Ambience and Concept
Located in place of the rather tepid TGIF on the first floor, this place has been completely revamped and looks really pretty and spacious. The inside seating is well-spaced out, brightly lit and comfortable. The outdoor seating is more subdued and is perfect for a dinner date or a quick drink with friends while soaking in the lovely Bangalore weather.
Food
We ordered from across the counters to get a fair idea of the food all around. Here is a quick lowdown:
1. Irani Salli Keema Pav: This was so surprisingly good.Crunchy butter toasted pav buns with a thick, meaty, slightly spicy meaty mutton keema which was cooked to perfection. Tender, but with a slight bite. Loved every bit of it and wiped the bowl of keema clean.
2. Telicherry Chicken Tikka: So this was almost like a malai kebab with a hint of spice. While cuisine for this region is famed for the use of black pepper,I didn't find any signs of that here. But leaving aside this fact, it was a pretty delicious dish.Soft, creamy and succulent.
3. Rava Fried Prawns: Another staple from the southern part of India,the trick in a rava-fried dish is to have a then, even and crisp layer of rava with the insides cooked perfectly. In this case, the prawns were beautifully cooked and the layer remained crisp. This one was superb!
4. Haleem Ke Kebab: Made out of melt in the mouth mutton mince, these kebabs transported me back to the shammi kebabs of the street of Lucknow. Very similar to a shammi,but even softer with the heady flavour of black cardommon standing out, I loved this dish.
5. Russell Street Mutton Biryani: This was supposed to be Kolkata Style Dum Biryani with the mandatory aloo and boiled egg. However, I didn't get either and it wasn't a dum biryani as well. It could probably pass-off as a Hyderabadi Biryani, but not a Kolkata Biryani for sure.Keeping the semantics aside, the mutton was well cooked and the spices were in check and not overpowering.
Verdict:
I went to this place, not expecting much in terms of beautiful, region-specific flavours, but just a slightly better version of your local mall food.It wasn't the case here. Most of the food was pretty close to authentic,or at least good flavours and they didn't cost a bomb. Good Pricing and Decent food make sure that this will be my pit-stop either before or after catching a movie at the Inox above this.
3. Rava Fried Prawns: Another staple from the southern part of India,the trick in a rava-fried dish is to have a then, even and crisp layer of rava with the insides cooked perfectly. In this case, the prawns were beautifully cooked and the layer remained crisp. This one was superb!4. Haleem Ke Kebab: Made out of melt in the mouth mutton mince, these kebabs transported me back to the shammi kebabs of the street of Lucknow. Very similar to a shammi,but even softer with the heady flavour of black cardommon standing out, I loved this dish.
5. Russell Street Mutton Biryani: This was supposed to be Kolkata Style Dum Biryani with the mandatory aloo and boiled egg. However, I didn't get either and it wasn't a dum biryani as well. It could probably pass-off as a Hyderabadi Biryani, but not a Kolkata Biryani for sure.Keeping the semantics aside, the mutton was well cooked and the spices were in check and not overpowering.
Verdict:
I went to this place, not expecting much in terms of beautiful, region-specific flavours, but just a slightly better version of your local mall food.It wasn't the case here. Most of the food was pretty close to authentic,or at least good flavours and they didn't cost a bomb. Good Pricing and Decent food make sure that this will be my pit-stop either before or after catching a movie at the Inox above this.
