After a day of hard work (sic) four of us decided to have dinner at a place we had dined at recently. Mandaara’s which lies upslope of Katriguppe Junction towards Mysore road, is another miss if you blink eatery on the first floor. More visible on the exterior is the billboard announcing the Bar on the second level. Enter the decent well lit dining hall and you will find a sparse crowd of family and young diners. I am to be puzzled why. Not yet though.
We sit on very comfortable sofas seating 3 at a time and six on the marble table with folded plantain leaves. All this looks very inviting. The whole atmosphere is just right. Not posh not bad just decent and comfortable.
My fellow diners were Jason, Samrat and Ashutosh. All seasoned non vegetarians. And today Jason and Ashu are gonna test the Biryani. So shall we. Although we ordered the mini meal – which is not mini in any sense. “And we shall also have the kalmi kabab” says Jason matter of factly. One thing to mention is Jason is a thin guy for an Indian software engineer who eats meat twice a day, skips most of the veggies and feels chapathis are no match for parathas which he religiously eats with ofcourse chicken curry and lots of it while at it. Ashu agrees to the kababs, though a little doubtful whether he will be able to eat that much.
Me and Samrat wash the plantain leaves with water and the waiter ladles delicious thick dal, spicy brinjal and the unique chutney (what is its? Gram dal or peanuts or a combination?) .Then comes a plate of white rice, small bowls of rasam, curry, kadi and thick creamy curd. A sad excuse for a papad is also provided. The fragrant biryani comes in a brass serving kadhai. The Kalmi Kabab will take time. We start with the rice in front of us which is the main course of an Andhra Dinner. The dal is just right. The spicy brinjal is surprisingly well made, cause I detest brinjals. The chutney as usual is great but what took the cake was the kadi.I don’t know if what we had was kadi, but similar to that – it was just great.
Jason and Ashu seemed to applaud as soon as they had the biryani. The taste was well balanced, the spices and the flavors not overpowering, giving each other just space on the palate. The chicken portions seemed scant , but were tender and tasted great with the spice thoroughly mingling with it. The kalmi kabab appeared finally – it is a kabab made from chicken legs and is a favorite amongst chicken . So Mr.Kalmi arrived super tender and wonderfully spiced. The accompanying pudina chutney was unnecessary , the kabab tasted awesome and as Ashu said, we were just afraid of finishing it off soon.
All of this was finished off over a healthy discussion involving Multimedia. We didn’t bother with deserts cause we were just too full.
The bill came which was a very reasonable Rs.356.
Mini Meal – Rice with various curries and chutneys Rs 34 --------Great and superb value for money.
Chicken Biryani Rs84 ------------------------------------- Good but the price was above the wow zone
Kalmi Kabab Rs120 ---------------------------------------------Good and price seemed on the high side.
Bottomline – great place to have a meal. I had it the second time and will go back again.
We sit on very comfortable sofas seating 3 at a time and six on the marble table with folded plantain leaves. All this looks very inviting. The whole atmosphere is just right. Not posh not bad just decent and comfortable.
My fellow diners were Jason, Samrat and Ashutosh. All seasoned non vegetarians. And today Jason and Ashu are gonna test the Biryani. So shall we. Although we ordered the mini meal – which is not mini in any sense. “And we shall also have the kalmi kabab” says Jason matter of factly. One thing to mention is Jason is a thin guy for an Indian software engineer who eats meat twice a day, skips most of the veggies and feels chapathis are no match for parathas which he religiously eats with ofcourse chicken curry and lots of it while at it. Ashu agrees to the kababs, though a little doubtful whether he will be able to eat that much.
Me and Samrat wash the plantain leaves with water and the waiter ladles delicious thick dal, spicy brinjal and the unique chutney (what is its? Gram dal or peanuts or a combination?) .Then comes a plate of white rice, small bowls of rasam, curry, kadi and thick creamy curd. A sad excuse for a papad is also provided. The fragrant biryani comes in a brass serving kadhai. The Kalmi Kabab will take time. We start with the rice in front of us which is the main course of an Andhra Dinner. The dal is just right. The spicy brinjal is surprisingly well made, cause I detest brinjals. The chutney as usual is great but what took the cake was the kadi.I don’t know if what we had was kadi, but similar to that – it was just great.
Jason and Ashu seemed to applaud as soon as they had the biryani. The taste was well balanced, the spices and the flavors not overpowering, giving each other just space on the palate. The chicken portions seemed scant , but were tender and tasted great with the spice thoroughly mingling with it. The kalmi kabab appeared finally – it is a kabab made from chicken legs and is a favorite amongst chicken . So Mr.Kalmi arrived super tender and wonderfully spiced. The accompanying pudina chutney was unnecessary , the kabab tasted awesome and as Ashu said, we were just afraid of finishing it off soon.
All of this was finished off over a healthy discussion involving Multimedia. We didn’t bother with deserts cause we were just too full.
The bill came which was a very reasonable Rs.356.
Mini Meal – Rice with various curries and chutneys Rs 34 --------Great and superb value for money.
Chicken Biryani Rs84 ------------------------------------- Good but the price was above the wow zone
Kalmi Kabab Rs120 ---------------------------------------------Good and price seemed on the high side.
Bottomline – great place to have a meal. I had it the second time and will go back again.
No comments:
Post a Comment