Caperberry

Caperberry is one of my favourite restaurants in Bangalore. The food has always been top notch, service has been personal, friendly and very attentive and the ambience speaks of sheer indulgence. I always try to stop by here once every 3 - 4 months for a nice meal, because dining here often could burn a serious hole in my pocket.

I had a good work week and felt like being indulgent and decided to go to Caperberry for a good meal. I've usually tried only their a la carte menu, and decided to try something different this time. I decided to go for the 7-course tasting menu that I had heard so much about, and being in a happy mood in general made me think that this was going to be worth it. They also had an option of a 9-course meal, which aside from everything in the 7-course meal, included a scallop dish and a crabmeat risotto, both of which neither my friend nor I were interested in.

Caperberry's interiors are very aesthetically done - the decor is very tasteful and the walls are beautifully done up; it exudes class by itself. The restaurant by itself is known for its brilliant dishes backed by innovation and plenty of taste, thanks to Chef Abhijit Saha. Caperberry was one of the first restaurants to introduce Bangalore to molecular gastronomy. While we were waiting for our meal, our server promptly brought us some Olive Bread and Bread Sticks accompanied with a Pesto and Mayo dip. The smell of bread wafted right out of the kitchen as it was freshly made. I tore the bread and it practically crumbled in hand and was downright delicious. I wiped the bread bowl clean and shamelessly went for seconds, a request our server obliged with no qualms (I'm usually met with scowling faces when I ask for 'extra' bread, crisps, stuff that is usually offered complimentary at restaurants).

Freshly baked bread

Our first course was a Tuna Tartare which had Kikkoman soy, gari, wrapped with nori, topped with passion fruit caviar and sprinkled with sesame seeds. This was served with a dollop of Wasabi sauce. The texture of the tuna was crumbly, but I really enjoyed the taste. It represented the typical Pan Asian flavour and the soy, gari and nori packed a punch. I personally wasn't a fan of the passion fruit caviar paired with the tuna, but I think you could get used to the taste. I would have liked more of Wasabi.

Tuna Tartare

Our next course was Chicken Spaghetti with fresh Bocconcini. Our server came to a table ready to pour the warm tomato basil consomme over the spaghetti. I didn't have much expectations from the dish, thinking it was a regular pasta dish, until I realized that the spaghetti was actually made out of chicken. The meat flavour really kicked in and the spaghetti was bloody delicious! My friend and I were blown away with the way the spaghetti tasted and the taste of the chicken stood out fantastically. The Bocconcini was nice and creamy and paired beautifully with the spaghetti. I was not a big fan of the consomme as it tasted like a watered down tomato juice to me. Spice lovers might not enjoy this dish too much, as it's a little bland, but bang on when it comes to flavours.

Chicken Spaghetti with Bocconcini

Our third course was Potato Scale John Dory served with orange segments, orange dill sauce and topped with a lemon foam. The potato tasted amazing. Imagine the taste of the best hash brown that you've ever had and multiply it by twenty. That's how good this was. The John Dory fish is something I usually enjoy, because of its butter-like consistency. This fish too melted right in my mouth and the orange segments and sauce gave this a nice, punchy taste. The lemon foam was a little too zesty, especially when there was already enough citrus in the dish.

Potato Scale John Dory

The fourth course was a drink - Virgin Cryo Margarita, served to cleanse the palate. The drink was refreshing and there was a nice, strong hit of lemon and ginger. Neither of us could finish the whole thing as we were already a little full, and we still had 3 more courses to go. Also, what fascinated me about this drink was that it was sizzling when it was brought to the table and our server asked us to wait a few minutes before we drank it. The chef had used liquid nitrogen in getting the desired effect. Liquid nitrogen is nitrogen which is held in a liquid state at a very low temperature. On immediate contact with food, liquid nitrogen boils and envelops food, rapidly evaporating the liquid nitrogen into plumes of nitrogen gas bubbles which crystalise and freeze.  As a result a kind of "steam" of nitrogen bubbles is formed which solidifies into micro-crystals to freeze food instantaneously. We then had to 'crack' the margarita open to drink it, which was a fun experience.

Virgin Cryo Margarita

Our fifth course, and the highlight of our meal was the Smoked Pork Belly which was served with a nice apple-onion relish, turnip puree, saute potato and flavoured with a red wine sauce. When they say smoked, they do really mean smoked, because the pork belly was served under a closh to retain all its smoke and flavour. Our server lifted the closh and the smoke hit me - delicious, sweet aroma of the pork belly being beautifully smoked. The pork was crispy on the outside and tender and juicy on the inside. It tasted out of this world and is probably the best pork dish I've had in Bangalore yet. The turnip puree and potato were great accompaniments to the pork.

Smoked Pork Belly

By now, we were pretty full, but saved some space, as there is always room for dessert! The first dessert was the Goat Cheese Timbale. The goat cheese was the base, topped with cut kiwi, candied orange peel, pistachio, demerara sugar and a Parmesan crackling. I loved the dessert, but I should warn you that it's an acquired taste. The nuttiness of the cheese, with the delicious kiwi and candied orange all merged beautifully for a very lovely dessert. I'm not sure if the Parmesan crackling went well with the dessert.

Goat Cheese Timbale 

The final course was Frozen Chocolate Ganache Powder which honestly looked something like a combination of Indian masalas over cocoa powder. The reason for the varied colours was the use of beetroot soil, mint soil and cinnamon powder over the ganache. This dish wins hands down when it comes to the varied textures. The chocolate powder is a little thick and sticks together and there is a burst of choco-shock flavour when you pop it in your mouth. The cinnamon and mint gave the chocolate flavour a nice lift and elevated it to the next level.

Frozen Chocolate Ganache Powder - a winner for producing amazing textures in your mouth!

We were really stuffed by the end of our meal, and I was pleasantly surprised as the menu was a tasting menu and the portions were quite small. Still, 7 courses do fill you up. I loved the distinct taste, flavour and texture of each dish that was served and savoured every morsel of what I ate.

I enjoyed my meal at Caperberry immensely, and the service was friendly and attentive as always. The staff always ensures that the customers are well taken care of. I ended up ordering a Mint Mojito while I was distracted on a call when I wanted a Watermelon Daiquiri. I was confused when the drink came, but later realized that I had indeed ordered the Mojito. The server didn't hesitate to offer me a Daiquiri instead and replaced the drink with no qualms.

I will definitely go back to Caperberry soon for an unforgettable meal. Also, Citibank's Restaurant Week has featured Caperberry as one of the restaurants that you could have a 3-course meal for just Rs.750 plus taxes. I have 4 restaurants that I'm already looking forward to try for the Restaurant Week. (this is not a promo, I just like to eat).

Food: 9/10

Service: 10/10
Ambience: 8/10

Verdict: A triple yes, whether it's the Special Menu or the Ala carte you're looking to try.

The 7-course Tasting Menu (non-vegetarian) is priced at Rs.2,000 plus taxes (per head). The 9-course meal (non-vegetarian) is priced at Rs.2,450 plus taxes.

Caperberry is located at 48/1 Ground Floor, The Estate Building, 121 Dickenson Road, MG Road.

Shiro

As part of the Citibank Restaurant Week India, my sister decided to book a table at Shiro, one of Bangalore's favourite pan Asian restaurants. Restaurant Week was started in 2010, and the concept revolves around offering a 3 or 4-course meal for Rs.999 or less (excluding taxes) at each city's top fine dining restaurants. The idea is to reach a larger customer base who could enjoy a restaurant's signature delicacies at insider pricing.

We went as a group of 4 and booked a table for a Sunday night dinner. We chose the fine dining area instead of the outdoor area as the weather in Bangalore is currently very torrid and humidity is the last thing we wanted to deal with. The first thing that will strike you about Shiro when you enter is the massive Buddha sculpture that is suspended majestically which lends the restaurant an eery omnipresence. Also present were other equally large sculptures and some carvings, that make you marvel at the architecture and interiors.

The Restaurant Week menu was limited for us to choose any one dish from each course of the 4-course menu provided. Since there were 4 of us, we had an advantage of ordering a unique dish each and sampling each one of the highlighted dishes. We started off our meal by ordering the Chili Lemon Soup with Chicken, Thai Kwai Soup with seafood and an Apple Tomato Cinnamon Soup. The Thai Kwai soup was lovely, and fully loaded with prawns and crab meat. The Chili Lemon Soup with chicken tasted like a pot of comforting spicy, chicken tea, if I'm making any sense. It was delicious and the flavour was beautifully strong. The Apple soup disappointed me largely. It was sweet, which was expected, but it had a thick consistency of that of a curry and tasted like those typical ketchupy water soups.

The appetizer menu was extensive and we ordered the Fish in Chili Mustard Sauce, Thai Grilled Prawns with Wasabi Mayo, New York Maki Rolls and Tuna Mayo Sushi. The fish was cooked perfectly, was tender and the flavours of chilli and mustard were nailed with this appetizer. The prawns lacked a bit of seasoning for me, but that delicious Wasabi Mayo more than made up for it (we used it for dipping everything after that).

Fish in Chili Mustard Sauce

Thai Grilled Prawns with Wasabi Mayo

I have one word for the New York Maki. Orgasmic. Really. I can't describe the party in my mouth that I experienced when I popped that sushi in. I would probably go back to Shiro just to try this again. The Tuna Mayo Sushi was equally good, and it was wrapped with a thin sheet of cucumber. With the mayo and cucumber, this was very fresh, but not as good as the Maki for me.

New York Maki

Tuna Mayo Sushi

For the mains, options were pretty limited. We ordered the Chicken Laksa and Fish Laksa accompanied with Japanese steamed rice, and the Indonesian Grilled Chicken with Avocado Salsa and Grilled Chicken with Citrus Tamarind Glaze, accompanied with Hibachi Rice and Yaki Udon Noodles. The Fish Laksa was yum and paired beautifully with the steamed rice. The Chicken Laksa didn't fare that as well as the Fish Laksa for me. We found the  Indonesian Grilled Chicken a little too dry and lacking in terms of zing and flavour. The avocado salsa seemed to have been added as an afterthought and we didn't find much of avocado in it anyway.

Indonesian Grilled Chicken with Avocado Salsa

The Grilled Chicken with Citrus Tamarind Glaze was nice and tender and the tanginess of the tamarind with the acidity of the citrus made for a wonderful marriage of flavours. The meat was also moist and was served with charred corn kernels that had a nutty sweetness along with that 'burnt' flavour riding through them.

Grilled Chicken with Citrus Tamarind Glaze

By the time we reached our final course, we were pretty stuffed, but we always have room for a little dessert ;) Their dessert menu is strangely only full of chocolate based desserts, which doesn't leave much for the non-chocolate lovers (yes, they do exist). Strange. There were only two options for us in our set menu and we ordered one of each - the Velvet Chocolate Cake and the Coconut Pecan Tart with chocolate chips.

Coconut Pecan Tart

The Velvet Chocolate Cake was just as described - soft and velvety. It had a nice consistency and a texture that simply dissolved in your mouth. And once that velvety softness melted, crunchy butterscoth bits are a mouthy surprise, and added great texture to this dish. Everyone loved this. The Coconut Pecan Tart was not too sweet and had that nice dessicated coconut taste running through. The chocolate chips and pecan nuts brought out a new dimension, but I would have liked more textures - I would have liked the filling more soft and molten on a crunchy tart. Flavour wise, I liked the tart more. Consistency wise, the cake fared better.

Velvet Chocolate Cake

This 4-course meal with the Restaurant Week offer, costed us Rs. 980 per head (inclusive of taxes) and was totally worth it.

Food - 9/10
Service - 8/10
Ambience - 11/10
Verdict - Sushi it up!

I would definitely go back to Shiro's for a Sushi overload, and possibly when the next Restaurant Week happens :)

Medici

Medici easily comes in my top 5 favourite restaurants in Bangalore. The food is delicious, the ambience is really nice and truly fits the bill of 'fine dining' and the service has always been outstanding. Despite this, I have never visited the restaurants when it has been super crowded or have had to wait for a table (even on a late Saturday night).

I've been visiting Medici for the past 3 years (since it opened) and always thought that the food they served was world-class. The name Medici has been inspired from Queen Catherine de Medici, an Italian, who married a French man and brought to his court an array of Italian delicacies, birthing the beautiful union of French and Italian food, flavours that are loved world over.

We went for lunch to Medici on a Friday afternoon and surprisingly, we didn't find any customers at the restaurant (it was 1:30). I generally struck a conversation with our server to shockingly find that Medici was moving. They have two floors on the building in Indiranagar - one floor is the restaurant, and the floor above that is Muse, a lounge bar. They would probably be have one fine dining section on the top, also sharing that floor with a lounge bar section. Also, they would probably be revamping the menu, bringing in more Indian influences *shudders*. Apparently, this is what customers want.

Quite disappointing to hear, so if any of you want to try their delicious food, you should probably head to Medici pretty soon. Looks like they are about to move within a month, so ensure you pay a visit to their restaurant before they do. (Disclaimer: Medici has NOT paid me to promote them, neither did I get a meal on the house).

So, about the food. I started out with ordering the Chicken and Fig Salad and my friend ordered the Caramelized Onion and Goat Cheese Tart. The salad was actually nice and refreshing and had a sweet-savoury flavour running through it. The chicken and fig blended well and the lettuce was coated nicely in a honey-mustard dressing.

The Caramelized Onion and Goat Cheese Tart was also quite yummy (according to me, caramelized onion and goat cheese is a combination that can't go wrong). The tart was baked to that perfect crispness and the onions lent a nice sweetness to the salty cheese. If anything, I'd have liked more seasoning. And a bigger portion. Definitely a bigger portion.

For the main course, I ordered the Filet Mignon, as it's my favourite cut. This steak was marinated in Dijon mustard and rosemary and served with a red wine jus. The steak was given to me just the way I asked for it - medium rare (not many restaurants actually serve up a medium rare). The meat was nice and I liked the jus but I would have liked more seasoning. So our waiter prompty served me some Dijon mustard and a crack of pepper, something that blended beautifully with the steak. The portion size was large and I was disappointed that there were no veggies or mash served with it. I mean, it's a steak! What's a steak without mash and veggies anyway?

My friend ordered the Chicken de Medici, one of their signature dishes. This was simply a chicken breast stuffed with mascarpone and sundried tomato, also served with a red wine jus along with a rosemary potato.The chicken was nice and tender and the creaminess of the cheese along with the sourness of the sundried tomatoes married wonderfully. This was served with veggies like bell peppers and zucchini (I find veggies a must with meat - it adds more texture).

For dessert, I ordered the Chocolate Fondant, which is by far, the most orgasmic dessert I've had in the city. When you poke it, and all of that chocolate goodness oozes out, and you spoon a delicate bite of that into your mouth, you'll know 'orgasmic' was an understated word. It was not too sweet, not too hot, and was nicely soft and warm.

My friend ordered the Wine Poached Pears (I'm beginning to see a wine theme here), because this is another signature dish of theirs that we've happened to love before. The pear is poached is poached in wine, decored and stuffed with cream cheese. The first time I tried this (2 years ago), this was delicious, but this time it was slightly disappointing. The pear was poached for too long, and the cream cheese tasted obnoxiously sweet.

Overall, a good meal with a nice ambience and outstanding service again. Unfortunately, since this restaurant is moving and plans to bring about some changes in the menu, I suggest you visit Medici before it revamps itself. It truly remains one of the finest restaurants in the city.

Food - 8.5/10
Ambience - 9/10
Service - 11/10
Verdict - Definitely visit before they change their menu! :(

P.S. On an unrelated note, I also read here that Bangalore's legendary steakhouse, The Only Place is closing. If it really is shutting down, then do make a visit to The Only Place before this weekend (March 31st) to experience a piece of Bangalore history. Also, visit Medici :)

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

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! :)

Here we go!

Hello, you awesome reader! This happens to be my first post on My Tryst with Food, and I'm super excited!

Like most people, I love food and am a self-proclaimed foodie. I love everything to do with food - cooking it, studying the science and art behind it and of course, eating it. I eat out often and recently began to post photos of dishes I try on my Facebook album where I recommend people what to eat at restaurants and what to conveniently miss.

Since then, many friends (and some strangers) did follow some of my recommendations and insisted I write more in-depth reviews rather than two lines on a Facebook photo. So, here I am! Expect a lot of restaurant reviews, cooking experiments, food stories and read about my tryst with food.

Before I go, here's a photograph for a sneak peek of my first review. Cheers:)