United Sports Bar & Grill - A perfect place to unwind

Me and my husband (Dhempe) visited the new sports bar in town the other day -"The United Sports Bar & Grill" along with other friends. It being the World Cup football season, the place was packed though it was a weekday. This place is located at the Phenoix Market City, Mahadevapura, Whitefield, Bangalore.

The ambience of the bar was sporty and apropos with the title of the place. A huge screen to display the matches and many sports items were used as decor for the interiors.

                             

                       

    

Chef Vijay Pradhan, the corporate chef of the bar, gave us word that we would have the best of the food and drinks.

                                        My friend Nivedith with Chef Pradhan 

We were offered some refreshing coolers and moijtos to start with.  Schezwaan Paneer bites were served first.They are made with paneer and were crispy; tossed with Schezwaan sauce, onion and pepper. They were amazing - I haven't tasted anything of that kind in recent times.

                      

      

And in the non vegetarian fare, my favourite prawns were served in a different way. Definetly Fire Cracker Prawns were the show stopper among all the appetisers served.  The taste was an absolute delight. It was smokey beneath the plate with prawns wrapped in wonton sheet and marinated with chili paste.

                       

And coming to the main part of the meal - the main course. Thai red curry and green curry were served along with rice which made me remember my tour of Pattaya and Bangkok. Both the preparations were authentic and flavoursome.

                  

                          

                           

   

The exciting part of my meal was the dessert. I feel that no meal is complete without a dessert. Chocolate Volcano; soaked chocolate fondant with vanilla ice cream was served and it was a doozie.

              

                          

                         

   

Overall a sporty experience with good food and fun. A perfect spot to unwind one self! 

My rating is 4/5

Phone: +91 8045133495. Reservation recommended. 

Address :

The United Sports Bar & Grill , Phenoix Market City, Whitefield, Bangalore.

Matsuri...... A festival of food

Matsuri is a Japanese word for a festival or holiday.  Matsuri Restaurant at The Chanceory Hotel, Lavelle Road precisely goes with the name as it is a festival of Japanese Cusine.  I was invited by them  to taste their food. The interiors were in sync with the Japanese culture.

               

                              

We started over with some beverages and they were quite tasty and promising that the is more fun with food ahead.

                          

                            

As Joe Moore said  "Appetizers are the little things you keep eating until you lose your appetite" and we were appeasing our thirst. 

                              

Yakitori momo tare, (choice of skewed chicken with sweetened soya sauce), Ten Don ( rice tossed with tempura prawns and vegetables served with tempura sauce, grilled fish with sweetened soya sauce and chicken wings were among the starters served.

The other starters we got to taste were grilled squid rings, Ebi no Tempura ( batter fried prawns), Dashi Maki Tomago (sliced Mirin sweetened roll omelette); they were quite variant.

                             

     

And for the vegetarians there were not many choices. The one which I liked the most was Kappa Maki ( rolled cucumber sushi)

                           

                            

And in the main course we had customised food prepared by the chef for us. Vegetable Noodles, chicken noodles and vegetable garlic fried rice were served to us; the flavour was definitely unique.

                     

                            

    A food voyage worth a visit.

My rating is 4/5

Address : The Chancery Hotel, Lavelle Road, Bangalore 

Ph no 080 41188888, 080 22276767

Timings :12 noon to 3 PM and 6 PM TO 11.00 PM

Head over heels for Espetada

South African casual dining restaurant chain Nando's specializes in flame grilled Peri-Peri Chicken. Peri Peri is a hot and fiery sauce from the Afro-Portuguese cuisine. It is made from Piri Piri, a type of bird’s eye chili from Africa. 

                          

Nando’s sells chicken livers, Espetada (a large stand with a skewer of chicken thighs and grilled peppers) and Cataplana (a chicken and rice dish served in a traditional Portuguese copper dish).

                         

Nando's Espetada Carnival adventure was an international campaign launch and Father's Day celebrations were roped in as a part of the Espetada Carnival itself as it fell during the campaign time.       

            

Espetada carnival meal is Flame grilled peri peri chicken thighs stuffed with garlic, parsley and feta skewered with mixed peppers and served with a side of butternut squash and grilled corn, PERi chips and mango sangria. The dish served presented on a skewer which hangs from a hook on a stand. 

                       

                              Paneer (veg version of Espetada)

   

Mango Sangria was served to go along with it.  We just loved the combo.  I tried Espetada for the first time and fell head over heels for it. An array of Mocktails were served to us to relish. Citrus Bliss, Madeira Red, Poncha Zura, Refresh Mint and the list goes on.

                            

                         

The vegetarian menu looked very promising and I give a thumbs up for it as they have got apeteasers, Peri Veg, Salads, Pitas, Burgers and Wraps.

Nando's Brand Manager Sambhavi and I exchanged our views on food as she took me and my fellow blogger friends through a journey about their brand.

I recommend this place for a spicy yet delightful experience with a lovely ambiance.

My rating is 3.75/5 

Address 

1 A, Off Brigade Road,Church Street, Bangalore

Teppanyaki -- The hidden tradition

Teppanyaki is a style of Japanese cusine that uses an iron griddle to cook food. The word teppanya is derived from teppan, which means iron plate, and yaki which means grilled, broiled, or pan-fried. In Japan, teppanyaki refers to dishes cooked using an iron plate, including steak, Shrimp, okonomiyaki, yakisoba and monjayaki.

I was invited by Teppan, Japanese Grill and Sushi Bar at Ulsoor to try them. I was trying Japanese cuisine for the first time and I didn't want to eat sushi as I always felt it was bizarre to eat raw food.  Chef Joseph promised us that there is lot more than sushi in the Japanese cuisine.

                        

                                Peach and Orange, Passion fruit Cranberry

We started off with sparklers like Peach and Orange, Passion fruit and cranberry without alcohol; they were absolute delight.  The restaurant ambience goes well with the cuisine it is serving.

We were recommended to try Teppan specialities like Meat lover maki, Tuna Batera Maki, Crispy California. As I am a big fanatic of chicken, I loved the Meat lover Maki; crumb fried chicken rolled with sushi vinegered rice.

                          

                                 Meat lover Maki

Chef June was introduced to us and we were told that he is proficient in Teppanyaki; he wrote his name on the iron griddle with egg which was amazing and soon began to juggle with his knives, a bit scary though but we enjoyed it.

    

                           

                                  Chef June juggling with his knives

The other items on the menu that we tasted were Garlic egg fried rice and assorted grilled vegetables with noodles; the taste was distinct and appetising.  

                           

                          

                                 Assorted grilled vegetables with noodles

Garlic egg fried rice is not a complicated dish. The basic ingredients are Japanese steamed rice, tonnes of garlic minces, egg, spring onion and of course their secret sauces. The taste was palatable and mouth watering.

              

                            

                                 Garlic egg fried rice

We ended our meal with some Japanese desserts.

                              

   It was a good experience and the dinner session was quite interactive with the chef.

My rating is 3.5/5 

Address : 2nd Floor, 1/3, Ulsoor Road, Ulsoor, Bangalore.

Ph no 080-32569029

Timings :12 Noon to 3 PM, 7 PM to 11 PM

Oriental Street Food in the heart of Bangalore

PVR the brand which needs no introduction in the film entertainment industry, has started its services in the hospitality industry as well. Mr. Hong, the all day dining oriental cuisine restaurant was launched in January and started its full operations in the Orion Mall.

         

Asian food is always one of the best foods in the world and it will be even better when we enjoy those foods in a restaurant with beautiful Asian restaurant interiors.

 Mr.Hong's interiors gives a mood of a tea house similar to the ones in the South East Asian countries.  There were sauces, Chinese Porcelain Products etc. for display. I was in love with the large lamp shades placed on either sides of the owners of our bloggers tables.

           

                       

         

As soon as we settled, we were served the authentic Jasmine tea and later on some mocktails.  I ordered for Mr.Hong's signature cooler made with Apple, mint and ginger and was very refreshing cool.

                 

                                                                   

                                

                                                               Apple, Ginger and Mint cooler

Asian soups are traditionally prepared and consumed in the cultures of Asia. Such soups are usually based solely on broths and lacking in dairy products such as milk or cream.  The soup served to us was Tom Yum Chicken soup.  It is a hot and sour soup made with authentic Thai flavours of coriander, fish sauce, chilli and basil. I liked the flavour of the soup and it was appetising.

                                   

          

              Tom Yum Chicken Soup

Dim sum is usually linked with the older tradition from yum cha (tea tasting), which has its roots in travelers on the ancient Silk Road. It refers to a style of Cantonese food prepared as small bite-sized or individual portions of  food traditionally served in small steamer baskets or on small plates.  Dimsums served to us were hot and cooked to perfection.

                

          

               Chicken Dim sum

The head Chef Amit prepared a unique item called pickled lotus stem for the vegetarians. It has got a huge amount of nutritional value besides being tasty.  The other served were Kung Po Chicken, Wok fried string beans with shredded chicken, Crispy Chinese scallion sesame buns etc..

                

                             

A delicious dinner is great, but dessert makes it better.  Peach cobbler with butterscotch ice cream was served and it was finished swiftly.

                            

      

      Peach cobbler with butterscotch icecream 

As the restaurant is newly opened the is lot of room for improvement on service part.  I felt it could have been much faster. Having said that I would also like to mention about Mr Rakesh Gurung, an expert in the F&B operations in the hospitality industry; took care of us and made us feel comfortable and ease.

On the whole a perfect evening spent at a cozy place and I would definitely recommend all my friends to visit it.

I give 3.5/5 as my rating.

Address : 

Orion Mall, Dr. Rajkumar Road, Near Yeshwantpur, Malleshwaram, Bangalore

Ph no : 080 22682240

Timings : 11 AM to 11 PM.

                  

Lounging at Loft 38

Bangalore being the IT Hub of India always had people move to the city for jobs and apparently there was a need for pubs and restaurants to dine out with family and friends.  Loft 38 was the new to add on to the list.

I was ardently awaiting to visit Loft 38, the new talk of the town in Indiranagar. I was stoked to have got the invitation.                           

       

The Aura of Loft 38 is vintage and captivating; making it a must do in anybody and everybody's list. It is spread across ground plus two floors making the place ample and capacious. The neon hue lighting gives a blissful feeling being there.                           

The starters served to us had a pleasant and distinct flavour from around the world.  What I liked the most in the starters was the Curry Leaf Chicken; chicken tossed in curry leaf and spicy onion tomato mix and it tantalized my taste buds.  The menu has also got variant cocktails and mocktails. My favorite mocktail was Melon Soother which was Honey Dew Melon, Lime Juice, Orange Juice & Apricot. 

                          

And in the vegetarian we got to taste the various sorts of starters which included Nachos, Spicy Falafel, Ginger Corn, Crispy Greens Etc. My favorite was Mezze Platter which is displayed below which is Hummus, babaganoush, tzatziki, falafel, marinated olives, kidney bean salad, syrian fattotush, pita and crackers. This was really yummy. 
     

I always craved for burgers and in search of some juicy and tasty burgers. I tried out the Chicken and Jalapeno burger which had minced chicken and jalapenos in a homemade bun. The burger served was succulent and palatable.  

      

After the scrumptious meal, fellow bloggers and I were itching for some desserts. Philadelphia Cheese Cake was a melt in the mouth.This was baked cheese cake with blueberry compote. It was heavenly and I craved for seconds! 

The staff took care of my baby; they were very courteous and kind.  On the whole a stupendous experience with my baby and husband. I would strongly recommend this pace for a lounging experience.

I rate this place as 3.75/5 with good food, ambience and live DJ music.

Address:

100 Feet Road, HAL 2nd Stage, Appareddipalya, Indiranagar, Bangalore

Tangerine ---- Contenment to the mind

I was fascinated by the name of this restaurant and was intrigued to know what's in store for me.  It wouldn't be a lie if i say that the ambience was simple yet very soothing.

                          

                         

Fellow bloggers and I were craving for some beverages as it was a hot summer evening.  Strawberry daiquiri, Blue Hawaiian, Tangerine Fizz, Tropical Dream, and of course the regular fresh lime water/ soda were served.
                           

                           

                                            

                             

My fellow bloggers relished the Tropical Dream and Blue Hawaiian cocktails where as I opted for a non alcoholic drink.

Though I was not a fanatic of vegetarian starters i really liked the Corn Fritters served which were made with corn and all purpose flour.  They were distinctive and refreshing.  Potato skin veg, crab cake were among the starters too.
                               

                              

Sizzlers like Jamaican jerk chicken with mango salsa, fillet of fish York and Steak Peruvia were served in the main course to the non vegetarians; Paneer and corn cutlet, Vegetable Shaslik and Fricassee of mushroom and corn were served to vegetarians.

                                                       

                               

I enjoyed the Jamaican jerk chicken with mango salsa and it appealed to my taste buds as it has got the Jamaican jerk seasoning ; the sweet and tangy taste of mango making it a wholesome meal.

                                                                 

                               

 And the most rousing part; death by chocolate was the dessert served and chocolate lovers were absolutely delighted.

                              

I would recommend this place for gratifying ambience and pleasurable experience.

Overall rating 3.5/5

Location : 52, 100 Feet Road, Koramangala, Bangalore

For reservations call 080 41152678/41152679

Timings : 11AM to 3.30 PM, 7 PM to 11 PM