Foodie Land Blog | Indian food and restaurant reviews

The Syrian Christian Breakfast Menu @ Karavalli | The Gateway Hotel | Bangalore

Egg roast with Malabar Parota

Generally, restaurants create special menus/organize festivals and more for lunch, dinner and sometimes brunch. It is very rare that we encounter a special breakfast offering mainly because of the timing and especially on weekends!

Very recently we visited The Taj Gateway Hotel situated in Residency road, Bangalore for trying out the special Syrian Christian Breakfast menu being served in their award winning, legendary restaurant—Karavalli! The environment of Karavalli is very soothing and relaxing and is guaranteed to help you de-stress. The garden type arrangement, with fountains and secluded seating was quite eye catching. Moreover, apart from their outdoor seating, they also have indoor seating.

Karavalli is one of the most award winning and respected restaurants in our country and on the brink of completion of their 26^th year of successful operations they have decided to add a twist to the normal way of celebration. They normally bring to their customers, the cuisine of different communities, some lost, some forgotten but very much alive!

With this said, this time they decided to bring to its customers a special Syrian Christian breakfast menu dedicated to the rich cultural heritage and cuisine of this special community located throughout Kerala.

The menu contained a variety of items which were very flavourful and light on the stomach. Along with the breakfast they serve sparkling wine to kick start your day a different way!

Serving plates with banana leaf (Authentic style)

Banana blossom cutlets served with ginger chutney and tomato ketchup

There was a mutton stew, meen moily or the fish preparation, a chicken preparation, egg roast served with Malabar parota (otherwise known as Porotta Mutta Roast), steamed rice cakes with black channa in a spicy coconut masala (also known as Puttu Kadala curry), banana blossom cutlets and a fried banana dessert accompanied by aromatic black tea (known as Chayaa Vazhapoo).

The accompaniments in all the cases were a variety of appams.

We started off with the banana blossom cutlets which were lightly fried, mildly spiced and very tasty. Plus since it is lightly fried—not much oil at all!

The egg roast preparation was spicy, mildly sweet because of the presence of onions but the gravy was very tasty and this tasted excellent with the Malabar Parotas. I (Rudra) personally like my eggs roasted/slightly fried. In this case, the dish would have tasted 10X better if the eggs were roasted, I believe!

Apart from the egg, everything else was spectacular! The mutton stew was simply mouth watering: It was mild, very flavourful and the essence of mutton made this exceptional. The potatoes in it also contributed positively. It was served with traditional appams.

The fish preparation had mild levels of spice and had coconut milk, which of course gave it a wonderful aroma and taste. This was served with Kalappams which were soft like bread and had a slight crisp to it. This combo was remarkable too!

The chicken preparation was also very flavourful but it was a tad bit spicier than the others. This was served with idiappams and the combo tasted great, but not as much as the mutton and the fish.

The black channa preparation was spicy and the coconut based masala gave it a very good aroma and taste. It sort of had a Goan touch to it. This was served with brown rice cakes with interleaved grated coconut. The combo did not taste that good, but the channa preparation deserves praise!

Mutton stew preparation

Meen moili

Kalappams

Chicken preparation

Idiappams

Black channa in spicy coconut masala served with steamed rice cakes

The finale was with the fried banana dessert and a very aromatic black tea which had just the right amount of sweetness. The banana had a very light batter coating and it tasted quite nice.

The champagne which was served was of high quality and went well with all the above items.

Special thanks to the executive chef Naren Thimmaia for educating us about this form of cuisine and the roots of this implementation.

This special breakfast menu is available only for this upcoming Saturday and Sunday i.e. 16-17^th July.

If you are a breakfast person who has an adventurous palate: this is highly recommended.

All the items were well prepared and absolutely mouth watering. So, what are your breakfast plans this weekend?

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

Till then—bon appétit!

15:25
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The Superhero Sunday Brunch @ The Marriott | Whitefield | Bangalore

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BBQ fish and lamb chop

Restaurants often organize a variety of festivals which have exquisite food offerings which are not normally available. As always it is the name which strikes curiosity first and very recently we have been to The Marriott, Whitefield for digging into their “Superhero Sunday Brunch”. Now that’s a name which will bring out the inner child in you!

The brunch has an elaborate buffet spread and is hosted in their in house restaurant M Cafe. This is one of Marriott’s signature properties in Bangalore and its grandeur and elegance demands attention. For the Superhero Sunday Brunch, they have indoor as well as outdoor seating. Every week the superhero in the theme changes and we witnessed a Thor themed brunch.

They had two mocktails in their drinks menu named Asgard Fizz and the Thor’s Hammer and the names induced excitement! We tried the former and it was a refreshing green apple drink which acted as a good appetizer.

About their buffet: If you really want to try out everything, it is going to take you a minimum of two Sundays ;).

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A Stay To Remember | Grand Mercure Hotel | La Uppu | Mysuru

FAM

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.

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Experience Authentic North Indian Cuisine @ Kopper Kadai | Koramangala | Bangalore

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Mutton Hathori Parchay

North Indian Cuisine in general is very close to most non veg lovers because of the rich and spicy meat preparations. Nowadays, wherever we go we see north Indian restaurants and “food corners” but they rarely serve authentic North Indian food. Instead they serve a spicy adaptation which is also tasty and thus widely accepted. Authentic preparations are quite hard to find as most places proclaim that they provide it but they don’t!

We recently visited a restaurant in Koramangala, 5^th block, Bangalore which opened a month back and they already got listed as the best restaurant in Bangalore on Zomato! Plus, in the recent World On A Plate event involving the judges of Master Chef Australia they won 3^rd place in such a short span of time. The restaurant we are talking about is Kopper Kadai and the entire restaurant is based on the theme “copper”.

They have different types of seating arrangements with a “royal” ambiance! Their speciality is their food presentation which is by far the best and most unique we have seen. But that is not all: Their preparations are equally good. Apart from this, they provide swift service and also have courteous staff.

Number of ladles = number of spices used

The utensils used are mostly made of copper and they don’t spare any cost to bring excellence at a customer’s table. Another fact before we move on to the food of course: If you do visit here do take a look at the chairs. They use chairs which can be quoted as ancient particularly because of the design and they are very comfortable.

For starters we tried many varieties of non veg kebabs and a couple of veg kebabs. Presentation wise and taste wise their preparations are simple outstanding. There is practically no point in giving an explanation as the best explanation from our side would be: go there and have it!

Their signature dish, the ganna chicken was amazing! From what appears to be chicken sheekhs on wooden sticks, it is actually a chicken sheekh but on a thin strip of sugarcane. Quantity is sufficient and the taste was simply mind blowing. The chicken was perfectly cooked, not oily at all, had an amazing aroma of the herbs and was smoky and spicy. We would like to call it excellent at our plate!

Next up: The Hathodi Parchey. This was a mutton preparation and was served on a hammer. The mutton was very soft and tender and had a faint flavour of mustard. This also had a smoky flavour to add to the delight.

The sarson ki champey preparation was of tandoori soya chops with mustard again. It was impressive how they recreated soya in such large chunks but the problem was that the preparation was slightly bitter. Moreover, the inside did not have much flavour so there is some room for improvement.

The Murgh Chapli preparation was remarkable. They look like cakes with minced chicken, vegetables and spices. They were so juicy that it will make any individual curious!

There was one veg starter, most probably the paneer tikka which was amazingly delicious and heavy. They looked like veg drumsticks because of the break stick tails. The stuffing was of spicy paneer bhurji and it tasted fantastic. From the outside, these drumsticks were covered with fried rice vermicelli (most probably).

Murgh Chapli

Ganna Chicken

Paneer Tikka

Sarson ki champey

Experience Authentic North Indian Cuisine @ Kopper Kadai | Koramangala | Bangalore

A Chicken Kebab preparation: smoked using burnt butter

There were a few more starters but these were the highlights!

Along with the starters we tried the Murgh Raab Shorba and a couple of mocktails. The Shorba was very aromatic, thick and tasty. It was quite appetizing to say the least.

Moreover, this is served separately: the bowls come with the contents and the liquid component is served in bottles which can be poured later.

Their mocktails are a must try as well. We tried the Kiwi Panna and the Masakali and both were refreshing and the masala used in them made them tasty.

Front: Kiwi Panna, Back: Masakali

Murgh Raab Shorba

For the main course there were some equally amazing and delicious preparations:

The Warqi Dal was way beyond our wildest expectation. The simple preparations show the credibility of the chef and the dal was thick, creamy and lip smacking!

There was a mutton halim preparation which they called Mastawa and it was brilliant. It was a rich mixture of clarified butter, loads of mutton, caramelized onions and milk. It was very heavy and very delicious and aromatic.

The cooker Kukkad was a home style chicken preparation traditionally served in a pressure cooker. It was tasty, flavoursome and gives the impression of dining with family. There was only a small problem: the chicken was partially overcooked.

The Minari mutton biriyani was also impressive. The rice was fragrant with good quantity of mutton. It had a taste of garam masala and it was well balanced throughout.

Minari Mutton Biriyani

Mastawa

Warqi Dal

The breads were the usual, at par.

Now after such a relishing experience we had to end it with something sweet ;)

We tried the fruit cream and the dodhalava. The fruit cream had an assortment of fresh fruits along with flavoured cream. Quite a sinful end to a meal! The dodhalava had liquid nutella inside and baked burfi outside. Both the desserts were good and gave the perfect ending to our hearty meal.

After trying these guys we can understand their quality and how much they deserve praise.

Fruit Cream

Nutella Dodhalava

There is still room for improvement and if they keep performing the way they are, there is much more glory ahead!

Overall, it was honestly a remarkable experience not only because of the food and the presentation, but also because of the friendly atmosphere they create for their guests.

So, if you are in the mood for some Authentic North Indian food with simply awesome presentation, do try out these guys. [And do let us know how you felt ;)]

We will definitely revisit and post about it!

Till then—bon appétit!