Java City - Jayanagar

I am in Mangalore right now, basking in the joys of being pampered at home. For two weeks now, no cooking, cleaning, running behind junior. All I seem to be doing is gorging on Kuswar (traditional Christmas sweets) and all the yummy things that mom seems to be miraculously bringing out of her kitchen. And so when I today finally logged on to the virtual world, I thought it would be best for me to finish the reviews that I have been hoarding and get on to the Christmas goodies that I just have to showcase here.

Java City in Jayanagar is part of this three-restaurant set-up that comprises, Annabrahma on the first floor and Chung Wah Opus on the the semi-open terrace. Java City on the ground floor has a nice open air space that runs around the entire building and is done up in customary wrought iron seating and green umbrellas. While the pastry counter is at the restaurant entrance, the kitchen is on the other end.

We went there on a weekend for lunch and was surprised that the place was empty except for us. There were two of the wait staff, but it was a good 10 minutes before they approached us. The restaurant was promoting waffles - savory and sweet. So I went for the chicken and cheese waffles while Sudhakar opted for the waffles with blueberry sauce.

Waffles with blueberry sauce

The waffles took a really long time in coming and were a total disappointment. They were definitely not freshly made but rather the heat and eat variety. This could be attributed to the fact that all chain restaurants often have a central kitchen from where food is packaged and dispatched. Mine had one measly slice of chicken folded in half and a slice of cheese. The whole thing was very chewy with absolutely no taste. As for the Sudhakar's, his came with a small cup of blueberry sauce, that sadly did not do anything to up the taste factor.

Chicken and Cheese waffles

For Anoushka we ordered chicken nuggets, which again was a measly lot served with ketchup and mayonnaise. It could easily have been a packet of Venky's or Suggies or Bamburries frozen foods opened up and served. You can't go wrong with fries and thankfully this place didn't.

Chicken nuggets

Fries

To drink, I had a berry and yogurt drink while Sudhakar had a cold coffee, the name of which I don't remember. Both were nice without being spectacular. Funny though that despite Java City being a coffee place, we were told that hot coffees of any type were not available.

Berry yogurt shake

Cold Coffee

Dessert was an apple pie which looked a bit hard when it came. And after the first bite, it was safe to say that I was not wrong. The filling though had more apple than raisins which is hardly the case with Coffee Day which should reconsider naming their apple pie to raisin fest.

Apple Pie

Overall, would prefer the other two restaurants in the building. Service is oh-so-slow and from what we had, the specials are nothing to talk about. The time between ordering and the stuff coming to the table was an eternity and we spent the time rolling over laughing at the typos in the menu. Again the loo here is only the one on Chung Wah Opus.

Address: #63, 18th Cross, 3rd Block, Above Java City, Jayanagar, Bangalore - 11

Phone: 32488588, 32488688

Cuisine: Coffee

Wallet factor: Rs 250 for two

Cards Accepted: Yes

Parking: Nothing exclusive but you should not have any real trouble

Cafe Thulp

And I finally made it here. Cafe Thulp has been recommended to me so often that I lost count. I wanted to go the place with a bigger group so that the review would be a well rounded. So when we decided to have a mini class reunion of the Manipal group, Cafe Thulp seemed to be the best place and everyone agreed. And so it came to be that seven of us and three children made our way there. Picto-review time - saves space and gets to the point faster.

A Sneakers shake with a chunk next to the glass for added blissfulness. Creamy, a bit nutty and absolutely yummy.

El Poco Loco - strips of crumb fried chicken, garlic bread, mashed potatoes and two amazing dips that I haven't totally been able to figure out as yet. The bowl to the left was a creamy spinach dip and the other a honey based vinaigrette topped off with some cardamom. Once all these elements came together, it was all quite yummy.

Pigs on the wing - A BBQ pork sandwich with coleslaw and herbed potatoes. Juicy and yummy and oh-so-difficult for one person to finish

Bella Gamba - Fresh tomato + basil +home cream garlic cheese = one loud burrrp after one great sandwich.

Moos your daddy. There were three versions of this that were brought to our table. One without the works, one with half the works and one with the works - bacon and all. And I am totally proud of my husband who had the one with the works and actually finished the whole thing. A friend Chandy too have ordered this and had it cut in half to share with his wife. Halfway through he forgets that his wife had the other half and started to poke fun at Swaroop and Sudhakar for hardly making it through theirs. A few minutes later however, the joke was on him

Boston Cooler - a float of cola and ice-cream. Swaroop seemed to totally enjoy though I am not one for floats.

Apple and cinnamon yogurt shake. Chunky apple and yogurt blended together with cinnamon dust sprinkled on top. Yummcious!!

Orange and mint yogurt shake. Weird combination of ingredients you may say, but they came together quite well.

Mushroom and potato soup. This was ordered for one of the juniors and turned out to be a disappointment. It was really bland, tasteless and absolutely watery.

Chicken wings with a mayo dip. Hot chicken with a cool dip, perfect combo on a cold night.

French fries with mayo. This set of fries came with the mayo and chilli flakes already mixed in. Thanks to the kids, three rounds of this was ordered.

The Zorba Greek sandwich. Grilled eggplant, tomato, spinach, lettuce, cheese. Who said the veggies eat boring stuff.

Banana and Praline yogurt shake. This yummy drink ensured that we ordered a round of all the yogurt shakes that were on offer

The service is pleasant and so is the seating. The bookshelf, I was really happy to see also had stuff for children, which kept my junior at bay. The loo is unisex and could do with some cleaning up. The wet basin syndrome seemed to persist here as well. The bill was a sizable amount considering what we ordered. We were so stuffed, that desserts were not ordered. It roughly works out to Rs 300 a head. A nice place for a 'filling' meal.

Address: #998, 1st Main, 1st Block, Koramangala, Bangalore

Phone: 40933344 / 9955

Cuisine: Burgers and sandwiches

Wallet factor: Rs 300 for two

Cards Accepted: Yes

Parking: Nothing exclusive, weekends could be trouble

Annabrahma

Whenever I don't feel like cooking but want a full course vegetarian meal, it has always been Nagarjuna at Jayanagar. For the past nine years that we have lived in Jayanagar, we have visited the place at least 4 times a month and more when I was carrying junior. Sudhakar always used to worry that they would charge us more than the regular price, considering I used to eat my share and then what remained in his and still asked for more.

There are lots of places that have interesting variations of the vegetarian meal. You have the ragi rotti meals of Kamath, the jolada (corn) rotti meals of Pai, and of course the pappu (a sambhar of greens) meals at Andhra joints like Nagarjuna and Nandini. So what is different about Annabrahma is that it serves Arya Vyshya food or rather the traditional vegetarian fare that you will find homes of Andhra-ite vegetarians like the Settys.

In terms of location this is the same building as Chung Wah (which is on the semi-open roof) and Java City (a review will follow soon) which is on the open air ground floor. Annabrahma is where Kamath Ahar used to be and the management of all is split between the duo - Rajaram and Raghu Kamath.

Now finally to the food. Before us was placed a steel plate with several partitions, just like most of us had when we were kids. First came a carrot milkshake and some buttermilk. I was quite skeptical about how carrot juice and milk (yes I know gajjar ka halwa, but that is carrot and this was the juice) would go together. But it really did go well together and was yummy.

Carrot milkshake and buttermilk

Next came two sweets - obattu ( a jaggery stuffed pancake) and pineapple sheera. Anoushka demolished the obattu and I saved the sheera for after dinner. Am still not used to the sweets before dinner habit.

Obattu and pineapple sheera

Next came a round of savouries - hot and crisp onion bajjis, sandige (fried crispies) and chaklis. Needless to say, Anoushka was the happiest. The four partitions were filled up with a chutney, tendli or tondekai palya (small gherkins), a raita and a kosambari (cucumber dish). The roti of the day was that of toor dal, a first for me. Yummy is the verdict for all.

Crispies and below with all the veggies and the rotti

Next came my all-time south indian favorite - the bisi bele bath with the crispies. It was hot and absolutely hit the spot.

Bisi bele bath and below the same, just because I took two photos

This was followed by rice with a greens sambhar and then again with rasam which was dal based. Both good, but rather on the sweeter side for me. I am more of the chilli and pickle types and if you put both together I will be the happiest.

Rice with the greens sambhar and below with the dal based rasam

The meal was thoroughly satisfying and has now taken the official place of Nagarjuna when it comes to comfort meals. The menu changes all the time and you will have ragi rottis, rava rottis, a change in the chutneys as well as the rice dishes in place of the bisi bele bath that we had. The drinks to vary with coconut water, jal jeera, kokum and other such being served. Same goes for the sweets. In Rajaram's words, the restaurant was created more out of passion for such food. And the hope is that people will take to it. From the looks of the people who were eating there that night, I would say that Annabrahma has hit the right notes.

Service is very friendly and you could ask for as much of anything as you wanted. The meal was Rs 11o a head which is pretty good considering the number of items on offer. There is only one loo for the entire establishment and that's in Chung Wah. A nice place for a nice meal.

Address: #63, 18th Cross, 3rd Block, Above Java City, Jayanagar, Bangalore - 11

Phone: 32488588, 32488688

Cuisine: Arya Vyshya

Wallet factor: Rs 220 for two

Cards Accepted: Yes

Parking: Nothing exclusive but you should not have any real trouble

Burger Nite!!

A long time ago in a far away distant mystical land called The Kitchen a strange man visited. He wasn’t familiar of the land’s customs and strange ways. Yet he wanted to blend in and make its citizens happy by preparing for them a burger. After a lot of research and failed attempts…to think of a recipe, he decided to take a trip to Spar Hypermarket. The trip cleared his head and his wallet, but now he had the burger in his head. Just a matter of time till it ended up in his stomach. But there was just one problem. As unfamiliar he was to the strange ways of The Kitchen, he was even stranger to the ways of working with meat. “Hey! I love them dead and well done.” He always said. So he seduced one of the wise ones of The Kitchen and married her. She showed him all the secrets of “preparing the chicken” for the burger. Apparently, the meat has to be boneless and has to be chopped fine. Almost shredded. After which it has to be boiled till it became chunky.

Chopped and Shredded Chicken

After it is boiled

Then add some chopped onions, garlic, oregano, chili powder, garam masala, and coriander powder and fry it in Extra Virgin Olive oil.

The Pre-mix

The mix

Mix it in some mayonnaise. This makes one part of the filling. In Spar, apart from buying his secret ingredients (??!!) mentioned above he also bought some salami. You can also use some luncheon meat if salami is not available. The buns (Tee! Hee! Cracks me up every time I say that word!) also were prepared in a special way. Heat some finely chopped garlic in butter and toast the sliced buns (har! har!) on it. Place the lettuce leaf on the bun (HAA! HAA!!) and place the mayo mixed filling on it. Place the salami/luncheon meat on top of that and an onion and a tomato slice on the top. Serve it with some really tasty potato smiley (will make the effort worth it!!)

Preparing the Buns (Tee! Hee!)

Ze Burger!!

Chung Wah Opus

Our friend Shubhada dropped in unexpectedly one evening last week. Its been a while since we got together and after a nice gossip session she suggested we go out for dinner. I am not the one to say no, so we called our respective husbands and asked them to be there. It was settled that we would go to Chung Wah Opus. Its been quite a while since we went there. The management of Rajaram and Raghu Kamath are a friendly duo and people still talk of the great birthday party we had for Anoushka at the then Kamath Ahar below Chung Wah Opus.

We got there all bundled up. Chung Wah Opus is semi-open to the elements and its can get a bit chilly. Have always loved the wooden decor and the courteous staff. We were seated at the same place we always sat. This meal, I knew was going to be interesting because one side of the table with our friends, would be entirely vegetarian without even a hint of eggs. And the other side - us - was going to be a carnivorous side.

Lime soda

We decided to go all the way and ordered soups and starters in veg and non-veg. Soups were Tom Yum chicken soup and sweet corn soup. Starters were vegetarian spring rolls and chicken on crispy spinach. The soups were both nice but I felt the Tom Yum could have done with some more lemony zing something on the lines of the delicious one at Noble House.

Tom Yum Chicken Soup

Sweet Corn Soup

As for the starters - the vegetarian rolls were amply stuffed with vegetables with a nice crisp and hot exterior. The sweet and sour garlic sauce served with it, is a recipe I am hunting for. We have had the chicken on crispy spinach before and have always liked it. The spiciness of the chicken is offset by the slight sweetness of the crisp spinach. Am even happier since I got Anoushka to eat all the spinach calling it "green chips".

Vegetarian Spring Rolls

Chicken on crispy spinach

Main courses for the vegetarians was a choice of noodles - am not sure of the name but would go with the vegetarian mixed fried noodles and vegetable balls in hot garlic sauce. We went in for the double cooked lamb and Chung Wah Fried Rice in Veg. All of the dishes without doubt were good. Quantities are good value for money and we did end up with pretty decent sized doggy bags for our imaginary pet back home.

Double Cooked Lamb

Vegetable Balls in Hot Garlic Sauce

Mixed Vegetable Noodles?!

Chung Wah Fried Rice

Desserts we were told could also be brought from the Java City downstairs which is also part of the same management. We ordered the walnut cake and the darsan with ice-cream. The walnut cake was so-so. And for some strange reason the darsan had lime juice squeezed on it which did not really make it appetizing enough to go with the ice-cream. Those eating it left it largely untouched.

Darsan with ice-cream

Walnut cake

Service at this place is nice and they also have party halls at which you can hold decent sized dos. The ladies loo is clean whereas the guys will need some work done on theirs. Home delivery is also available from this place. But if they are really looking at competition I think they should sample the fare at Noble House as part of their recce. The bill I am not sure of since our vegetarian friends decided that the treat was on them. But I would safely put it at Rs 750 for two.

Address: #63, 18th Cross, 3rd Block, Above Java City, Jayanagar, Bangalore - 11

Phone: 32488588, 32488688

Cuisine: Chinese/Thai

Wallet factor: Rs 750 for two

Cards Accepted: Yes

Parking: Nothing exclusive but you should not have any real trouble

Choco World

This chocoholics nook is small place in the same line as Mulani Opticals in Jayanagar 3rd Block. It is just before Sapna Book House and Nandhini. This brown little place of choco sin peddles its wares from what used to earlier be a handicrafts store. A little chit-chat with the owners brought out the fact that handicrafts had been their earlier venture.

The place is small and is packed with all forms of chocolate. I wouldn't say that they have chocolates that you won't find elsewhere, but they do have a lot of different chocolates under the same roof. Every mentionable foreign brand has found its way the shelves here. Foxes, Hershey's, Lindt, After Eights, Ferrero Rocher and so many more.

There is also a whole range of Ooty chocolates which you can pick up by the kilo. You have them in mixed flavors of chocolate in combination with others, sugar-frees, those that have strawberry or mint or orange or nuts in the centre.

There are also chocolates in a whole range of shapes and sizes. Chocolate bouquets are available starting from Rs 800 and going up. There are also gift tiles which with few days notice can be customized to spell out your name or the name of a loved one. They also spell out wishes for birthdays and anniversaries.

There is also a whole range of lollipops and other kiddie favorites. The couple in charge are a portly pair and not really the types who know how to sell the stuff they have. They are courteous and will answer all your queries, but its up to you to find a good deal.

Infintea

I visited Infinitea a long time ago, when the concept was first introduced in Bangalore. A place where tea and not coffee took precedence. And when I say tea, it is much much more than the milk and sugar variety. Umesh, a visitor on the blog suggested I visit the place and I must really thank him for his suggestion. When I first went to Infinitea all those years ago, they did not have much a of menu when it came to food. But this time round was really different.

We decided to sit on the mezzanine floor at a comfy corner table. The tea menu was given to us separately much like a bar menu. Sudhakar, a staunch coffee drinker decided to try the strong flavored pomegranate ice tea. It was really nice ice tea with a reaaallly strong flavor of pomegranate. I decided to have one of the bitter teas - Enigma. To me it looked like scotch on the rocks and was really nice to sip on.

Strong flavored pomegranate ice tea

Enigma - bitter tea

Starters was Dragon Puppets which was fritters of mashed potatoes and chicken, crumb fried and served with a tangy salsa. There was an equal proportion of mashed potatoes and chicken, which you don't really find in places that offer these kinds of dishes.

Dragon Puppets

For main course, I ordered the first thing on the menu, Chicken a la Kiev. It was just too tempting to pass by. The description of garlic encased in chicken, served with mashed potatoes and garlic bread was too wonderful to let up. What came was a wonderful crumb fried case of chicken, mashed potatoes and garlic. Once the knife went through, there were rivulets of seasoned butter flowing out. The case was a little tough on the knife but overall the taste was fantastic.

Chicken a la Kiev

Chicken a la Kiev with rivulets of buttery goodness

Sudhakar ordered the Pesce Florentine which was fillet of fish spread on spinach mashed potatoes and topped off with a garlic white wine sauce and baked in cheese. Absolutely and sinfully fantastic. How I managed to convince hubby dear to exchange plates in between the meal beats me.

Pesce Florentine

Dessert was the Italian trifle jam sponge which was custard creme topped off with chocolate shavings. I am assuming it was heavenly because junior polished it off to the last morsel.

Italian Trifle Pudding

To round off the meal we decided to have a pot of Pearls of the Mountain. These are teas that are fermented and rolled into balls that unfurl when they are dropped in boiling water. The boiling water and an hour glass is brought to the table and the pearls are tipped in, in front of you. You can actually see them open up and all the color and flavor spread in the pot.

Pearls of the Mountain just when the pearls were tipped in

When the process was almost done

Infinitea, in my opinion stands tall among all the coffee places in Bangalore. It has that little something that seems to be missing in all the places that peddle the same type of coffee under different names. Service is quick and you know the waiters are well versed with the menu when they can complete the name of your order with just one word out of your mouth. The loo is unisex and clean. The bill came to Rs 1100 which was well worth every penny.

Address: #2, Shah Sultan Complex, Cunningham Road, Bangalore - 38

Phone: 41148428, 30941516

Cuisine: Vast Varieties of Tea and continental fare

Wallet factor: Rs 500 per head with 2 two teas, starters, main course & dessert. Only for 'tea'totallers

Cards Accepted: Yes

Parking: Nothing exclusive and can be a little tough especially on weekends