Which cuisine comes to your mind when you think of romance?

For us, like most people we associate Italian Cuisine with romance and during this time of the year i.e. around mid Feb when love is in the air, we were invited to the Risotto Festival of Ottimo, ITC Gardenia called the Risotto Fare.

This post will be all about Risottos and how beautifully they were made. Before that, the setting of Ottimo is truly unforgettable. The open kitchen, the theme of the restaurant, the service, the food & wine and the tunes are bound to make your dining experience unlike any other.

It has been a while that we posted something related to luxury dining and we missed bringing them over to you apart from missing the food as in almost all cases the food makes us go crazy.

We have visited many Taj properties in the past and we were pretty sure that we have been to all of them (In Bangalore). Unfortunately, we were wrong and this time our visit to the Vivanta by Taj- Yeshwantpur for a preview of their special Valentine’s Day arrangements.

So, for those who want to make it special on the upcoming 14^th of Feb, here’s what you can expect if you decide to celebrate this special day of love at this luxurious property:

A fabulous selection of food which look & taste delightful & a lot of hearts!

They have a special A.I package (INR 5999) for couples on the big day and they have appropriate plans to make the couples fall in love all over again: heart shaped chocolates, balloons, strawberries dipped in chocolate and much more.

So from the food point of view, here are our views:

In our blogging journey so far we have been to numerous events, launches, previews and to restaurants for reviewing. We end up having loads of fun and meeting new people every time! This time however it was an experience unlike any other and it not only impressed us and was worth remembering but it also touched our hearts!

We went on our first FAM trip with a few fellow bloggers to the heritage city of Mysore (Presently known as Mysuru). There were two parts to this: the road trip part which included travelling from Bangalore to Mysore and the staying part. We stayed at the Grand Mercure Hotel, Mysuru and it was inspiring how the culture of Mysore was ingrained in the ambiance, decor and even the service of the hotel!

The road trip was fun with a variety of conversations and breakfast on the way. However, it was only after reaching Grand Mercure that the real deal started. We were welcomed with garlands and a welcome drink. The welcome drink was superb and marked the perfect beginning to our stay. This entire visit was due to the special occasion of Ramadan and the chefs crafted a special menu for the same.

We have been visiting many starred hotels lately for food festivals, launches and of course events. Most of them have amazing grandeur and their decor is a level above. But very few of them actually serve good food! Most of the times their grandeur, decor and service fetches them good ratings but in reality they do not deserve it food and taste wise!

On the same page, we recently visited Memories of China @ Vivanta by Taj located in M.G Road, Bangalore for trying out their special Dragon Boat Festival Menu. We visited this restaurant for the first time and we believe it should be judged only after having a complete meal.

From the outside, it might not seem impressive but if a step is taken forward, the vision changes. It has authentic Chinese decor and it also serves authentic Chinese cuisine! An attractive feature is the presence of rotating tables.

Now coming to the special menu, it is a complete menu with a huge variety of items so we could not try everything. This menu has been created or better to say crafted by their Chinese master chef Lai Hin Tong William who has over 43 years of culinary experience. We had the pleasure of meeting him as well and he was a charming personality.

Some restaurants have people behind them who have a vision and this is what sets them apart from other establishments.

On the same page, the uniqueness of their vision and their willingness to adapt to the customer’s needs are also equally important. Our most recent visit was to a restaurant with a very unique vision and yes their flexibility is something they are known for!

Their specialty: Creating delicious marvels with a twist. The twist being that the food is adapted to south Indian cuisine and hence tinkered with a little. Some might get the wrong impression that they only focus on south Indian preparations, but that is not the case. They emphasize on serving a wide variety of preparations, both veg and non veg but in the south Indian way. The condiments they use, their preparation style, the way they marinate and finally the way they serve is what that differentiates these guys!

Their vision is to uphold the south Indian style of cooking and making it popular among people from other parts of the country.

Without further ado, let’s mention the name of the restaurant: Bon South! ;)

Quite a catchy name isn’t it? It is situated in Koramangala 5^th block around the JNC road in Bangalore and it is quite a buzzing locality.

The restaurant has been carved out of an old bungalow and the decor is rustic and rather unique with a modern touch. They have both outdoor and indoor seating arrangements and their seating is quite comfortable. They also have an open kitchen in the middle where the chefs prepare the delicacies which we are about to mention.

Currently these guys are having a seafood festival which runs till the 22^nd of this month.

Their seafood preparations are absolutely delightful in the sense that they are refreshingly different!

They have a wide variety of starters and main course and we tried to cover as much as possible!

It is quite rare that the veg starters outnumber the non veg ones, but in bonsouth that is the case so they are veggie friendly as well.

Coming down to the food:

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 3^rd 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! 

Nowadays is the age of start-ups where every other day, some new enterprise/ establishment is born. Some of these have clear and defined visions and some of these are just the strong dreams/will of the youth.

So, we recently tried out a “start-up” which is very unique and deserves a lot of praise.

There is one question we want to ask before we continue: Do you love Samosas?

If the answer to this question is yes, then you should definitely read on. If not, this write up can try to at least make you like it ;)

So, the Samosa joint which we are talking about is named Samosa Singh, and it has a very interesting logo as well. It is located in Neeladri Nagar, in electronic city phase 1.

But it is not the logo or the ambiance which wins the heart of their customers—it is the variety, taste and the value for money of their samosas!

We visited a restaurant some time back and we really wanted to revisit. So, pretty recently we crashed there with a couple of other foodies for lunch and it was a very comforting experience.

A good variety of conversations (although 99% centred on food), great ambiance and wonderful people—the best mantra for a perfect time!

The name of the restaurant is Sanctum, located near the Chancery Pavilion hotel in Residency road, Bangalore. The food preparations were all simple, with a touch of elegance and sophistication. The restaurant has separate AC and non AC dining areas with elegant dim lighting and a big bar as well.

So, our food blogging journey began almost a year ago and since then we have come a really long way.

We have visited street food joints, cafes, fine dining restaurants, barbeque joints and of course in general buffet joints. (And more as well ;))

So, now we mark a checkpoint in our food blogging journey with our first Michelin star restaurant visit. It is a renowned name the world over for the Chinese and pan Asian cuisine they serve, but they are even better known for their beautifully crafted desserts. They provide what we would call a supreme dining experience which is luxurious and is guaranteed to wake up your taste buds!

So, the name of the restaurant (You must have guessed it by now) is Yauatcha , which is located at 1 MG road Mall, Bangalore.

 
Most of us at one point of time in our lives have experienced 3 star or 5 star cuisines at renowned hotels. It is something we do not indulge in frequently because not only is it expensive, but also the food is very rich. Moreover, except for the food we also pay for the beautiful decorations, ambiance and what not.

In line with that—nowadays every other day a new tech food start up is being established. All of these have different visions –some of them concentrate on home cooked food, some on health foods and some focus on normal restaurant food.

It has been quite some time that we have been eyeing a place in electronic city, but somehow we were not able to go there. Now that it is Christmas and New Year time, we broke the shackles and finally crashed there!

It is located in Velankani drive and it is quite a small joint with a very cosy ambiance. It also has a live kitchen, so they are very transparent in their approach. Now it is time to reveal the name—My Cousin’s Place. 

Sometimes, more than the food the ambiance and the environment matters more and provides an experience worth remembering. Of course if it is combined with good food then the experience reaches a whole new level. 
We have been to places like Soho ST, The Black Pearl and Jhaal Farezi which have a splendid ambiance indeed. But this time we were looking for a different kind of environment, related to music.

If someone asks me to chose between chain cafes’ and  quaint , local cafes , I would always and I mean always pick the local cafes because I personally, am not a very big fan of the same taste of coffee plus I like to see what each of these places have to offer!

One such special cafes of Kolkata are the Mrs. Magpie café! And they specialize in beautiful cupcakes.

They have “bite size” cupcakes and normal sized cupcakes, but the bite size cupcakes are too cute to resist and they have so many flavors that everyone would have something of their choice.

Normally, we head out into the sun and attack random establishments but this time it was a different scenario.  We were back home after quite some time and we wanted to try out a very well known restaurant which we didn’t try before. 

This review is one of the “Durga Puja Specials” and the name of the restaurant is Jhaal Farezi located in Circus Avenue, Beckbagan in the Park Circus area. We were really looking forward to this experience due to the well known punch the food here packs.

The restaurant looks like a big old house, which is gorgeously renovated and it has several sections for different dining experiences. The place of entry has a courtyard with wooden dining tables with umbrellas for dining out and a bar which is made out of stone! The place of entry is similar to that of a royal mansion and we were escorted to the first floor to start proceedings ;)

The decor was quite fun, elegant and vintage! There were 3 rooms on the first floor and in each room there were portraits: each of different story line ups and they were rather interesting. The seating arrangements were very comfortable but the table space was a bit cramped. Old candles in the corners, high ceilings and beautiful chandeliers added the extra spice!

Now coming down to the lip smacking 4 course meal: