The New Concept @ Barbeque Nation | Mahadevapura | Bangalore

bangalore
Mouth watering kebabs (chicken, prawns, fish)

We love to eat at all you can eat buffets! We are sure you know that by now, given the number of times we have written about buffets. Recently we wrote about the Dilli walli Khau Gali festival going on in Barbeque Nation. Its time to write about them again!

But this time, we will be telling you about a new outlet of Barbeque nation that opened up with a new vision and concept at The Arena Mall, Mahadevpura, Bangalore. The first thing we noticed was that they had changed their decor, logo etc.

They have maintained the essence of barbeque nation but have added a few more things. You will be provided with the hot barbeque station at your table, you will be given delicious skewers to barbeque, and you will have the flag. And with this you will have a variety of live stations to get your food made according to your choice! Now doesn’t that sound good!?




They have a live Dal station which intrigued us, because you don’t get to see this usually. They have a live stir fry counter for both veg and non veg where one can choose from a variety of meats and veggies and take back a stir fried delight! They have a couple of varieties of sauces too! These are made to order in front of you and according to your taste! They have a variety of meat for non vegetarians, which include rabbit, quail, etc.

Along with this they had a live counter for soups as well, where they served clear soup and added the ingredients according to your choice. We got a clear soup made in a vegetable broth with corn, carrots, mushrooms and prawns. Finished with just a bit of spring onions! Delicious and to our taste!

The starters were up to the mark, like at every Barbeque nation and the service here was also up to the mark! The only disappointment was the live roll counter. We are Bengalis who belong from Kolkata and rolls have a soft corner in our hearts and when it is not done right, we sure get disappointed.

Guess what :P


Shawarma, stir fry, daal and soup live counters

They have a Kati roll and shwarma counter as well, where it’s again made to order. The roll was, like we said, not that good; slightly soggy and chewy, not crisp and delicious. But the shawarma counter made up for it.

Non veg stir fry with noodles (schezwan sauce)

Non veg stir fry without noodles (Indian sauce)

Strawberry and basil mojito

Aam panna

We moved on to the main course after trying all the live counters. The mocktails which accompanied us till here were Gleeche (a litchi and rose drink, absolutely refreshing and fruity) and Strawberry and basil mojito (a mild fruity concoction, perfect to accompany the starters).

They had two types of non vegetarian biriyani, Lucknowi Mutton Biriyani and Hyderabadi chicken biriyani. We obviously went in with the Lucknowi Mutton biriyani and were very happy about it! Lightly flavoured rice and perfectly done meat.

There were also a chicken and a mutton gravy preparation and both were remarkable. One was rich and creamy and the other spicy: common factor being the well cooked meat of course!

Now coming down to the desserts, they had the barbeque nation special Kulfi counter here. I (Priyanjana) usually look forward to the Kulfi here, every time. Loved the kulfi this time as well!

The other desserts were assorted pastries, fresh cut fruits, gulab jamun, different flavours of ice cream and phirni. All of these were up to the mark.

Kesar and Mango Kulfi with the normal accompaniments



The Mutton Biriyani


All in all we really enjoyed the new concept and the live stations. Thumbs up from both of us!

So, if you really love dining in Barbeque Nation and other buffet restaurants in general do give this a try!


In all probability, you’ll love it!

In case you visit, do let us know about your experience.

Till then—bon appétit!

Dim Sum & Smokin BBQ @ The Shang Palace | Shangri-La Hotel | Bangalore

bangalore


We have been to several places to dine in the past, but very few of them actually give their guests a royal feeling. There is big difference in behaving courteously and literally royal treatment!  There are places which make you feel comfortable, some make you feel like you are in a homely environment and there are places like the Shang Palace situated in the 3rd floor on the Shangri-La hotel in Bangalore!

As soon as one enters, a big gong is struck repeatedly to announce the entry of a guest and combined with the luxurious setup it is guaranteed to make anybody feel special!


People call a special setup as red carpet treatment, so let us tell you that the entire restaurant floor is carpeted maybe because of the same reason.

Overall, the hotel as well as the restaurant setup is luxurious and grand and if you are visiting for the first time like we visited, you are bound to be impressed.

We were invited to try out the new launch of dim sum and BBQ at the Shang Palace and it was sure a grand devouring session!

 They are also introducing their executive chef, Chef Lin from Beijing who specializes in Chinese cuisine.

There is one thing which deserves mention: the tables were decorated so beautifully that will help one gear up for a hearty meal!

There were so many varieties in the dim sums that we lost track of them! On the same page, the barbeque items were also of large variety.

We were served some iced tea followed by red/white wine to drink and the feast started.
First let us talk about the dim sums: They were delicate, piping hot when served and very impressive taste wise. We found the prawn hargau to be the best dim sum. It had a whole prawn as its stuffing, which was perfectly cooked and soft. The sweetness of the prawns really heightened the experience.


The mushroom bao had a thick and soft outer covering with cooked mushrooms inside. It was similar to the char sui bun and this was also slightly sweet. The mushroom stuffing was well cooked, slightly spicy and very tasty.

The radish buns were unique and pretty amazing. Highly recommended for vegetarians as it was well cooked, had equal consistency and the bun was well baked.

The veg and corn dumpling was very well crafted to say the least. It had a transparent coating which was negligibly thin and the stuffing was well balanced. This was very light on the stomach as well.

The lamb pancake was decent, but could have been a lot better. The lamb stuffing was tasty and was minced properly but the cakes were perhaps over fried and the essence of lamb was killed.

We were also served a chicken bao preparation. The chicken stuffing was ample and this was also good to have, although some of the other preparations were better.

There were some more varieties as well but these were the highlights and must haves!
Moving on from the dim sums to the BBQ preps and snacks:


There were a couple of varieties of snacks which were served out of which the Chongqing chilli chicken stood out. This was an authentic style chilli chicken without the usage of much sauce which is normally available in restaurants. The preparation had a fresh fragrance of coriander and the chicken pieces were bite sized. This was really something different from what is normally available so a must try!

Apart from this, the grilled items were on skewers and there was a pure bhetki grilled fish preparation which was wonderful! There were also some other varieties and they were pretty good too!

The best of the lot were the lamb skewers! They were juicy, had the same great essence of lamb and there were traces of fat which after grilling made it even tastier. This was truly delightful. The chicken one on the other hand was not so special. The chicken was soft and well cooked but the taste could have been better. The fish was brilliant. The skin was intact and probably the fish was grilled on the skin which imparted a slightly burnt flavour which was excellent. Most importantly the fish was fresh, juicy and grilled perfectly. Normally bhetki does not have great taste by itself but this prep was great! Moreover, this is a big attraction for Bengali’s since Bhetki is loved by almost all Bengali’s.

On the vegetarian side: the silken tofu skewer was definitely something! It was chewy with mild sweetness and the smoky flavor. Even a non vegetarian would love this. The oyster mushrooms were great too. They were so juicy that it proves the person grilling them had a different level of expertise!


A special mention would be the chicken wings served which were delicious indeed. Slightly smoky and spiced and mouth watering! These were one of the highlights of the BBQ menu.


There were also veg fried rice and veg noodles which were normal as they were served as accompaniments. The noodles were quite tasty nonetheless. The rice used was sticky rice and it was very mildly flavored and a treat for your palette. 


Lastly, this memorable feast ended with a unique and mildly sweet marvel. The honey comb cake turned out to be something unexpected. It was served steaming hot and the porous cakes had a beautiful glaze to them. The pores were similar to a honeycomb and hence the name. It had great consistency and sort of a muffin like texture.


Overall, this experience was nothing short of awesome!

We would definitely recommend this to both non vegetarians and vegetarians as they have almost equal varieties for veg and non veg, which is pretty rare as normally non veg dominates the scene!

The ambiance, soothing tunes, royal treatment and the food of course contribute to making ones dining experience special!

We will be posting about our other similar experiences as well so stay tuned ;)

And do try and visit this place and let us know how you feel!


Till next time—bon appétit! 

Rudra On Zomato

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Priyanjana On Zomato

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