The Fatty Bao

There's only so much of ignorance you can afford when a new restaurant pops up in town. Especially when people start raving about its food, when it is in a convenient location like Indiranagar, and when the man behind it is Manu Chandra, a chef Bangalore loves.

So it was no surprise that my sister and I decided earlier last week that we needed to find time over the weekend to visit Fatty Bao to enter Asian food heaven. The gastro bar opened a fortnight ago in Indiranagar, next door to Monkey Bar (run by the same management). We visited on a Sunday night with no reservation because that's how much of a smart ass I was as I believed Sunday night wouldn't be too crowded at 7:30 pm. WRONG!

We couldn't find a table on the 3rd floor, so we were seated upstairs, in the terrace area. I actually liked this better, the top floor looked much nicer, and while I would have liked to be seated at one of the empty tables (every single table was reserved), we made do with being seated at the bar. I generally don't mind bar seating, I have a strange penchant for bar stools, but that's only when I'm in a let's-get-guzzling-mood, which I wasn't sadly, on a Sunday night.

We had to get started with getting us some Bao (open faced steam buns). In all honesty, the delectable picture of the pork belly Bao that Kunal Chandra had put up on Facebook recently made me nearly cry at work and make me want to visit the place at the earliest. Damn that guy with his amazing food pictures! So, as I was saying, we got started with a meaty Bao, the rolls and the salmon carpaccio. My friend and I ordered a beer while my sister ordered the Micky Ninja, one of their signature cocktails - vodka shaken with muddled fresh orange slices and cucumber with a dash of Jameson whisky. It was fresh and lovely, though I found the cucumber taste to be a little too dominant for my liking, and dash of whiskey would be quite accurate.

Micky Ninja!

We waited nearly 30 minutes for our first dish to arrive, and we were pretty frustrated by then. We were famished, and after half an hour, our first dish, the Salmon Carpaccio finally made its appearance. Delicate slices of salmon with ginger & garlic juice, soy, yuzu and topped with sliced jalapeno and radish made for a pretty sight. And while it was delicious, it was over in exactly 2 bites. I would have liked the carpaccio to be a bit thinner, I personally found the salmon to have a bit too much of body here.

Salmon Carpaccio

Another ten minutes and a lot of bothering-our-server later, our food finally turned up (with the rat race in our tummies and estimating the long wait for our food, we ordered a few more dishes while waiting). First up, the dish that had me drooling at my laptop screen all week - Char Siu Bao, BBQ pork belly and green apple kimchi in Hoisin sauce in a Bao. One bite of this and I had angels singing "Hallelujah!" inside my head. It was THAT good. Pork is my favourite meat, so this may be a little biased, but you won't regret ordering this dish. The pork is succulent, meaty and melts in your mouth. Hoisin sauce also renders it a nice sweet, salty and tangy taste that I enjoy, so I'm giving you the heads up anyway. Also, this is messy. Ensure you're not ordering this on a first date or anything (unless your date would devour this messily too, in which case GAME ON!).

Char Siu Bao - OMNOMNOMNOMNOM!

This was promptly followed by the California Roll - your standard fare of cucumber and crab meat in a Sushi roll sprinkled with Tobiko (flying fish roe). This didn't disappoint, and was light and fresh. And as you may have guessed, disappeared in 60 seconds.

California Roll

My sister and I enjoy duck and since there are not too many places in town that serve good duck, we decided to experiment with the duck-based dishes at Fatty Bao. They had two options - the Crispy Duck Spring Rolls and the pan-fried Bao with duck. We told our server to give us what he felt was the best, and he served us the Sheng Jian Bao (steamed buns pan fried on a cast iron) with duck in Hoisin and spring onion. I will be called the layman here, but these tasted like regular pot stickers with duck meat that failed to leave a mark. That, or maybe my expectations were too high, but I wasn't its biggest fan. With only four Baos, this was the only dish that didn't fly within a minute, with the last steamed Bao being untouched.

Sheng Jian Bao

Since we generally like Sushi rolls, we ordered a couple more - the Spicy Tuna Tartare and the Prawn Tempura. Delicious, and also disappeared 60 seconds later. I felt that I could have 12 plates of the rolls and still continue to eat with no shame whatsoever.

Spicy Tuna Tartare and Prawn Tempura rolls

We were almost done, when we decided to order another Bao - with Braised Beef Cheeks, because who doesn't like beef cheeks? Stuffed with pickled radish, pickled red onion and cucumber,  the flavour and texture of the beef cheeks stood out. The richness of the meat with the acidity of the pickled veggies combined very well to create a delicious dish. Having said that, I still prefer the BBQ pork belly Bao to the beef cheeks, but you could give the latter a try if you like to experiment (P.S. Bao take at least about 15 - 25 minutes for preparation, I was told later).

Bao with Braised Beef Cheeks

I think we were finally full (were we?), and the place was packed by the time we left (which was around 10 30 pm) Our bill for all of the above came up to Rs.4000 for 3 people that included 3 beers and a cocktail. While all the dishes are priced between Rs.250 - 400, since the portions are small, they might not exactly 'fill' you up. And well, I guess that comes with being a gastro bar, because the idea is to serve you bar food with bar style portions. I'm a heavy eater, so maybe my opinion shouldn't always apply to the general bar-going crowd. ;)

My rating:
Food - 8/10
Ambience - 6/10
Service - 5.5/10
Verdict: If Asian food is your thing and you like to experiment, then give this place a go. Visit for yummy Baos and meat cooked to perfection, but be willing to patiently wait and settle for smaller portions.

I would definitely visit Fatty Bao again, they've won me over with their food. And I'm hoping my next visit doesn't have such a high wait period. Also, the music is a little too low-key for me. It almost sounds like it's a jazz lounge for the hoity toity, but I'll save my judgment on that. The tempo could be brought up though, since good music is key to a bar's overall ambience.

Fatty Bao is located at: 610, 3rd Floor, Above Monkey Bar, 12th Main, Indiranagar, Bangalore
Phone: 080-4513-3582 (please make a reservation)
Parking: Parking space available in the bylanes of Indiranagar

Breakfirst at Monkey Bar

I love breakfasts. They're my favourite meal of the day. The first thing on my mind when I get out of bed is food, and I can't wait to down a huge breakfast every morning that gets me through my day. And the best part about breakfast? You can eat it any time of the day! And it can be savoury, sweet, savoury and sweet, and it has no rules.

So it comes as no surprise that I'm doing yet another breakfast post, and this time, on one of my favourite bars in Bangalore, Monkey Bar in Indiranagar. Oh, my apologies, they call it Breakfirst.

Having tried out the Breakfirst menu in the Wood Street bar already, I was curious to check out the menu in the Indiranagar one and couldn't wait to dig in. We entered the bar around 10:30 a.m. on a Sunday morning, and despite it being early (anything before 12pm on a weekend is early for me), the bar had a decent crowd. And if you think Monkey Bar looks warm, rustic and lovely in the evenings,  a visit in the morning would greet you with rays of sunshine finding their way through the crannies and kissing the glass windows that create for a very magical ambience as well.

With no time to waste, we kickstarted our meal with ordering the Egg Kejriwal (there are signs all over about this dish), and our server couldn't stop talking about it either, so we had to give it a try . I was sincerely hoping the dish wouldn't quit on me in 15 minutes and then refuse to be served (#YepIJustWentThere). The Egg Kejriwal is a grilled pav laden with fried egg, onion, tomato, coriander, green chilli and cheese. All of those elements work very well together and the Egg Kejriwal elevates the classic bread and egg dish to the next level. It was moist and not overly gooey, the heat from the chilli gave it a nice kick, and combined with the onion, tomato and coriander, the dish overall runs a nostalgic memory in your head. Top it up with cheese and we have something you can't have enough of!

Egg Kejriwal

Next, for something a little more 'meaty', we decided to venture with the Scotch Eggs. The Scotch Egg was a soft-boiled egg enclosed in house-made sausage mixture, crumbed & fried, and served in a lettuce and straw potato nest. The egg was perfectly done, and as my knife sliced through it, the yellow goodness of the yolk oozed out in a delicate stream and coated the meat well. I found the meat to be a little underseasoned for my liking, but very tender and moist. The potatoes went well with the eggs, but the lettuce was a tad too bitter for me.

Scotch Eggs

A signature special that our server absolutely pushed us to try was the decadent Brekkie Burger Bang! This was truly a burger like no other, and is definitely not for the faint-hearted. It's an open faced 200 grams burger, topped with bacon, fried egg, mushrooms, cheese, avocado, grilled onions, lettuce, served with coleslaw and pickle. If this doesn't kickstart your morning, I don't know what will. The meat was perfectly done and that crisp bacon on top added a lovely crunchy texture to it. The yummy mushroom, gooey melted cheese, crunchy onions, all came together with the meat with a perfectly runny egg yolk coating all of this hunk of a burger. My only grouse was with the red kidney beans; I felt that it didn't add anything to the burger and it already had too much going on for itself, so they could have been avoided (neither was it mentioned in the menu).

We managed to polish our plates clean, and decided to settle for one helping of a dessert. Having already tried the absolutely sinful Red Velvet Waffles countless times before, we were intrigued by another special, the MoBar take on the traditional French Toast, aptly named Toast to France. In addition to the bread being soaked in milk, eggs and vanilla, this twist added dimensions of orange zest, wine and honey, which was then pan fried and served with house syrup. To click it up a notch, the bread was sandwiched with peanut butter and jelly. I can't tell you how good this dish tasted over a mere blog post. This is 100% pure indulgence. I'm not a big fan of jelly, but was curious to see how this would work in a French Toast, and work it did. All of the flavour profiles came together very well to make one helluva sandwich. You can also order the challah without the peanut butter and jelly, as this makes it quite heavy and you'll find yourself getting filled up rather quickly and slowly finding a place by the wall and table, nestled in a corner so that you can take a short and satisfied nap.

Toast to France with peanut butter and jelly

Overall, we had an amazing time. The service was excellent, the ambience cannot get any better, the music was fun and the food left us wanting for more. Consider your Sunday well spent here when you drop by to devour their breakfast, and also know that you're going to leave heavier with possibly a popped button from your jeans.

Rating:
Food - 7.5/10
Service - 8/10
Ambience - 9/10
Verdict - Whether you want a cure for your hangover breakfast or looking to chill with friends and family on a weekend morning, MoBar will offer you the perfect pick-me-up. Must visit.
Cost for 2: Rs.1200

Monkey Bar is located at: 610, Diagonally Opposite SBI Bank, Near Apple of My I, 12th Main, Indiranagar, Bangalore
Phone: 080-4411-4455
Parking: Parking space available in the bylanes of Indiranagar

Monkey Bar - Break'first' Edition!

There has been so much hulabaloo since Monkey Bar launched its breakfast that I figured it's about time I visited the place (we Bangaloreans get more than a little happy when you club breakfast and bar in one sentence). So my sister, a friend and I decided to indulge in this Break'first' (as Monkey Bar calls it) on a Saturday morning, hoping we'd get a quiet table for our conversations and some good food.

The Break'first' Menu

The breakfast menu at Monkey Bar is only served on weekends and alcohol is served past 10:30 a.m.. Pretty cool, eh? My sis started off the meal by ordering the one egg dish she swears by pretty much everywhere - the Eggs Benedict - poached egg and ham on an English muffin topped with plenty of Hollandaise sauce. What's not to love? :)

I simply couldn't flaw the Eggs Benedict, honestly. The eggs were perfect and the Hollandaise sauce was just right - not too sour nor too 'eggy'. My sister found the bread a little harder than it should have, but it seemed just like the texture of that of the typical English muffin bread. Though there were only two poached eggs, they were quite filling.

My friend next ordered the Pandi Curry (which seemed so 'off' from the typical Monkey Bar-esque menu). The pork was really tender and well spiced, though there wasn't so much of a curry with it. The Pandi Curry was served with warm Pita pockets. While the pork tasted good, I couldn't have more than a few bites of it because it wasn't something as a 'breakfast' dish for me. It was not a 10 am thing for me (bacon is totally an all-day thing for me, btw). My sister and my friend seemed to share no such problem though.

Pandi Curry with Pita Bread

I didn't find the menu too extensive, so I decided to play it safe and order a sandwich instead. I was suggested the Croque Monkey by the server, which was a cheesy-gooey ham and Emmenthal cheese sandwich. My expectation of this signature sandwich was quite high, and I was mighty disappointed when the dish did arrive. I didn't find the punch of the Emmenthal or the moistness of the ham and it had zero seasoning. It was extremely vapid in flavour and was nothing more than a bland ham-and-cheese sandwich. This was served with Mustard Potatoes and fresh Baked Beans. I really liked the potatoes, they were flavourful and not too pungent. But that's the only thing I liked about this dish. To top it off, this sandwich is priced at Rs.295 which is ridiculously expensive for a simple sandwich.

The boring Croque Money

We were quite full by this time, but decided to try their much talked about signature Red Velvet Waffles with cream cheese and almond praline. These officially are the best waffles I've ever had in my life. I'm not kidding. The waffles were literally velvety soft and the cream cheese and almond praline added a brilliant dimension of sweet and sour flavours with soft and crunchy textures. We topped this generously with maple syrup, and it tasted orgasmic. It elevated us to such a happy high state that we just wanted to sit there and not move and savour every last bit of that taste.

YUM Red Velvet Waffles!

Overall, it was a very pleasant breakfast, service was highly courteous and the music was awesome as always. It's a great place to head to dig into a breakfast to cure that hangover. Our total bill (all of the above items + an orange juice and a side of bacon) came up to Rs.1860, which was quite expensive for 3 people. The endless breakfast buffet at Taj Vivanta costs Rs.700 per head, just saying.

Food - 8/10
Service - 9/10
Ambience - 8/10
VFM - 5/10
Final Verdict - Definitely go for the waffles, and ensure you're all Ka-chinged up! :)

Blimey!

I'd like to start by saying that this review is not entirely about Blimey, but about an event that I attended there. (and yes, some food was served as well)

I love that name, Blimey! Largely because it reminds me so much of all the dialogues in the Harry Potter books, that, uh, let's not go there, I won't stop. So, yes, Blimey! The gastropub is HUGE and can easily seat more than a hundred people. It's decently well-lit, so takes away the charm from a pub for me.

Blimey! played host to the Foursquare Day and the event was executed by Wooplr (a social discovery platform where people share and discover lifestyle purchases in fashion, decor and food). Hard-core Foursquare users turned up, to network and celebrate the event with gusto, and I can be honest, I turned up for the free food (I'm a food blogger, should this really come as a surprise?)

The event kicked off with a whiskey-tasting session (yeah, you missed that, HA!) which was hosted by Tommy McCready. He is the official brand ambassador for Jameson Whiskey and he loves giving these 'educative' sessions around the city about Jameson and whiskey in general. I tried the Jameson whiskey for the very first time in my life, and kinda liked it too. I tried the scotch next, which I thought was abysmal. And finally, the American whiskey, which turned out to be my favourite of the lot.Turns out, the Scotch was actually Johnny Walker's Red Label and the American Whiskey was Jack Daniel's.

Having quickly downed my whiskey(s), the steady stream of starters came about and a sense of euphoria finally swept through me (I just get really excited with food). The first starter was Lamb Meatballs served with mayonnaise. The lamb was actually really soft and subtly spiced and made for an excellent starter. To appease to the vegetarians, we were next served with Corn and Cheese Nuggets. The sweet corn and all of that creamy, stringy cheese made this an orgasmic starter. Like, really.

Lamb Meatballs

Corn and Cheese Nuggets

This was followed with Chicken and Cheese crostinis that were delicious. They weren't smothered in cheese like I would have liked them to be, but tasted good nevertheless. The chicken had a nice spiced hint to it and the bread was crunchy, yet bite-able. Many restaurants end up serving Bruschetta/Crostinis with bread so hard that would give you a toothache when you bite into them.

Chicken and Cheese Crostini

Then came the delectable Pork Ribs which I was grateful for (pork is my favourite meat). The sauce was absolutely delightful (but also had that store-bought BBQ sauce taste) but the texture of the meat was a total let-down. The meat should have been far more tender and have that wonderful fluffy, fat bits. Unfortunately, the meat was a lot tougher and seemed dry. The sauce more than made up for it though.

Pork Ribs

Finally, another veggie starter was brought about (I feel bad for vegetarians anyway, but just TWO veggie dishes seemed like open discrimination to me). These were simply fried potato wedges, lightly salted with a dash of herbs. Nothing to write home about. The final starter was a herby green chicken served with Thousand Island sauce, which like the potatoes, lacked a strong flavour, and wasn't highly memorable as such.

Potato Wedges

Herby Chicken

The service was swift, and courteous. Every server had a smiling face and patiently waited for me to take food photographs (you see, there were ALL bloggers in the house armed with cameras the size of their heads). And the ambience created for a nice place to catch up with large groups of friends. The view of the metro and MG Road makes it pleasant too.

This isn't entirely an honest review of Blimey, as this event was pre-planned and there were only a certain number of starters that I did try, so I'm not going to rate it. I did want to share the experience of trying out their food though, hence this blog post. Hope you enjoyed it! :) For more info on Wooplr, this event, and pictures from the event, you can click here. You can also follow my foodie recommendations on Wooplr here.

P.S. My blog is officially one month old. Yay! Thanks for all the love! :)

Toit Brewpub

Toit Brewpub has become synonymous with us Bangaloreans for being the go-to place to drink some good beer, munch some yum starters, listen to some music and drink up some more good beer. Having opened in 2010, Toit is ridiculously popular in the city over the weekends (don't even bother walking in after 9 on a weekend) and quite a hangout over the weekdays too.

I've been visiting Toit for the longest time and have almost always enjoyed my experience there. I especially loved the food, and kept going back for their delicious chicken wings. The last few times that I did visit Toit, the food didn't match up to a great standard, service was indifferent and the beers, well, they kept me happy. This review on Toit is based on my last visit to the pub.

Since Toit has its own microbrewery, you must try their beers - they make for a nice change compared to your standard fare of alcohol. You can choose between Weiss, Dark Knight, Colonel, Basmati Blonde, Tintin and I think a few more that I can't seem to remember. My favourite remains the Weiss, which is light and has a savoury-sweet taste. Basmati Blonde leans in closest to the Weiss as well. The Colonel and Dark Knight have that bittery taste of beer that most guys seem to love. Tintin has not been a favourite to anyone I know.

For those of you who are confused on which beer to choose, I suggest you order the beer samplers pictured below that give you a chance of trying out different kinds of beer.

And now, yes, the food. Like I mentioned earlier, their quality seems to have declined in recent times for me. Pictured here are the potato skins with bacon. These were nice, but I remember them being a lot fuller earlier and as actual potato halves instead of these small bits.

The Chicken Piccata is simply crumb-fried chicken that is lightly spiced. I was never a fan of this and it honestly doesn't taste like anything writing worthy about.

I love ordering something that sounds totally odd on the menu. So these Snake Bites definitely caught my attention. They're simply serpent gourd bits stuffed with lamb mince. While I thought they were refreshingly nice, my friend thought that it was quite an odd combination and wasn't its biggest fan.

When it comes to pizzas, I think Toit has the right idea, but they did screw up our order. We ordered the half and half of a BBQ Chicken Pizza and a Veggie Attack pizza. After having waited for twenty five whole minutes, when we asked our waiter about the pizza, he seemed genuinely puzzled and then tried to cover it up by stating that it'd take 5 minutes (this is the Indian Standard Time deviation of at least another 15 minutes). When the pizza did arrive, the BBQ chicken bit kept spilling all over with the sauce having splashed around happily. Clearly, the pizza wasn't baked long enough and our waiter didn't seem to care that it wasn't. He seemed pretty happy with the pizza.

And, the one dessert that I do order everytime at Toit is their Apple Pie. It's so beautifully baked to perfection that it makes me want to cry. The softness of the apples against that crunchy base with that light hint of cinnamon riding through make this for a perfect dessert. Two thumbs up.

Other recommendations at Toit include the Pork Chops that are succulent and well-seasoned, the Boozy Chicken where you can't taste the beer but that broccoli sauce is 'Oh, Wow!', Chicken Wings and Fried Calamari.

Dishes you can miss at Toit are the Beefy Loaded Potatoes that are poorly seasoned and so loaded that it makes your belly uncomfortable, Bacon wrapped Chicken with Almonds which made it difficult to distinguish any particular taste and Chicken in Peppers that simply tastes like a warm, spicy chicken salad.

Overall, my rating for Toit:
Food - 6/10
Ambience - 8/10
Service - 5/10
Beer - I bow down to the Weiss

Would you like to add anything to my review for Toit? Do comment! I'd love to hear your tryst with food! :) Until next time, here's a picture of beers to keep you happy. Cheers! :)