Loft 38

Indiranagar is one my favourite areas to dine at in the city. And when a friend told me that she'd like to meet me for a nice dinner and drinks, I figured a hotspot in the area had to do. 4 of us decided to meet up at Loft38, the uber flashy bar located on 100 feet, Indiranagar on a Wednesday night.

We got there early, and while we didn't make a reservation, we were seated immediately with no fuss. The ambience of Loft38 is quite unparalleled to most of Bangalore's popular bars. The space is *huge*, sprawled across three floors and lighting is wonderfully done. The well-stocked bar is replete with bartenders with fancy tricks up their sleeve who put up quite a show when you want your drinks done. Also, with at least 3 dedicated bartenders at all times, you never have to worry to wait too long for your drink.

Some cocktails to get started with.

We were seated upstairs and got started with our drinks and a few appetizers. The first pick was a unanimous one, with me ordering the Mezze Platter. It consisted of Hummus, Baba Ghanoush, Tzatziki, Falafel, marinated olives, kidney bean salad, Syrian Fattoush, Pita bread and crackers. I loved the Baba Ghanoush and Hummus - the texture wasn't too grainy, and the dips weren't too runny. They were of the right consistency. The kidney bean salad was a first for me in a Mezze platter and didn't stand out. The breads were fresh and delicious, and the Kibbeh wasn't too dry. My favourite picks were clearly the Hummus and Baba Ghanoush with Pita bread from this platter.

Mezze Platter

Keeping the Meditteranean theme in mind, my friend ordered the Spicy Falafel. The deep-fried spicy falafel was served with tarator and Pita pockets. The falafel, unfortunately, fell flat for me as it was too dry for my taste and was under seasoned as well. The tarator (sesame sauce) was light and fresh and managed to make up for the vapidness of the falafel.

Spicy Falafel

The Spicy Prawns Yakitori was the next dish that caught our eye. "Yakitori" generally refers to grilled meat, most often chicken, so I was curious to see how the prawns Yakitori would turn out. They weren't served on a skewer and while they tasted delicious, they weren't exactly grilled. The sesame coated prawns were packed with flavour, cooked well and firm, but the strong hit of chilli doesn't get to you until it passes down your throat. Served atop a slice of cucumber, the prawns took no time to disappear at our table, easily making it one of the best dishes of the night.

Next, we ordered the Thai Grilled Mackerel, which were fresh mackerel fillets marinated with turmeric, galangal, lemon grass, skewered up and grilled. I might be a little biased here because of my love for Thai food, but the mackerel tasted out of this world. Perfectly seasoned with the right balance of galangal and lemon grass and grilled beautifully. Since we enjoyed the mackerels, we ordered the Harissa Prawns, also on skewers, which were coated with a Tunisian style spicy marinade. These prawns, while uniquely stretched across a skewer, lacked depth in flavour and failed to impress as the Yakitori Prawns had.

Thai Grilled Mackerel

Harissa Prawns

My friend who enjoys vegetarian food, placed an order for Grilled Cottage Cheese. I generally detest cottage cheese, so I wasn't looking forward to trying this. Though when the server did bring it, I was a bit curious to try it out. The dish was presented well, and the cottage cheese slices were coated in a homemade marinade layered atop one another with a delicious filling of apricot and chilli salsa. The strong flavour from the herbs of the cottage cheese cut through the sweet heat of the apricot and chilli salsa. Would I order this again? I'm not sure. Did it leave an impression? Yes.

Grilled Cottage Cheese with Apricot and Chilli Salsa

And while our stomachs were beginning to get filled up, we quickly ordered our main courses before we changed our minds. I knew what I needed. Some good pork. The Roasted Pork Belly made itself conspicuous to my eye and I couldn't help but order it. The roasted pork belly was marinated in a yellow bean paste and Hoisin sauce and served with Japanese sticky rice. This dish made my night; there was nothing more that I could have wanted. The pork belly was tender, juicy, fatty and bouncing of such strong flavours of the sweet spicy Hoisin that I wanted to marry it. The sticky rice served as a perfect complement to the fatty belly and both the pork and rice served my belly perfectly. ;)

Yummy Pork Belly with sticky rice

My friend wanted to try something in beef and so he ordered for the Beef Tenderloin. The roasted beef tenderloin was topped with a caramelized onion jus and was served along with sauteed mushrooms and mashed potato. We had specifically asked our server to get the beef done medium rare as we like that pinkness in our meat. The beef we got was cooked beyond just medium rare and as a result, a little tougher. Unfortunately, we didn't enjoy this too much because of the way the meat was cooked, and despite telling our server this, he simply said that this is how they cooked their meat. It was quite disappointing.

Beef Tenderloin with caramelized onion jus

We also ordered the Roasted Spring Chicken which was herb marinated and served with roasted vegetables and jus. The chicken was well cooked and the marinade was vibrant, redolent of a freshly made pesto, and went well with veggies and mash. The marinade was also slightly similar to that of the cottage cheese dish that we had earlier, making me wonder whether they were the same or not.

Roasted Spring Chicken with veggies and mash

Despite being full, we obviously had another stomach kept aside for downing some desserts. My friend ordered the Flourless Chocolate Cake. The chocolate cake was infused with orange caramel and served with vanilla ice-cream. I found the fact that the cake was flourless quite intriguing and wondered how the texture would turn out to be. To my delight, the cake was almost velvety soft and the bitterness of the orange caramel had a light undertone to the cake that went extremely well with the vanilla ice-cream.

Flourless Chocolate Cake with Vanilla Ice-cream

Our next dessert conquest was the Churros con Chocolate. Yes, at the table, the belief was that there could be no such thing as too much chocolate. Plus, I love Churros. There was no way I wasn't going to order them. The fried choux pastries were served with assorted chocolate dips with percentages of dark chocolate and milk chocolate varying, as can be told by the levels of bitterness in the dips. This was an outstandingly good dessert and the different chocolate dips brought a whole new dimension of flavour to regular ol' chocolate based desserts. It's a must try and not to be ignored, especially if you like chocolate.

Churros con Chocolate

During the whole evening, we found the service extremely pleasant and courteous, and they always checked on us if they noticed our glasses/plates empty. Being in countless situations where I've walked to the counter to get someone to take our order, this was a nice change. The music being played was also phenomenal. Loud enough to get your foot tapping and get you to groove but not too loud that you can't hear any conversations.

Overall, we had a great time, and there were a few hits and misses with the food. But the ambience, service, music and some dishes stood out well enough for me to make a repeat visit. My rating:
Food - 6.5/10
Service - 9/10
Ambience - 10/10
Verdict - Visit if you like Asian food and are looking to have a great night out with your friends.

Loft 38 is located at: 763, 100 Feet Road, Near Sony World, Indiranagar, Bangalore
Phone: 080-4933-7555
Parking: Valet parking available