Spiga - Romance with Food

Spiga serves European and Mexican cuisine and is located on St.Marks road. It is a classy roof-top restaurant, which makes you feel like you are in Greece. This is a perfect place to take your girlfriend (or boyfriend) out for a romantic dinner. Unfortunately I have never been to Spiga's for dinner, but have heard that the light up the entire place with candles.

Now coming to the important part - the Food. I have been there twice and have found that one should try the sea food there and steer clear of the Indianised dishes. One of the starters worth mentioning is the spicy hummus starter. Amongst the choice of main course dishes, I would recommend the Fish in Lemon butter sauce. The portions are pretty big and it requires a good appetite to finish off a main course on your own.

Spiga is a bit expensive for the food it serves and a meal for two without drinks would make you poorer by around Rs1000. But, if you are going out for a romantic dinner and want good food along with it, Spiga is one of the best places to go.

Spiga

9, Halycon, 4th Floor

St.Marks Road
Bengaluru

Phone: 080 42110469

Annachi: My first Chettinad Experience

Annachi is a restaurant dedicated to chettinad cuisine located on the 100 feet road, Koramangala. Annachi is completely devoted to chettinad cuisine and this is reflected in their decor and as well as in the ambiance. The decor is tastefully done up with built-in courtyard seats and with traditional south cotton saris decorating the wall.

Chettinad (as I found out later is a region of the Sivaganga district of southern Tamil Nadu and is famous for it's spicy cuisine. Even after living in Bangalore for almost four years now, I had never tasted the famed Chettinad cuisine. So, I googled for a good place to enjoy Chettinad food near my home and came up with "Annachi".

Feeling adventurous I drove to the place and ordered Chettinad Meen Varuthathu (Seer fish fry), Eratchi Chops (Mutton gravy) and Annachi special Parota. Going through the menu while waiting for my order to come, I suddenly felt adventurous and ordered Moolai Melagu Varuval (Brain pepper fry) and a local drink (I forgot the name). The Fish fry was brilliant and the brain fry was well cooked, but according to me the brain is not the tastiest part of the goat. The combination of the mutton gravy with the parota was heavenly and should not be missed at any cost.

On the whole, my first tryst with Chettinad cuisine was totally worth the three and a half year wait and I am eagerly waiting for the huge list of undiscovered delicacies that this cuisine has for me in the near future.

Annachi is a tastefully decorated restaurant and is decently priced, where a dinner for two would cost you around Rs.600 (without drinks).

Annachi:

54, MSK Plaza

100 Ft. Road, Above Coffee Day

Indiranagar, Bangalore

Phone: 41261181, 41261182, 41272197

Fujiyama, A raw fishy affair

Fujiyama is a posh looking restaurant situated at 4th Block, Koramangala. It is one of the worst marketed restaurants of Bangalore. You might drive past the place dozens of times without even noticing the restaurant. The place is well decorated with it's wooden flooring and looks like what Titanic's dining room might have looked like.

I have been to this place twice, the first time was disappointing as no sushi was available. The second time however we got all the sushi we wanted. I ordered red snapper sushi for starters and crispy pork as the main course, I found both to be very tasty. We also ordered buck wheat noodle soup and that was delicious too. I would highly recommend this place for food-lovers wanting to indulge on japanese food.

Fujiyama is a bit expensive, and a dinner for two will leave you dearer by around Rs.1200.

Fujiyama

#423, 8th Main

4th Block, Koramangala

Bangalore-560034

Landmark: Ooty Chocolates


Phone: 9972572310

Cafe Leopold

Leopold Cafe has been on my places to visit list ever since I read "Shantaram". It has probably become more famous nowadays because of the Terrorist attack, but from the locals I found that it has always been a popular place. But, now tourists who don't like Cafes and Continental food visit the place too. Leopold Cafe is a restaurant cum bar located in Colaba market in the heart of the Posh South Mumbai. It is located behind Taj hotel and is an easy place to miss, unless you know where it is. The best way to locate it is to stop wherever you find a hungry looking crowd waiting on the footpath and look around you.

The Ground floor is almost too crowded to sit, but somehow the waiters manage to reach your table with the dishes and drinks you order. First Floor is probably a better place to sit (and a bit more expensive too). Though it is still crowded with you almost sitting on the

lap of someone on the next table (If they happen to be pretty young things you should probably tip the waiter well). The Cafe has a nice

Old Authentic ambience and when I was having my dinner nice Classic Rock and Oldies were being played in the background. The volume of the

Music is not as loud as of the New-age pubs and you can probably manage to have a chat while enjoying the food, drinks and music. The best thing about Leopold Cafe is that you would find people of all ages and races enjoying themselves, there was a group of fifty year olds guzzling

Beer on my right and a pretty young lady sipping cocktails on my left.

Now coming to the most important thing, the food and drinks. I found the cocktails to be well made and the Pasta perfectly cooked and seasoned. We had ordered one white sauce based pasta and one with Red wines sauce, the white sauce based pasta was really tasty. We had also ordered a Beef Steak, but I wouldn't recommend it.

The quantity of the dishes is adequate and the cocktails we had were also well mixed. I would highly recommend this place to anyone visiting Mumbai and love eating at the Old places which have managed to retain their character over the years.

Average Cost for a meal for two (with drinks) : Rs. 1000

Advance booking: Not entertained

Cafe Leopold

Colaba Causeway, Bhagat Singh Road

Next To Regal Cinema

Colaba, Mumbai

Barbeque Nation

Barbeque Nation is a restaurant that offers customer to make their own food on their personal grills which are there on every table. They have three branches in Bangalore: one in Indiranagar, one in 1st Block, Koramangala and the third one in J.P Nagar, Phase-III.

I really loved the concept of having a live grill on each table. While dining here one should only concentrate on the starters and the desserts. If you waste your valuable stomach space on the main course you would be missing out on the tasty starters that you could have grilled and eaten.

The place is a bit on the expensive side, but I personally feel it is worth the money as they serve varieties of starters and plenty of desserts.

The ambiance is pretty good if you sit on the first floor, but avoid the ground floor as it is stuffy and cramped. The first floor is a semi-covered place with long tables and is pretty spacious for you to enjoy your meal. Ensure that you go with a reservation, else you might have to return with an empty stomach.

Barbeque Nation keeps changing the rates for the buffet. But last time I went the rates for the buffets were Rs.350 and Rs550 depending on the number of starters.

Barbeque Nation:

Plot 4005, 100 Feet Road

HAL 2nd Stage

Indiranagar

Ph No: 080-60600000, 080-64506728

Chandni Chowk: The taste of Delhi

Chandni Chowk is a North-Indian restaurant in Koramangala 6th block having a very interesting decor and decent food. The floor of this place is made of loose stones and you are made to sit literally on stone blocks.

Chandni Chowk used to be a very good place to enjoy North Indian cuisines when I moved to Bangalore in mid 2007, though a it was a bit over-priced. Now, in 2009 it still serves decent North Indian food but it extremely over-priced and over-crowded. Chandni Chowk is one of the very few places in Bangalore which serves good tandoori chicken and yummy lassi (one of the very few things I miss of Delhi).

Think of visiting this place only if you are missing North Indian food and have made a reservation beforehand. You will find most of the gravy items to be the same, so just ensure you order "tandoori chicken" and have a glass of lassi after the meal.

A dinner for a couple at this place would cost you around Rs.650-700

Chandni Chowk:

28, 80 Feet Road

6th Block, Koramangala

Ph No: 080-41105454, 080-41105757

Aranya: Dining in a rooftop jungle

Aaranya is undoubtedly one of the very few good restaurants on the Outer Ring road of Bangalore. The seating on the rooftop is amazing, one can really enjoy the wonderful Bangalore breeze while enjoying a sumptuous dinner seated on big wooden tables and chairs.

After coming to Bangalore, I had been looking for a place to go out for birthday treats. According to me, a place to give treats should have the kind of food most people like and more importantly should be inexpensive. It took me almost a year to discover Aaranya. It serves decent North Indian food (punjabi food) at an affordable price and liquor at low prices.

It is hard to find a table at Aaranya on weekends and one should reserve a table before coming. This is a three storied restaurant and only the top floor (roof top) is worth coming to. The Ground floor is suffocating and first floor ordinary. There is enough dishes on the menu to satisfy both veggies and non-veggies. Just a word of caution though, do not order any exotic dish else you might be disappointed with what you end up consuming.Aaranya used to serve decent red wine at a moderate price, but have stopped serving wine now. But, they still serve quite a number of liquors to ensure that even alcoholics find enough reasons to visit the place. This place is worth visiting just for it's ambiance, also the food they serve may not be out of the world but is good enough for eating out with friends.

Cost for a meal for two: About Rs.400-500

Aaranya:

462, Teachers Colony

HSR Layout

Opp Fernhill Appartments

Ph No: 080-25634339, 080-41108334