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Monkey Bar Team Spirit Food Festival | Bangalore

The Team Spirit Spread

It’s that time of the year when Indian Cricket enthusiasts rejoice. If you know what we are talking about, you just made our job a lot easier. If in case you didn’t, this time of the year is IPL time. There have been 11 editions of the IPL so far, considering the ongoing one & it is undoubtedly the biggest annual sporting festival in our country.

The IPL does not need any introductions & the same goes for The Monkey Bar, Bangalore which is hosting the Team Spirit food festival. This post will be all about this food festival, about what we tried, our recommendations, feedback & the amount of research it took for these guys to come up with an elaborate menu covering all home states of the IPL teams.

As mentioned, the Team Spirit menu consists of items from all the home IPL teams: Kolkata, Delhi, Mumbai, Hyderabad, Chennai, Rajasthan etc. to name a few. This festival is running across all Monkey Bar outlets in the country for the entire duration of the IPL. Now that’s one long food festival! The advantage is that there is a lot of time for anybody to plan a visit & support their team during the live screening. The best part: even if your team loses, you can say that your team’s home cuisine is better ;).

Now, coming down to the food & drinks:

Toast to Calcutta, Pork Powerplay & Fried Riders : KKR

Regarding drinks, we tried the Toast To Calcutta, which is a Gondhoraj based cocktail with a Vodka base. The drink is light & very aromatic. A classic Monkey Bar cocktail. On top of this, there is a 1+1 on all drinks so it is not only the taste but also the value for money.

We’ll try to keep it short, so we’ll give our recommendations first:

Lal Maas Royals: We couldn’t keep our hands away from this one. This is a taco which has Lal Maas filling in it & it is too good to be true. Try insisting on lesser amount of mayo as that’ll bring out the flavor of the meat. If you’re a fan of the Rajasthan Royals, this is for you!

Murgh of the Match: This is a char grilled chicken preparation honoring the Punjab team. They’ve tried to recreate the Dhaba style chicken which is served in the region & we must say that it doesn’t matter because it’s mouth-watering! Moreover, this is a good companion with drinks & is filling.

Kothu Super Kings: This dish is obviously honoring Chennai Super Kings & was delightful. Many might complain about this but that is probably because they are unaware of the concept. Kothu Paratha is mostly shredded paratha & less shredded meat.

Full Toss Fish

Kothu Super Kings in the background

Chicken Googly

Gully Bao

Captain Kheema: This is a Hyderabad based specialty which is a puffed roll stuffed with spicy & tasty mutton keema. This is not for the calorie conscious but boy does it taste good.

Full Toss Fish: This dish is honoring the Royal Challengers Bangalore & consists of Rava coated Mackerels inside sliders. The mint mayo adds a zing to it. It is perfect as finger food.

Gully Bao: If you’ve watched the film Gully Boy, you know which team this dish is honoring. This is a recreation of a Misal Pav in the form of a Bao. Once you bite into this, this really does taste similar to kudos to the chef & the team behind for the creativity involved. This is the only recommendation we can give for the vegetarians. We’re sorry :P.

We believe the dish called the Fried Riders will be a huge hit, especially amongst the Bengali folk & fish lovers in general.

Murgh of the Match

However, we felt that the Pork Powerplay, the Kolkata street style Kolkata dumplings could be made better. The dumplings themselves & the pork filling was not the problem. It was the seasoning as the typical Kolkata pork momos are a tad bit spicier. Pork as a meat has a natural smoky aroma which we felt was missing in this.

The Laal Mas Royals & Captain Kheema are our favorites, do let us know if you find yours!

Overall, this is yet another well executed food festival from Monkey Bar. The food has a greater chance of winning your heart than your favorite team. The festival is on for quite some time so do give read through & try out their offerings.

Good luck to all the participating teams!

We’ll be back soon with a lot of posts this month so you know what’s coming ;).

Till then – Cheer on & Bon Apetit!

22:51
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Hallo-Wine Festival at Phoenix Market City, Bangalore!

event

It has been quite some time since we wrote about an event on the blog! With Rudra Moving to Chennai, I will be writing most of the blog, about events, tastings in Bangalore. So, here goes the first event blog in a long while.

On a Breezy Saturday afternoon, I reached Phoenix Market City. Just a day prior to Halloween, and saw their courtyard dotted with various stalls! They had a Festival going on, a three day long festival, called Halo-wine. Though I love wine, I had decided not to drink during the day time, so I didn’t really indulge myself with copious amount of fabulous wines which were available.

I did that with food, anyway! The event was organized by Phoenix Market city in association with the Karnataka Wine Board and a lot of Karnataka based wine brands participated in the event.

Some of my Favorite wine brands were present too. Like, Big Banyan and Sula. And, everyone had the opportunity to sample all the wines for just a nominal amount of money.

But, the food was wonderful! They had multiple food trucks and stalls from Bar Bar and Café Noir. I tried some delish food from Bar Bar and the food trucks.

I tried almost everything from Bar Bar and some things from the food trucks, while enjoying the live music! There was an option of grape stomping as well! I didn’t participate, but a lot of people did and it looked like fun!

I hope I visit a lot of festivals such as this, because good food, good wine and lovely music makes anyone’s day brighter, and certainly mine too!

Till next time,

Bon Appetite!

21:16
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The Hot N Juicy Kebab Festival @ Paradise | Bangalore

bangalore

Khada Masala Kukkad

So, what according to you is a great combination with respect to food?

For us, a plain & simple chicken stew with white rice does wonders! Sometimes, comfort food takes preference over others as it never gets old. We also love a spicy Bengali style mutton curry & white rice for that matter.

But this post is not about our preference: It is about what most people prefer.

Kebabs & Biryani anyone?

Now that must’ve caught your attention!

We were recently invited to a Paradise Biryani outlet near us to experience their ongoing Hot n Juicy Kebab Festival. First up, these varieties are available across Hyderabad, Bangalore, Chennai & Vishakhapatnam only.

Barkas Rubina

Paneer Lollypop

Dhuandaar Pankhudi

Overall, they have come up with 22 kebab variants out of which we tried 12 (the new ones!).

Now, moving on to the kebab variants we tried & what we recommend:

Barkas Rubina: The prawn kebab. Heavy on the stomach, tastes incredible, cashew rich marinade. Highly recommended.

Mutton Shooleh: Tender & juicy mutton kebab, powered by cloves. Recommended.

Murgh Sarfiya Kalimiri: The meat is exceptionally well cooked with a delicate aroma of cardamom & visible specks of black pepper. The meat cut is praise worthy. Highly recommended.

Paneer Lolly: The paneer is soft & retains the flavour of the sesame covering. Slightly oily & has a crunch to each bite. For vegetarians this is one of the few options, so have all you want! ;)

Dhuandaar Pankhudi: The chicken wings preparation. High on spice and on taste. The smoky flavour adds to the experience. Highly recommended.

Tulsi Machhi @ The Hot N Juicy Kebab Festival @ Paradise | Bangalore

Veg Makhmali Seekh

Murgh Sarfiya Kali Miri @ The Hot N Juicy Kebab Festival @ Paradise | Bangalore

Moti Fish Tikka

Bharwan Aloo Mattar ki Tikki: Decent sized tikkis stuffed with potatoes & green peas. Tastes good, but nothing fabulous.

Zaffrani Murgh Seekh: Chicken seekh kebabs don’t get better than this! The aroma of saffron & the well-cooked & juicy chicken is all that needs to be said. Try it to believe it.

Moti Fish Tikka/Tulsi Machhi: Fish variants. Very tender & juicy & gets finished within seconds. The latter is exceptional. The aroma of Tulsi lasts long & is refreshing. It also adds a unique flavour to the kebab. Highly recommended.

Khada Masala Kukkad: Chicken kebab marinated with whole spices. This is a spicy prep but is absolutely mouth-watering. Definitely recommended.

Lastly, Mutton Seekh Kebab: Does not need an introduction. Decent level of spice, tender & juicy meat along with some Indian herbs. Good old taste but nothing distinctive.

We also tried other variants but these are the ones which stood out & we talked about them.

Zafrani Murgh Seekh @ The Hot N Juicy Kebab Festival @ Paradise | Bangalore

Mutton Sooleh @ The Hot N Juicy Kebab Festival @ Paradise | Bangalore

We also tried their Mutton Biryani which is a classic favourite. We’ve never been disappointed with their biryanis.

Well, that’s that! Their kebabs are certainly a treat & are priced appropriately. The festival is on till the end of this month.

If you love kebabs & biryani like we mentioned in the beginning, you should visit!

If you do, do let us know about your experience.

We’ll be back soon!

Till then—you know what to do ;)!

19:28
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Flavours of Bengal Food Festival @ Nook | Aloft CBP | Bangalore

Aloft

Fuchka Shots

It’s time for another food festival & this time it’s our festival!

As you might know that we are Bengalis so, we are super excited to talk about the ongoing Bengali Food Festival at Nook, Aloft Cessna Business Park, Bangalore.

We have been to many festivals at Nook, but by far we found this to be the best! No bias at all as the food is what impressed us. The execution was brilliant and most of the items tasted as they should while some had a certain twist to it.

We were not disappointed with a single item to be honest.

Now, coming down to the food:

They have the festival menu & also the regular spread for customers who don’t want to try festival items.

Flavours of Bengal Food Festival @ Nook | Aloft CBP | Bangalore

Mutton & Veg Shingara

Dhaka style mutton kofta

Bengali vegetarian preparations

Egg Chop

About the festival menu: the spread is absolutely massive! There were almost equal options for veg & non veg. For veg, from Aloo Bhate, Kumror Chhechki to Begun Bharta & Aloo/Jhinge Posto there was a wide variety. For non-veg: starting with kebabs, Bangladeshi Mutton Kofta, Egg Chops to Ilish Bhaja, Ilish Bhapa, Mutton Dak Bungalow, Murghir Jhol & Daab Chingri & more! Now that’s enough to make a Bengali happy for sure. The food was exquisite & lip smacking. We loved each & every preparation.

Before we forget, they also have Mutton Shingara & Veg Shingara & Fuchka!

The Daab Chingri was partially cooked in the green coconut which most places don’t do. There was also Chicken Mughlai Paratha which was also the real deal.

Chicken Tikka

Aloo & Coconut Tikki

Ilish Bhaja

Daab Chingri

So, from our side we would recommend everything but if we have to filter out:

Veg: Aloo Posto, Aloo & Coconut Tikkis, Begun Bharta & Chholar Dal.

Non Veg: Daab Chingri, Mutton Dak Bungalow, Egg Chops, Bhapa Ilish, Mughlai Paratha.

That’s not all: Bengalis are known for their sweet tooth so the desserts this time were epic. Apart from the regular variations like pastries, cheesecakes etc. there was Nolengur Payesh, Kancha Golla, Raj Bhog, Patishapta, Malai Chomchom & Roshogolla. No recommendations as all of them were delightful.

The Main Course

Ilish Bhapa @ Flavours of Bengal Food Festival @ Nook | Aloft CBP | Bangalore

Bhapa Ilish

If you’re familiar with Bengali Cuisine, you shouldn’t miss this for sure! If you aren’t, do give this a try as most of the preps are pretty close to authentic & taste exactly the way it should.

Reiterating: This is the best festival we’ve experienced.

Kudos to Exec Chef Sandeep & his team for making us feel closer to home!

The festival is on, so don’t miss it.

We’ll be back soon with another tasty adventure soon.

Till then—Keep Calm & live to eat!

20:14
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Persian Pop Up @ SodaBottleOpenerWala | Bangalore

bangalore

The Persian Pop Up menu in a thali format

So do you guys have a favorite restaurant?

We all have favorites be it one thing or the other. Favorite food is pretty common but how many of you actually love visiting a particular restaurant?

Do let us know in the comments below, but now let us tell you about one of ours!

The best part is we were recently invited for a unique food festival and as expected we had an amazing time.

So many restaurants organizing so many food festivals and yet this one is unique. So, this post is all about one of our favorite restaurants: SodaBottleOpenerWala & the ongoing Persian Food Festival.

The festival goes by the name “Persian Pop-Up” and the festival menu is co-created by Anaida Parvaneh & the chefs of SBOW. Anaida, a famed singer who has her roots in Persia, specially curated this menu to showcase the rich, traditional Persian Cuisine using ingredients from Iran.

There are a lot of items involved and since we visited separately and not in a group, we tried portions of some of these items in the form of a Thali.

People of Persia indulge mostly in non-vegetarian food so, if you are a vegetarian: not many options for you.

Most of the items were lamb preparations and thinking of lamb, people generally get the idea that the food is heavy but in this case even after a full meal we didn’t feel uneasy at all. The preparations are very light, flavorful and gives a sense of satisfaction.

Anaida's Jadooei Soup

In the thali we tried the Bagali Pulao, which is rice cooked with mutton keema, Chicken Jujeh Kebab, Mutton Haleem, Cucumber and Dried Mint Dip, Mutton Fesanjan & a Lamb Shanks prep with chickpeas. We also tried Anaida’s Jadooei Soup.

The soup was heavenly! It had a homely touch to it & had loads of chicken, mushrooms & veggies. The broth tasted so good that we could literally survive on that.

From the thali, we loved almost everything! The aroma & taste boasted of fresh ingredients. The Mutton Fesanjan is a mutton preparation made with pomegranate molasses. It is pungent in nature and sort of an acquired taste. It had a tangy tasty to it and many might not like it the first time. The same goes for the lamb shanks preparation which was sour. It was soupy & flavorful with perfectly cooked meat but the taste was a bit harsh up front.

The only chicken preparation in this meaty arsenal is the Jujeh Kebab. It’s a very simple kebab which brings out the natural flavors of chicken. It was char grilled to perfection. The Haleem is a must try. It is served with a pav and is the best dish of the lot! The richness of the mutton & ghee, the aroma and sweetness of the caramelized onions stood out.

Haleem

Dessert

The cucumber and dried mint dip had the characteristic flavors. The special thing about it was the inclusion of dried rose petals from Iran which gave it a longing aroma. The Bagala Pulao summarized would be: Keema in each bite. The cooked rice retained all the flavors and that’s all we need ;)

Lastly, for dessert we tried the Halwa and Shole Zard. They were rich and delicious but kind of overshadowed by the above!

That’s our short & sweet experience of this delicious festival.

This is on till the 16^th of August, so still some time before you miss out!

We’ll be back soon with great news.

Till then—keep stuffing your faces & be happy because you live only once!

23:33
4 Comments

The Vijayanagara Feast @ Cubbon Pavilion | ITC Gardenia | Bangalore

bangalore

Meen Huli (Fish cooked with tamarind & tomatoes)

Well, it is not every day that we get to indulge in royalty right?

India was a land of many kingdoms at one point and one of the most powerful and flourishing of them was Vijayanagara, the cuisine of which we’ll be talking about in this post.

This post is all about the Cuisines of Vijayanagara food festival at the Cubbon Pavilion, ITC Gardenia which is on till the 4^th of June.

This comes under the Royal Repasts aegis of Kitchens of India by ITC.

The food was exquisite, rich & spicy but was like comfort food at the same time. This region was known to use a lot of spice, especially chilli in their food & care was also taken so that it does not overpower the natural flavours and that is what we experienced.

This cuisine is also considered as Hampi cuisine which is also long gone, but the master chefs from ITC took it to task to recreate this in as authentic a way as possible keeping modern dining in mind.

Now, moving on to what this festival has to offer:

More or less equal options for vegetarians & non vegetarians. We won’t be stressing too much on the details and we’ll mention the must tries. There was nothing disappointing about the food we were served, but some were exceptional whereas some were decent.

From the starters: All the 3 are highly recommended! From the raw banana dumplings to the spicy dry chicken preparation and the lamb & coriander dumplings, simplistic brilliance we would like to call it.

The raw banana was shallow fried and it had a homely touch to it. The chicken was very spicy, well-cooked and not overpowering. The lamb balls were amazing. They are pretty small in size but big on impact! The freshness of the coriander & the flavour of lamb are an impeccable combination.

From the mains: The Ivy Gourd preparation, The Lamb Chops, Prawns with Black Pepper are a must! The accompaniments were equally amazing.

Balakkai Vada @ Cuisine of Vijayanagara @ Cubbon Pavilion | ITC Gardenia | Bangalore

Balakkai Vada (Raw Banana)

Kaima Unde Bartad @ Cuisine of Vijayanagara @ Cubbon Pavilion | ITC Gardenia | Bangalore

Kaima Unde Bartad (Lamb & Coriander dumplings)

Koli Menasakai @ Cuisine of Vijayanagara @ Cubbon Pavilion | ITC Gardenia | Bangalore

Koli Menasakai (Spicy Chicken)

Urida Mamsa (Lamb chops)

The Ivy Gourd had a rich coconut flavour and was cut into very thin slices which gave a delicate crunch to each bite. The Lamb chops were heavenly. The best part about them was that the flavour of lamb was present because they were not smoked. The masala used really boosted the taste & that’s the drawing line for a non-vegetarian!

The Prawn preparation was very simple. The prawns were fresh & sweet and the black pepper gave the contrast in flavour.

The other preparations include: Chicken in Coriander & Coconut gravy, a lentil preparation, a Brinjal preparation & a Sear fish preparation cooked in tomatoes & tamarind.

All of them were palatable. The fish had a unique tangy taste. The Brinjal preparation had a few shortcomings in terms of balance. The chicken had the characteristic flavours.

Ennai Badakanai @ Cuisine of Vijayanagara @ Cubbon Pavilion | ITC Gardenia | Bangalore

Ennai Badakanai (Brinjal)

Cuisine of Vijayanagara @ Cubbon Pavilion | ITC Gardenia | Bangalore

Centre: Raw Mango rice. From left: Ivy Gourd, Brinjal, Chicken, Lentils, Fish, Koli Pulao

Akki Payasa

The accompaniments like Raw Mango Rice, The Koli Pulao (Chicken cooked with rice & spices) & the Akki Roti deserve a special mention. The first had an amazing aroma & was lip smacking. The Koli Pulao was mouth-watering! It was very light on the stomach, lightly spiced & the meat retained the flavours.

For dessert, we tried the Akki Payasa which was very comforting. It was dilute but gave a sweet finish as always. We felt it was a tad bit over sweet.

That’s all from our side!

The festival is on till for another week so quite some time left to gear up.

Such opportunities are hard to come by and we definitely recommend a visit.

Do try out what we mentioned and other things as well and let us know about your experience if you visit. This is available only for dinner (07:30 PM - 11:30 PM) and priced at 1950 ++.

This festival might not have much for dessert, but the other things are sure to satisfy you.

We’ll be back soon with a bang ;)

Till then—stay tuned & bon apetit!

18:23
0 Comments

Pages

Monkey Bar Team Spirit Food Festival | Bangalore

Hallo-Wine Festival at Phoenix Market City, Bangalore!

The Hot N Juicy Kebab Festival @ Paradise | Bangalore

Flavours of Bengal Food Festival @ Nook | Aloft CBP | Bangalore

Persian Pop Up @ SodaBottleOpenerWala | Bangalore

The Vijayanagara Feast @ Cubbon Pavilion | ITC Gardenia | Bangalore

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