I love chinese food but somehow the only chinese place that I’ve frequented in Bangalore is Rice Bowl on the Lavel road. These days I come to Bangalore quite frequently but stay near domlur/Indiranagar thus ruling out rice bowl completely. So, its been time to experiment with places in Kormangala.
Tried Yo China but its way crowded for any entry. Minimum wait time: 30 mins. Too noisy and hence not worth the wait or another visit. Visited another place near 6th block. Nice decor which reminded a lot of rice bowl. Again long wait time but not as long as Yo China. Another time perhaps. Went over to Magnolia near Raheja residency and then visted again.
Magnolia is half km off the Kormangala main road (BDA road) into the road between Nandini and Utsav. A nice quiet area compared to most of kormangala. Its a house converted into a restaurant and it shows. Still very tastefully done interiors and very polite subdued service. Consists of two floors each with two rooms. Ground floor is non-smoking service while the first floor has one smoking room. Being rooms, smokers are completely isolated compared to most other places. Seats can be uncomfortable for large people and lack of armrests is uncomfortable for any. Tables are placed far apart so one can actually hear the music which is a huge plus.
I usually like to evaluate a Chinese place by the quality of soups and the rice. So far, I haven’t tried the rice so I’ll keep to the soup here. I’ve tried a clear soup and a thick soup. Both had the just the right aroma and the flavour. However, the thick soup is not really thick even by Bangalore standards, forget Mumbai places like Chopsticks (Nariman point). Still, the taste is just right.
Magnolia also serves Thai food. So, I ran my eye over the menu looking for kai (Thai for Chicken). Surprisingly, only one item. Then I realised that all the names are translated and the Thai dishes are with the prefix Thai. A first time for me definitely! I believe in the saying that a rose smells as sweet by any other name and so shall certainly try the Thai fare in near future.
I’ll certainly come back for more to this place.
Inch is on the 100ft road in Indiranagar right next to Cafe Coffee day. I went in there for the first time as it was vacant compared to CCD and then just fell in love with the place.
It has a very interesting decor. One side had hanging seats with high tables while the other has low wide sofas with low tables. Beanbags for seating outside. They can put them inside too if you ask them to. Wooden floor. Plenty of space in between the seats. Comics lying around. I read an Archie there after a long time!
They have some good salads and pasta. Simple, light and tasty stuff. I’d recommend the Mocha frappe to go with just about everything.
Wish they had wi fi and I could stay for hours. My 1xRTT card is quite slow at its best and i yearn to get back to my hotel’s broadband wi-fi. Still, a great place to hang around.
A definite for every of my Bangalore visits.
Rating: 4.5/5
This one has been long time in pipeline!
Samrat is in backbay reclamation area near Churchgate. Its not as well known as its cousin Status which sees Nariman point flocking to it for lunch. But trust me its a lot better.
Its a medium sized place spread over two floors. One is struck by two things upon entry: most of the patrons are families taking a day out and that there are so many trophys declaring Samrat as the Best Veg restaurant in Bombay! It seems they have won for every year for a fairly long time!
Its a nice clean place with tables packed together and waiters in uniforms bustling about. A glance around will show that Thali is popular and indeed its tough to go wrong with the choice. I would also recommend the Masala Khicdi here. I’m split between the Thali and the Khicdi everytime I come here and just can’t make a decision on the gastronomic criteria. So I take Khicdi when in hurry/when I need to stay light and Thali otherwise. My recommendation for these two should by no means take you away from trying other items on Menu. They’re great too! Its just that I haven’t been able to break myself away from the hold that these two items have over me! I have tried some others when we went in a group and I can tell you that the Tandoori paneer is the best I’ve had anywhere in the world. For dessert, the aamras is incomparable.
I’ll dwell a bit on the thali as its the most attractive option here. Costs Rs 170 a head. The items are the same as any Gujrathi thali. But its vastly superior to any other in two aspects: taste and service. One can keep eating just one or two items and completely immerse oneself into them at the cost of others and still feel satiated. Item to item, samrat beats other gujrathi places hands down. When it comes to service, you feel you have come in a wedding. There may be people lined up and waiting to get in and you may be protesting that you’re filled upto the mouth, the waiters would still implore you to have more! They actually run to get items you haven’t tried lest you run away before they return! Other gurathi thali places like Aaram in Mahim also serve huge amount of food but this service is beyond anything I’ve ever seen.
I can go on and on about Samrat. I have already used more exclamation marks here than all my other posts combined and I can still add more. But suffice it to say that its MUST visit place in Mumbai. Its the benchmark for good quality food as far as I’m concerned.
Rating: 5/5