The Mask

Last week, a friend from Wooplr and I got together to check out this restaurant Mask, at the Aurick Boutique Hotel. Located at JP Nagar 6th Phase, the stretch is quite filled with a sizeable number of restaurants, and I must admit, this was only my second time venturing into the area. The last time I visited (which was 4 years back), it seemed quite dead, but is now blossoming with plenty of dining spots and coffee shops.

Notice how the wine glass craftily makes its way into the 'mask'.

The Aurick Boutique Hotel primarily has 3 places you could dine - 2 restaurants and one coffee shop that is open 24x7. The Maori restaurant focuses on Indo Pacific cuisine, while The Mask is a  resto bar serving continental fare. The view of the city from Mask is quite lovely, and it was a pity that I visited during lunch time. The view would be done more justice if I had probably stopped by for dinner instead.

I was definitely a big fan of the interiors.

Our server started us off with the mocktail of the day, which he claimed were Appletinis (though it had no alcohol), but was simply a weird apple milk shake (is that even a thing?). I then asked him for the cocktail menu, as I was looking forward to an icy drink on that particularly torrid afternoon, to which he simply shrugged and said there wasn't one. I could apparently order whatever I wanted, and he said he'd bring it. I ordered a Mojito, but received a pineapple-vodka drink with a splash of soda. He told me that's how they made a Mojito, I decided to stick to my bottled water.

As my drink disappointed me, I jumped on to the starters and ordered the Malaysian Style Prawn and on the chef's recommendation, we ordered the Swiss Meat Bowl. The prawn was described to be an Asian style of sweet and sour prawn dish, but we found it to be very Manchurian like, with bits of chillies, spring onions and capsicum thrown in. I thought it as a complete waste of good quality prawns. The meat bowl had 4 meat balls, that had minced chicken stuffed with mozzarella and then crumb fried. The chicken mince was a little too dry for my taste, and the cheese failed to make any impression whatsoever.

Malaysian Chilli Prawn - very reminiscent of the capsicum chilli-esque Manchurian dishes.

Swedish Meat Bowl with coleslaw

The chef also insisted that we try the new soup that wasn't yet featured on the menu, and we decided to go ahead with that. I got the Pumpkin and Cilantro Soup, neatly separated, and the flavour of the pumpkin really stood out wonderfully, which easily overshadowed that of the cilantro. My friend got the Onion and Cilantro Soup, which to me, wasn't the best combination. The onion soup also tasted more like a lighter version of a basic white sauce and didn't work with the cilantro for me.

Pumpkin and Coriander Soup - lovely combination of flavours.

Onion and Coriander Soup

Since we were exceptionally hungry, we also tried a salad each - I knew I was going to order the Caesar Salad simply because it was served with crispy bits of bacon (and is always a personal favourite). My friend picked a nice, light Greek Salad and decided to top it up with Prawns. I was in love with my Caesar Salad and the bacon bits added the perfect bite to the salad. The dressing, made in-house was fresh and delicious, and coated every bit of the Romaine lettuce. It was oddly topped with grated cheese and served on a bed of sliced tomatoes, that I didn't care for too much. My friend's Greek Salad was mighty disappointing though. We expected a light olive oil and vinegar dressing with herbs, but were instead met with a creamy mayo dressing for the Greek Salad that didn't have much Greek going for it. Lettuce coated in mayo, topped with prawns and a sprinkling of parsley and served on cucumber slices, instead of being tossed with the lettuce. This was their own version of the Greek Salad, I suppose. The only saving grace was the crumbled bits of Feta they served it with.

Caesar Salad with crispy bacon bits and topped with grated cheese

Greek Salad with Grilled Prawns in a thick, creamy dressing.

We finally proceeded to our mains where again, on the chef's recommendation, I ordered the Fish D Casa, which was a nice grilled fish served with creamy spinach sauce on a bed of spaghetti and a side of veggies. The fish was perfectly cooked and I loved the spinach sauce that topped it. The flavours really came together, and the veggies were seasoned with butter and herbs that gave it that extra kick. What also blew me away was the spaghetti, that was cooked perfectly al dente and was simply tossed with garlic, chilli and olive oil - the simple, but delicious flavours that always work. Every flavour on the plate worked to create a beautiful harmony of sorts.

My friend decided to order the Moroccan Lamb Chops, that was their specialty, and it was a Moroccan style juicy lamb served with cous cous & ratatouille. We were hoping for a juicy lamb chop, but the lamb was a tad overcooked and dry. The cous cous also got replaced with 'spicy flavoured rice' that seemed like a Pulav gone wrong. The sauce wasn't too bad, but had only one primary dimension of flavour and lacked a zing. I found it quite boring and monotonous and wished it had more depth. A nice salad/side of mash would have also worked with the lamb.

Moroccan Lamb Chops with flavoured rice

Pretty stuffed with our mains, my friend decided to order one portion of a dessert for the two of us. 3 out of the 5 menu items weren't available, and we settled for the Caramel Custard instead. It tasted pretty average, nothing extraordinary, and probably wasn't the best finish to our meal.

Service also failed to hit the mark, with the servers often confusing the drinks and the dishes up. While they were friendly and courteous, they simply weren't trained enough to completely understand the menu and the dishes. The restaurant is experimenting with its menu and desperately needs to up its food and service to really leave a mark and keep its customers returning. The view is definitely worthy of a visit, but the rest of the elements fail to keep it together.

Overall, my rating:
Food: 5.5/10
Service: 6/10
Ambience: 8/10
Verdict: They're trying out a new menu with some serious changed to be implemented, so maybe wait it out a month before trying it. The fish is definitely recommended.

The Mask is located at: Aurick Boutique Hotel, 598, 15th Cross, 35th Main, 6th Phase, JP Nagar, Bangalore
Phone: 080-49011000
Parking: Basement parking available

The Mirage

I like trying out new places to eat and I'm particularly interested in newly opened restaurants to check out how they fare in the first few months of the place being opened. So when a friend wanted to catch up over dinner, I thought this would be the perfect opportunity to try out The Mirage.

The Mirage is a multicuisine restaurant in Koramangala serving Chinese, Italian, Mexican and American food. The main course menu tends to leans towards serving Pan Asian food largely though. We walked in on Saturday night at 9pm to find the entire restaurant completely empty. It was a little surprising but we wanted to focus on having a good conversation, so we didn't mind all that much.

We decided to order a couple of starters and ventured with the BLT Crostini and Thai Chicken Satay with Peanut Sauce. I could add that communicating with the servers from time to time was a problem as they didn't quite understand when we asked them for recommendations and they were a little confused when we asked them to explain some of the dishes (this happens very often with new places).

Our BLT Crostini soon arrived, and I took one bite of it to reach bacon heaven. The bread was perfectly crunchy, topped with lettuce and tomatoes tossed in mayo and a slice of perfectly crispy bacon. This was such a genius creation that I kept wondering how I had missed serving this as an appetizer for when I have parties at home. The Chicken Satay was well cooked, and tasted good but it wasn't served with the authentic  Asian style Peanut Sauce. It tasted something like a curry paste, but we were too hungry, so we downed it immediately. The cabbage that accompanied it had this lovely sweet chilli vinaigrette dressing that went really well with the meat.

BLT Crostini

Chicken Satay

Their menus are broken down into separate pull out pages of different sections - Burgers, Pizzas, Appetizers, Mains, etc. This was honestly very frustrating as whenever we wanted to explore something else to order, we had to keep fishing out and hiding one menu page under the other. It looked like I was playing Solitaire with menu cards on my table.

The various menu pages

My friend and I being Asian food lovers that we are, ordered a Vietnamese Chilli Prawn with Sticky Rice and a Hong Kong Fried Rice with 5 Spices. The Chilli Prawn tasted good except that it didn't taste of 'chilli', but honey instead. The sauce was excessively sweet. But somehow it didn't taste all that bad to us and we polished it clean anyway. The sticky rice was perfect and had  that lovely balance of salt, sugar and vinegar (they take 20 minutes to make this).

Vietnamese Chilli Prawn with Sticky Rice

Hong Kong Style Fried Rice

My fried rice soon came, and I first noticed some meat pieces in it, and was puzzled (there was no meat alternative to this, it was supposed to be a veg fried rice). I had ordered a vegetarian fried rice and I pointed it out to the server who looked equally confused. He finally clarified with the chef, who apparently claimed to be confused. I could still deal with it, but this could have been a serious faux pas if a pure vegetarian were in my place.

The fried rice was nice and spicy and the accompanying gravy was sweet and sour and I loved all the flavours coming together. The fried rice was also loaded with assorted meats - prawns, crab stick, chicken and bacon, and that added wonderful dimensions of flavour to the fried rice. The quantity was quite large, and we ended up packing some of it to take home.

I'd also like to add that I had ordered 4 other items on the menu for my main course, but none seemed to be available. The Caesar Salad on their Facebook page looked divine, but I couldn't find any salad section on their menu. Upon asking the server, he told me that they did serve salads, but he'd have to check with the chef instead. He returned saying that there was an Asian Salad available. I promptly got excited and ordered it, only to be told five minutes later that it wasn't available. That really ticked me off.

I asked the servers for a feedback card, and they said that they didn't have any. And they said if I really wanted to write, I could write on their Specials Board instead. I figured that there really was no point talking to them and asked to speak to the manager/owner, who also, unsurprisingly, wasn't available.

Overall, while I liked the food, the service and the chaos that came with it didn't make me too happy. I think the management should really invest in training their staff about the menu and should try sticking around (especially on busy nights) for the first couple of months to take care of service and other issues.

Food - 9/10
Ambience - 8/10
Service - 6/10
Verdict - Visit for the food, but ensure you're fully aware of what you're ordering.

A meal for two along with a glass of wine came up to Rs.1400.

The Mirage is located at: 61, 4th Floor, 1st Main Road, Above Corner House, 7th Block, Koramangala, Bangalore
Ph: 080-65333533
Parking: No parking available, but you should be able to park in the many bylanes of Koramangala.

Breakfast at Cafe Mozaic

I'm a sucker for continental breakfasts and love having the luxury of time and a world of an appetite for a lazy breakfast on a weekend. Which is why when I was up surprisingly early on a Sunday morning with a "I'm so hungry, I can eat a Hippogriff" kind of appetite, I decided to indulge in a breakfast buffet that would calm my stomach down.

I've tried the typical fare of all weekend breakfast places - Hole in the Wall, Cafe Terra, Ants Cafe, Pecos (yes, they do serve continental breakfast along with a delicious Chicken Stew with Appam) and was frankly, looking to get more on my palate. Which is why I decided to go to Taj Vivanta instead. I've been to Taj for breakfast only once before, and found it lovely, and I decided that it was worth the indulgence this time as well.

We walked in by around 8:30 a.m. to a half-full Cafe Mozaic and I wanted to sit by the pool side, but was informed that it was closed. I was irked with that, because nothing speaks bliss like a glass of orange juice on a Sunday morning by a serene pool side and stuffing your face with pork sausages and strips of fatty bacon.

Anyway, I dived straight in to the buffet - they have 101 items on the table, so it's a LOT to take in. They really do have everything from Indian to Continental to Asian food. You'll find live counters of Masala Dosas, Appams and even Paranthas. Idlis, chutneys, Puris, were all nicely served up. First things first, I packed my plate with a couple of pork sausages, bacon strips, ham slices, hash brown, baked beans, mashed potatoes, grilled veggies, some cheese and toast. Not too much, I like keeping it simple.

First round of the breakfast buffet

The sheer number of options for the breakfast buffet is overwhelming. If you love food as much as I do and are as Indian as I am, you are likely to hop around every counter and get something on to your plate not just because you're hungry, but you feel that this is your money's worth. And it is. *evil parsimonious grin*

Poached eggs on toast.

Love at first slice.

I think the bacon here has a halo and is blessed with divine light. Hallelujah!

Grilled Tomatoes and lovely Hash Browns

The spread also included a lovely chicken stew for your appams, smoked salmon, cut fruit counters, endless cereals along with fried rice and noodles with accompanying sauces (I never went to any of these counters, btw, because I can't digest the idea of rice for breakfast, and why on earth am I at Taj to eat fruit and cereal?).

Cheeses from around the world.

The fruit counter that I stood far away from.

The Indian side of things.

Slowly and steadily, I began to stuff myself by eating whatever my stomach could take. I took little breaks in between, and then resumed my buffet devouring session. After no more space for bacon that could give me a heart attack, I settled on a simple waffle with chocolate chips. My friend was already too full (and he ate less than half of what I did, what a pity), and he wasn't even willing to take a bite out of the waffle.

Waffle with gooey chocolate chips

The waffle was nice and warm and I liked the idea of gooey chocolate chips inside the waffle. Topped with maple syrup, this completed my Sunday breakfast beautifully. I wish I had more space to have also tried their pancakes, but I was certain that I would have burst if I had tried anything more.

To sum it up, the breakfast is pretty darn awesome and I love the wide variety of food offered. The quality of the food here stands apart, well, because they're the Taj, but they rank high in taste of food, service and ambience. I do wish they would have served more cold cuts though - nothing like meat, cheese and fruit for a great start to your morning.

Food - 8/10
Service - 10/10
Ambience - 8/10 (it gets a 10 when I'm allowed to sit by the poolside)
Verdict: For the love of food, go already.

The breakfast at Cafe Mozaic is priced at Rs.800 per head (all inclusive of taxes). This is totally worth it, especially for the price point. The breakfast buffet is available from 7:30 - 10:30 a.m. on weekends.

P.S. Apologies for the crappy pictures. I was lazily clicking them with my phone, but my priority was to eat, rather than click.

Cafe Mozaic is located at Vivanta By Taj, 41/3, MG Road, Bangalore - 560001

Under The Mango Tree

Under The Mango Tree is one of those restaurants in the city that you would usually enjoy going back to. It's a great place for friends to catch up with conversations without having to scream over the loud music and also a great place to have those quite, romantic candle-lit dinners with your special someone.

The cuisine served here is generally continental, with some Asian dishes thrown in. Food is delicious, and also doesn't burn a hole in your pocket, much to my (or everyone's) delight. The ambience is relaxed, service is friendly but slow. Be prepared to have that lengthy conversation with your friend(s) because the wait for food is long, but worth it.

My last visit here was on a friend's birthday, where she just wanted a quite birthday dinner at a nice place. UTMT seemed like the right place to go to. We were pretty hungry, so none of us were really in the mood for appetizers, individual portions of mains made more sense to us. However, since the wait was going to be predictably long, we figured one appetizer wouldn't really hurt our appetites.

So we ordered a plate of Grilled Squid Rings, which everyone thought might be a good thing to just grab and snack. The portions were pretty large, as 4 of us could happily share without fighting. The squid was well-seasoned, and also quite meaty, by which I mean it was succulent and had a nice body to it, which I don't see too often in restaurants. I don't like the idea of raw onions and cucumbers served with meat in general, especially when it comes to continental cuisine. These were priced at Rs.190.

Grilled Squid Rings

I'd also ordered a salad (ordered a main course too - I have a HUGE appetite, you see :D ). Now this was supposed to be one of their signature salads. The salad consisted of simply apple, walnuts, goat cheese, lettuce and some bacon (on my request). This is accompanied with a red wine dressing, the consistency of which was too thick and tasted positively revolting. I'm glad they didn't toss my salad in it, so I settled for the salad minus a dressing, but tasted delicious nevertheless. The salad scored high in terms of flavours and textures - it's sweet, soft, crunchy with the nuts, creamy with the crumbly goat cheese and awesome because of the bacon :). It's merely a tossed salad and tastes good by itself, so avoid the red wine dressing and take a simple olive oil and balsamic vinaigrette dressing instead. This was priced at Rs.160.

Apple, Walnut and Goat Cheese Salad

Now to the mains, my friend ordered the Pork Chops Vindaloo. The Vindaloo is generally a meat curry based dish whose primary ingredients include vinegar (for the vin  in Vindaloo), garlic, chillies and other spices, resulting in a delicious sweet-sour taste. The pork chops here were wonderfully coated with the Vindaloo gravy and the result was super-tender pork chops that were bursting with flavours in our mouth. This was priced at Rs.310.

Pork Chops Vindaloo

To keep the pork love going, another friend ordered the Pasta Carbonara. Yeah, I know it's nothing exotic, but man, did these guys nail this dish or what. The sauce iss simply cream whipped with egg and slowly cooked with bacon and cheese tossed with spaghetti (here, they throw some additional ham bits and we chose Penne instead). This has to be the BEST Pasta Carbonara I've had in the city so far. Creamy, delicious and not too heavy. I generally don't like ordering pastas at restaurants because I get tired of that monotonous taste, but that never happened here. Two thumbs up. This was priced at Rs.280.

Pasta Carbonara

Finally, my dish arrived - which was simply a Veggie Ravioli - pasta pockets loaded with Parmesan, Ricotta and spinach layered with a cream sauce. By this time, I'd already downed some of that Carbonara and wanted more of that. I like veggies, but wasn't the biggest fan with the Ravioli they served up. It was WAY too creamy and bland (I chose the cream sauce, I know), and had little or no flavour. It seemed like one big mush and I couldn't get through the whole thing. This was priced at Rs.230. This was also surprisingly, one of their signature dishes.

Spinach and Cheese Ravioli

We were pretty stuffed by the end of this meal, so decided to order one dessert split 4-ways (yeah, we're that shameless). Another signature dish here was their Blueberry Cheesecake which many Bangalore foodies swear by. The cheesecake was nice and creamy, and had a decent consistency to it. The biscuit base was not as crunchy as I would have liked it to be, but it was a good dessert overall.

Blueberry Cheesecake

My overall rating for Under The Mango Tree:
Food: 7.5/10
Ambience: 8/10
Service: 6/10
Yum!: They go bacon my heart