THE FILTER COFFEE INDIRANAGAR BREAKFAST, LUNCH AND SNACKS

This place has been on my “to- visit” list for a while having heard mixed reviews online but good reviews for the outlet in my area, Indiranagar. I have eaten here multiple times to give a fair review of food and service so here goes: Breakfast: First visit: A Sunday. Only plain dosa and a vada. Maddening crowd. Avoid weekends. Seating is like wedding style with a long table and food is served on banana leaves. The do have separate tables too but I got the long table one due to the rush. Dosa was crisp. Piping hot crisp vada was the best I’ve had. Excellent coconut and red chutney and sambar. Second time ordered same items but added idli to it. Idli is ok...not as fluffy as the ones you get in South Bengaluru, but everything else was tasty. This time around I went on a weekday. Got a table for myself and could eat in peace. The lunch meals..baale yele oota: 12.30 pm onwards. Less items, but what was given was good. It was the usual fare of rice, sambar, chapathi, vegetable kootu, lemon rice, kosambari, some kinda potato fries which was really tasty and curd, salt pickle papad. Good, but not great. I wish they had given some other sweet than Payasam. Everything was fresh and tasty but for some reason because of the room cooler or whatever food turned to room temperature real fast. I like my food to be piping hot. Evening snacks: 4 pm onwards. Bajji platter and paddu. Raw banana bajji, chilli bajji, potato bondas...all were excellent. Potato bondas were awesome. Paddu was good, but I've had better in other places. Again the accompanying chutneys here are really good. Takeaway: Ven pongal. Best I've had in a while..aroma of ghee very evident. Very tasty and even without re- heating it was still fresh and tasty at night. They do have a lil shop just off the restaurant selling sweets and savories which I'm yet to visit. Service: Service is top notch. Whether there's a huge crowd or not, you get served fast and attended to well. Everyone is calm, polite and attentive. Ambience: Good seating, but not the kind you can chat with a friend for ages. It is very clean and well maintained. It is one of those come, eat and go kind of places unless you go real early on a weekday. My benchmark for any food place is based on two parameters 1. Would I go again: Definitely. Would go many times. Feels good to get fresh Anna- sambar and great vadas and dosas instead of going all the way to South Bengaluru for this all the time. 2. Would I recommend to others: Yesssss! Do give it a try especially the Indiranagar place. Aim for a weekday though. Overall rating 4/5 1-No! No! No! 2-Just about average 3- Good. Can give it a try 4-Great!! 5-Yes! Yes! Yes! And I’ll tell all about it. Details: 050, 80 Feet Rd, 8th cross, HAL 2nd Stage, Indiranagar, Bengaluru, Karnataka 560038. 7 am to 10.30 pm.

MANGO MENU AT KAMAT MALLESHWARAM

I find it tough to write detailed reviews for buffets and banana leaf meals because there's such a variety on offer. The whole city is on a mango craze with multiple places offering a mango menu. I decided to head to the well advertised Mango Menu at Kamat in Malleshwaram. This menu is seasonal and is time bound so available only during the mango season. It was mango, mango, mango all the way (with few other items thrown in) mango chitranna, mango kosambari, mango pickle, mango gojju, aam ras, aam Panna, mango burfi, mango dal, mango ice cream - just about every combination of sweet and raw mango dishes. The place is clean and served by an all women crew. Things I did not try were the holige (not a fan) and rice with sambar because it's regular fare. What stood out for me: I made best use of jolada roti and enne badnekayi which was fresh and tender, poori and channa masala and mango gojju. Mango ice cream was good too. What I preferred: Food to be piping hot...mirchi bajji, mango chitranna were all tasty but at room temperature. Rasam was okay. Service was warm and welcoming and when I wanted aam ras to be parceled, one of the staff went his way out in getting it done neatly. Extra points just for this because I truly relished this later. It's quite a filling meal with a variety of dishes so carry your appetite with you. Prices I felt was nominal for a weekday lunch. I decided to try a different place offering mango menus every year. I would recommend this place to try next year if they have it again! All in all it was good to experience, a different kind of baale yele oota. Overall rating 4/5 (Extra points just for the service) 1-No! No! No! 2-Just about average 3- Good. Can give it a try 4-Great!! 5-Yes! Yes! Yes! And I’ll tell all about it. Details: No.30,Ground Floor,1st cross, Sampige Rd, Malleshwaram, Bengaluru, Karnataka 560003 12 onwards for the regular North Karnataka meals.

B CAFE SHANGRI LA VASANTH NAGAR

. B CAFÉ AT SHANGRI LA After wanting to visit this place for the past decade, I finally got to have the much talked about buffet lunch at B café in Shangri La – Near to Mount Carmel College in Vasanthnagar. Buffet reviews are the toughest to write for me because usually it has so many items and one cannot taste them all in one visit and it also keeps changing. What works today may not appeal to me tomorrow and so on. So I’m keeping this review short and yet trying to cover as much as one person can eat. Mood: Peace and quiet. Variety of food. Place: B Café - Shangri La Ambience: What I wanted...no crowd, good spacious seating and can eat in peace. Service: Good. Not great. Food: This is for vegetarian food only. Totally spoilt for choice. Salads and Starters: Good. Everything was fresh. Some unusual stuff like quinoa and some vegetables salad and not your usual cutlets and pakodas kinds. Chinese: Vegetable Chowmein and mixed exotic vegetables in schezwan sauce. This was good. Italian: Except for cheese balls and brinjal rolls and the Risotto, nothing really great. Nothing stood out. Some vegetables were undercooked and chewy, especially the Baby corn. North Indian: Did not go for this because it is quite common and easy to prepare but nothing on display that made me long to try something. Usual staples of rice, rasam, curd rice papads pickles etc was available. Desserts: Really good. I ate about a dozen. What really was mind blowing was the coconut kiwi pudding. A good mix of chocolaty and other desserts too. Lots of live counters and DIY options so you can customize any cuisine to your liking. Even Salads had a make your own salad options. Would have liked a chaat counter. Prices: What is expected in any high end hotel so go loaded. I also feel it caters more to the guests staying in Shangri La or maybe the day I went wasn’t my day! What appealed to me most were the ambience and the desserts. What wasn’t satisfactory was the overall food – despite having such a huge variety to choose from. I preferred the buffet lunches from other outlets I have had. Less items but tastier. Would I go again: No. One time visit only. Would I recommend to others: Yes, worth visiting once maybe with a small group of friends so more varieties to try from the vast menu. Overall Ratings: 3/5. 1-No! No! No! 2-Just about average 3- Good. Can give it a try 4-Great!! 5-Yes! Yes! Yes! And I’ll tell all about it. Details: Lobby Level, Shangri-La, 56-6B, Palace Rd, Abshot Layout, Vasanth Nagar, Bengaluru, Karnataka 560001

THE BRAHMIN'S KHANAVALI - TAKEAWAY NEAR ST.MARKS ROAD

Right in the heart of the city, in Devatha Plaza opposite Bishop Cotton Boys School is, this place, THE BRAHMINS KHANAVALI located. It was a pleasant surprise to hear of this because these kind of places, the really good ones, one needs to go to south Bangalore. This place is small with limited seating capacity. There is no way one can have a leisurely lunch and sit around chatting. Come - eat - go is more like it. I've been here twice and it was jam packed both times, which goes to show how good the food is. A variety of lunches are on offer here ranging from mudde oota to chapathi meals to akki roti meals to jolada roti to rice baths. Here's a breakdown of the takeaway meals I had, because there was no way I could sit there and eat. First visit: I had chapathi meals which contained 2 chapathis, Rice, Sambar, Peanut Chutney podi, Lobia beans curry – very good, Cabbage playa – nice and an onion slice You know that it is all freshly prepared and no colors added. Taste was very homely and flavorful. I like the lobia beans/kaalu curry the best. 2nd visit I went for the akki roti plate...this is different from akki roti meals. This one is without the rice and sambar. So there is 2 Akki rotis..which was kinda cold. I like them fresh and piping hot. Took some time to reach Indiranagar though so that could be the reason. Lobia beans curry again which was just as tasty Cabbage palya again Chutney podi and the onion slice I also ordered chilli bajji with this...these were fat and doughy. I did want the famous ennegai palya but they dint have it that day so in terms of curries it was a repeat of the previous takeaway. It seems the curry varieties do change. I ordered extra Chapathis too. Overall, these make for wholesome meals and I wish something like this was in Indiranagar near my place. Was it mind blowing? Taste wise probably not. I have had really great food especially sambar and Chapathis and ennegai curry from Uttara Karnataka outlets in other areas but definitely good, tasty food. Are they worth visiting - definitely – for clean, healthy food.. Would I go again - definitely whenever the cravings hit. Would I recommend it to others - yes...though it is better to get takeaway. Huge minus is the one way road making it tough to go in a roundabout way to reach there. One look at the crowd makes me feel they need to expand to a bigger place and probably have more outlets. Service is really good despite the owner being under tremendous pressure. He is always juggling customer needs and does it amicably. Most welcoming but he does need an assistant methinks. Prices are very reasonable. Check it out if you are around the area and crave North Karnataka food. Overall rating 4/5 1-No! No! No! 2-Just about average 3- Good. Can give it a try 4-Great!! 5-Yes! Yes! Yes! And I’ll tell all about it. Details: St Mark's Rd, Shanthala Nagar, Ashok Nagar, Bengaluru, Karnataka 560001. From 11.30 am to 4.30 pm

TUK TUK THAI KORAMANGALA

I always like all vegetarian restaurants, especially those which burst myths that there aren’t many options for vegetarian food, especially international cuisine. Tuk Tuk Thai has been on my “to visit” list for a long time. I was torn between going to the JP Nagar place and Koramangala branch but decided on Koramangala because it is closer. Menu offers an excellent variety of soups, salads, dimsums, appetizers rice and noodles to name a few. Ambience: cozy and good seats. What I had as soon as I was seated: Complimentary: Green tea and cucumber carrot sticks with a spicy dip. Tea was so soothing! Chi Chow Dimsum: This has a filling of corn peanuts and water chestnuts. It had some thick black doughy covering. I like the regular white ones. Filling was very light and fluffy. Thai chilli basil noodles: Mixed noodles stir fried with vegetables, kafir lime, garlic, green pepper corn and basil. Good portion size. The vegetables beans and Broccoli could have been cooked further. Beans were quite raw - ish. Otherwise, the dish was piping hot and filling. Dessert was Apple Berry compote: This was awesome...fried apples with Berry jam and ice cream. I thoroughly enjoyed this. They could have more dessert options. Service was Top notch...the moment I mentioned about the beans being a bit undercooked..I was offered a replacement, a complimentary dessert which I had to decline because I was already on the Apple Berry compote, a discount...all of which I refused. I was assured of the best food and services next time around. I got the Som Tom papaya salad as takeaway for dinner, which was spicy, sweet and tangy all in one and which had crushed peanuts in it. This was easy to finish and light on the stomach. Despite the little blip on the beans, I'd still rate them 5/5 and I'd go back for round two because the overall food and service was really good. Overall rating 5/5 Rating for reviews: 1-No! No! No! 2-Just about average 3- Good. Can give it a try 4-Great!! 5-Yes! Yes! Yes! And I’ll tell all about it. Details: 17th Main Rd, KHB Colony, 5th Block, Koramangala, Bengaluru, Karnataka 560095.

SUBZ - JAYANAGAR

I have stopped going for buffet lunches off late because while there is a variety on offer, most times food is usually cold despite the heating facilities underneath the dishes so I love my food piping hot! Subz located in Jayanagar was on the list, however, for two reasons. I love me an all vegetarian buffet. I like the area. I heard lots of good things about the place. Once I was done with the lunch here I have zero regrets. It's total value for money. Skipped the soup which to be served at the table. Starters were a mix of Chinese and Indian which was good. Loved the salads. Especially crispy noodles salad. They had a chaat and paratha live counters. I had dahi churmur chaat which was great. North Indian fare mostly...paneer gravies, aloo mirch curry ..I found this unique, jeera rice, steamed rice and rasam, curd rice. The kathal biryani wasn't great. Weird taste. That apart, I liked all the curries that went with jeera rice. Dal was good too. I skipped the pasta, chinese noodles and gravy though that is usually my go to cuisine but off late been indulging a lot of it. Desserts were good with angur jamoons, 4 types of ice cream, mini cakes, custard jelebi cut fruits etc. Whatever is on display wasn't OTT yet almost everything was well made and could relish all items. Music could have been softer. Service was quick and efficient though it was mostly self service. I do wish they had a few south Indian snacks as well. I'm glad my first review for the year went well. I'm definitely going back on different days. Highly recommend to give this buffet lunch a try, even if you have to go your way out in coming to the area. Overall rating 4/5 Ratings for reviews 1-No! No! No! 2-Just about average 3- Good. Can give it a try 4-Great!! 5-Yes! Yes! Yes! And I’ll tell all about it. Details: Cosmopolitan Club, Ground Floor, 22nd Cross Rd, Jayanagar 3rd Block, Jayanagar, Bengaluru, Karnataka 560011 Timings: 12 to 3.30 PM and & 7 to 11 pm