Temple Meals - Truly wholesome awesome veggie meal

JP's score card 
Taste - 4/5, Service - 4/5, Ambience - 3/5, Value for money - 4/5

In most of my blogs, I have often admitted my love for meals served on banana leaf. I enjoy the meals served in traditional south Indian weddings. In Karnataka/Tamilnadu/Andhra/Telegana weddings are gala affair, you will find meals being served on banana leaf in batches of hundreds. Each meal consist of minimum 5-6 courses. Normally you won't find such meals outside of weddings, but recently many restaurants are attempting to fill this gap. Temple meals is one such restaurant. They serve full 5 course meal karnataka brahmin style veggie meals. They don't use onion and garlic in cooking. I had been to this place with my family....

Taste – 4/5
If you are veggie you would love it, if your are brahmin and veggie you will love love it. If you are non-veg you will know why you should try vegetarian healthy meals. I loved loved it. Super super tasty. Meals is served on the bannana leaf, it was full 5 course meal
1st Course Mango pickle, boiled moong kosambari, hurali kal chutney, bende kai palya, moong dal payasam, mysore pak, methi chapathi, arave sagu and capsicum bajji. The chapathi was little hard and not hot.
2nd Course Rice-Thave and ghee is served. Thave is kind of Dal. It was super tasty.
3rd Course Rice and white pumpkin sambar, I love this kind of sambar
4rd Course Rice and Rasam, this was my most favorite, the rasam had all the tastes combined together. The tanginess from tamarind, sweetness from jaggery was well balanced.
5th Course  Rice and curd, this is not my favorite, but it always good to end your meal with curd rice for good digestion.

pickle, boiled moong kosambari, hurali kal chutney, bende kai palya, moong dal payasam, mysore pak, methi chapathi, arave sagu, capsicum bajji	Rice-Thave-ghee
Banana leaf all set for serving	rice-pumpkin sambar,

Service – 4/5
I bought 3 meals from the ground floor counter. The meals are served in the first floor. There is one guy who co-ordinates the whole process. I handed over the coupons to this guy and he will get you seated. Until the row is filled the service won't start. The serving is done in batches just like in marriage. This guy keeps ringing the temple bell every few mins. The service starts once a row is filled. They will first place the banana leaf and water. Once the service starts, to begin with the first course is served like a clockwork and after every few minutes the other courses follow. The coordinator guy seemed to be bit rude and while rest of service team seemed nice. They used serve if asked extra like sambar, playa. Overall efficient service team, you will be done with your meals in about 30mins

Ambience - 3/5
They have tried to give a feel of eating in temple environment with marriage hall like seating environment. It has two rows of seating like the serving hall seen in marriage halls and one row like restaurant style. There is big temple bell at the entrance, the coordinator keeps ringing this bell every few minutes. You will also hear background music like sounds from a temple environment. Guess the idea was to give you a feeling of eating in temple service hall. If you don't like crowded and confined place then you may not like this place

Temple bell and entrance to kitchen	Counter for service team
Temple and Kitchen door	First floor entrance view

Value for money - 4/5
Definitely, full course healthy vegetarian meal and all for Rs. 90/-

Menu that beckons you

Temple meals on the first floor

Overall verdict - 4/5
Highly recommend this place for it healthy meals and people who crave for marriage like meals when no one you know is getting married or getting married but not inviting you for that meal :) Enjoy folks, eat healthy, live healthy....

Malleshwaram Dosa Corner – The little Dosa jewel

JP's score card
Taste - 4/5, Service - 4/5, Ambience - 3/5, Value for money - 4/5

I had read about this place in some article, since then I had searched for this place on google maps and then bookmarked it on Zomato. I wanted to visit this place from quite some time. I am kind of Self-proclaimed Masala Dosa enthusiast and go around searching for, looking and trying places serving best Masala Dosas. Benguluru is heaven dosa, we got every creative with dosa, you will get any types of Dosa that you could ever possibly imagine. Of all kinds of Dosa, one variety of dosa which got pretty popular is Davangare Benne Masala Dosa. This particular point is known for making and serving Davangare Benne Masala Dosas. I ordered 4 Davangare Benne Masala Dosa, 1 to have there and 3 for parcel. My this blog about this whole experience.

Taste – 4/5
Davangare Benne Masala Dosa, the name itself is enough to make your mouth flood. The dosa was crispy on the bottom, soft on the top, butter had done it trick to turn this normal batter into a tasty, crispy, soft dosa. The coconut chutney is super super spicy, for weak hearted be cautious about the hotness. Aloo playa served with davangare Benne Masala Dosa is normally whitish in color. You are supposed to eat with the super-spicy chutney and aloo palya. No sambar is served and it does not go well with dosa as well. It was super super tasty. For people who are calorie conscious, this would kill your diet plan for next one week. Forget about any diet and just immersed into this buttery dosa. 

Service – 4/5 I ordered 4 Davangare Benne Masala Dosa, 1 to have there and 3 for parcel. I was given 4 coupons, this is self-service joint. I handed over the coupons to the dosa maker at the kitchen and became witness to awesome Davangare Benne Masala dosa making. He cleaned up the oven, adjusted the heat and poured 4 cups of dosa batter, while it was cooking he took handful of butter and dropped dollops of butter generously on the dosas, next he applied the read chutney, while it roasted crisping on the bottom, he again added more dollops of butter, I was like what the butter. Now finally he added the lump of coconut chutney and plain aloo palya. He nicely rolled the dosa and plunked it on the plate in front of me. I eagerly took the plate and devoured it. The dosas for the parcel was rolled into an aluminum foil, placed in a brown bag and was handed over to me.

Ambience - 3/5  It is small joint, size of a big room, end of the room serves as the open kitchen and serving counter. There is seating for about 10 people. Simple place with no frills, it is all about Dosa. I call such place little jewel, there are many such jewels in Malleshwaram area.

Value for money - 4/5 
Definitely, value for money, the priciest dosa cost Rs. 50/- which is Davangare Benne Masala dosa, they serve other dosas like plain dosa, open dosa etc.

Overall verdict - 4/5 
Highly recommend this place for all those masala dosas for its Davangare Benne Masala dosa with dollops of butter.

Barbeque Nation - Crown king in the world of BBQ

JP's scorecard
Ambience - 5/5, Taste - 5/5, Service - 5/5, Value for money - 5/5.

Clearly a winner, trendsetter, crown king in the world of BBQs. The restaurant which introduced the concept of barbeques to the Bengalureans and to India. At the time of writing this blog, they had about 95+ outlets spread across 40+ cities in India. Indiranagar outlet is the oldest and the very first for Bengaluru, It is the 2nd outlet from which BBQ Nation started its journey. They were kind of trendsetter for the live grill concept, service & food after which many followed successfully. We are group of 15+ people meet out for team lunch.


Taste - 5/5

Barbequed Non-veg and veg starters skewers 90% cooked is served on the live grill on the table. We could eat as it is or brush the skewers with various sauces kept on the table and grill it further to your taste. It is food experience to try, for non-veg starters we were served fish / prawn / chicken skewers. I loved the fish and prawn the best. It was soft, well cooked and succulent. I went for several repeats of fish and prawn. On the plate we were served chicken drumstick and mutton seekh kebab.

For veg starters we were served paneer, mushroom, pineapple skewers and there was gulab jamoon on the skewer as well. First time I was trying jamoon on the skewer, it kind of tasted different with mixed flavors teasing our taste buds with sweetness, smokiness, grilled and spicy

Drinks  Few set of drinks/mocktails were complimentary, I went for Apple squash. There were several other options like sweet and salt lime soda, soft beverages etc

Main course For the main course, there were soups, salads, veg and non-veg curries, for the day there was chicken curry, malabar fish curry, mutton curry, chicken biryani and multiple other options which I could not try. The roti basket is served on the table.

Desserts For the desserts, I started from the live kulfi counter, there were multiple options. I went for pan kulfi. It is kulfi with pan flavor plus addons. Then I had brownie, gulab jamoon with ice-cream, brownie, pastries and payasam.

Barbeque Skewer	My plate with cajun spicy baby potato and prawn
Mocktail Apple drink	Chicken Biryani,  Fish / Chicken / Mutton curry
Dessert counter	Brownie
Pan kulfi	Desserts :)
Kulfi counter	My Pan kulfi getting ready

Ambience - 5/5Nice ambience, this is one the first outlet in bengaluru and 2nd outlet of Barbeque Nation before they started expanding all over the country. They have live grill on the table, which is kept there till the starters are served. Indiranagar outlet has ground floor, 1st floor and I guess terrace seating. Wooden tables with matching chairs. There is no parking space in this area. They do have valet parking service.

Service - 5/5One of the best service, vegetarians are given plates with green border and non-vegetarians got plain white plate. Service team explained the concept of Barbeque, we get to have the starters non-stop until the small flag on the table is turned down. After the starters, for the main course there is counter set at the back behind which we could see the kitchen. They have live kulfi counter serving varieties of kulfi. There is dessert counter that is filled multiple options ranging from fruits, pastries, cakes, ice creams, gulab jamoon and payasam. If you are celebrating a birthday or any occasion, you can inform the service team. They will arrange for a complimentary cake and sing the birthday song.

Value for money - 5/5Definitely value for family for big eaters, you can eat non-stop :) For us we were given the mock-tails complementary and also got about 1000 rupees discount. The bigger the group, the bigger the discounts. This place is best suited for celebrations with bigger groups.

Overall verdict - 5/5Highly recommend this place for its Barbeque, service, value for money. Perfect place for celebrations, get-together with family and friends. The bigger the group the better.

Toit - Benguluru's Best brewpub

JP's scorecard Taste - 5/5, Service - 4/5, Ambience - 5/5, Value for money - 5/5. 

It was get-together with friends, after much debate and deliberations we choose to meet at Toit. We were looking for place close to metro station and best pub in the business. Toit was our choice. If you are a bengulurean and like to hangout with friends over good food and drink, you must have heard of this place or must have visited this place. Toit has reached legendary status since it began its operation in 2010. Let me directly get into the experience..

Appetizers All the starters were good, tasty and there was enough quantity. All of the appetizers went well with the drinks

Cajun Potato Wedges (5/5) - Potato wedges was crispy on the outside and soft on the inside. It had been deep fried to perfection and sprinkled with chili powder & Toit's own spices. We good feel the aroma of fresh chili powder. Wedges were served with delicious mayonnaise Lemon fried chicken (5/5)  - Wow, this was one of the best fried chicken with lemon flavor. There were 5 pieces of chicken. It had thin layer of the coating deep fried, it was crispy and soft. It was served along with coleslaw salad and burnt garlic mayo sauce. Onion Rings (5/5) - Perfect rings of onion deep fried to perfection and served with sweet garlic chili sauce. Onion rings was big and crunchy Toit Baked Nachos (4/5) - Broken pieces of baked nachos served with cheese, baked beans and salsa. Nachos tasted different, can't say if it was made from corn Jerk chicken skewers (5/5) -  6 skewers of chicken, the pieces were juicy and cooked will. Each stick had about 4 pieces of chicken. Served with scallion dip. Prawns Harissa (5/5) - This was my starter of the day, prawns cooked with tasty aromatic looking sauce and served with garlic flavored mayonnaise  Chicken Picatta (4/5) - Similar to chicken popcorn Cocktails / Mock tails / Beer (5/5) Sample beer tray of 6 beers - I could this see tray on almost every table, guess this is like default that everyone orders. You are served with 6 varieties of in house brewed chilled beer. You could taste the lightest to strong variety of beer Main course Pasta (5/5) - We ordered penne pasta with Arrabbiata sauce with chicken. There was enough quantity for 2 people. Penne was cooked with the red sauce and strips of chicken.

Dessert Brownie trifle (5/5) - This was the day's special menu dessert, layers of cream, chocolate sauce, fried Oreo biscuits and brownie. It was a perfect way to end our drinks and food.

Ambience (5/5) - One of the best ambience, it has the typical English style pub interiors. It is 2 storey wooden structure, first floor houses the brewery, seating facing the brewery, bar counter and seating arrangement. There is wooden stairs which takes you to the first floor and from here you get the view of the microbrewery setup. The aroma from brewery spreads around creating an appetizing environment. We got seated on the first floor just in front of the bar counter. They also have pet friendly seating.

Service (4/5) - One of the best service, right from the time of making the reservation till the time we left the pub it was a seamless experience. This place is always full, so make sure your reservation in advance. If you are planning to reserve for fri-sun night make sure you book at least 3-4 days in advance. I booked for Saturday 12pm. You get a SMS once your booking is confirmed by Toit team. We got the table on the first floor, F32 to be precise. It was designated non-smoking area. We started with appetizers, cocktails and beer. Our orders came thick and fast. Service team is polite, courteous and responsive to your requests. This place does not have its own parking, but they do have valet parking option. Best way to reach is through metro.

Value for money (5/5) I was satisfied with price given the overall experience, the starters had enough quantity and reasonably priced, fantastic ambience setting for long chat with friends and family over food and drinks, we chatted for over 4 hrs

Overall verdict (5/5) - Must visit if you want to get the experience of best pub in bengaluru. Highly recommend this place for meeting friends, colleagues, clients and even family.