burrp! Stats
- 14 Reviews
- 4 First to review
- 4 Places Added
- Been to 13 Places
- Burrping since May 12, 2007
- Burrping fromBanashankari, Bangalore
Personal Stuff
- Occupation
- Management
- Favourite Books
- P.D.James Adam Dalgleish Series, P.G. Wodehouse Jeeves Series, Catch 22,Blink to name a few...
- Favourite Music
- Floyd, Doors, Deep Purple, Zep, The Who, Janis Joplin, Joan Baez, Clapton, Muddy Waters, Blues Brothers, Cream etc etc
- Favourite Drinks
- Single Malts (Laphroaig specially), A well made Margarita, Teachers 50 for normal days, Beer- Cobra being the current favourite, Vodka + Fresh Lime soda
- Favourite Foods
- Food:-)
Reviews by foodyfoodpecker
May 19, 2008
No. 2011, 100 Feet Road, Indiranagar, Bangalore
Excellent
Delightful
It is not very often that one comes across a restaurant that you wished you had known earlier about.
I wonder how restaurants get across the word that they are open for business and that they represent a certain level of quality etc.
I read about Mugen a long time ago and assumed it was another one of the restaurants....and slowly I started hearing about it again and again through friends and acquaintances till I could ignore it no further.
Last Thursday the 15th the visit finally happened. A few friends of mine were getting together and we agreed to meet at Mugen.
The entrance is unprepossessing and you can almost miss the restaurant being located on the 3rd floor. We reserved a table and landed up on time. The greeting was smooth and before we knew we were seated at a table.
We decided to order for a round of drinks and that is where the first surprise happened. The beer was chilled and surprise...surprise so were the glasses. Not often do you see such attention to detail. Even the beaker in which they served mixers for rum and vodka were chilled. Well that was a pleasant start...not something you would associate with a restaurant out of a 5 star.
We ordered for starters and one of the gang wanted vegetarian as he had turned vegetarian a day ago . We tried to cajole him into postponing the veggie turning day and try non-veg as veggie in an oriental restaurant was not so appealing. We ordered a chicken starter and a prawn starter for the non veggies and a mushroom starter and a baby corn starter for the veggie. The starters were excellent. The prawns were fresh and succulent and the grilled chicken starter was excellent and the flavours were totally fresh. The big surprise however were the veg starters. I have never had such great veg starters in an oriental restaurant ever.The omnipresent corn flour and MSG seemed to have gone on a holiday and the flavours and textures were mind boggling.
We ordered the main course and the food kept us pleasantly surprised and happy. The vegetable Thai green curry was the best vegetarian Thai curry I have ever had....and so was the Non veg yellow curry. There was an Indonesian stir fried beans which was just heavenly. The food was just too good and conversation died a natural death as we were busy stuffing ourselves.
Post the starters and the main course the desserts were something I was keen to check on. The others agreed although reluctantly predicting that desserts in an oriental restaurants could be skipped. We ordered desserts with the conditionality that they be light to prevent us further distress from over eating. The dessert made with coconut milk and chestnuts was very light and had just about the right amount of sweetness. There was a pumpkin custard that I thought was so so( A personal prejudice- I hate pumpkin) but other enjoyed it. And of course the classical oriental restaurant dessert- Date Pancake with Ice cream. The only thing to fault with this was with the ice cream. The ice cream was a little too frozen for my taste and took effort to slice through with a spoon.
Over all a very delightful experience. The food was superb, the service just right, the attention to detail pleasing and the ambiance was nice and made the restaurant feel very oriental .
I would recommend this place very strongly. It seems to have the ingredients of success just right. Hoping it remains that way.
Mar 07, 2008
81, Ali Askar Road Cross, Off Cunningham Rd, Vasanthnagar, Bangalore
Average
Ambience Extraordinary-Food very ordinary
Was there on 5th of March. There were 8 of us and called ahead to book.
Entrance is a long dimly lit corridor with asbestos roofing adorned with statue of Ganesha/photo of Laxmi. Well that was a bit of a dampener.
First impressions on entering- breathtaking, beautiful and very classy.
Closer look- Lighting does all the work. Daytime this would be a poor place to go to. Asbestos sheets painted white adorn all roofs.Must get very warm during day time.
On arrival there is no one to greet you. So despite having booked ahead we had to go through the whole rigmarole of asking for a table, 8 people etc etc.
Finally selected a table and settled down and ordered the first round of drinks and some snacks. The menu looked very very limited and we were wondering aloud on this only to be informed there were 2 parts to this place. The place abutting the entrance(to the right) has a more pub like menu and to the left is a more fine dining menu.
We requested to be shifted and they readily found a table in the area where the menu that suited us was served. We ordered Chicken Satay, Lemon grass chicken and fish patties in red paste.The food when it arrived tasted as if it were leftovers from the last weekend. All of them tasted stale - like they had been made a few days ago and then re heated/fried. Service was fairly good. They had hordes of waiters and very few tables occupied.
Over all a mixed experience:
Positives:
1. Ambience
2. Design - very very cheap materials used but still of it came together to make the place look classy.
3. Fresh Breeze
4. Very large wine list
Negatives:
1.Food
2. No concirge at entrance- despite booking we did not know which was our table, where to sit and had to go through the whole process again.
3. Pricing- Very very expensive food and at that quality one is in no mood to pardon
Verdict- Good place for a couple of drinks and to hang around. Dinner definitely at some other place like we did.
Feb 15, 2008
54, MSK Plaza, 100 Ft. Road, Above Coffee Day, Indiranagar, Bangalore
Good
Belgian Beers
Having grown up on a diet of Kingfisher and more Kingfisher...and a late convert to Cobra I really enjoy this place for the range of beers.
The range of beers, decent ambiance and great pricing...and as for the food...who knows...with so much nectar at disposal I frankly have not bothered to eat...The only exception being spinach croquets and Salsa and Chips
May more Take 5's spring up..especially the south side of town
Feb 14, 2008
#368 , 7th Block, Opposite HDFC Bank, Koramangala, Bangalore
Poor
Fudge Definitely
A definition of fudge (noun) according to Websters-"foolish nonsense —often used interjectionally to express annoyance, disappointment, or disbelief"
This place definitely meets the definition. Post the meal at South Indies we went onto The Cream & Fudge Factory for desserts.
Reached there to find a huge issue parking the car. Figured the parking bit out -only to realize that there would be no place to park myself in the outlet( I do not what else to call it). All my hard earned popularity with the elders of the family for having fed them with a pure vegetarian south Indian meal at an upscale restaurant vanished in no time when they realized that dessert would be a stand up option only.
Then came the next challenge of figuring out the menu . Deciding from the complex menu which has just names and no descriptions ( mere mortals do require some descriptions) and asked to do some complex jugglery of choosing items from various columns proved too much for the elders. I and my significant other half managed probably because of our familiarity with decision trees (sic) and the elders just plumped for plain vanilla. The matters were not helped with an impatient crowd behind us to order and a sneering order taker who looked as if he would be glad to get rid of us idiots.
We were then asked to pay Rs.577 for all we had ordered and the older people just could not figure out why plain vanilla should cost them so much. Post this ordeal there was the ordeal of dealing with people in front of the counter who were trying to collect their orders. This had taken us about 20 minutes. The ice creams were delivered - I loved the quantities and the flavours. The elders were non plussed and asked me seriously if it was the monthly quota of Ice cream.
The bad things about the place;
Too small- I have not seen too many smaller places
No sitting room- At an average of close to Rs.150 per head on dessert alone one would expect to sit down and finish it at one's own pace.
Too complex a menu- We could figure it out, but lots of people around us looked non plussed. Have to simplify . No customer will forgive them if he or she is made to look like an idiot in front of others.
Quantities- too much. Would probably be appreciated if you were to cut the quantity by half and price by 30%. Remember we are in India and we are still not used to "Super Size"
Not enough information- The staff should warn customers about the fact that one portion could be enough for 2 people. They just seemed bent on making the sale. Also some orientation on how to order before one reaches the cash counter would definitely be appreciated.
Too much on the menu- too many flavors and too many condiments to mix creating a humongous number of permutations and combinations.
Too expensive- Rs.577 bucks for 4 ice creams with 2 of them mountainous vanillas
We got fudged definitely....
Feb 14, 2008
840/A, 100 Feet Road, Indiranagar, Bangalore
Good
Saved from the "Sagars"
This is like a follow up review some 6 months after my original visit.
Had to celebrate a family occasion with elders who would consent to eating at only vegetarian places and South Indian preferably put me in a quandary. Dakshin is definitely not only vegetarian and out of fear of eating at one of the dreaded "Sagars" we headed off to South Indies.
We had bookings and the table was waiting for us. The seating was smooth and so was the order taking process. The food that came was appreciated by all of us - some more some less. But the elders of the family were thrilled- fine dining with this kind of food was a marriage made in heaven in their opinion.
Some of my cribs of the old review still stand:
1. Tables too close
2. No wine/beer atleast- Imagine celebrating without a dose of the favorite poison ...
All of my other cribs seem to have been attended to. So in my books this place has definitely changed for the better.