The Fat Chef in Whitefield

I absolutely love it when I enter a new establishment and see that someone has put some thoughts into the decor. I especially liked how the interior of the restaurant has a combination of rock cut walls and perfectly white pillars and beams. I thought it's very modern "Karnatakan". The food is good but nothing with a "wow" factor but I think it has a lot of potential. I'm looking forward to coming back soon.

Menu at the Fat Chef.


Bruchetta with tomatoes and basil, cheese and olive - a very refreshing starter. The bread could be a bit more toasted though.


Beer battered prawns - so very crispy on the bite but light and tender on the inside.


Alfredo with vegetables - considering how it's just vegetables with white sauce, it turned out pretty good. The dish was nicely seasoned and the sauce wasn't sweet like how it is in some places in Bangalore.


Lobster roll - I went to a New England seafood restaurant in NYC with my sister a couple of years ago and I remember feeling guilty because the small sandwich was both so very good and so very expensive. When I saw "lobster roll" on the Fat Chef menu, I had to order it. It wasn't as expensive (Rs240 vs. US$20) but it wasn't quite like the lobster roll I devoured back in NYC. I wish they had used less ketchup (I thought the sweet flavor and pinkness came from ketchup) and no cabbage. The lobster has an opaque color (undercooked, perhaps?) and didn't have much taste. Otherwise, it was a good try.


Pesto chicken and pasta - tender pieces of chicken and fusili drenched in pesto sauce and topped with shredded parmesan cheese.

Overall Ratings:
Po's: 7.5/10
A's: 7/10

Would we return?
Likely.

Address:
No. 5/2A, Jagriti, Ramagondanahall,
Varthur Main Road, Whitefield,
Bangalore

(Attached to the Jagriti Drama Theatre)

Caperberry

It was Friday evening and it wasn't a special occasion or anything. In fact, it was merely because there was an IPL match at the Chinaswamy Stadium which means a normal 20-minute drive home would’ve taken us an hour. Besides, it’s been way too long since our last visit to Caperberry. It’s about time.

To my surprise, we got a table without making reservations beforehand. A fine-dining restaurant like this in New York or Bombay on a Friday night would have starved me until 10:30pm before they would offer us a table or even worse, turn me down because reservation is full for the next few weekends to come.

Instead of a proper 5-course French dinner, we decided to dine tapas-style.Here’s what we ate:


Alfonso Mango and Chicken Salad – So very refreshing and a great combination of sweet, tart and savory all on one plate. My friend Moots liked it so much she ordered another one.


Two different types of crostinis – The chorizo one had caramelized onions as a base, a nice compliment to the saltiness in the chorizo. The pesto chicken one I thought was just OK, maybe I’m getting a bit bored with the combination of chicken and pesto.


Fois Gras – I know, we're all over the place with our meal tonight, but here’s a rarity in Bangalore. I was apprehensive (because if you don’t cook the liver right, it becomes tough and powdery) but this one turned out pretty good. Served on slices of green apples and roasted tomatoes.


Calamari Rings with Aioli – What! Who ordered this? Why are we wasting stomach space on food you could find at Herbs & Spice or TGIF? To be fair, this has got to be one of the best calamari rings I’ve eaten in Bangalore. Perfectly seasoned (do I see a bit of rawa-style?) and fried, crispy on the outside and chewy on the inside.


Cooked in an actual patella.


Chorizo and Chicken Paella – Not on the menu anymore, but my dining mates were craving for pork that night, so they made this especially for us. The rice (I’m guessing Arborio) was tender, slightly al-dente and was nicely flavored by the capsicum, saffron and chorizo. Topped with a bit of aioli.


Chocolate Duet – I am going to be absolutely honest, I don’t like chocolate mousse, so I didn’t enjoy it much. The rest of my dining mates didn’t enjoy it either because they were making fun of it (they were very imaginative). The cakey side of the chocolate is also a so-so for me. There is a salty taste in the fudge which I found a bit overwhelming.


So French. Complimentary little pieces of petit four.

Overall Ratings:
Po's: 8.5/10
A's: 8.5/10

Would we return?
Certainly.

Address:
48/1, Ground Floor, The Estate, No 121,
Dickenson Road, Bangalore

Phone: +91 (0)80 2559 4567

Olive Beach

Someone wrote to me through this blog recently, asking for suggestions on restaurants that have buffets. Apart from the Sunday buffet brunch at the Taj, where my first landlord took me to as an incentive to try and get me to extend my lease two and a half years ago, I realized I've never really been to any other buffets or brunches. I started asking around and I did some research on the internet. It was like digging into an old pair of jeans and finding a Rs.500 note! Sunday brunches in Bangalore are such a popular pastime that people discuss the vast variety of options on Internet forums! These buffet brunches aren't cheap though. They range between Rs800-Rs1000 back in 2006, and today you won't be able to find a good brunch for lesser than Rs2000 (excluding tax and service charge).

So for Mother's Day, after some nudging (because "A" can't fathom spending Rs2000 per person on brunch), we decided to take my (soon-to-be) mother-in-law to a buffet brunch at Olive Beach.

I've always liked Olive Beach. I've dined there a few times in the past two years. Heck, I've even attended a wedding party here. The food has always been fresh and delicious, and the atmosphere, though a bit staged, somehow managed to transport me out of India and onto an island in Greece.


The Mother's Day brunch menu. It occurred to us then why they'd charged so much for brunch. The extensive meal also includes an all-you-can-drink, like any kind of drinks, from the bar. Needless to say, "A" and the rest of the family were happy campers.

Fresh Cochin oysters. I was very excited about the prospect of eating raw oysters but was a bit disappointed when the waiter rinsed the shucked oyster in a pail of fresh water before serving them. It tasted a bit diluted but nonetheless, very fresh. I know you're curious, and the answer is no, none of us got sick from eating raw oysters in India.

The widespread buffet. Salads, cheeses, breads, dips and cold cuts, all for our consumption.


From the grill - rosemary marinated lamb chops, medium done. The meat was so juicy and well seasoned, there was no need for the extra sauce that came with it. Also on the grill was steak, fish and sliders but this was good enough for me!

Desserts - on top of what's served here, there was a person who'd make fresh waffles.

I'm not doing justice with the photos here. As you can imagine, I was too occupied with stuffing myself silly and was happily tipsy on my mojitos.

One of the best things about India is that even though it's a buffet, which often means self-service in other countries, it doesn't really apply here. You can sit on your dining table for four hours and just tell the waiters what you'd like and you'll have your choice of food served to you with a smile.

Overall Ratings:
Po's: 8.5/10
A's: 8.5/10

Would we return?
Absolutely!

Address:
16 Wood Street,
Ashoknagar, Bangalore

Phone: +91 (0)80 4123 9483 Reservations Recommended

i-t.ALIA at the Park Hotel, Pt. 2

I know, it's not fair. How can one restaurant have two posts. I can't help it. This place is genuinely good, and in my mind, still the best Italian food served in Bangalore. Check out my previous posting from last year here.

A friend of mine from NYC was in town for a quick two days in Bangalore and I felt like it's my duty to show her the "other" side of India. My initial choice of cuisine was Andhra biryani but I know she had been traveling in the most rural areas of India for the past few weeks, and by now she would appreciate some really good non-Indian food in a slightly upscale setting. We came into itALIA, ordered a bottle of good Indian wine, and took our time with our meal decisions (too much catching up to do!), while the waiters patiently waited on us.


Stuffed cannelloni with seafood - delicious! The perfectly cooked diced shrimps, squids and white fish added a hint of sweetness to the tangy tomato sauce. The slightly burnt ricotta cheese was a nice creamy addition to the whole dish.


Goat cheese ravioli in mushroom sauce. The mushroom sauce was a tad salty, when eaten with the ravioli but the combined flavor was absolutely mouthwatering.

Tagliatelle with prawns with saffron cream sauce. I absolutely adore fresh pasta. To know that they serve it here made me so happy. My only complaint is the way they serve the dish. Instead of letting the pasta soak-in the sauce and then letting them fall graciously on the plate, they've jam-packed the noodles into a mold. So as you'd expect, the noodles were stuck onto each other when I dug into them.

Overall Ratings:
Po's: 8.5/10
A's: 9/10

Would we return?
We just did!

Address:
The Park Bangalore
14/7 Mahatma Gandhi Road,
Bangalore 560042, India

Phone: +91 (0)80 2559 4666