Jalsa

The word means “celebration”. The place is symbolic of the same. It’s more about celebrating the “royalty” in each person. That’s the exact impression I carried back. For its true, you are treated like royalty out there (if you ignore the fact that all the staff is dressed in resplendent Mughal outfits, shiny brocade, pearls, headdress, et al while you are in your favorite jeans and sandals :-p).

What struck me first is that the place is very, very spacious. Very surprising in Bangalore, but then it’s located so far away (which is one of the few drawbacks I found). You are greeted at the door, into an extremely vast room, after which you are given a very nice private cozy spot, irrespective of the crowd (we were seated in a nook by a lattice window: D), oh and yes, the cozy spots come curtained with glass-bead curtains. Very glitzy, very kitsch, over the top, but pure fun! Right from the cutlery down to the restrooms, no glitz is spared, although it does add an interesting touch to the whole ambience and experience.

The food definitely is something one can eat and talk about for a while. Specialty Indian drinks like the Casis Cooler (Blackcurrant syrup with lime cordial – full points to this!) and the sweet lassi proved to be an instant hunger stimulant – one sip, and you wanted more from the kitchen! Things just got better one the Karela salad arrived. Four extremely talkative ladies didn’t have a word or second to spare – we were too busy digging in. The Murgh Achari Tikka and Panner Kurkuri, though were a tad disappointing after the salad, and it didn’t help that both looked pretty much the same, which may be a slight inconvenient if the table is occupied by vegetarians.
The main course was a non-vegetarians delight. Both the Chicken curry (in butter-tomato gravy) and the Chicken Hyberabadi Biryani (served with full jazz, in a clay pot, sealed, tied in cloth… the complete works!!) won a thumbs-up from the non-veg eaters. Jo and I were somehow a little dissatisfied with the Malai Kofta (it was like an anticlimax after all the other wonderful-tasting stuff). The side breads, though were soft and very well cooked, and also tasted great(some fermented Kulcha-like thing with a unique yeasty flavor, and soft-well cooked Lachchha Paranthas). All in all a wonderful meal.

Some things I noted though were :
a) Although the quantity seems adequate and not too much, don’t be fooled. The food is too rich (none of us had room for dessert L )
b) The staff may seem very courteous, but sometimes, up-selling and too much conversation can get a little uncomfortable. Really.
c) It’s a must-go.

Cadillac Ranch

As the signboard at the entrance proclaims, Cadillac Ranch is an All American Bar & Grill Restaurant famous for its open roadside view and plasma TVs. Located in downtown Cincinnati, Ohio, US near the corner of Fountain Square, this place apparently has the "baddest mechanical bull in town". Starting at 10 PM, the DJ kicks up the volume playing country, rock and party hits. To catch up with all the football action and more, this place has 12 big plasma screen TVs and a huge projection screen on stage.

Although i have never seen these things in action, i can imagine how this place would go down well with the young and the adventurous.

I just had Mozzarella fried cheese sticks with Marinara sauce. Despite my lack of taste for all things cheesy (!), i quite liked the taste (specially the fact that it was deep fried). I just loved the Marinara sauce.

slurrrp slurrp !!!

As we sat one day in Bombay Post, we exchanged our ( highly subjective ) views on the place, its food, ambience, the overall experience etc., As we progressed through this discussion, we decided that we shall do this more often and formalize it, so that we can apply it to more restaurants (and other places ;-) ) that we visit. This blog, hence is entirely born out of that conversation we had on the fateful day of 9th September 2007. We leave to you to decide whether it is useful or not...

We just wanna have fun...