The Seafood Mela @ Bonsouth | Koramangala | Bangalore

bangalore
Grilled prawns

 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 5th 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 22nd 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:

Splitwood at Big Pitcher | Cowboy Theme | Indiranagar

bangalore
Sarava beer at Big pitcher

Bangalore is quite famous because of the presence of a lot of breweries across the city. We have tasted beers at so many places here that now we have started to understand beers in a different way altogether! 

Our last trip to a brewery cum restaurant made it very clear that brews accompanied by good food are all you need to have a good time with your friends! Big Pitcher, Located at Indiranagar, this brewery has six floors and we went to the second floor.

Splitwood is their A La carte restaurant which serves Chinese, Mexican and Indian food. 
The theme of this restaurant is "Cowboy", something you don't get to see every day here!

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! 

Italian Brunch @ Via Milano | Koramangala | Bangalore

bangalore

It is quite rare that we come across an eatery which somehow seems to please us in a different way and we cannot stop thinking about it. Sometimes it is the ambiance, sometimes the courtesy of the staff, sometimes the food of course and sometimes we actually do not know but we are attracted!

This happens to every individual no matter how aware they are! We recently visited a restaurant specializing in Italian Cuisine and we were captivated with the entire setup.





The restaurant we are talking about is Via Milano, situated in Koramangala 1st block Bangalore and it is a very quaint joint with a sober and soothing ambiance. From the outside, one can feel the European design with outdoor seating arrangements. The interiors were also fascinating with wooden tables and chairs.






They serve an assortment of breads with garlic butter at the table along with three varieties of oils: olive oil, chili olive oil and the third we forgot :P

We tried out their brunch set menu and it was fabulous to be honest! It was a three course brunch with starters, main course and desserts. We also tried some other items apart from this brunch menu which we will be talking about as well.

For starters we were served chicken lollipops in barbeque sauce, chicken parmesan fingers and smoked chicken salad. The portions were decent and perfect for a delicate meal.

The lollipops had the typical hot and sweet flavour of barbeque sauce and were covered with herbs which gave it a distinct taste like we never had before! The chicken was perfectly cooked throughout and we honestly wanted to have more. The chicken parmesan fingers were unique. The fingers were crispy, had the aroma of cheese throughout and had parmesan cheese sprinkled all over. This one is also guaranteed to make you want more!

Lastly the smoked chicken salad was very well balanced. The chicken slices had a delicate smoky flavour along with red and green lettuce. The combination was slightly bitter and the cherry tomatoes provided a hint of sweetness which balanced the salad perfectly. This was a great palate cleanser too.

Moving on to the main course items:

There were 3 items: one grilled chicken, red snapper with parmesan and penne arrabiatta with chicken.

The pasta was delicious with a tangy flavour and had small chunks of chicken distributed. The snapper was well done and was very tasty. This is the first time we tasted snapper and we really liked it. The fillet was topped off with parmesan and herbs and it was superb!

Lastly the grilled chicken was wow! The chicken was cooked throughout and was slightly sweet. Some portions of the chicken had the skin on and after grilling it tasted fantastic. It was also light on the stomach at the same time indicating that it was a very simple yet marvelous preparation.

After this we were supposed to end our Italian brunch but we thought of gorging some more ;)

We tried the seafood risotto, grilled prawns wrapped with bacon and chicken pesto baked with mozzarella and crushed potatoes and asparagus.

The seafood risotto was the only disappointing dish. The Arborio rice was well made and tasted good but it could have been a bit better. It was slightly bland and the quantity of octopus and prawns could have been more.

The prawn preparation consisted of jumbo prawns including the head wrapped with strips of bacon. It tasted different when had together and tasty of course. The prawns were delicately grilled so that the juiciness was intact and the stir fried bacon went well with it.

The pesto chicken was unique and was lip smacking. There were two huge chunks of chicken, cooked with herbs and baked mozzarella on top. The chicken was so tasty that if we had more stomach space we would have made more! There was also a separate potato, asparagus and olive pie kind of thing served which had a very sharp taste and many might not like it. We felt the problem was with the strong flavour of olives which needed to be balanced better.

This brunch affair was definitely something! Only the sweet dishes left:

There were three desserts served: Mango panna-cotta, semi fredo and the chocolate lasagne.

The panna-cotta had an even consistency throughout and was topped off with mango jelly. It had the right amount of sweetness and was topped off with a mint leaf. The semi fredo was a sandwich shaped mixture of almonds, crème and butterscotch. It tasted heavenly and had an amazing smooth consistency along with the crunch of the butterscotch.



 The chocolate lasagne was a wonder! It had dark chocolate as its base, then white chocolate with crème, then milk chocolate with crème and topped off with chocolate sauce. The best thing about this dessert was the chocolate overload and its smooth texture: Great stuff!!

So, finally our lunch was complete. The desserts gave a perfect ending to a near perfect lunch.

Now time for the scores:
Food/Taste: - 4.5/5
Quantity: - 4/5
Ambiance: - 4.5/5
Service: - 3/5

We really liked this place and are thinking of making it our Italian destination.

So, if you are in the mood for some Italian food of great quality and a good price you can definitely give this place a shot!

Till next time—bon appétit!

  
Via Milano Menu, Reviews, Photos, Location and Info - Zomato

Rudra On Zomato

view my food journey on zomato!

The FLB on Instagram

Priyanjana On Zomato

view my food journey on zomato!