
18:00 |
| Grilled Chicken Steak Platter |
Here is a call to all the tea lovers out there! All of us
love to drink tea. Initially we were not much into tea but gradually the aroma,
health benefits and the rejuvenation hooked us onto it.
We have all indulged in and heard about the “drinking” part
of tea, but we were amazed to discover that tea can also mixed in food items
and it imparts a unique flavour. We have recently been to a place called The Tea
Trails Cafe which opened in Koramangala 7th block, Bangalore and
these guys have done their homework when it comes to tea. They offer unique and
various blends of tea and that’s just half the show: They also pair it with
food items which go well with that variety of tea and we experienced magic in
our mouths for most of the combinations. Plus, their specialty is having tea as an ingredient in their food preparations.
Their ambiance is classy, comfortable and modern. Apart from
this, their presentation is also impressive. They serve their tea in special
brewers which provides more surface area for brewing and they also provide a
card along with the type of tea which contains detailed information about the
temperature, time duration for brewing and also health benefits!
Now coming down to the varieties we tried and the food
pairings:
We have tried the Imperial Gunpowder Green tea, Kashmiri
Kahwa, Smokey Chinese Lapsang Souchong, White tea (known as the silver needle)
and the classic Kullad chai. Apart from these tea varieties we had a couple of
mocktails: Better Wife, Mango & Litchi Bubble tea.
They pair like varieties as in: mild flavours paired with
mild flavours and the likes. We tried Tea marbled egg salad, Avocado toast, Tea
rubbed chicken salad, Cheese Corn Bombs, Matcha Broccoli soup, Grilled Chicken
Steak platter, 3 Cheese Risotto, Pesto Pasta, Smoked Chicken sandwich and for
dessert, the Dutch Truffle.
The teas were well blended and each had its unique
characteristics. The Imperial Gunpowder had a delicate and different aroma and
was rejuvenating. The Kashmiri Kahwa had the aroma of spices and was very light
and relaxing. The white tea was very mild with a touch of flavour. These light
varieties were paired with the Avocado toast, Tea Rubbed Chicken salad and the
Tea Marbled Eggs.
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| Varieties of Tea |
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| Serving Apparatus |
The Avocado Toast preparation consisted of buns spread with Avocado,
tomatoes, chilli flakes and herbs. It was light on the stomach and tasted quite
nice. The Tea Marbled Eggs had the normal greens and half split eggs boiled in a
tea concoction to give it the marbled appearance. The salad also had traces of
tea which added a different flavour. The Tea Rubbed Chicken salad was
excellent. The chicken strips were grilled with herbs and the tea gave it an
excellent aroma and taste, Along with this were the normal greens and the
traces of tea like in the Marbled Eggs preparation.
The Lapsang Souchong had a remarkable smoky flavour and it
was paired with the Smoked Chicken Sandwich (obviously!) The chicken stuffing
was slightly sweet thanks to the BBQ sauce and had a good smoky flavour. These
two were undoubtedly the best pair! The Kullad chai is the common milk tea
widely available with a little bit of masala added. This form of tea goes well
with fried food and hence paired with Cheese Corn Bombs (our version, it had a
different name which we don’t remember ;)) The Bombs tasted great with the good
old combination of cheese and corn but they were a bit more on the oily side.
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| Kullad Chai |
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| Avocado Toast |
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| Cheese Corn Bombs |
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| Tea Rubbed Chicken Salad |
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| Tea Marbled Eggs |
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| Smoked Chicken Sandwich |
So that’s all with the pairings and tea and now coming down
to the main course:
The Matcha Broccoli soup was delicious! It had cream of broccoli
with hints of tea. It was remarkably flavourful and the tea added a twist to
it.
About the drinks: The Better Wife was fruity with a mixture of fruit juices and had the freshness of mint. The Mango and Litchi bubble tea had the respective flavours with porous bubbles in the drink and it was actually fun sucking up the bubbles. They burst in the mouth and release the respective flavours. Good stuff!
The Grilled Chicken steak was brilliant! The herb rice which
was served was al dente and had a nice crunch to it. The chicken was grilled
perfectly and juicy and so were the accompanying vegetables.
The 3 Cheese Risotto looked small, but was insanely heavy,
creamy and delicious nonetheless! The Arborio rice could have been a bit less
cooked for comfort. Except for this it was served with a lining of herbs and
green tea and a scoop full of the risotto and this tasted great! This was very
different and a must try.
The pesto pasta is something which can be improved upon in
terms of balance. There were hints of tea in this one too but it was slightly
bitter. Leaving this aside, it was creamy, crunchy due to the bell peppers and
tasty.
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| Better Wife |
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| Mango Bubble Tea |
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| Three Cheese Risotto |
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| Pesto Pasta |
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| Matcha Broccoli Soup |
What started off with varieties of tea and associated pairing
with food, ended on a great note thanks to the last 4 items!
We finished this magnificent feast with the Dutch truffle
which had layered dark chocolate and a scoop of vanilla ice cream. The balance
of sweetness was great and the layers were soft and semi molten.
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| Dutch Truffle |
So, this ended our first official encounter of Tea Trails
and we are quite impressed to say the least. They have a thorough understanding
of tea, its pairings and serve good food.
Needless to say, these guys are worth revisiting especially
if you are a tea lover. We would highly recommend their Lapsang Souchong, Imperial
Gunpowder and White tea!
It is quite certain that most of us have not tried food
mixed with tea, so do give these guys a try.
If you do, do let us know about your experience. Same goes for
us and we will definitely keep you guys posted!
Till then—bon appétit!
2 comments
Even i have been there and it was really a good experience there. i can never forget the aroma of those different teas.
ReplyDeleteHere is a blog link i'm sharing with you in which you can find more themed restaurants in bangalore.
https://blog.xoxoday.com/theme-restaurants-in-bangalore/3976
It is a pleseant article, The place has a really good and those drinks a hookah are really amazing in Hookah Cafe Indiranagar . They was a better smoking zone in the bangalore . Hookah Restaurants Indiranagar
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