m a n u s c r y p t s

There’s no dearth of tiny value-for-money Chinese joints in Koramangala. But we read quite some good things about Delicacy and decided to have Chinese for Diwali, though I’m still bugged about Arunachal Pradesh. And that’s how we landed up at Delicacy. Its right opposite Kolkata, and for the lazy ones, from the Sony world on Koramangala 100 ft Road, head towards 1st Block (i.e turn left when coming from Indiranagar) At the next junction, where you have a Liberty showroom (on your left) and Tanishq /Silsila on your right, take a left, and then the first left. You’ll find Delicacy on your, yep, you guessed erm right, on your left. Chinese, remember?

As all the reviews said, this is not exactly the place you’d go for fine dining. Its a place so tiny, you wouldn’t believe it if you saw it. But having said that, its probably the best space utilisation I’ve seen, they’ve managed to fit in half a dozen tables without making it seem congested. Quite comfortable too, actually. But its the food we came for. And they welcomed us with some fried wontons, with a sweet sauce.

The place serves a bit of Thai too, in addition to the regular Chinese. There are almost 20 soups, most of which have a veg (Rs.55)/non-veg (chicken Rs.60)/sea food option (Rs.65). In addition to the regular stuff, you can also find Pepper Lemon Soup, Laksa Kai soup, and the one we ordered – Delicacy Special Soup. We checked if it was a thick soup before ordering, and were told it was, but when it did land up, it turned out to be a thin soup. The person who’d taken our order apologised and took it inside to change it. It came back in a few minutes, ever so slightly thicker. Heh. Since it was quite tasty, we didn’t feel it was necessary to complain.

We didn’t actually plan for Momos, but having seen them on the menu, it was difficult to ignore. So we ordered a plate of pan fried chicken momos, and since there were more than a dozen options each of veg (Rs.65/70), chicken(Rs.80-110), and sea food starters (fish, prawns and crab at Rs.110), we had to try at least one, and that turned out to be Spicy Fish with Red Chilly. There was a flood of momos, actually a dozen of them, and quite tasty ones, especially with the sauce given along with them. The fish was awesome, hot and sweet kind, and I’d highly recommend it. We were almost stuffed by then, and we still had the main course left.

We’d ordered a Sliced Chicken ‘N’ Pickle Chilly sauce (from a huge list of veg, chicken and sea food options at Rs.70, 90, 110 respectively) and a Butter Noodles. There are about 25 options among rice/noodles/chopsuey with all of them having a veg/chicken/sea food option. (Rs.60-100) The Butter noodles was excellent, but we could’ve chosen a better chicken dish.

All of the above cost us just over Rs.400. Great food, excellent service, and absolute value for money. Even if you don’t want to do a sit-down meal, you should at least try the take away/ home delivery.

Delicacy, #971/C, Ground Floor, ST Bed, Koramangala, 4th Block. Ph: 41753636/7/25502233

Ever since we turned the corner- just off the Intermediate Ring Road, that is, and saw the place a couple of weeks back, its been on the pending list. Ping serves chinese cuisine and the specialty of the place is the variety of Dim Sum. So if you’re the kind that demands Momo, then its worth checking out. Ping is on the one way leading from the Intermediate Ring Road (Koramangala) towards Empire, Paramount, William Penn etc. After you turn right from the Ring Road (at Sukh Sagar/Kotak Bank), you’ll see it on the right. Parking two wheelers won’t be a problem, and there’s valet parking for those with double those wheels.

The name is “derived from the Chinese character ‘Ping’ which means the best, of the highest standard and applies to food, clothing, attitude, a person’s bearing or stature…It also refers to the stuffing inside a Dim sum.” Ping has a/c and non a/c seating, and an outdoor option for ‘The Dessert Bay’, which has stone seats. I quite liked the ambience – different sections even within the non a/c section, very comfortable seating, and table options which are non intrusive. Not too many bright colors, muted lighting, and overall makes one comfortable. We got there by around 7.30, without reservations, and got a good table, but by 8 the place was nearing full capacity. We saw quite a few groups with kids, it figures- they have a Kids menu.

This is one of those few nice places with their entire menu card online. Saves me so much work. You can check it out here. Though we had decided to try out at least two types of dim sum, we erm, chickened out, after we saw the soup options. The ‘Cilantro flavoured egg drop soup with chicken dimsum’ sounded too good to resist. We were told that the soup would take about 10 mins. Before we got the soup, we were served a complimentary Amuse Bouche. (fried wonton with a tangy-sweet lemon sauce) The soup came before scheduled time, and was thick and delicious. Highly recommended. And then there were dimsums and dimsums to choose from. After much thought, we finally settled on a “Lotus Leaf Sticky Parcels with Chicken and Shitake”. There are lots of options, for veggies, and for those who prefer consuming aquatic life. If its a large group, I think the veg/non veg platter would be a good option. The dim sum arrived quite a bit late, but thankfully the steamed combination of sticky rice, chicken and shitake wrapped in a lotus leaf was worth the wait. It was marginally spicy too, both of us liked it. The only minor problem was that one portion had 3 parcels, and splitting it evenly is quite cumbersome.

For the main course, we asked for a Seven Flavor Chicken, “Wok tossed chicken flavoured with lemon grass, roasted peanuts, chillies, hoisin sauce, basil, young ginger and bell pepper” and along with it Dragon Noodles, “Shanghai style noodles with mushrooms and spinach in spicy chilly sauce”. The chicken dish was indeed unique, but the noodles actually brought tears to D’s eyes. No, not sorrow/ecstasy etc, just the chilli dose, but we still thought it was fantastic. Highly recommended if you like spicy stuff.

Dessert Bay is a bit of a disappointment. Though it sports a separate menu card, the choices are a few mocktails, iced teas, ice cream combinations (some good ones, though) and a few pastry mousse options. So we managed to keep desset temptations at bay.

The meal cost us just over Rs.850, including a service charge of 7%. Its definitely worth a visit for a unique chinese cuisine, and pleasant and prompt service, except for that one delay.

Ping restaurant & Dessert Bay, #130, 1st Cross, 5th Block, koramangala Ph: 41329357, 41521773

Popsies had been figuring a lot in conversations these days, so when we got in the mood for some Chinese food for lunch, we decided to ditch our incumbent favourite – China Pearl, and try out Popsies, which it seems, has been around in Koramangala, since forever. (hangs head down in shame, loss of face at not discovering joint in own backyard). Here’s a map that will tell you exactly how to get there. Its just off the one way leading from the Intermediate Ring Road towards Empire, JNC, William Penn etc. On that road, take a left after Empire (opp Chung Wah), and you’ll find Popsies on your right. Parking on that road is iffy, so you can use the parking lot right next to Empire.

An inconspicuous door leads you into the lively place that, I think, would always be teeming with the college crowd. It was, when we went in, but thankfully, we just about managed to get a table. The seating is quite comfortable, though, on a neatness scale, the place would only be just above average. There’s a whole lot of bamboo in the decor, and the arrangements are such that each table is quite unobtrusive.

The menu has quite a lot of options – appetizers (only chicken and fish though), soups (veg and chicken mostly), rolls and wanton, momos; veg, chicken and seafood (fish, crab, prawn) options for the main course and a flood of chopsuey, rice and noodles.

A lazy, cool Sunday afternoon, so we had to start with a soup. We asked for a thick soup and the Manchow was suggested. It turned out to be piping hot and extremely good. The place is best known for the momos, so we asked for a  portion of Steamed Szechwan Chicken Momos. Once again, luckily, a good choice, though D liked it more than i did. One portion has 10 large pieces, so might want to finish this before you order the main course.

For the main course, we ordered a Chilly fish (with gravy), Chicken butter garlic fried noodles, and influenced by the decor, a Chicken mixed veg mushroom and bamboo shoot gravy. Though the portions were really XL, the quality of food was not that great. The best of the lot was definitely the chilly fish. I wouldn’t recommend the chicken gravy, unless you’re a fan of blandness. The experiment I did with the chillies in vinegar worked moderately well, though. The fried noodles didn’t have that liberal dose of butter that we’re normally used to.

All of the above cost us just less than Rs.400. In terms of quantity – value for money, its difficult to beat this place. The soup, the momos and the chilly fish were quite good, but the other two dishes didn’t really deliver.

Popsies, No: 11, Industrial Layout, Koramangala. Ph: 65659336

Yes, before you wise ones point it out, the name does elicit a feeling of connectedness with the blog. You can guess y.

We’d heard about Cafe Y and ‘filed’ it for the future when we were returning from ‘Something Fishy‘, but we never managed to remember it when the dine out question arose, until D did this weekend. Cafe Y is on Langford Road, very close to the Hosur Road – Langford Road junction, but its a one way (no entry from Hosur Road until that morning when Bangalore’s traffic cops have their next mood swing), so you’ll need to take the right turn after that junction and loop back. Parking is available on the side road right next to it.

We hadn’t reserved in advance since we planned to go early – and we turned out to be only the second group at 7.45. By about 8.30, there were several other groups though. There are a couple of seating options outside, very close to the road, but could work well on a breezy night. We chose to sit inside. The yellow-red decor is worth mentioning. Its pleasant and bright and yet somehow lends an amount of coziness to the functional design. In addition to the main Continental menu, they’re also now offering a Chinese one. The latter is not exactly exhaustive, but has decent options of soups, starters, and main course dishes in both veg and non veg, and yes, desserts too.

Now, the continental menu, that’s what I’d call fairly exhaustive. There are no less than 14 soup options (and thats after counting ‘creams’-of which there are multiple options as a single option) and a lot of them are different from the usual suspects we see around – ranging from the regular minestrone, mulligatawny and consommes to Hungarian Goulash, Scotch Broth, seafood chowder, and some good options in veg too – for instance, I’ve never come across a Gazpacho before. We decided on a Fragrant Chicken soup, which is a “chicken flavoured cream soup with pasta seasoned with fresh lime, mild chilli and chicken”. It turned out to be an excellent thick soup with a unique flavour, actually flavours, though you wouldn’t call the chilli mild, but hey, I’m not complaining. Loved it!!

There are salads too, and an option to make your own from choices of vegetables, meats and dressing. And what has been referred to in the menu as ‘Sidewalk’, which could serve as side munchies as well as starters – veg and non veg, priced at Rs.55 and Rs.80-125 respectively. The ’stuffed tuna in pepper’ and ‘chicken liver pate’ have been duly noted for future consumption.

For the main course, you could choose from a variety of sizzlers – you have the option of creating your own in this too. Choices of veg, and all sorts of animal life – lamb, beef, pork, chicken and a couple of seafood options too!! Sigh. And then there are the ‘Fusion Flare sizzlers’ – that come in veg and non veg. Ever seen a “Corriander and jeera rice served with chicken katti roll and Indian curry sauce”? There’s also a special ‘Kiddies menu’ and a whole assortment of bakes too – lasagna, sausage moussaka, and so on. And then the plethora of steaks which give you a high. This was the only part of the meal that left me disturbed – a couple of pork dishes, a few beef ones, and many chicken ones, I love all of the animals in question equally – okay, some more than others, but had to forsake dishes made of them when I made my final choice for the main course, after long and intense deliberation. I promise to return.

I ordered a Chicken Olivia, “grilled chicken served on a bed of sphagetti and topped with tomato, basil sauces, olives and fried egg” and D chose a King Chicken Americano, “crumb fried breast of chicken with a stuffing of mushroom, olives and parsley served with BBQ sauce, french fries and assorted vegetables”. The dishes remained true to the fantasy that their descriptions had created. The sauces were excellent, the quanities were perfectly sufficient, and the flavours somehow retained their uniqueness even while complementing each other.

Now, the blueberry cheesecake here has quite a reputation, but I’m quite a blinkered horse when I see a Chocolate Mousse on the menu. And as i type this, I close my eyes in fond memory of that awesome piece of work. It was rich, with that tiny hint of better that (for me) takes a choc mousse to another level.

The nice part is that all of this leaves one full without that bloated feeling, and one’s wallet without that thin feeling. All of the above cost us just over Rs.600. The service, while efficient, could do with more smiles. They did give us a wide smile after we paid the bill though which left me wondering what was it about me that made them think that I might not. Still, Cafe Y moves quite easily into our list of favourites on all fronts – ambience, food, value for money, and yes, skills with chocolate.

Cafe Y, 2/2, Langford Town. Ph: 41144561

That’s the retaurant formerly known as Saigon. In fact, when you approach it from Brigade Road the signage with the new name is difficult to miss, but the front signage is still that of Saigon. This is on the 2nd Floor of the building that houses Oye Shaava, Oye Amritsar and Ruby Tuesday. They have valet parking too, and for those wondering, no, I didn’t try it out for my two wheeler. :p

As you go up, do check out the posters of Oye Amritsar, good stuff. On the second floor, we were greeted with a nunchaku doorknob. Wonderfully creative start. In fact the entire place, I realised was a creative trip. I didn’t take photos and hoped someone had, and my faith in the www was reinforced when I came across this site.

We had reserved a table, but if you’re going early (before 8pm ) that may not be required. There are some great 2 seaters that give you a view of Church Street, and options for larger groups too. I love those ‘watch the world go by’ views, as regular readers would know. The welcome mat greeted me warmly and told me that they were not too sticky about formalities, and that I should look around, enjoy myself, but asked me to save space for dessert.

The person in charge of our table asked us if were familiar with the dining style they followed. I’d only read one review so he explained the concept of Mongolian Barbecue. Daniel, as he introduced himself, did a great job of explaining it, and said that we would be served soups and starters before we got on with that part. The staff uniform is the Karate Gi gear. Daniel wore a red belt which means he’s a captain. Stewards wear yellow belts.

We had a choice of Burnt Garlic veg soup and a Sweet Corn Chicken soup. I asked for half a bowl of the latter and was only disappointed that I couldn’t get D to try it out, though I kept telling her it was very good. The solid attack  started with 5 veg and 5 non veg starters. We had Chinese green dim sum (mushroom and corn), crisp potato, cauliflower in spicy ginger sauce, grilled vegetables in tangy sauce, and veg dim sum, I evinced only passing interest though the cauliflower starter was exceptional and the others were good too. The non veg starters – Fish in chinese parsley sauce, chicken wings, lamb in BBQ sauce, chicken dim sum and prawn papaya spring rolls, were obviously given more attention. (except for the last one since prawns are allergic to me )   All of them great,  and I loved the chicken wings, awesome stuff. If you like something, feel free to ask for a second or even third helping. But remember there’s the main course and deserts to follow.

The main course is the Mongolian barbecue. You get your bowl and select from over a dozen kinds of sliced vegetables – mushroom, bamboo shoots, capsicum, cabbage, broccoli and so on, arranged in a buffet. You are then asked to choose your sauce from a display board and the meat/s you would like to add, and they stir fry it for you. To go along with it, you can choose steamed rice, fried rice or noodles with veg and non veg (lamb, fish, chicken) options. I ordered my stir fry with lamb and a pepper & onion sauce, and chicken noodles to go along. D ordered her stir fry with chicken and spicy chinese wine sauce and veg fried rice (@#$%, Veg? asked I !! and was rewarded with a Buddha smile) to go along with it. The other sauce choices for the day were Sweet and Sour,  Golden Garlic, Hunan, Oyster/Chilli Oyster, Hot Garlic, Chilli Plum and Sapo. The stir fried stuff and your rice/noodles are brought to your table, in less than 10 minutes. Awesome. You could order another round if you’re upto it, maybe with a different sauce. I remembered the desserts and didn’t.

The dessert options were Sago Float, Fried Mango, Cut Fruit, Ice Cream Date Pancake and Chocolate Mousse. We tried all, and you can guess what I asked for a second helping of. I was also tempted by the Sago Float – coconut flavoured with jelly like Sago ( D says sago is sabudana), but chocolate always wins.

All of this – soups, starters, main course, desserts work like a buffet -  charged Rs.349 + tax for dinner (works out to Rs.785 for two) and Rs.249 + tax for lunch (fewer items, I suspect). They also serve a la carte based on your preferences, there’s no menu card. They do have a liquor menu though, thats extra. I am not trying to hustle you, but you do need to give this place a try at least once, for the unique dining experience it offers. I’ll be your fortune cookie and say “Go on an empty stomach. Serve you well, it will”

Hongkong Hustle, 2nd Floor, Asha Enclave, #20, Church street, Ph: 41122855

Considering it was the Olympics season, this was as good a time as any to try out Silk Route in Wilson Garden. The route to the place is as follows. When you’re coming from the Koramangala side, towards Double Road, this is on the left, immediately after the junction before the LalBagh Gate (the junction where a left turn leads you to Ashoka Pillar. you need to go straight). We reached there around 7.30, without reservation, though the places was getting crowded by around 8. And yes, they have reasonable parking space.

Mugen is located on 100 ft road, Indiranagar, on the 3rd floor of the building that houses Indigo Nation and Urban Yoga. It serves Thai, Indonesian and Chinese cuisine. Parking for two wheelers is quite easy, 4 wheelers would require a bit of luck factor too, me thinks.

We called for reservations, and after a long time, got a courteous and efficient response, and a table. I was getting sick of the ‘we don’t reserve after 7.30′ spiel. You might want to reserve, if you’re planning to go after 8 during weekends, going by the crowd we saw yesterday.

The menu has Thai, Indonesian and Chinese, in that order. They also serve liquor, and from my limited knowledge, the bar looked fairly well stocked. The Thai part is quite a few pages, the Indonesian, only a couple of pages, and the Chinese part, somewhere in between the two. The choice of dishes in Thai made us choose that, though (even with very good descriptions) we’d require some assistance.

We managed to order the soup by ourselves , and then gave our requirements to the person who took our orders. He was extremely helpful, and gave us detailed explanations of what we could expect. So, we ordered a Tom Kha soup, which was described in the menu as a “refreshing coconut milk soup, with lemon grass and galangal served with chicken”, which reminds me, most of the items in the menu have a common gravy/paste/rice/noodles which lends itself to chicken, veg, seafood etc. So, for example, you can also have a Tom Kha veg soup. The soup was delicious, with so many different flavours, and for once, none of the usual stuff -  pepper, sauce, vinegar etc was needed. It was refreshing indeed.

For the main course, we ordered a Kai Phad Bai Gapraow, which is ’succulent chicken, marinated with thai herbs, and fresh basil leaves served with special spicy thai sauce’, a Basket Chilly Chicken, “a traditional dish from the chef, served in a crispy basket”. The latter was the only chinese dish we ordered. We also ordered a Bamee Pahd “soft noodles with bean sprout, spring onions, and crushed peanut served with chicken”. The first dish has got a bit of gravy, in fact just the right amount as far as our needs went. The Basket Chilly Chicken is dry and quite spicy, and the crispy basket was quite yummy. When we saw the noodles dish, we thought we’d have to order one more. Talk about deceiving appearances!! The quantity was more than enough for two people, especially the side dishes. All the dishes were simply awesome, and that’s an understatement. The only warning I’d like to give is to have the food before it gets cold, since a salty taste starts creeping in towards the end.

The ambience deserves a special mention, with separate seating for smokers and non smokers, there’s even an option of being seated such that you can watch while your dishes get cooked. The seating is extremely comfortable. I think this would also be a great place for large groups, not just because of the seating options, but also because it’d give you an opportunity to sample multiple dishes, which we couldn’t because we’d only two tummies at our disposal. Another special mention for the service. No snobbish ‘Oh, you don’t know this cuisine’ smirks’, an extremely helpful attitude, and someone always discreetly giving the table attention. This place exudes confidence and efficiency. Yes,  we were floored, and that’s no mean task, as you guys would have realised:D

All of the above cost us Rs.800. I’d loved to have tried the desserts, but we were stuffed . This one demands a repeat visit, so there’s definitely going to be a next time here.

Ph: 41481414, 9945300004

When in koramangala, and in the mood for chinese food that doesnt land you in a financial crisis, think China Pearl. For the third week in a row, a restaurant refused to take reservations. The times, they really are a changin’

To get there, when coming from the MG road side, take a left at Forum, keep going straight, and take a right turn after you see a park on the right side. No, not a software park, just a normal old fashioned park. Geez!!Its a one way, the same road that has GK Vale among other things, that also include a truckload of restaurants – Chung Wah, Filling Station and so on…..

We reached there around 9, and had to wait for about ten minutes. Since Bangalore ain’t so cool anymore, we skipped the soup and had fried chicken momos for starters. That, along with the spicy sauce meant we started well.

We ordered a Teriyaki Chicken. thought it sounds a bit like what Harbhajan said a while back, its actually only fillets of chicken in teriyaki sauce. It also has mushrooms. Its a dry dish, and is quite well made. The only snag was that we got it at least 10 minutes before the rest of the main course. Thankfully, it didn’t get too cold. The rest of the main course was made up of a Drunken Chicken and Chicken Malaysian Noodles. Although the former led to a discussion between us on how exactly they got the chicken into such a condition, its chicken in rice wine, and is extremely tasty. Its a unique flavour, and definitely worth a try. If you are fine with thin noodles, the place has a lot of options. I’d have taken a Chow Mein, but we already had a gravy dish. The Malaysian Noodles is something we’ve had before and didn’t disappoint.

The quantity is more than ample for two people, and reasonably priced. All the above cost us less than Rs.600. The service is usually good, but somehow the waiter this time didn’t quite fancy us, I guess. But China Pearl is a regular haunt and we’ll be back.

China pearl, 5th Cross, 6th Block, Koramangala. Ph-25501735, 41105060