CANE-O-LA, JAYANAGAR

A visit to Jayanagar, for me, is incomplete without stopping by at Cane- O- La and drinking their oh so cool frothy Sugarcane Juice. I’ve never till date reviewed a juice outlet exclusively. A recent conversation with a friend about sugarcane juice triggered cravings for my most preferred drink (next to tender coconut water).

My first stop when I hit the area is to have sugarcane juice here and only then head elsewhere to shop etc. This is also the kind of drink I can have in any weather summer or winter.

As the name suggests, the place sells only sugarcane juice, freshly made in an open kitchen that all can view. They have the regular natural flavor alongside mint, salt and pepper, ginger, lemon and chat masala. This time around I had one with ginger and one with lemon and ended up skipping lunch!!!. This is one filling drink! I personally cannot handle more than one glass so I try out different flavors at different times.

The place is neat. There’s even a poster outlining the benefits of sugarcane juice. There is no seating. They have an option of disposable paper cups (charge Rs. 2 Extra for this) and also the option of adding ice cubes which is kept in an ice bucket. Prices are pocket friendly for a generous glass of sugarcane juice. Service is super fast!

I quite like places like these. Just one item on the menu to offer that is clean, pure, fresh and organic. Long may it last!! You will find that anytime you go there, there is no dearth of customers. People are always walking in and ordering the sugarcane juice. I do wish they had more outlets and more so in my area, Indiranagar. Cane- O-La has a fan for life!

Overall rating: 5/5

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: 30th Cross, 11th Main, 4th Block, Jayanagar, Bangalore
Contact: 080 22977711
Timings: 9:30am – 10:30pm

SRI DURGA CHATS AND JUICE - VIJAYNAGAR

This month I thought I’ll try out another new restaurant for reviews but then decided why not review a place I frequent every month and one which I love?

Sri Durga chats and Juice is tiny place located in Vijaynagar, very close to the vijaynagar metro station. After my music classes, I always head here for their awesome chats and they have quite a variety on offer. I stick to the tried and tested…I start with the dahi aloo chat and follow it up with the tomato chaat which the best I’ve had in a long time. Same order every month.

I keep thinking I should try many of their other stuff but I end up craving for the same two dishes every time. Those who love tomato should give the tomato chaat a try. The puffed rice they use as a topping is crispy and crunchy and goes well with the sliced tomatoes.

Ingredients are fresh and the person who makes it customizes it to order and hardly any waiting time.

Sometimes when I’m thirsty I go for the masala lime soda. Usually I get a dahi cutlet as a takeaway to snack on later and it is delish! I’ve also tried their fries, sandwich , burgers and vada pav as takeaways. So far not one single item I’ve had from here…either the chats or the other snacks or the drinks have disappointed me which is why I always go back to the same place month after month. As a personal preference, I like their chats over other snacks.

I must mention the magnanimous gesture by the person who runs the shop. I had once ordered some snacks as takeaway but left the parcel behind. Once I reached home which is the other end of the city, I discovered that I had forgotten to take the snacks. I did call the number and informed the owner about it but nothing could be done as it was too far away to go back and collect it. At my next visit nearly a MONTH later, the owner offered to deduct the price of the previously ordered snacks from my current bill as I dint get to eat them, despite the fact that it was my fault that I forgot. I refused but was really touched by the gesture. That’s customer service for you. He gets a 5/5 for that.

There’s minimum indoor seating arrangement and the place is clean though sometimes I get disturbed by flies. Prices are reasonable. This is definitely a place to check out if you are in the area and in a mood for a quick snack.

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: 7th Main, Chord road, Vijay Nagar, Bangalore.
Contact: 9880860902
Timings: 9am – 10pm

BOLOGNA - INDIRANAGAR

For a long time, my friend and I were planning to visit this place in Indiranagar which serves Italian cuisine and because she was raving about the salad and both of us being salad fans, decided to try this place out. We met for lunch and it was rather quiet. Ambience was simple and cozy.

The bread basket was awesome – fresh and tasty.

For starters, I ordered the Bruschetta al pomodoro..tomato bruschetta, my favorite at any Italian place. The bread was crunchy and the toppings were good. I still haven’t found one that’s worth drooling over and I’ve had this in many places, but this is one of the better ones.

My friend had Gamberi caldi con aglio e olio d’oliva…fresh baby tiger prawns tossed with garlic, olive oil and spicy pepperoncino and which actually looked like prawn pakodas. She liked it though she would have preferred it to be a tad spicy….but Tabasco solved the problem:)

For the main course, I had ordered Insalata di bologna – grilled veggies with basil pesto parmesan cheese with fresh mozzarella (cheese was really good), with balsamic vinegar dressing. I found it quite okay but I wish the lettuce leaves were shredded smaller. I felt like a cow chewing and chewing large leaves. My friend had ordered some salad that she had had in earlier visits which nobody could remember the name of, but it was with chicken. The manager tried to replicate the same and ended up skipping the chicken. She said somehow it dint taste the same as her previous experiences. As an extra effort, a chicken dish was made just for her, which she enjoyed.

For dessert, I ordered Bomba di cioccolato – chocolate bomb with vanilla ice cream which is not very different from some of the other places where I’ve tried the same dessert but you can never go wrong with chocolate.

All in all it was a comfortable lunch. I dint feel it was wow. I didn’t feel all that full though.

Staff seriously needs to be trained better about the orders and who wants what…skipping the chicken in the salad, mixing up my friends order with mine etc. It was made up for later. Service was good overall but can improve.

Would I go back again? Yes, to try some of their other dishes and they seem to have quite a variety and good options for vegetarians.

Overall rating: 3.5

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.

In pics: Bruschetta, Salad, Fried Prawns and chocolate bomb.

Details
Address:759, 1st Floor, 100 Feet Road, Indira Nagar, Bangalore
Contact: 080 49653550
Timings: 12n to 3:30pm, 6:30pm to 11pm

1131 - INDIRANAGAR

After reading up on all the reviews on Zomato and visiting this place for lunch earlier this month in Indiranagar, all I can say is this is one hyped up place.

The first issue I had with this place was that there was no elevator. Having just got on medication for high blood pressure this was extremely inconveniencing for me to climb the long flight of stairs.

My friend and I met up here for lunch. The place has a breezy outdoorsy set up. We started with the herb crumbed onion rings.

This was crispy well on the outside but so chewy. This came with a salsa which was tasty. My friend however, wouldn’t eat more than two. We’ve had better onion rings.

This was followed by Asian appetizers – broccoli and water chestnuts which is not too different from the kurkure we make at home except that the water chestnuts added a nice unique twist and crunch to it.

For the mains we decided to have the immunity booster salad – broccoli, baby spinach, orange slices, pomegranate and lettuce, topped with red wine vinaigrette and roasted almonds. This was a big letdown. While the ingredients mentioned were present, they were just a smattering of them. The whole bowl was filled with lettuce leaves and more lettuce leaves. I usually love most salads but I personally felt it wasn’t worth the Rupees 245/- I paid for it.

Dessert was chocolate fudge cake and this at least ended on a sweet note. Nothing to complain or go wow about though.

Service was okayish. Nobody asked us anything unless we called for them or refill of water in the glass. The items on the menu is on the pricey side.

I’ve always maintained that the benchmark of any great restaurant relies on two things – will I visit again? And will I tell everyone about it?

Nope.

Overall rating: 2.5 – maybe one can try the other dishes and get lucky or maybe not.

First impression no-no. Extra point given because dessert saved the day.

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.

In pics: Onion rings, broccoli and water chestnut, Salad and chocolate fudge cake.

Details
Address: 100 Feet Road, HAL 2nd Stage, Indiranagar, Bangalore
Contact: 080 49652166
Timings: 11:30am to 1 am

THE TWISTED DESI - INDIRANAGAR

JANUARY 2019 - This is my third year of writing monthly restaurant reviews here on my blog and on Zomato. I’m glad to have kept up with writing every single month of the past two years. I’ve thoroughly enjoyed exploring different places and tasting different varieties of cuisines and every visit was memorable, yep even the bad ones. This year too I have no plans of stopping an activity I truly look forward to every month. Last year (2018), majority of my reviews were limited to Indiranagar, the place I stay. This year it’ll be in my area and beyond - whatever catches my fancy. I hope to find more places where when I walk in, eat there and walk out, I know for sure the ratings will hit a 5/5 and I’ll tell all about the place.

I’m eating a salad from this place as I type this – a mixture of lettuce, tomato, cucumber, carrot, olives, white onion, radish, zucchini, grapefruit, and cherry tomato with lemon dressing.

After watching a nice movie with my friend which ended exactly at my regular lunch hour, I was looking for a place to have a filling lunch and decided to explore this all new vegetarian joint recently opened in Indiranagar.

It was early and I was the only person there and it was very comforting. This place is neat and compact and has well matched furniture. The décor is simple and tastefully done up. I was attended to immediately by Sumit who was very courteous.

The menu is very limited…just a handful of items in each category but what they lack in variety they made up for it in taste.

I had

Aloo parathas – these were tasty and served with curd, green chutney, salad and sliced onions.

Masala papad lived up to the name of the restaurant in that it came with a twist of crumbled paneer and capsicum toppings instead of the usual onion tomato ones.

Frost bite: Delish! A mix of coffee, vanilla ice cream and chocolate sauce. They need to get bigger straws like the ones they have in the popular coffee outlets. I had to struggle with getting the thick ice cream and sauce combo through the straw.

The presentation was awesome! I felt so bad leaving behind the fancy vegetable flowers and leaves carvings that were on the plate along with the food. Truly appreciate the effort.

Takeaway

Peri peri wraps: this turned soggy by the time I ate it at home. Wish the fries were well done.

Salad: like any other. It is named healthy bowl and has half the vegetable market thrown in as mentioned at the beginning of the review. I think it’s best to eat food at this restaurant than takeaway.

Given the cold, cold weather in my city off late, I wish I had ordered their “appetizers from the pan” items and hot beverages over the cold food but there’s always a next time and I do plan to revisit and maybe take my friends along too.

Food is clean. Service prompt. Ingredients are fresh. Slightly pricey methinks but worth it. Need bigger straws. Definitely need more items to choose from.

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: 95/296, Ground Floor, 100 Feet Road, Indiranagar, Next to TOIT, Bangalore.
Contact: 9986070204
Timings: 12 noon to 11 pm

CKP KAMAT CANTEEN - KUMARA KRUPA ROAD

My first option for lunch was to eat at a Chinese restaurant and write a review of it until I read about the urban bazaar exhibition at Karnataka Chitrakala Parishat, a renowed art center in Bangalore. I’ve had lunch at the canteen located in the center there before managed by Kamat hotels and let me tell you, this place is a heady mix of art, shopping and great food amid greenery.

Many a times, it has just been a place to escape to and I strongly wish we had more places like these that have a combination of so many things.

After a bout of shopping where the stalls had artisans from all over the country, which I thoroughly enjoyed, I decided to lunch at the canteen. The kamat canteen at CKP serves the best pocket friendly, clean, healthy food. This time around it was packed..what with the students of the art center, visitors to the bazaar it was quite a crowd.
Nevertheless, I managed to eat a plate of my favorite idli /vada combo with hot sambar and coconut chutney and ended it with a curd vada. Both were delicious. I got vegetable pulao and raitha as takeaway for later and it was equally good. Other items on the menu were tomato bath and bajji’s and south Indian meals (on the list for me to try). The menu is limited but good every time. The vada is probably the crispiest, freshest I’ve ever tasted. I’ve noticed something though…every time I eat here, I feel full fast on the least items. I usually don’t pig out like I do in restaurants.

There’s something to be said about sitting outdoors, under trees and eating…food always tastes so much nicer in such an atmosphere.

They sell some cakes and cool drinks and sandwiches too.

Would I go again? Often for sure. Would I recommend to friends? Yes! Its an ideal place to take people to especially if there are exhibitions going on.

All in all, it’s a place worth visiting and I pray sincerely that they keep up the good quality.

OVERALL RATING: 4.5/5 (sometimes can’t get a place to sit and then eating becomes a pain)

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: #1, Art complex, Kumara Krupa Road, Bangalore.
Time: 10. am onwards.

MAINLAND CHINA - INDIRANAGAR

With a deep craving for Chinese food after a movie, I decided to lunch at Mainland China in Indiranagar. I’ve been to their units years ago…the one on church street and once or twice here in Indiranagar mostly choosing to go A la carte. Today I opted for the buffet.

I was pleasantly surprised to find that the quality and taste of the vegetable dumplings and the sauces that came with it is exactly how it was years ago. I couldn’t get enough of it and ate ten momos and could have made a full meal out of it. Starters and soup are served at the table. The dumplings were followed by pepper vegetables and chilly potatoes and fried wantons. All were tasty but the momos take the cake!

They had some thick soup and being a fan of clear soups I refused and mentioned the reason why. They made clear soup just for me and it was delicious!

Now comes the not so nice part. The buffet had fried rice, noodles and a variety of sides – greens in sauce, hot and sour vegetables and dumplings in hot garlic sauce all the side dishes were tasty but man! the rice was awful. At the first spoonful I was glad that I had served myself less and also stuffed myself with dumplings earlier. In the first place, any rice has to be PIPING HOT and this was cold and had a weird smell to it. Noodles were better but these were cold too.

The management really ought to do something about the quality of rice, and serve hot rice and noodles after all it’s the main course of the meal. The chocolate ice cream in the dessert section tasted like its way past the expiry date.
Desserts weren’t much to go wow about.. just some cakes, ice-cream (avoid) and fresh fruits. Overall, their starters and soup were the best. Prices are reasonable. Service was good.

Would I go again? Only to stuff myself with the starters if I’m in a splurging mood.

OVERALL RATING: 3/5

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: 4032, 100 ft Road, near Domlur flyover, Indiranagar, Bangalore
Time: 12:30pm – 3:30pm, 7pm – 11:30pm
Contact: 080 25216677 / 080 39491234