Amande Patisserie, Lavalle Road (3.5/5)

First visit - August 18, 2015 

My colleagues were all praise for the macaroons and desserts at Amande when we last visited UB city. Decided to try it out yesterday when I was in the mall for dinner. 

Ambience (3.5/5)

The dessert counters and the look and feel of the place is classy. However, the seating arrangements are inadequate. 

Service

Nothing boast-worthy or to complain about their service. 

Pricing (4/5)

You don't expect desserts to be cheap in a patisserie at the most up-scale mall in the city. However, they are priced reasonably considering the above premium factors. 

Macaroons were priced INR. 60 per piece. 

Desserts

1. Hazelnut macaroon - exquisite stuff! Loved the hazelnut flavours and would definitely rate it among the best macaroons I have tasted. 

2. Blueberry macaroon - relatively or otherwise- this flavour turned out to be disappointing. Did not enjoy it as much. 

3. Chocolate concord - a dessert with sweetened chocolate sticks and chocolate mousse filling. While I loved the filling - the overdose of sweetness in the chocolate sticks put me off a bit. 

Would like to revisit for other macaroon flavours.

Revisited this place on August 24, 2015

Tried a few more of their macaroon flavors. Must concede this place offers one of the best Macaroons in the city. 

Toscano, Lavelle Road (4/5)

Was catching up with my best buddy who was visiting from Bombay. He was one of my early food companions and together we have conquered several cities. Considering his fascination for Italian fine dining decided to take him to Toscano. 

Ambience (4.5/5)

This place has one of the best outdoor ambience in UB CIty- is my personal favourite. I have heard live performance are their highlight and unfortunately for us, we were visiting on a weekday. 

The restaurant was kinda packed and mostly filled with expats and foreigners. They have an extensive selection of wines and I am assuming that could be the reason. 

Pricing (3.5/5) 

Surely overpriced but the food quantity makes you think otherwise. We were full just with the starters and thats commendable considering our appetites.  

Service 

No qualms about their service. 

Food (3/5)

I ordered for a chicken starter and was looking for guidance from the staff. Was particular on not wanting to eat fried food and mentioned the same to them. My order was lost in dialogue and was served a chicken nuggets kind of dish. It was served with french fries and two dips. Tasted quite ordinary. 

Our other starter was a veg hand tossed pizza bread (four cheese piadana and oregano). This was dry and bland - did not completely suit my Indian palate. 

Dessert (4/5)

Chocolate kahlua mousse in almond tuile creme anglaise:

The kahlua mousse was amazing and the almond tuile was possibly the best crust to mount it on. The let down for me was however the creme anglaise. It pulled down what could have otherwise been a perfect dish by a few notches. 

Mocktail (5/5)

Mango zombie - easily one of the best mango mocktails I have ever had. Its a delight to watch the frozen mango puree melt and blend with the crushed ice. 

Though the food orders went wrong, I believe it is not fair to judge based on just their starters. Hence rating them 0.5 higher.

D'hide Cafe, Koramangala (3.5/5)

After a less than satisfying experience at another cafe we decided dessert were the only thing that could possibly neutralise the impact  Chose D'hide cafe based on its inviting interiors, which was almost irresistible when I was passing by.  

Our orders (3.5/5)

1. Blueberry cheesecake

A good crust/base and a decent cheesecake. The only complaint was it was a tad too sweet and did not quite contain the bitterness you expect from a cheesecake. 

2. Belgian chocolate truffle

The warmed and melted belgian chocolate truffle was absolutely sinful. The cake was soft and was supported by a gooey chocolate layer. 

Service (3.5/5)

The staff were friendly and prompt with in their service.

Ambience (4/5)

The interiors have been done up pretty well and the seating was comfortable. 

Pricing 

Our desserts cost us INR. 360 odd. Thats a little too expensive. 

The place looks like a nice place for a brunch or cereal meal and I might wanna go back to try their food.

Chocolat Boulangerie Patisserie

Was in Koramangala for some work and thought I should explore the dessert offering in the neighbourhood. Zeroed down on this joint based on their high score in Zomato. 

Ambience (4/5)

This restaurant is located in the midst of residential properties and has an inviting glass-house look. However, large part of the patisserie stays hidden behind the trees and greenery on this road. 

The interiors are pretty classy and seating is comfortable. 

Pricing (3.5/5)

A pastry and a chicken tikka puff cost me INR. 160. Thats reasonable. 

Service (2/5)

The staff were friendly and was happy to guide me with choice making. However, two things that put me off were:

1. When asked for ketchup I got a 1 litre bottle - which didn't look appealing. It might make more sense to serve them in small fancy containers (or even have the squeeze version in each table). 

2. When asked for water- was served in a large plastic soda bottle. Thats definitely not how customers are to be served.

Both of these service elements killed the glamour that I would otherwise attribute to this place. 

Pastry (3/5)

The praline fudge pastry had an overdose of praline. This made it hard to taste the fudge flavour. 

On an overall note the cake lacked the flavour I expected it to have. A strong fudge flavour and praline to top with might have better suited my taste buds better. 

Chicken tikka puff (3.5/5)

Had very limited expectation from this dish but decided to try it considering there is little that you can judge from just one order. The puff was crisp and fresh and the crust was definitely beyond my expectation. However, the chicken filling was not the best tikka's I have had.

Zomato Event with George Calombaris

Bangalore was lucky to host one of the biggest food connoisseurs of all time, restaurateur, chef and master chef Australia judge - George Calombaris.

During his visit to the city, he explored the local cuisine and had two invite only sessions with foodies and food bloggers. Thanks to Zomato and my untiring passion to review restaurants - I got an invite for one of these sessions that was held at JW Marriot, Lavelle Road - Bangalore. Other invitees for this event included CxO cadre employees of some of the leading corporate houses operating in Bangalore and few of the top Zomato and food bloggers from Bangalore. 

My experience:

It was my first black tie food event and was a great opportunity to meet and socialize with some of the corporate heads and my fellow foodies from Bangalore. 

Table 13 Members

A pic with the man himself

George Calombaris

Before I talk about the food, I would like to say a few things about the man himself - George is extremely passionate about food: while typing this, all I can do is visualise the way he describes food - his narratives could stimulate hunger in you even after an Andhra meal.

Otheriwise, he seemed hardworking, friendly, funny and above all level headed despite all his achievements. 

Quoting and unquoting a few things he said during the event:

1. George - My son went to a fast food joint for a birthday party and he took his own food

Well, with a chef like this at home who would want fast food? More importantly, this is in line with his principles on how most fast food joints do not offer healthy food - a cause he has stood up for in one too many public forums. 

2. George - The donut - what do you call them? Vada!!! 

Clearly George had his share of South Indian food and fell in love with it. He described the south Indian vada as a savory donut. 

3. George - I worked with Gary in 1996 and he hates the fact that the apprentice has overtaken the master. 

Said in light vein, he loved to take a dig at people that are close to him. 

4. George - Matt's knowledge of Indian food is better than the Indians I know

Only thing running on my mind was - when can we get to see Matt? :D

5. George - What was it- Chicken 54? 

George was clearly finding it difficult to memorize the names of Indian dishes. But he did admit his liking for spicy Indian food and chicken 65 was something he loved. I feel, next time his hosts should try better than chicken 65 when it comes to spicy Indian food.

Can George handle the real Indian spicy food? I am sure his love and understanding of food will help him deal with it. He might turn red eating, but would be a happier man after the meal. 

The Food:

I had given my meal preference as non vegetarian and though I am usually averse to trying non-chicken dishes, considering the rarity of such opportunities decided to have an open mind to trying all meats. This was one of the wisest food decisions I have made as I thoroughly enjoyed the uniqueness and quality of each of the dish. Have detailed my view on each of them below:

1. Beetroot - feta - papadom and yoghurt
Not a big fan of beetroot, but cleaned this dish up, The ingredients of the dish combined well together; but for somebody like me who has eaten papadom all life, the semi-raw papadom was a marginal spoiler.

2. Sea Bass, miso, eggplant and celery
I was among the lucky few in the table to have got a tender and skinless piece of the dish. It was mildly flavored for an Indian palette and tasted pretty good. The unlucky ones had some difficulty in cutting dish.

3. Green Greek Salad
The green greek salad with peanuts was fabulous. George recommended that we try this dish with Naan's and I was pleasantly surprised on how well they combined.

4. Prawn Saganaki, tomato and mustard
Soaked in olive oil this dish looked like a dumpling of sorts and was filled with fresh and well cooked prawns. The prawn by itself had no special flavors, but it was yet another dish which combined flawlessly when eaten together. Was my favorite dish of the day!

5. Lamb, onion, fondant potato
The lamb was cooked semi-rare and considering my limited experience in eating such preparations I struggled in cutting the dish. I always wondered how could someone eat rare and semi-rare preparations and this dish answered that question for me. Enjoyed the meat!

What made the dish better was the lamb puff - it just melted in the mouth.

6. Dessert - rice pudding, salted caramel and rice cream
A mix of sweet, bitter, crunchy and gooey - this was one of best non-chocolate desserts I have had ever. Liked it so much that I almost had a heart attack when I saw somebody waste it.

Most of these dishes were served in small to medium size portions and by the time I was done with the meal I felt quite stuffed. A perfect six course meal and one I would have to wait another lifetime to eat again.

Thanks Zomato, Goldrush Events and JW Marriot for making this possible.

The Beer Cafe, Indira Nagar (2.5/5)

The new beer place at Indira Nagar and what a disaster it turned out to be. 

1. Their website shows off over hundred bottled beers while they serve only 13 at their store. The liquor store nearby seemed to have a better collection that this.

However had a disclaimer on each table stating legal hassles being the deterrent in sourcing these beers.

2. Food was terrible. Except masala peanuts (something which cannot be screwed up), all of our orders tasted bad.

- Paneer tikka: We were forced to return the paneer as they were chewy and inedible.

- Chicken Olivetti - olive stuffed chicken that was otherwise flavourless. Even a generous dip into the sauce that came along did not help.

- Nachos - everything about it was wrong. First, they used readily available nacho chips. There was just a little bit of cheese and tomatoes as toppings. The cheese serving was definitely inadequate.

Ambience (3/5)
The interiors are done well and looks classy. However, they looked quite empty for a Friday night.

David Guetta played tirelessly in the background.

Service was decent.
Pricing is moderate for the food but expensive for some of the imported beers.  

Yauatcha, MG Road (3.5/5)

Was heading out for dinner with my boys and zeroed down on Yauatcha based on one of their preferences. 

The restaurant is located in the top floor of 1MG mall and was largely empty when we stepped- I am assuming the scenario would be entirely different on a weekend. 

Ambience (4/5)

The modern themed restaurant has a simple yet impressive interiors. The place looked well maintained and the seating was comfortable. 

Pricing (3/5)

The restaurant is a fine dining joint and even by that standards could be considered 'expensive'. The food bill for 3 of us cost roughly INR. 6.5k (including liquor it was around INR. 11k) - haven't paid as much except at star hotels before. But yes, we ordered a lot of food! 

The portions were a mixed bag. While some dishes had adequate portions, items such as dumplings had just 3 or 4  smallpieces. 

To their credit, the prime property location and related costs partially justify the pricing. 

Service (3/5)

The staff was friendly and courteous at the beginning. However, two or three orders down we found them slightly interfering - didn't quite appreciate that.

While the suggestions for starters were top class, the main courses were below par. On service front, food was served within reasonable time and refills for sauces and water came easy. 

Food 

It might be injustice if I don't break the food down into starters, main course and desserts. Have rated each of these separately to help you decide on what to eat.

1. Starters (including dumpling) (5/5)

We ordered three sets of dumplings and two courses of prawn cheng fun. 

All of the dumplings tasted good and the sauces combined brilliantly with them. 

The stand-out dish would however be the prawn cheng fun. It had crispy fried prawns stuffed in a dumpling dough. It was cooked to perfection and being a non prawn lover- I could not resist indulging in it - definitely going back for more. 

2. Main course (2/5)

A very average fare. 

1. Penang style old town prawn noodle was excessively oily and tasted quite ordinary.  

2. Egg white chicken fried rice - ended up being a sort of sticky rice. Not really a fan of sticky rice! 

3. Stir fry chicken in home fry chilli sauce

This side dish order was good on a standalone basis. However, it failed to combine well with our rice order. 

Desserts (3.5/5)

The desserts score well on presentation and plating.

They tasted decent but are highly overpriced. I have to concede. they looked better than they tasted. 

1. Raspberry Delice - it is the house speciality and has been raved about by one and all who has visited this place. I found it a tad too bitter. 

2. Religieuse - a chocolate and hazelnut combination. 

The ice cream that came alone with the dessert was incredible. On an overall note, liked this order better than the raspberry Delice.