First published in Bangalore Mirror
The last thing you need on 100 feet Road Indiranagar is a signage that proclaims “Horn OK Please”, but hey, that’s what the new restaurant and bar is called. What adds to the twist is that it is right below the very musical sounding B Flat & Highnote. (map) True to its name, you hear the place before you see it. As you step out of the lift, you are greeted with the sounds of a Bollywood remix, and that’s one of the décor themes as well. Reworded Bollywood titles – Brosnan in Dabond executed superbly on a corrugated sheet, Rajinikanth in Endiranator and so on. Stallone would punch someone if he was saw ‘Rocky Rocky Rocky Sawant’, but it does deliver the LOL. The rest of the décor – bright an vibrant colours, truck art, lanterns and some of the seating – makes you think of a stylised dhaba. One element that really deserves a mention is the wordplay on the menu – from Palak Dikhla Ja to Skewer ka Baccha to Pathar Late Than Never, the pages are packed with puns that add a fun element to standard dishes.
When you want the guarantee of a strong performance right at the beginning, it is difficult to look beyond Nana Patty-Kar. (To be noted that he has starred in a movie called Horn Ok Pleassss) The dish was supposed to be dhaba style chilli chicken puffs, but turned out to be mini samosas. Greasy, crispy and with a savoury chilli chicken filling, it did provide a good start. The Veggie Biritos was an interesting thought – wonton rolls with a veg biryani stuffing. I’m not sure if they really meant the ‘wanton’ used in the description, but it really was a wasteful execution of what seemed a theoretically good idea. We then tried the Lamboti Special Sala(d) – grilled lamb with Indian spices. I think the mustard jar fell into this dish – the flavour hit us without warning, but if you’re fine with mustard, it isn’t a bad dish. Funnily enough, the Bongo Lee Mach Lee, which promised mustard, didn’t really deliver on that, the fish fingers were standard fare. The Jheenga-Loo wasn’t as bad as it sounds! Pani puri stuffed with prawns and vindaloo spices is an interesting idea, and the prawns were cooked just right, but the spices were missing.
The drinks menu features a few interesting remixes. The Sardi Zhukham is their version of the Doctor’s Prescription. Brandy, peppercorns, ginger chamomile tea, orange zest and honey worked really well together. The same couldn’t be said of the Chit Chaat Caribbean – the combination of rum, sweet tamarind chutney, chaat masala and coke didn’t sound bad on paper, but the result was a bit of a mess. The Indian Summer delivered the alcohol in abundance with gin, vodka, white rum and brandy, but missed the aam panna which could have given the drink an extra punch.
The ‘Paratha Disk’ was marketed well – Indian pizza – we tried the Bhin-di-esel Anardhana. The expectation was crispy bhindis and anar, but the soggy bhindi and the masala dampened things a bit, though the dish itself was quite flavourful. The Sarson ka Suhaag Raat was interesting in name only – the gravy was insipid and saved only a bit by the makki-di-roti. The First Class Laal Maas lived up to its name – the red spicy gravy and well cooked mutton served with red rice was fantastic. In contrast, the Great Kali Murgh wasn’t. The pepper was just too much and left an unsavoury burn. Yenna Machhi had an excellent Chettinad flavour to it, but the coconut rice that came with it was a spoiler all thanks to the abundance of chana dal.
If you’re lucky you’ll be stuffed enough not to attempt desserts. We should have guessed the outcome from the name itself – Nah-Real. A not-so-tender coconut disaster! We decided to make another attempt with the Apple Hal-Wah, apparently the Indian version of the apple pie, made with khova. The best thing about it was the jar it came in, but we should have kept it shut! It takes quite an effort to plough through this!
A couple of cocktails, a couple of non veg starters, and two main course dishes and a dessert would cost you around Rs.2000, inclusive of taxes. The place does have personality – the décor, the puns etc – and that sets it up really well to deliver a unique experience. The service is friendly, helpful and very prompt too. It all began well, but based on the experience, the recommendation on some of the main course and even more so the desserts would be the phrase that is usually found with Horn OK Please – Keep Distance!
Horn OK Please, No:776, 1st Floor, Above Kotak Mahindra Bank, 100 feet Road, Indiranagar, Ph: 080 49565611