Signature Tasting Menu @ Peshawari Tandoor by Turquoise (Koramangala, Bangalore)

I have eaten at Turquoise and Peshawari Tandoor a couple of times and have always enjoyed their food. The restaurant plates their food beautifully and after seeing some pictures of the Sunday brunch captured by my fellow foodie Harsha (of the FB group Bakasura) I had to go and get click crazy! The reason I haven’t written about it for so long (almost a year!) has been two fold (a) My forgetfulness – which includes leaving the camera at home and (b) the low ‘mood’ lighting in their Indian restaurant. (It’s done up with multi-hued ceiling to floor chandeliers!). Mood lighting encourages romance but does NOT a good picture make!

So I happily trumped in on Sunday with my camera and my friend Shwe in tow – expecting to go photo crazy on their buffet table. Unfortunately, they informed me that the Sunday brunch has now been stopped L (Lesson learned for being a procrastinator!). Luckily they had a Signature Tasting Menu of all their best dishes and we were more than happy to sample the same. And the best part – they were going to serve each dish at the table, so I could relax and let the party come to me!

I made two small requests – firstly, can we be seated at their sunlight restaurant on the 2^nd floor? and secondly, I wanted a seat next to the large window. Since I mostly eat out at night, I was not going to pass up the opportunity of clicking pictures in daylight! Now that we got the basics of a good lunch in place (I’m a food blogger… what do you expect?), we settled down to be entertained.

Cinnamon Sugar Muffins

Some things in life are simple. 1+1=2, beach + margarita = holiday and cinnamon + sugar = awesomeness! When I chanced upon this recipe, I was skeptical. The ingredient list was small. The process was easy. And the final product seemed very basic. But the more I kept thinking about the muffin that’s going to be coated with cinnamon sugar, the more I wanted to make it. The story goes back a couple of years – in a mall in Bangkok. (It’s nothing like the Hangover II, so get your mind out of the gutter!). Now BKK is a shopper’s paradise. I landed and checked myself into a hotel which was bang opposite one their biggest malls – yes, I had my priorities in order! The city is hot as hell, so it’s very thoughtful of the government to connect malls to other malls via air-conditioned pathways. The end result being, you feel you are in the biggest mall on the planet!

My daily routine consisted of getting up early, grabbing a quick brekkie at the hotel café and waiting till the mall opened at 10 AM. As soon as the first store opened it’s shutters, I was in shopping mode! Like a ninja on a mission, I went from store to store and floor to floor – looking, comparing, bargaining and buying. The only break I took was a loo break and a lunch break. Ok, so I’m crazy! Luggiing my loot around (I used a big suitcase with wheels :P), I finally saw it. A pretty little bakery done up in pink and dark brown – like candy and chocolate. I was inexplicably drawn towards it - I completely empathize with Hansel and Gretel! There were rows and rows of all the goodies you could imagine – doughnuts, layer cakes, cupcakes, pastries, tarts, truffles and I could go on! I put as many things I could on the tray along with a sugar bun that also made its way there. I sat down to enjoy my sugar coma inducing meal. And you know what the surprise package was?  – The tiny little perfect sugar coated butter bun! I have dreams about it some days (no kidding!).

So the climax is simple. The sugar coated muffin = my substitute for the sugar coated bun. And I’m currently patting my stomach with a Looney smile plastered across my face. Enough said.

Zomato Lunch with Rocky and Mayur (HOMP) @ Bak Bak Bar (Koramangala, Bangalore)

(Pic Courtesy: Ruth and Sudhakar Prabhu)

I was sick with fever last week…so sick that I couldn’t get out of bed. What bothered me more than being sick, was missing the Zomato Food Guide 2013 launch at the Sheraton! And to add to the misery, Zomato had a special treat lined up for food bloggers over the weekend – a lunch date with NDTV’s Highway on my Plate superstars – Rocky and Mayur!! Saturday morning came and my energy was still zero. I hate to go under medication for a regular fever, but this time I made an exception and popped some pills, tidied my act up and headed to Bak Bak Bar! Oh, come on…don’t roll your eyes…how many times do you get to meet Rocky and Mayur???

I had heard about Bak Bak Bar from a couple of foodie friends, but still hadn’t planned an outing. It’s the old Manchester United Bar – refurbished and redone in a new avatar. The co-resident will be mighty pleased, considering he is a Chelsea fan! The place is bang opposite the rear entrance of Forum Mall in Koramangala. Thank the Lord they have valet, because there is no way you can look for parking on that road. Although you might need to get the valet’s attention when you are 100ft away from the venue so that the people behind you in the road don’t clobber you for stopping! I thought the venue was perfect for this lunch. It’s got a comfortable, casual vibe about it and their name implores you to have conversations  or colloquially -  ‘Bak Bak’!

Entered the place and was pleasantly surprised to see familiar faces – Karthik (hugs for inviting me) and Pallavi of Zomato and my other food blogger friends – Monika, Ruth and Sudhakar. After explaining why I won’t be having a drink for about half hour – I succumbed and ordered a beer. A room temperature beer. According to ancient legend (ya right!) – a warm beer can help bring down the temperature when you have a fever. So if my comrades thought I was more boisterous than normal – I’m blaming it on the alcohol and meds!

Bloggers Table - Blue Terrain @ Novotel, ORR, Bangalore

My first Bloggers Table. Actually make that the ‘first ever’ edition of the Bangalore Bloggers Table! Was I excited? Yes!! The feisty group of women (we’re still looking for that elusive male to be a member of the group) had all been interacting on facebook for a month now, but chatting over a martini is always more fun! We were hosted by Novotel, Bangalore and were lucky to be invited to the opening of their new poolside bar and barbeque restaurant – Blue Terrain.

Poolside dining and barbeque seems like the perfect fit for us laid back Bangaloreans. Bangalore is one of the few cities that enjoys the luxury of being able to offer under the stars dining for its residents. The weather as we all know is brilliant. Natasha still warned us to carry something warm to wrap ourselves in, as it’s still ‘winter’ here. (Yes, I can see all the non-locals rolling their eyes, considering the temperature is a toasty 20 degrees!)