MILKY WAY ICECREAMS AND FAST FOOD - INDIRANAGAR

Regardless of how busy I am, I make it a point to review at least one food place per month. After attempting to review two places in commercial street where I walked out even before I could sit down due to poor reception, I decided to review this newly opened place in Double road, Indiranagar- Milky Way Ice creams and Fast Food.

The place when I visited it was just 10 days old and renovation work was still going on, meaning stepping over wires that were around, and dealing with drilling and dust but it has a cheery feel to it. I specially loved the wall paper which says Best Day Ever. I could do with that in my room.

The place is small though that didn’t stop people from walking in. They have a pretty good menu to choose from - short eats to maggi and of course shakes and ice creams.

I started with the lemon pepper maggi – which I found a bit sour. Too much lemon I guess.

Followed by chilli garlic fries -fries were done well.

And the kit kat milk shake which was so cool and refreshing! I really loved this and would go back just to have it again.

Food is served in cardboard/ disposable plates and it was served to me on a rather wobbly table (this needs fixing).

Service, despite it all, was very warm and welcoming. Prices are reasonable. They have non vegetarian options too in sandwiches and maggi. Good place to grab a quick bite and when the sweet cravings hit.

This place needs to be spruced up and there is a lot of scope for improvement. Salt and pepper shakes at the tables, Sturdy tables, Clean up the front space (outdoor seating area) and so on…but it’s just been 10 days so I’ll wait and watch. I rarely review a place twice, but I plan to go back to try out their other ice creams and shakes and also to see how the place has improved. Looks like they may need to expand.

Overall rating: 3/5 – taking the mid path here because so far it’s neither too good or too bad. I still have to give it a fair try.

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:
Address: Indiranagar double road, below Annapoorani, Idiranagar, Bangalore .
Contact: 9880015540
Timings: 12 noon – 12 midnight

MAGNOLIA BAKERY - INDIRANAGAR

Starting this year’s review on a sweet note – Magnolia Bakery – Cake heaven in 12th Main, Indiranagar. I’m keeping this short and sweet.

What I Had:

(Some at the bakery and some as takeaway)
1. Lemon Bar - Good
2. Chocolate dipped strawberry cupcake - Good
3. White chocolate macadamia nuts cheese cake- Different and Delicious
4. Key lime Icebox bar – I liked this best
5. Eggless chocolate cake – Good.

THIS PLACE IS:

1. Well done with soft lights. Cakes on Display are a visual treat.
2. Clean
3. Best cake options to choose from a variety on display.
4. Delicious.
5. Friendly staff
6. Fast Billing
7. Serves coffee
8. On the pricey side. Great for those who have a sweet tooth.

WHAT THIS PLACE NEEDS TO DO:

1. HAS TO EXPAND AND GET A BIGGER PLACE!! It’s packed and so cramped. I can’t believe people stand in long queues for a cake!!
2. Go easy on the sugar.
3. Pack the cakes in the boxes better.
4. Add some savory snacks too and it’ll be an even bigger hit!

I had to binge on spicy masala puri to get over the sweet overdose.

Would I go back again? Yes, to taste their other varieties of cake though mostly takeaway for now.

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:

Address: 788, JK Plaza, 12th Main Road, Indiranagar, Bangalore .
Contact: 080 48667700
Timings: 12 to 11 pm

PURE AND SURE ORGANIC CAFE - INDIRANAGAR

Pure, Organic, Vegan, Jain, Gluten free…if these words appeal to you, then head to this café on 12th Main Indiranagar. At first, I thought it is an organic store but when I went inside, I got to know it is both a store and a café.

The Ambience here is very cozy…comfy chairs, soft lights like a lot of restaurants I’ve come across, but something about this place soothed my restless soul. They do have one in Jayanagar but here in Indiranagar, the place is just about a month old and not very big but comfortable. The menu is completely like what is mentioned in the first few words. There are quite a lot of items choose from.

I ordered:

Blitz Tender coconut – Skip unless you are willing to pay double the price for tender coconut water that you get on the roadside. I wanted this over any syrupy juices so I dint mind ordering it.

Pasta – You can create your own. In fact, they have a lot of create your own options for other items on the menu too. I ordered spaghetti for the base and lots of veggies tossed in olive oil – broccoli, zucchini, bell peppers, sun dried tomatoes with cheese and crushed peppers. The single garlic bread that came with it was fresh and tasty. I did ask for lettuce on it too – (yeah I know no one eats lettuce topped pastas) but I dint get that. Lots of seeds in it helped give it a nice crunch and you can choose too from a list of seeds. Because it was custom made and my own creation, I enjoyed it.

Date and chocolate pudding for dessert – gooey chocolate sauce with pieces of dates in it. It was delicious…you can never go wrong with chocolate anyways, but I longed for vanilla ice cream to go with it.

Prices are on the higher side. Not the kind of place I can hang around often. What I did like the best was that they made healthy food interesting – going by the menu.. from the drinks to starters to mains to desserts and a good variety of south Indian food like ragi dosas, upma to salads to sandwiches to burgers to pasta to desserts….they have them all. Waiting to try out some more items from the menu.

Service is prompt. I do wish they had spaced out the food though. It was all served with hardly a gap but I suppose that can be specified when placing the order. They need to get more appealing serving dishes. Check the chocolate pudding bowl and plate. It looks like it is stained with some spots, but it is actually the design haha!

They have their own store and the food served is made from the products from the store. I bought vegetable upma and bisibelebath packets to cook at home for laterz. I am definitely going back to this place.

All in all, I am glad to end this year’s review on a healthy note. Being here also made me realize how many eateries are there to explore in Indiranagar 12th Main and looking forward to do that in 2020!

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:
Address: Pure and Sure organic store and café, 12th Main, Indiranagar, Bangalore.
Timings: 10 am onwards.

KEVENTERS

I haven’t really reviewed a place that sells only milkshakes yet. There wasn’t much to begin with and it’s usually part of an ice cream parlor where ice creams rule!. Then came Keventers. This review is for Keventers across the city. Usually if I come across their outlet, I stop by to take away at least one of the milkshakes.

They have quite a lot of options to choose from to begin with and unusual flavors like bubblegum shake. The chocoholic in you will love their chocolate milkshake options. So far, I’ve tried their kit kat, mocha mania and chocolate hazelnut flavors. And from their other flavors I have tried strawberry and this time around, I picked up custard apple (sitaphal).

Not a single complaint on any one of them so far…the milkshakes. They are cool, fresh, delicious, hygienic, and a bit pricey but worth an indulgence in once in a while and they come in neat glass bottles that you can use to store milk in;) I was quite surprised to see that they have introduced Sundaes as well and they look sooo sinful! Service is pleasant and fast…except in Garuda mall.. the cashier was on the phone all the time while attending to me and while he multitasked well and got my orders right, the warmth was missing in terms of customer service. I wish they had some seating arrangements. If you aren’t getting it parceled, you have to stand there and drink your shake and that can be a bit of an inconvenience.

Earlier, they used thick plastic straws and this time, when I picked up the custard apple, they’ve switched to paper straws which work equally well.

I can’t decide on which flavor I liked the best but I won’t rest till I try all their other flavors and the sundaes over time…gotta watch out for the calories piling up though with all the rich milk and sugar;)

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:
Address: Garuda Mall, Magrath Road, Food court.
Contact: 080 48524320
Timings: 10 am to midnight.

KARTIK'S MITHAI SHOPPE - INDIRANAGAR

This is one place where I can’t put a date as to when I visited it and tried out stuff. I’ve known this from their days at CMH road decades ago, where it was just a sweet shop, then introduced chaats and my gang of friends and I used to go and eat there so frequently. They kept shifting, CMH road, then closer to the BDA complex and back to CMH again, but mostly stayed in Indiranagar and very close to my house. I’m not much into sweets, but if I DO indulge, it’s usually at this place. Mostly Jamun and coconut burfi which are good.

The chaats are a different matter though. When they were in CMH road in the earliest days, there were times when my daily snack was at Kartik’s. They’ve seen me from when I was a kid. Papdi chaat and tikkis being my all favorite. However, as they shifted and hands changed so did the taste of the chaat. Off late, I’m not that keen on the gravy that goes into the chaat..too much masala and doesn’t have the fresh flavors or the unique taste of the gravy that normally goes into masala puri. It has definitely lost its original taste and I wish they’d do something to bring that back like how it was when I was a kid. There was a different person preparing chaat then. So now I eat chaat at Kartik’s only when I’m really hungry and no other option when I’m on that side.

However, now that the place is all spruced up and soft lights, (I like this look)they’ve taken to stocking other snacks. Hot spicy samosas have always been the best here…but I so love their mini burgers, puffs, pizzas and kachori’s which I regularly indulge in guilt free for it feels like it is made at home without the artificial flavors and portions are small too. I also buy their paneer on and off. Fresh n soft. Sometimes I declare some days as pani puri days and buy their puri’s in a packet and make it at home. Really worth it! Most of the time, I’ve had takeaways so can’t comment much about service. The owner is always courteous though and ensures I get what I want without issues. Overall, in Indiranagar, this is one of my most frequented go to place for snacks and long may it last!

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:
Address: 322, Shalini Complex, CMH Road, Indiranagar, Bangalore.
Contact: 080 41264166
Timings: 9am – 10pm

STREET STORYSS, INDIRANAGAR

What an experience!! And I don’t mean that in a complimentary way. I usually rate a place at the end of my review but I’ll start by saying I’m giving them 1 out of 5. You’ll see why shortly.

After the high ratings here on zomato, my bestie and I decided to lunch here. The place has a calm, cool feel. Comfy chairs. We reached just as it had opened so it wasn’t crowded at all. We were attended to immediately.

Started with the Mango and Papaya Salad and it had grated mango and papaya with peanuts that added a nice crunch to it. The sauce mixed in it was delicious
.
Next we had palak patta chaat. This came with an elaborate presentation of fried palak pakodas, pomegranate seeds, mashed and spiced potatoes, sauce and sev and curd. It looked great. The palak pakodas, however ,was not at all fresh. The mashed potatoes seemed like it was just taken out of the fridge. It was cold and hard to bite into. When pointed it out we were told it was fried that morning. We said it takes few minutes fry it fresh and serve for which we got the excuse that it may be too oily etc etc. No offer of replacement with fresh papdi. Nevertheless, we managed to finish it. In fact as we went along, a lot of food seemed like it was in storage for long, long while before serving us.

My friend wanted to go with Rajma Kichadi next which was piping hot with dollops of ghee. This was quite tasty. We were then thinking maybe we should be back just for this.

Ended the lunch with Frozen coffee malai for dessert. It was just a lot of coffee mousse. This was tasty too.

So why the 1 star rating? It is what happened AFTER we stepped out of the restaurant. Within minutes I had to rush home and throw up violently while my friend had the most god awful stomach upsets. Been three days as I’m writing this she still hasn’t recovered. Had we eaten anything anywhere else, had it been just one of us and not both, had it taken some time post lunch, I should have still looked at the alternate causes for food poisoning but nope..we literally had to rush to the loo in minutes of finishing lunch and all what we had eaten had to come out.

The reason I even gave 1 was because I got to actually talk to my friend and catch up without too much noise or disturbances.

Zero for food.

Would I go again? A big fat NO and I can say that in nine languages.

Overall Rating: 1/5

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:
Address: Srinivasan Towers, ESI Hospital Road, Indiranagar, Bangalore
Contact: 080 49653364
Timings: 1 pm to 11 pm
.

COPPER CHIMNEY INDIRANAGAR

My Bestie and I are starters and salad fans and she suggested Copper Chimney for lunch for our monthly meet up, because they have an exclusive salad and soup menu along with a regular buffet . Located in 12th Main Indiranagar, this is a neat, simple, no frills kind of place that serves mostly vegetarian and non vegetarian north Indian cuisine.

At first, we decided to go for their salad and soup only menu which is priced at 199/- which includes one soup and about six different kinds of salads. But then after looking at the buffet options, we opted for the main buffet.

Buffet menu included the six salads – all were good, mostly vegetarian with one non vegetarian salad thrown in.

Soup was tomato soup, vegetarian option and chicken soup for the non vegetarians. I dint want the tomato soup so they got me another, spicy broth that was really good. I forget the name.

Starters veg kebabs, paneer, chicken and mutton. Now, I dislike places that think vegetarian equals only paneer and said so. So they gave me tandoori aloo which was delish!

There’s a chaat counter that has only two items – papdi chaat and pani puri and both were awesome. I did crave for bhel puri though. We had two plates each of the pani puri.

The main buffet review here is only for the vegetarian items – Corn pulao, raitha, paneer curry (paneer again!), aloo gobhi curry and one other. We got hot, soft butter rotis and naan with almost homelike dal that I had with spiced onions and lemon slices and that finished us completely! Which is why we were too full to eat a lot from the other items like rice and curry but nevertheless tasted everything a little bit. Loved everything in this option.

By this time, I had stuffed myself with starters and chaat and rotis and dal so couldn’t eat much but wish I did. I just ate a spoonful or so of all the dishes and everything was very tasty, yes, even the paneer curry!:) My friend liked all the items on the non vegetarian section.

Desserts were a chocolate cake, raj bhog, kala jamoon, moong dal halwa and cut fruits with strawberry ice cream..the ice cream was the only item which wasn’t all that tasty.

The place gets filled up pretty soon so it is better to go a bit early for lunch (we were there by 12.30) or book in advance . They don’t have a huge list of items on their menu but what they had was fresh, flavorful and filling. I like menus like this.
What I liked most was the customizing the food – soup was changed to my liking, tandoori aloo was given instead of paneer… all with a smile– this is what service is all about. They were quick to replace plates and glasses.

A special shoutout to Sanjay who served us. Very pleasant, attentive, prompt and smiling. Much gratitude!

What I would have liked more – two more chaat items. Innovation with veggies other than paneer. Better ice cream.

Would I go again? Of course! I hope they keep up with the same standards. Would I tell others? Yes and also waiting to try their salad and soup menu.

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:
Plot 607, 1st Floor, Trifecta Douillet, 12th Main Road, HAL II Stage, Indiranagar, Bangalore
Contact: 8657497390/08043757712
Timings: 12noon – 3:30pm, 7pm – 11pm